What Does the Internet Know About You?

I read the article "What the Ultra-Personalized Internet Is Hiding from You" by Eli Pariser, and as a soon-to-be librarian am embarrassed to admit that I was surprised by some of what it shared. It said that "in polls, a huge majority of us assume search engines are unbiased." I know I did....Oops.

I knew that Gmail used information in my emails to recommend advertisements for me. Facebook does the same thing.  What surprised me was that this personalization stretched to the results I see in the Google search engine. The author had two friends of similar demographics search Google for the same thing, and  they were each shown significantly different results. 

How does this happen? "According to one Wall Street Journal study, the top 50 Internet sites each install an average of 64 data-laden cookies and personal tracking beacons when you visit them." They then use these tracking devices to spit back information that is similar to what you have viewed in the past. This is how Facebook decides what to show in your Top News Feed. 

This means that you are shown information that you are more likely to be interested in, that aligns with your likes, values, and beliefs. So this is a good thing, right? In some ways I think it is. Facebook ads have led me to artists and charities that I did not know of before and now support. I'm also rocking out to a 1990s summer hits mix on Pandora as I type this all thanks to digital personalization.

What I worry about is that "all of this personalization isn't just shaping what we buy....The algorithms that orchestrate our ads are starting to orchestrate our lives." If the information we retrieve from search engines is customized to our already held beliefs and preferences, how will we access well-rounded information? If Facebook is only showing us posts by people we agree with, couldn't we quickly come to think that our views are only views on an issue?

Also, "while Google has (so far) promised to keep your personal data to itself, other popular web sites and apps...make no such guarantees." A giant market is actually growing, revolving solely around collecting data about internet users. The internet started as "an anonymous medium where anyone could be anyone" but it has morphed into "a tool for soliciting and analyzing our personal data" where your views and preferences may be unknowingly used to shape what you think and what you buy. 

Though once true, now the internet likely even knows what breed of dog you are.

This is a scary thought, but there are steps you can take to avoid it. Awareness is the biggest step. You can also check out GOOD Magazine's easy guide How to Stop Websites from Tracking You and AboutCookies.org's guide How to Delete Cookies. Inform yourself and take action, but use this personalization to your advantage too.

Now it's time for me to listen to Ace of Base on my Pandora mix.

Freedom

It's July 4th, so in the United States the word of the day is freedom. Freedom is one of those words that I hear so often in American rhetoric that it has begun to lose its meaning for me. This may have started when some Americans were mad at France and decided that they would replace the word French with the word Freedom in all food products.

 Freedom evokes images of flags and soldiers, but what were (are) they fighting for? Librarian that I am soon to be, I looked up freedom's dictionary definition.


Freedom: the state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. 


The state of being free or at liberty rather than in confinement or under physical restraint. What are things that can cause confinement or physical restraint, from which all people have the right to be free? Lack of access to food, shelter, safety, clean water and air, healthcare, and education to start. All cause confinement and restraint and all stem from poverty. Eradicating these things may be why our country is entangled in several wars. 


I pray for everyone who is serving in the armed forces to protect freedom. But what about the rest of us? On this day that Americans celebrate freedom, let us ask ourselves, what are we doing to help those in need, to eradicate the plague of poverty that separates people, including many Americans, from freedom?

Bike Snob

The Tour de France started yesterday and I've decided to use it as inspiration to get back in the saddle (yes, I went there) with blogging. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but within the last year my husband became a serious cyclist. He rides to work, rides for fun, and rides to raise money for charity. I'd never thought much about cycling, but now it is a common topic of conversation in our home. I've also been bringing books about cycling home from the library for Jason to read. Most of them have been either technical books or biographies of cyclists, but this one had Jason laughing out loud. He liked it so much that I decided to give it a read.

I am by no means a cyclist (I haven't even been on a bike since our trip to the beach last summer.), but I enjoyed Bike Snob: Systematically & Mercilessly Realigning the World of Cycling by the blogger BikeSnobNYC. I liked learning about the cycling's history

and the different types of cycling that are popular today,

but the author's witty tone and the book's artwork and design are what made the book for me. An example: below is the title page for the chapter about cycling safety and etiquette.

This is a humorous, informative read that I'd recommend to everyone and say it is a must read for anyone who is or loves a cyclist.

Realizing the Obvious

Lately I've been (finally) realizing some things that are really quite obvious: I am not perfect. I will never be perfect. I cannot do everything. And... No one expects me to be perfect. No one expects me to do everything.

