Through the use of their cybernetic implants, the Borg interacted by sharing one another's thoughts in a hive mind. Upon assimilation, these trillions of "voices" would overwhelm the drone, stifling individual thought and resistance to the Collective's will. (TNG: "Family") To some drones these voices could eventually become a source of comfort, and their absence a source of pain. (TNG: "I Borg"; VOY: "The Gift") – Memory Alpha
“Erin of One, Tertiary Adjunct of Library Unimatrix Zero-One. You will be Assimilated into The Stream Collective. Resistance is Futile.”
This week I'm bringing the discussion back to Star Trek, and The Borg. The name origins of this blog are rooted in Star Trek and its connection to the world today. When thinking about social networking and the amount we are all connected to one another the first thing that popped into my head was The Borg. Perhaps that's because I've been watching all the shows again, but as I see it humans are heading towards a very Borg like existence. The Borg are of one mind and millions at the same time. When one ship is attacked, all the rest know about it instantly. There are no language barriers to overcome for once a humanoid is assimilated their language becomes part of the collective. While The Borg are able to have the information instantly downloaded into their minds, how different is this from our interaction with information today? With microblogging, site check-ins, social networking, and smart phones anything happening around the world is online as it happens. This new web is being called “The Stream”.
Blogger Erick Schonfeld defines The Stream
A stream. A real time, flowing, dynamic stream of information — that we as users and participants can dip in and out of and whether we participate in them or simply observe we are a part of this flow.
While Nova Spivack explains that:
Streams are rapidly changing sequences of information around a topic. They may be microblogs, hashtages, feeds, multimedia services, or even data streams via APIs.
Whichever definition you prefer The Stream is dynamic and ever changing; not static like the old Web. Until recently if you wanted to find out the latest headlines or see what new books the library has in its collection you would visit the company website and navigate until you found what you were looking for. Now the information is instantly delivered to you in a variety of formats.
Not too long ago blogs and bloggers changed the face of the Web and crushed the field of journalism. Instead of getting our news from network reporters, people started reading news from every day people. And these every day people were reporting about everything! They were discussing issues of national security, their favorite breakfast cereals, or even their sexual escapades. As more people got connected and started engaging the wealth of knowledge on the Web grew and is still growing. Yet, people were still asking for more. They wanted to be even more connected.
Enter the smart phone and apps. Now people had the capability to be truly connected. This increased level of connectivity really paved the way for sites such as Twitter to exist and prosper. For me Twitter starts to push my stress level up a bit, but I think this is because I don't have a smart phone yet and can't stay connected all the time. By the time I'm done with reading my RSS feeds, Facebook posts, school discussion boards etc I have no more time left in my day! If I was connected via phone then I could look at the information as it came in more easily instead of experiencing information overload.
So I wonder, what is the next step in The Stream? How much more connected can we get and can we handle it all? What are libraries going to do with all this change? It seems to me as if humans are keeping up pretty well and getting close to that collective consciousness. We're breaking down barriers and in many ways becoming a more unified world. I'm not sure what's in store for libraries if they don't keep up with The Stream, though it seems like for larger branches they would have to hire someone full time to keep up. Not only is it important to utilize current technologies, but librarians should be looking towards the future ones as well and try their best to keep up with new trends.
Many of these new technologies can actually be used to keep up with future trends. Subscribe to technology blogs, follow trendsetters on Twitter, but most of all when in doubt try it out! Since the start of this class I've begun trying out new ways to access all my “information”. One new tool that I'm trying is called TweetDeck. Through here I can see all my Twitter feeds, Facebook posts, FourSquare check-ins (not that I have any yet w/o a smart phone) and even email. I just started playing around with it in Google Chrome and it seems to function much like an RSS reader, pulling all the content into one portal for easy access. Seems to make sense that if we check our blogs through an aggregator we would do the same with our social networking information. This is a relatively new idea though, but I think we'll soon see great products on the market for keeping track of all that data coming in... that is until we receive our cortical implants of course ;)
I absolutely loved the Borg reference. What a great analogy! I think you made a good point when saying that apps assisted a true social media revolution. Its much simpler to stay 'attached' when doing it via mobile device. My iPod, which only connects to wi-fi, is still useful in this aspect. We spend a lot of time at my in-laws who live around the corner, and my mother's who lives about 25 minutes away. Whenever my kids are busy playing with their cousins or aunts and uncles, and my husband is busy watching sports, I catch up on my iPod.
ReplyDeleteAnother point that I think has been overwhelming for me too is the information overload. You are right, by the time I finish reading everything, I barely have time to make dinner for my family! However, one article really put my mind at ease by saying if one were to just look at the net as information constantly streaming and not as information that needs to be 'finished' reading, than your life would be much happier. Accepting that I don't have to always read everything in my Google Reader makes things a lot simpler.
I like your post, Erin. I wonder, however, about a social network "reader." Does it protect a person's privacy? It seems to me that there are already enough issues with Facebook privacy. Adding a third party to the mix seems like it will make privacy even more difficult.
ReplyDeleteI thought your analogy to The Borg was intriguing. However, it is collective only if we add to the stream. Many people are still choosing not to add to the mix.
You're right in that adding a third party might make privacy a little harder to maintain. However this is usually how I feel about privacy: http://www.geardiary.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/Privacy-Internet-Venn-Diagram.jpg
ReplyDeleteWhile I try to secure my profiles and such online I know that in the end it is somewhat of a lost cause. Teens and younger people don't even view privacy in the same context that older generations do. Think in the years to come more and more people will be open to sharing online without as much worry.
No, the whole human race is not a collective just yet. Though I would argue that those who are adding to the stream are all linked together in many ways. Just as I see privacy concerns pretty much going out the window so too do I see the amount of people adding to the stream increasing. Younger generations are content creators. Just having a Myspace or Facebook profile is adding to the collective. They all want to be linked. Once you have this generation in power a lot is bound to change.