dnw's posterous

world population infographic

Media_httppaulkedrosk_hefbd
via paul.kedrosky.com

[via http://paul.kedrosky.com/archives/2010/08/world_populatio.html?utm_source=fee...:+InfectiousGreed+(Paul+Kedrosky's+Infectious+Greed)]

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Back Up; Don't Smash Up - Mozy asks how much your home computer is worth

via youtube.com

Interesting thought behind this PR stunt.

Is your computer backed up to the point you'd smash it without notice to get a new laptop?

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Pew Report: Social Isolation and New Technology

Interesting things in this report (PDF) about the effects of technology on social isolation. (http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2009/18--Social-Isolation-and-New-Technology.aspx)

A lot of what it says I can attest to in my own experience, especially in relation to technology providing a platform and mechanism for "core discussion networks" to become more diverse. 

This also sets off alarms in my head attesting to the underestimated importance of access to technology and access to social networks for people living with a disability.

It also reinforces how we are being forced to, and in my opinion need to, look differently at entrenched concepts of what constitutes being 'socially isolated'. The highlighting of the importance of core discussion networks acting as social ties I find fascinating as well as true in my experience.

This is another area of culture that is creating upheaval in thinking when we try and rely on an old mode of comparison and an area that the digital age is turning on its head in all manner of inversions.

Some key parts:

␣
Americans are not as isolated as has been previously reported. We find that the extent of social isolation has hardly changed since 1985, contrary to concerns that the prevalence of severe isolation has tripled since then. Only 6% of the adult population has no one with whom they can discuss important matters or who they consider to be “especially significant” in their life.


␣
We confirm that Americans’ discussion networks have shrunk by about a third since 1985 and have become less diverse because they contain fewer non‐family members. However, contrary to the considerable concern that people’s use of the internet and cell phones could be tied to the trend towards smaller networks, we find that ownership of a mobile phone and participation in a variety of internet activities are associated with larger and more diverse core discussion networks. (Discussion networks are a key measure of people’s most important social ties.)


␣
Social media activities are associated with several beneficial social activities, including having discussion networks that are more likely to contain people from different backgrounds. For instance, frequent internet users, and those who maintain a blog are much more likely to confide in someone who is of another race. Those who share photos online are more likely to report that they discuss important matters with someone who is a member of another political party.


␣

When we examine people’s full personal network – their strong ties and weak ties – internet use in general and use of social networking services such as Facebook in particular are associated with having a more diverse social network. Again, this flies against the notion that technology pulls people away from social engagement.

Via David Weinberger - Staring at screens makes us more social
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Happiness

I often hear people say they just want to be happy - I mean, DOH, who really wants to not be. I often say "happiness is a journey, not a destination". I think this card from Postsecret blog is saying much the same thing.

Media_httpdnwallacecomimagesblog200910251124png_hecfkpziagfdkrq

Dave

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National Disability Strategy report - Shut out and Shut up

The report from the National Disability Strategy Community consultations and submissions held in late 2008 is now out.  

SHUT OUT: The Experience of People with Disabilities and their Families in Australia goes some way to divulging what people living with disability experience as their 'life' of existence in the wider Australian community.

I'm going to outline and quote some bits that stick out as I read through the report. This is good stuff as it's real stuff from real people. It'll be interesting to see what comes from it - though I expect the usual response - tokenism. 

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The report in HTML on FaHCSIA site:  


Alternative Format
Until the concept of disability disappears and is replaced by a society that is structured to support everyone's life relatedness and contribution—until that day my life and opportunities and the lives of every other person who carries the label ‘disabled’ depends on the goodwill of people in the human service system.Goodwill is no substitute for freedom.

  • Australians with disabilities are now largely free to live in the community. 
  • Once shut in, many people with disabilities now find themselves shut out.
  • People with disabilities may be present in our community, but too few are actually part of it. 
  • Many live desperate and lonely lives of exclusion and isolation. 
  • The institutions that once housed them may be closed, but the inequity remains. 
  • Where once they were physically segregated, many Australians with disabilities now find themselves socially, culturally and politically isolated. 
  • They are ignored, invisible and silent. 
  • They struggle to be noticed, they struggle to be seen, they struggle to have their voices heard.

