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When I photograph, what I'm really doing is seeking answers to things.
-Wynn Bullock
Lately, I’ve been having the same conversation over and over. It always comes innocently out of the general inquiry, “So, what have you been up to?” I may mention attending the recent BlogHer Conference, blogging or photography, in general. Right around here, I get something like this:
“Oi. It’s too much. There’s too much to read, too many cool people creating amazing things I need to know about and too much technology I don’t understand. I am so late and the longer I wait, the further behind I feel. I know i need to get on the bus but I can't seem to catch it.”
I’ve heard this general angst in several forms over the past few weeks and I’m not sure what is sparking it but I can certainly relate. All those glorious choices in technology are liberating but it also feels like trying to swim while being repeatedly pounded by voracious waves, “Look at this! Do this! Learn this! Read this! Comment here!” Sometimes, it’s all I can do to scramble to my towel, have a lie down and snort out some sea water. While it’s distressing to hear this among my friends, it’s also heartening to hear that I am not alone.
Furthermore, I work in communications for the tech industry. I read and hear about companies trying to bridge the ‘digital divide’ in ‘emerging markets’ – which means getting laptops to citizens, mainly children, of third world countries. They want to bring Google to huts and yurts across the planet and I applaud them; everyone in the world deserves the joy that I Can Has Cheezburger can only provide. Quite frankly, I’m not sure how any nation can even hold conversations at UN cocktail parties without daily access to The Superficial . Well, you can make damn sure that the Jobs/Gates characters of the world will change that.
Nevertheless, when I hear the oft-repeated phrase “reaching the next billion users” I have to shake my head. What these well-meaning guys don’t realize is a good chunk of these users might be women living in the U.S.
Every year, I host an annual gathering of my best girlfriends – friendships dating back to pre-school and nearly every year since – at my family’s mountain cabin. This past May was the first time that my much wired pal, Val, attended (she is an evangelist for Adobe) and quite naturally, brought along her laptop. She fired it up one morning (wireless at 7,200 feet! Woo-hoo!) and I watched as all the women gathered around it like an old time radio, fascinated. I sat silently in the corner, like some Attenborough character hiding in the bush - with my camera, of course.
To my utter amazement, I watched Val introduce them to a whole new world. Though most had heard of Google, none had heard of FaceBook, Flickr, Photobucket or MySpace. (They are all mothers but their kids are quite young.) Most were still paying for their email, which they rarely checked. In a particularly hilarious discovery, Val enlightened them to the behavior of a certain Miss Spears and there was much clucking and horrified gawking at the starlet’s hoo-ha – a global event that they had been spared. The room vacillated between shrieking laughter and lots of tsk-tsking.
This morning, I received two emails from two women (both family members) who have resolved to become more engaged with the conversation that is the internet. The first is my sister, who admits to checking her email, “every six months or so” and yet, is hopelessly addicted to “World of Warcraft.” The other, my sister-in-law’s sister, after much teasing wrote: “I now have my computer on a desk. It was on the floor in the corner of my guest bedroom for months! I check it everyday! I'm learning to embrace technology, and make you proud sistah!”
Why the sudden change? Both women received new laptops which, apparently, are the official floatie device for anyone nervous about jumping in. When one is online nearly every day, it’s too easy to forget that not everyone spends their time likewise. (I lift my tiara to Mommy Bloggers everywhere at this point – I can only recline in awe.)
There is still plenty of demystifying to be done. I am constantly meeting women who want to explore their creativity online but get intimidated (as I