These are things that I would have said that I knew for a long time. I knew them, but I didn't feel them. I knew that logically I could not be perfect, but I still expected myself to never fail... at anything, ever. And I would view any little mistake as failure. Ironically, my standards were so high that they were unreachable, so in my view I was constantly failing. That's a hard way to live your life.

Somehow it's really been sinking in that no one expects me to be perfect. If I make a mistake that doesn't mean that I'm not intelligent, conscientious, hard-working, or kind-hearted. It just means that I made a mistake. And learning that I'm not expected to be perfect doesn't mean that I've lowered my standards for myself. I still aim to do my best. But I'm learning to be forgiving of myself and to recognize that I can do something well even if it isn't perfect.

I just found this quote while looking for photos for this post, and it really speaks to me. (I actually like that the word "lose" is spelled wrong in the image. I think it makes a great point.)

That is all that my perfectionism is: fear. Fear of being wrong. Fear of failure. Fear of disappointing others. I don't want to live a fearful life. I want to live a creative, joyful life.

And so, though I'm not sure if this post makes sense, I'm going to bed. Because this post, like me, doesn't have to be perfect.

My Dog Tweets

My last post was a bit glum so I feel the need to write something cheerful. One of the happiest parts of my life has always been my pets. Up until mid-high school I thought I would be a zoologist when I "grew up," and my parents let me have a small menagerie of animals to prepare for my future career. I had the normal childhood pets like hamsters and fish. I also had guinea pigs, hermit crabs, lizards, a hedgehog, and a chinchilla (though not all at once). We didn't get a dog until I was 14. She was a Bichon Frise named Sophie, and I called her my happy puppy. A year later, we rescued another dog, a Yorkie named Shooter, who still lives with my dad.

Fuzzy Sophie

Tropical Shooter

My husband and I have two dogs – Marley, a lab/poodle mix (aka labradoodle) and “her dog Melvin.” We don't know what breed Melvin is, some sort of scruffy terrier mixed with a pit bull terrier, probably. Marley and Melvin have definite personalities. Marley is a 60 pound lap dog who I call my snuggle bug. Poor Melvin was neglected for his first year or so before we rescued him, which left him with an insatiable need for attention. As I watched the different personalities in the dogs, I started giving voice to them. Eventually, I started writing emails from M&M, mainly from Marley, to my husband when he would go out of town for work. On several occasions Jason said that Marley should start a blog. I thought about it, but she just didn’t seem to have enough things to say for a blog. Eventually I decided on Twitter.

I figured I’d do it just for me. It’s a fun creative writing project and it makes me smile. I didn’t think anyone would follow her…. I was wrong. @TheMarleyBug now has over 1,700 followers. That’s crazy!

Here are some of my favorite Marley tweets. I hope they make you smile too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

i am napping upside down!

we went to the dog park! a dog licked my head!

i wish i was a cat! ha ha! #aprilfools!

my dog melvin sat on daddy’s keys and made the car go beep beep!

i could not decide where to hide my bone so I fell asleep with it under my head!

mommy thought my dog melvin ate her shoe! i just threw up part of it! i don’t know how that got there!

uh oh! i ate some of daddy’s skettios!

my dog melvin wants to tweet! Lllllllllllll.ij cf bn dyuhhhjbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbcxdgfb he isn’t good with the computer box!

when the #steelers #football men come on the tv box they say their name and school! i would say marley freyer! @petsmart!

i decorated my dog melvin for christmas! http://twitpic.com/3c8xnk

Online Degree Slump

It's midday on Thursday and I'm wearing sweats and sitting on my couch. Day off? Actually, it's one of busiest school days of the week. I'm working full-time on a Masters of Library and Information Science (MLIS) from the University of Pittsburgh, and I'm doing the entire degree online.

I decided to be an online student (and a full-time student) out of necessity. I work part-time at my local library and felt I had to do the degree online to have time for both work and school. There are a lot of benefits to an online degree. I can fit school to my schedule. I don't have to commute from the South Hills to Oakland. I don't have to try to park in Oakland. I save money on gas and parking. I can do school work in sweat pants (which, I guess, some on campus students do too). Lately, I've been feeling my enthusiasm for school waning, and I think part of that is due to the online format of the degree.

