THING 5

It occurred to me that flickr tags are how images are accessed by Google & why sometimes those images seem incongruent with a search word. Maybe not. Once again, confronted not only with new Internet terminology and the tweaking of familiar terms for the WWW, but also the specificity of vocabulary within this cyberwonderworld. A tag is not a title is not a category; they have very specific functions for organization and accessibility. Well, probably always did. Anyway, I realized that chez moi is accessed as two words that probably won't readily resonate, certainly not if separated.
I liked the mouse over a book in the virtual library opening up the world within that title. I didn't have luck with the geotagging, if I have that right. Evidently no one was uploading photos from Belize. Patience may also be a factor. I did upload photos from a disc I happened to have and put a "web" photo in my profile.
Once again again, I am overwhelmed by concepts such as megadata and photostream, the constant stream of consciousness inherent in entering into cyberspace. Of course, just like considering the specificity of words, life is stream of consciousness after all. And meditation is letting go of that stream. Hmmmm.

THING 4

Really Simple Syndication & Newsreaders..."file format to deliver regularly undated info over the web". My basic reaction to All This Stuff is that it is overwhelming. Just dipping a toe in creates an effect that continues to ripple out into the Cyberspace. And the language is so interestingly contrived and reconfigured. RSS helps organize selectively the streaming buzz. The intro uses the word "consume" with regards to retrieving this inundation. Admittedly I react negatively to that term as it smacks of rampant devoring and the consumer-oriented world we are encouraged to ascribe to (okay, "to which we are encouraged to ascribe"), which is one reason we are all in this fine kettle of fish financially today. I my opinion. However, I can also understand the terminology as it relates to the unwieldly amount of "bites" that lure us interminably on the web. The other term that startled me was "content creators" listed along with news and media as sources for RSS. Things that make ya go "hmmmmm". But, apart from my sensitivity to some troubling verbage, I am enthralled by this tool to streamline and customize desired updates. In addition to feeds provided as examples, I also subscribed to Latin American travel feeds. That was fun! But, once again, I can see how an electronic life can totally overtake life on a grittier plane i.e. The Real World. On the other hand, I can avoid all the agonies of real life travel and just sail around in the virtual cosmos.

THING 3

I used Technorati and Ice Rocket as blog search tools. I used "living in Mexico" as my query, replaced by "Lake Chapala" when I found a reference to that large ex-pat community. (I had actually visited Ajijic and Lake Chapala many years ago, but it did not seem to be rife with 10,000 permanent ex-pats at that time.) What I discovered is that the blog community is not about the subject matter so much as about opinions about the subject matter. Self-evident, of course, but I am a novice. While investigating aspects of Technorati, I came across Taxgirl.com, a tax attorney whose online success makes her an authority on successful blogging tips. The blogosphere is not static (Technorati incorporates one million posts daily), is driven by the individual, and is community oriented. In order to have what is considered a successful blog i.e. much read and responded to, Taxgirl advises that one be passionate about one's subject, target one's audience using appropriate tags, be consistent, persistent, inviting, network, and be authentic. She was happy to begin using an online editor Mars Edit which "takes the guesswork out of formatting (HTML is not my strong suit)", so there is obviously much more to delve into. Taxgirl mentioned one of her favorites, so I began reading Crazy Aunt Purl's delightful account of raccoons in her Encino-adjacent backyard. Now I understand how compelling the virtual world is, and I had to click my attention away from further episodes in the engaging accounts of Aunt Purl. Ice Rocket has Twitter, Myspace, Trends, Icespy in additon to Blogs listed across the top of their site. Technorati has Channels, broad blog subject areas, including Business, Politics, Entertainment, Lifestyle, Sports and Technology. Basically blog browsing introduces the musings and mutterings of the cyberspace community. Although I didn't glean any truly useful information about retiring to Lake Chapala, I did learn something about how the community of ex-pats function there from the horse's mouth. The inclusion of personal photographs brings much of the experience to life. An interesting observation is the dearth of English language books, which reminded me of a trip I had taken to Guatemala where I devored a books I would never have bothered with otherwise because there was nothing else available, not even in Spanish.