Humanity is the new technology *
Many of my Sunday mornings find me, still pajamaed, coffee in hand (with just the tiniest splash of Bailey’s), pouring over the latest Postsecret cards. I look forward to it every week, probably the way some people look forward to church - it’s a small pilgrimage to our own essential humanity.
I also like Postsecret as an example of why the internet is a tool to reach out to our community’s under-served. There are people with needs, but no way to comfortably express them. I picture myself, hopelessly shy, terrified of crowds and awkward social situations, avoiding the hustle and bustle of the library like the plague, but totally comfortable and happy interacting via blogs, twitter, facebook, what have you. (I wonder how my life would be different if the today’s internet were around when I was 17… hmm) There’s a lot of people who fit that description.
When selling online services to librarians I often point out that the trick is to give the illusion of free speech while actually screening user-generated content for appropriateness. It seems underhanded but a necessary concession for librarians who have to be vigilant about protecting the library’s image… this one’s for the shusshers, kinda of thing.
This morning I had a rude awakening at the end of my Sunday ritual:
Last Monday, the PostSecret Blog on MySpace was the most visited Blog on MySpace. The next day MySpace administrators removed postcards and comments from the Blog and prevented more than 100,000 people from viewing it.
Many people have emailed me concerned about what happened. I am posting a response here because I am unsure if an explanation on the MySpace Blog will go uncensored.
As I write this,
the MySpace Blog is unblocked but the latest postcards and comments have been removed completely. MySpace has set my Blog so that only friends can see it. If you friend me now I will add you.http://www.myspace.com/postsecret
I will try and post more secrets on the MySpace Blog next week (November 15th) and see what happens. I hope you will email your friends about this and encourage MySpace to repost our secrets.
Conclusion: The ‘free and open exchange’ taking place on the internet is not always as free and open as it appears. This is a place where information can be censored - all the more reason the libraries need to be there.
* My new favorite phrase, ‘Humanity is the new technology‘ from David Armano.