I've always been the nerdy girl who loves school. I may not have loved the experience of school (jr. high comes to mind), but I love learning. So, I was excited to start my MLIS last May. Summer semester went well. Last Autumn I had a lot of extra hours at work, which made balancing work and school a challenge. I did well, but was very happy for winter break. Now I am halfway through my degree and a bit into this semester. And I don't feel excited about school like I usually do. I'm on top of my schoolwork. I like what I'm learning - it is interesting and pertinent to my interest of working in public libraries. But, I feel kind of ready to be done working on this degree. Part of this is a halfway through slump. Part of it is just because the weather is gray and cold. But part of it is because I miss the personal interaction of going to class.

The way this degree works is that each class has online and on campus students. The on campus students meet each week, and the session is recorded then posted so that the online students can watch the video. So, I don't go to class; I watch class. Some online classes incorporate weekly live chats over an instant messaging system. All of my classes rely heavily on discussion boards. On campus students have discussions in class, online students type out their discussions asynchronously on discussion boards. I learn a lot through discussion boards, but for me - and extrovert - it just isn't the same. We do meet in person once a semester for one class session, which does give the opportunity to meet classmates and professors, but briefly.

It just hit me today how much I miss actually discussing the topic matter in person. I miss having professors who recognize me, who really know me. As an online student, what my professors know about me is what I show through the discussion boards, assignments, and emails. Since the professors don't actually know me in person, I feel like every time I start typing for class I have to prove that I'm a good student.

I looked up some articles about online learning. One said, "Without direct physical contact and interaction with other learners or an instructor, online students can lose their interest or motivation mid-way through their course or program." That's it! That is just what I'm feeling. I'm glad that I'm not alone. I read different studies and statistics about the quality of online learning. Some said that retention decreases in an online setting, some said online learning increases performance. All said that it requires a lot of personal direction and self-discipline. A professor at Robert Morris University stated that online 20% of people who attempt an entirely online degree actually complete it. 20%! That's a pretty low number.


Though I'm feeling a bit lackluster about school right now, come August 8th of this year, I will be in that 20%. I still love learning and I love libraries. Maybe I just need a little sunshine.

Hope Not Despair

I'm sure you've heard about the terrible shooting that took place in Arizona on Saturday. And you've probably heard the different political pundits pointing fingers saying that it happened because of the political climate caused by one side or the other. These accusations break my heart - that people would use a tragedy to propegate their political agenda and derogate the other side.

Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart reflected on this in a seldom seen serious moment. He said that political pundits "find the tidbit or two that will exonerate their side from blame or implicate the other...watching that is as predictable as it is dispiriting." As much as Stewart thinks that there are serious problems with the political system and the way political pundits act, he doesn't blame the system for the shooting. "Boy wouldn't that be nice?" he said, "if we just stop this [insert political problem here] the horrors will end." It would be nice to have a scapegoat, something specific to fix to ensure that a tragedy like this will never happen again, even better if that something is a thing that we strongly disagree with anyway. That would be nice, but it isn't true. There isn't one thing to fix. The situation is terribly disheartening, but Stewart said, "I refuse to give in to this feeling of despair."

I too refuse to give in to this feeling of despair. My heart breaks for the people who were hurt or lost their lives and for all of the friends and family. My heart breaks, but it will not despair. I cannot let go of hope for something better, or what is the point of this life? I agree with Jon Stewart that we need to take this tragedy as an inspiration to make our world better.

If you read my husband's blog you've read this news story related to the shooting. (I will note, that I found and was planning on blogging about this story before I read Jason's blog. Great minds think alike?) There is a group of people who call themselves a church who are planning to protest the funeral of Christina Green, the nine-year-old girl who was shot and killed, because she was Catholic and these people believe that God hates Catholics. I can't express the sorrow and rage that filled me when I read this. How easily could I have despaired? But I kept reading the article. There is another group of people who have planned an "angel action" in response. They are going to wear large angel wings and silently surround the outside of the church where the funeral will be held. This will surround the mourners in a protective shield from the protesters. The angel action participants are not planning a counter protest; they are simply allowing those affected to grieve in peace. What a beautiful, simple action coming from a horrible action!

I am not a Pollyanna, only looking at the good things and ignoring the bad. I see the bad, and I feel these things deeply. But I also see hope. I look for hope. Sometimes I have to desperately seek for it. But it is always there. And we are always able to create it. Which brings me back to one of my very favorite quotes, and a description of how I try to live my life:

"We need to be the change we wish to see in the world.” -- Mohondas Ghandi