Let's try this again... (aka: Hello,again/what I really want this blog to be)

  Life in Los Angeles seems to be defined by what is private.  If it’s not exclusively private, it’s indoors (your car, your apartment, class, work, etc.)  I have lived in Los Angeles my entire life and am not entirely sure where public places exist and if they do, what goes on there? Who is going to these places?  What forms do these places take?

As a kid, my brothers and I would walk to the park up the hill to play with the other kids from the neighborhood. It was a place to meet new kids and see what type of people I lived next too. As I’ve gotten older, the space between my house and school, or my house and anywhere for that matter, is mediated by my car.  With my air conditioning, I don’t even breathe the air from outside.  My life as a kid seemed much more public, riding my bike to my friends house, taking the bus from school, picnics at the park.  Now, my life is largely experienced from my bed where I have easy access to the Internet.

While it would seem logical to use this blog to explore the public space outside of the enclosed areas I am so used to living in, instead I want to explore public spaces that do not occupy physical areas but rather digital “space.” A place that I can experience, as I said before, from the comfort of my bed. Going to Los Angeles parks, outdoor movie screenings or festivals, taking the bus home, talking to strangers on the street are activities that are mostly foreign to me and I also imagine that such things are also foreign to others like me who have grown accustomed to the convenience of the Internet and the level of accessibility it allows users.

I have spent time outside of Los Angeles in other cities where one of my favorite things to do was take the bus or subway, get off somewhere interesting, and then walk around for a few hours.  Los Angeles is not structured like most cities, so I wonder if the sprawled urban environment of Los Angeles is what contributes to my (and possibly other’s) engagement with people and culture through the web rather than through physical experiences. 

Such engagement has various implications, most of which are probably too sophisticated for me to even understand but, for example, various critics have set forth the idea that the Internet distills participants according to their specific interests, a similar segregative (I made this word up) quality seen in sprawled out urban environments like Los Angeles. I want to try to answer the questions I set forth at the beginning of this post but in the context of the Internet and the type of engagement/interaction/participation that occurs there.

Where do public places exist in Los Angeles? I suppose that would be parks and café’s and the like (I think that was killing two birds with one stone since I also just answered the forms public places take place…) To add another dimension to this issue of public space, does the Internet count in this discussion of public space? This blog will treat it that way. And finally, maybe the most important question, who is going to these places? That is, who is participating and engaging with the Internet.  I would imagine that would include most people living in a modern society, however by “who” I mean what types of people and for what purpose. 

In many ways, this post is the first step to answering these questions as it is a sign of a person (me) actively participating and engaging in this digital public space for the purpose of satisfying my curiosity… and fulfilling a writing requirement for school. I hope this turns out to be interesting.

Researching myself in circles/Provocative Post

I am currently writing a research paper about physical vs. digital public spaces. As part of that research, I'm looking into the merits of each, what does one offer that the other does not? Which is more effective when it comes to contributing to public discourse? Questions that I am really unable to answer stemming from the fact that most of my research is somewhat superficial and have only spent the last month investigating this broad topic. All I can offer is my own opinion and experiences which is what will follow in this post.

I don't really feel as though I operate within the public sphere… be it in the physical or digital sense. I do not attend townhall meetings or interact with people at Starbucks (see previous post) and discuss the current socio-political state of USC, California, the US, the World... And I believe that this blog is a testament to my lack of active/effective participation in the digital sphere. Honestly, both require a great deal of effort, time, confidence and really, knowing the right people to make my voice heard. I have had a level of experience with both. In High School I used to debate topics of “national importance” (I put this in quotations because it was for a mock government program) where I actually would discuss these topics with my peers from a fairly diverse background. And again, this blog is my attempt at digital participation.
Although there are different manifestations of the public space, that is the digital and physical, I believe that the obstacles of accessibility and of being heard exist almost on equal levels in both manifestations. I have argued in a previous paper that the internet allowed for mass mobilization among latino immigrant groups in Los Angeles. Such an event is fact and was documented in a dissertation by a USC student. While the dissertation examined the way these groups utilized social media to gain access to the discussion of how they are treated, I’m not entirely convinced that such an achievement is entirely indebted to the Internet. Social movements similar to this have, of course, occurred in the past, to a relatively high level of success. However, I will contradict myself by saying that in this particular case, in which personal videos taken of a riot where collected via the Internet allowed this group to circumvent traditional media forms (the evening news) to present their point of view. Something most likely impossible 30 years earlier. At the same time, this movement depended on an activist group to initiate this change and take the necessary steps to begin this mobilization process.
This post seems to be going nowhere (a symptom of the point I’m at in my research) but what I’m trying to outline is that access is still a central issue to political participation whether it takes places in the digital or physical realm. The Internet is not intrinsically open to all who wish to use it nor does it automatically give the participant a loudspeaker to enter the dominant/hegemonic discourse. There is a level of expertise and standing required to amplify that voice (seen in the activists groups mobilization of the individuals who took videos and America’s Representational democracy.) All that I have been able to discern from my research…and my opinion on this matter is that the Internet is merely and alternative to the physical, offering certain technological advantages such as user generated video, but is largely subject to similar issue facing the physical public sphere, access and voice.

