Comments on: The Aggregation Dilemma

By: speakum

speakum — Sun, 11 May 2008 18:38:32 +0000

So far I have not been able to find any of my web profiles with google, yahoo or msn. It would be great if you could always select which part of your information you want to be grabbed by the crawlers and which ones you prefer to keep private.

But as I said, none of my profiles (facebook and others) or the established blog of my University (http://speakumblog.blogspot.com/) can really be found. So, in that sense aggregators are not doing their jobs.

By: svartling

svartling — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:25:25 +0000

Interesting article. I think a “Lifestream” is a great way for others to consume what you publish on the net. Not for personal use.

By: sbspalding

sbspalding — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:49:57 +0000

I think with any data too the visualization aspect may be -the- real problem that needs to be solved before the tool is valuable.

By: sbspalding

sbspalding — Thu, 08 May 2008 19:48:53 +0000

What's interesting about the entire thing is that the Internet is also a giant archive. How many people would have known in 1996 that we would have so much access to information? How many people have grown and changed substantially since they first stepped on the web?

What will be interesting is when these doors are blown wide up. From an anthropological standpoint, I'd love to see the timeline of my web presence over the years but I bet there are plenty of people who would much rather that information stay under wraps.

By: ophelia_chong

ophelia_chong — Thu, 08 May 2008 18:36:43 +0000

There are many ways aggregation is being used now; Vanity, research, and keeping an eye on yours/theirs web presence. You are right that the web is an “open book”; it was a version of mass tourettes syndrome and then someone stopped and said “oh sh*t, I need to get rid of that photo”. Even now with Stop Gaps, there are security holes that can be abused by anyone with on a mission. Beyond finding the perfect Aggregation Tool, we have to Behave. Don't act online differently than you would in Real Life. The wall protecting you is no longer there (it was a figment of your imagination). If it's a photo you wouldn't show to your mother than don't upload it, if it's a comment you wouldn't say to your bosses' face, don't say it. Be Good.

By: cocoy

cocoy — Thu, 08 May 2008 14:29:26 +0000

Here's my thing, if people choose to make their life available online then they should be prepared to be deep search, to be aggregated, to be googled. some people want that or need that. Every forum you've visited and posted on, every comment you make in a website, every social network you're into, every blog post, it's all out there. especially if you use the same username. It's part of "the game" so to speak. it is expected. And you are right, all that information out there about you--- both good and bad, just out there for anybody to use..

So the past few years, i for example, compartmentalize things. i joined one social network where mostly my closest friends and my relatives are in. that social network allows people to limit who sees what. family photo you don't want your friends to see? great. it has a check box for that. so it's somewhat "secure".

Guess what i'm trying to say is that, online--- you are just like a celebrity. Life's an open book. It's part of the game, to be an open book. while at the same time, people also have the technology to limit what others see about them, and it would definitely depend on the person, i would think, what he or she wants to share online.

though when it comes to aggregation, i for one mean it in the context of web services that i like but like everything else in life, it can be a double-edge sword and used for evil ways.

By: ophelia_chong

ophelia_chong — Thu, 08 May 2008 08:01:34 +0000

DNA. We store everything we need to clone/recreate/research ourselves in our DNA. It's contained within our bodies. We do leave bits here and there (the CSI effect) like throwing popcorn behind us so that we can find our way home. It's the same effect on the web. How do we gather our web DNA? We send out markers that are inherent only to us. If we could create a digital form of our DNA that only we could use online, than that solves the problem of other people gathering information on us. Of course there is always Google, but a digital DNA marker would dig deeper and find what is only “me”.

By: Ray Grieselhuber

Ray Grieselhuber — Thu, 08 May 2008 07:31:41 +0000

This is a great post and it's one of the problems I'm trying to approach with Gridjit (http://gridjit.com). A new version is coming soon that supports FriendFeed but I agree with you that it (true aggregation) shouldn't stop there.

Part of it is data aggregation and part of it is finding a way to visualize the aggregated data. The question is how to make that aggregated data useful. What actions should you take? How can you use this aggregation to further promote your personal brand?