Friday, June 25, 2010

Google Me, Google You

I took about a year off from blogging in this space, instead writing/composing in everything from open and closed online communities to the private confines my Moleskin journal.  But when I was recently prompted to Google me (there's probably an Amanda Palmer sequel in here somewhere), I was struck by my scattered online selves.

I think there's a lot of that going around.  The more we create online, and the more information that gets published about us without our knowledge, the more our lives are archived.  We're everywhere.

Which seems different than before.  For a number of years, I've been collecting stories about my dad and digitizing them. I do this partly because when my siblings and I compare my dad's WWII stories, for instance, we often find gaps and inconsistencies in our collective memory. This video below is one attempt to create an archive of my own parents for my own kids, and their kids, etc.




A colleague expressed concerns about all the information we freely post on the Internet, that we're giving up too much of our privacy.  But I told her the same thing I tell my students – remember that grandpa can read anything you put online.  But now I'm thinking of a broader audience.

I need to remember that my grandkids may be reading this – even though I don't have any yet.