...a clear picture emerged from the consultations and submissions. 
  • People with disabilities may be present in the community but most do not enjoy full participation in it. 
  • Discrimination and exclusion are frustrating features of daily life. 
  • People in wheelchairs cannot access the public facilities taken for granted by others in the community, such as playgrounds, swimming pools, cinemas, restaurants, hotels and cafes. 
  • Children with disabilities find themselves excluded from local kindergartens and schools. 
  • Qualified and competent candidates for jobs are rejected because of their disability. 
  • People with mobility aids have difficulty regularly accessing public transport. 
  • People with various disabilities are unable to access the aids, equipment and technology essential to their daily functioning, and are unable to access the support required to get them out of bed in the morning.
The general public believes much has changed in the past 30 years. And it is true that important gains have been made. But the prosperity of recent times has not been shared equally. People with disabilities feel forgotten. The tales told in the submissions are heart-wrenching and distressing. Page after page tells of suffering and despair. There is also enormous frustration and anger at a lack of progress after so long.

Many people described their lives as a constant struggle—for support, for resources, for basic necessities, for recognition. Over and over participants made the comment that it should not require such extraordinary effort to live an ordinary life.

 2009-08-13_1948.png

Virtually every Australian with a disability encounters human rights violations at some point in their lives and very many experience it every day of their lives.

"In this day and age, imagine if a person was told that they could only go to ten cinemas in Australia and to one of three sessions a week because of their gender, cultural background or religious beliefs."

The invisibility of people with disabilities and the dearth of independent advocacy and leadership opportunities also means too few people with disabilities have meaningful opportunities to contribute to the process of political and policy change.

More than half of the submissions received during the consultation process (56 per cent) said that services and programs act as a barrier to rather than a facilitator of their participation.

Executive Summary Conclusion:

The closure of institutions and the promise of community inclusion was one of the great social policy changes of the 20th century. But the social and economic segregation that has followed is harder to dismantle. Closing doors is one thing. Making fundamental changes to our policies and programs, and changing the way we think, is another. But as the participants in this consultation told us, they can no longer accept anything less.

People with disabilities want to bring about a transformation of their lives. They want their human rights recognised and realised. They want the things that everyone else in the community takes for granted. They want somewhere to live, a job, better health care, a good education, a chance to enjoy the company of friends and family, to go to the footy and to go to the movies. They want the chance to participate meaningfully in the life of the community. And they are hopeful. They desire change and they want others in the community to share their vision. They recognise that governments cannot work in isolation and they want others to see the benefits of building more inclusive communities.

For years people with disabilities have been excluded, forgotten and ignored. Now they demand to have their voices heard. As one respondent noted, admitting failure is the first step in fixing things. This report details the way things are broken. Now begins the long process of repair.

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Dave

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Using Posterous as a feeder

I'm trying to setup Posterous as a central place that will handle posting of stuff to my various sites. This is kind of a test.

The idea is to have one place to manage it all and have a central place to post to and have that feed into whichever service I wish. This is all done via email too which simplifies things, and google mail and posterous seem to handle preserving the layout well too.

It's easy with a single blog and single account on different services, but I have multiple blogs and on some services, more than one account - eg: flickr I have multiple accts.

I'm setting both my blogs up and using the feature that routes different posts to different services based on url and a # tag passed in the email address (see below).

So, this is being emailed to #blob@posterous.com which should post a copy to my personal blog at http://dnwallace.com/blog

You control where we post.
Just email the right address and we'll do the right thing.
Post Everywhere?post@posterous.com as usual
Twitter?twitter@posterous.com
Flickr? flickr@posterous.com
Facebook?facebook@posterous.com
Tumblr?tumblr@posterous.com
Any other blog? blog@posterous.com
Posterous only?posterous@posterous.com
Combine them!flickr+twitter@posterous.com
You can also address an email to #{text}@posterous.com and it will post to any site where the url contains that text.
#apple@posterous.com will go to apple.wordpress.com and flickr.com/apple, but NOT banana.blogspot.com.

Dave
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Post everywhere

You control where we post.

Just email the right address and we'll do the right thing.

Post Everywhere? post@posterous.com as usual
Twitter? twitter@posterous.com
Flickr? flickr@posterous.com
Facebook? facebook@posterous.com
Tumblr? tumblr@posterous.com
Any other blog? blog@posterous.com
Posterous only? posterous@posterous.com
Combine them! flickr+twitter@posterous.com

You can also address an email to #{text}@posterous.com and it will post to any site where the url contains that text.

#apple@posterous.com will go to apple.wordpress.com and flickr.com/apple, but NOT banana.blogspot.com.
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Hello World!

Dk-blue_001

Let's see what posterous can do.
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