On Lifecasting(TM) − 23 May, 2007
Note: I started this editorial today as a response to a blog post about Lifestreaming from the WSJ's Jeremy Wagstaff. I was at first going to simply give him a shout out. But then I thought I had some more to share. So it turned into a full-on post instead. As it happened, I have a lot of bottled-up thoughts on the ever-growing trend of "lifecasting." Here are a few.
I'm happy to say that the rationale for adding streams data to the recent re-launch of Dandelife was an effort of making technology work for you. It came about by answering a question a friend of mine asked me once: "How can my life story write itself?" He was lamenting the fact that actively writing your autobiography requires work.
That's how Dandelife came to the lifestreaming forray, as it were. But before that, Dandelife was intended to be a deeper and wider experience to the other lifecasting services you mention - indeed we backed our way into it. Each of these sites has its niche, but Dandelife is less about data streams per se -- or blogging for that matter -- and more about me answering the question: "How do we preserve our memories?" The process of answering that question lead, naturally, to some Web 2.0 (sic) functionality. I do consider Dandelife to be a destination, however, as opposed to a feature. Social networking "feature" is not just a nice Web 2.0 must-have, but an element for conjuring up memories - your friends and family are convenient sources for much of that information from our pasts. That's just one example. Others have noted that the tagging feature on stories is cool in a web 2.0 kind of way. But I see it more as a way of creating our own private threads experiences and use those tags to weave our own narratives with friends, family and the community at large. It was never my intention to take a feature for the feature's sake.
That said, as the term "lifecasting" becomes more popular (in all its variants), I do have a deep desire to distinguish Dandelife from those other services. I've been willing to get filed under "lifecasting" (indeed, we've gone through the necessary steps to trademark, though not enforce, the word itself) but I wonder if the term as it has been used recently does more of a disservice to our attempts at lifecasting. If lifecasting stands a chance of being understood by the people who have the most interesting lives to share, we need to also bring in discussions of scrapbooking and storytelling. Lifecasting ain't just storage. Lifecasting is not just sharing pieces of my digital self with my friends and family as a "feed". Lifecasting, as I have always seen it, is a means for sharing stories, preserving memories and forming a complete archival picture of who you were. Lofty goal, for sure. This is the work Kodak should be doing. But until then, you have Dandelife.
I'm happy to say that the rationale for adding streams data to the recent re-launch of Dandelife was an effort of making technology work for you. It came about by answering a question a friend of mine asked me once: "How can my life story write itself?" He was lamenting the fact that actively writing your autobiography requires work.
That's how Dandelife came to the lifestreaming forray, as it were. But before that, Dandelife was intended to be a deeper and wider experience to the other lifecasting services you mention - indeed we backed our way into it. Each of these sites has its niche, but Dandelife is less about data streams per se -- or blogging for that matter -- and more about me answering the question: "How do we preserve our memories?" The process of answering that question lead, naturally, to some Web 2.0 (sic) functionality. I do consider Dandelife to be a destination, however, as opposed to a feature. Social networking "feature" is not just a nice Web 2.0 must-have, but an element for conjuring up memories - your friends and family are convenient sources for much of that information from our pasts. That's just one example. Others have noted that the tagging feature on stories is cool in a web 2.0 kind of way. But I see it more as a way of creating our own private threads experiences and use those tags to weave our own narratives with friends, family and the community at large. It was never my intention to take a feature for the feature's sake.
That said, as the term "lifecasting" becomes more popular (in all its variants), I do have a deep desire to distinguish Dandelife from those other services. I've been willing to get filed under "lifecasting" (indeed, we've gone through the necessary steps to trademark, though not enforce, the word itself) but I wonder if the term as it has been used recently does more of a disservice to our attempts at lifecasting. If lifecasting stands a chance of being understood by the people who have the most interesting lives to share, we need to also bring in discussions of scrapbooking and storytelling. Lifecasting ain't just storage. Lifecasting is not just sharing pieces of my digital self with my friends and family as a "feed". Lifecasting, as I have always seen it, is a means for sharing stories, preserving memories and forming a complete archival picture of who you were. Lofty goal, for sure. This is the work Kodak should be doing. But until then, you have Dandelife.
Comments:
CrystallineTulip (May 24, 2007. 07:56am)
I love what you've said...and I'm totally addicted to Dandelife! Even though I've noticed that some people have used this site as a type of blog (which is their prerogative), I have come to see it as more of a way of preserving personal historical memories, like you're describing. It is distinct from other sites, I believe, and I can't wait to get the rest of my friends and family hooked.
kga245 (May 24, 2007. 04:16pm)
Thanks, CrystallineTulip. Re; blogging, I've gotten some feedback from new members who say that they would never blog, but they would use Dandelife to blog. So for a lot of our members Dandelife helps bring them into the world of blogging. In fact, since I've started Dandelifing, I've stopped blogging at my old blog. I used to keep them separate, but I figure if it's on my mind, it's worth sharing with keeping here. Even if I'm not writing about the past, I'd like to preserve the post for posterity.
kga245 (May 24, 2007. 04:17pm)
BTW, Let me know if your friends and family aren't getting as much out of the experience as you. I've noticed that some people come to the site and just don't get it. I want the experience to be able to foster sharing of memories even amongst people are are traditionally averse to writing and networking online.