Joined SEEFILMFIRST a few weeks ago. Last night got an email inviting us to go see Slumdog Millionaire, for free, at the new Highcross cinema. When cinema is about 7-8 quid a ticket these days, why the hell not?
(OK - people have been doing this for years - at the same time as I’ve been paying for a unlimited cineworld subscription (In Glasgow, not Leicester - no cineworld in Leicester :-(), so not noticed the price creep up to ridiculous amount.)
If you aren’t signed up, get signed up. Steal your housemate’s dairy milk* and you’ve got a free night out there!
*Disclaimer: I didn’t actually steal the dairy milk - just incase you read this..
I was looking back at older blogs and realised that I hadn’t wrote anything reflective around this time of year - mainly out of fear of being a massive bloggin’ cliche. What I’ve realised is that you can’t avoid being reflective at the start of a new year - and especially after being off on holiday. I was ideally looking for something to compare my achievements and goals from 2008 to 2009. These things can definitely be helpful - even down to the process of writing it down and putting it out there. So, I thought, sod worrying about being a cliche and just do it.
Here are a few things I would like for 2009:
- Blog more and blog better. I know I always start my blog entries with this, but I’m hoping that when the Ph.D. FINALLY begins (12th of this month), that I will be able to document the process with much more clarity. Furthermore, through utilising my networks on twitter and delicious, I’ll be able to make the whole online “social media” process far more fluid and inclusive of what is going on “offline” as well. I would like to think that the last 3 months have been practise for just now.
- Complete my (part time) Advance Postgraduate year at the same pace as those doing it at fulltime level. As I will be on campus pretty much fulltime, I don’t see why I can’t do the work at the same pace. I can only confirm this goal once I actually get going - I have a copy of the handbook and I’ve been reading since before Christmas in preparation for this.
- Continue proactively thinking about work and where I can get it from. I am grateful to my department for putting me forward for teaching assistant jobs and I am sorted until end of term. I need to be thinking about what I can do over the summer and potentially looking for part time research positions as I gain more experience in my field. This is one thing I just need to be consistently focusing on and not something that will happen over night. 2008 has shown me that it takes a combination of being available, meeting and networking with people online (off) and just generally being into your work (and wanting to work with others are into to it just as much as you) has been the way to go about it. I understand that this will be the case for a long, long time as I believe the old school style of getting a job and sticking it forever is long gone.
- Continue my fitness plan. Continue to learn to cook. Use my new bike whenever possible. All of these things are quite easy to fit in and I have been doing it for the last 2 months, I just would to keep on that route. In addition to quitting smoking 4.5 months ago, I am also quitting alcohol temporary (30 days at least to see how I get on - these sort of things can change your whole social life, let alone imporve your health.)
Overall I just want to keep ploughing on in the same manner I have been these last few months. The latter part of 2008 has been good to me - I just want to keep going along the same sort of paths, meeting the same sort of people and generally just being happy.
Let’s see. We’ve all had our Facebook profiles for at least 18 months. We’ve requested to add/accepted all our friends, family, classmates, housemates, co-workers, ex-co-workers, ex-school friends, their siblings and girlfriends/boyfriends, lecturers, students, members of sports teams, people we’ve met once, people we have never met but think we might meet at some point and randoms from the pub - all to our friends list. The average number of people that we are connected to is around 164. We are “connected” to everyone in our immediate social network. Great. Fantastic.
Now what?
Well, we’ve worked out that we can separate the data that we are projecting to our friends via the news feed. We can show our class mates that we enjoy the drink and party hard or we can make out we are “dead clever” by projecting every little thing we find on the web through rss, delicious, twitter and friendfeed applications. Each element adding to the perception of how we would like to be seen.
But then again - bump into some of the “weaker” ties in the street/work/university - where is the guarantee that you are even going to acknowledge each other, let alone speak to each other. Being “connected” does not automatically make you vulnerable from the burden of social awkwardness (or whatever is going on in each others head) We prevent these people from seeing elements of our profiles (if only to make ourselves feel better) - only to avoid going through the difficult process of simply removing them from your network.
So after 18+months of Facebook- with even the most phobic of technophobes admitting to having an account, is it time to start writing the rules about social cleansing. Personally, I’m feeling a bit clogged up with negativity in some of online channels I participate in. I would much prefer if I had a network of people who could help each other - socially, professionally, emotionally - much like Twitter.
Do we even NEED Facebook to remain connected?
I mean, cummon. Those who what to find me, KNOW were to find me. Likewise, I can pretty much find who I want using googling methods. Facebook makes it a tad easier, granted - as most of my close friends are scattered across the world - and it’s nice to get a consistent dialogue between the lot of them. However, what Facebook does essentially is to make it bloody difficult to “Quit following” those who may not to be required anymore - perhaps people who you never ended up speaking to after the first initial contact - maybe friends of friends who you might not get on with or indeed those who are just “not your type”. Furthermore, it amplifies certain things that you perhaps don’t want to see or know.
I don’t know. I think I’m moving on from the notion of “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer.”
The one I got: Got sent a copy of an essay in a strange file format, accompanied with, “This essay is due next week. Can you read it, make corrections and have it back to me next week?”
When I explained in class today that I wouldn’t be able to do that - but I would be able to help people out with any questions, read over tricky paragraphs or advise on essay structure (In fact, I even offered to meet them outside class time to look at their essays over coffee - mmm, coffee!) - said student packed their stuff up, huffed and walked out.
Hi, I'm Jay Jay. I'm a 24 yr old Scot, living in England and I am in my 1st year of a Ph.D at the University of Leicester. My main interests are social media software, the power of networks and the relationship between offline and online identity. Try following me on Twitter!(more)