wiiiifi

I’ve been noticing articles and blog posts concerning the presence of wifi in café’s and as someone who frequents Starbucks just to use their free internet, I feel like I might have something to say on this subject. As a student, the internet is essential to my education.  This is not an overreaction.  I communicate with my professors through email, am assigned electronic readings and many of my classes require that I turn in digital copies of my assignments through certain websites.  As a student, I also don’t have that much money (ie: I don’t have wifi at my apartment….this is kind of the result of a standoff with my roommate but whatever.) Thanks to the starbucks that is walking distance from my place, getting wifi is relatively easy. 

Wifi in cafe's-social place for digital access

social bookmarking soulmate?

Finding a social bookmarking soulmate is harder than it seems. especially when I don't completely understand how social bookmarking works and I find delicious to be really confusing and unorganized.  I don't like the internet sometimes. But here I am.

I think I found someone though (or as close as I could get to someone before I got to frustrated to continue.)


They have about 32312 bookmarks on their delicious accounts and extremely detailed tags. The one tag I was interested in was "government2.0" of  which there were 258 sites bookmarked with that tag.  However, I don't think this is a perfect match because my other interest "civicengagement" had only 1 tag.  There tagging process is extremely specific and organized, there were about 8746 tags categories, which was good helpful to me in finding whether they were interested in a similar topic to me, however there were very few, if any, comments added to the sites that were bookmarked.  One interesting site that my "soulmate" led me to was actually another blog: OpenSF that had a post about how governments use twitter that is perfect for the "readers" of this blog (I put readers in quotes because I have no readers) as it deals with public engagement with governments through the use of twitter which apparently leads to more influence.  which is pretty cool.

My soulmate also directed me to another blog simpl whose goal is this: "Simpl will connect government, business, nonprofits and individuals with ideas and resources to help them identify and solve problems." Awesome. I will definitely be looking more into that blog when I start doing more research on my paper and might also interest anyone who looks at this blog. The goal of simpl is somewhat different than what I am researching because it seems to regard government as a person and hopes to put them on equal footing with the rest of the public...which is something I had not considered before but really makes sense in terms of using the internet as a new, more easily accessibly public forum to communicate with government.  It sets up and also conforms to the idea of the internet as a somewhat utopian place where all participants are equal.  Here's a little tidbit I found pretty interesting in their FAQ section: "Another difference between the challenge approach and the Simpl approach comes in being able to step outside of your comfort zone and propose an idea or make a suggestion even in an area that is outside of your immediate expertise." I'm glad I found it.  Thank you social bookmarking soulmate.

Also, I would recommend checking this out: Citizen Experience.  apparently Gov2.0 is a commonly used term now like web2.0.  The origins are unknown however this site seems to epitomize it.  That is, using the internet (or web2.0...) to interact and hear form the public sector to affect public policy.  It's a North American company, but from the way they spell center (centre) I'm gonna say they're Canadian.  which is fine.

It looks like my soulmate bookmarks pretty frequently (at lest once a week) so I'm looking forward to whatever new sites I'm able to find through them and also go through the hundreds of sites they bookmarked under the government 2.0 tag.

"Democracies Need Physical Spaces" ?/ Midterm Revision

As I mentioned in my previous post, the purpose of this blog has somewhat changed.  I originally had set out to explore public places in Los Angeles because it became apparent to me that I had (and still have) very little physical interaction with the outside world, that is, the world outside my car, my home, the store, school, etc. And in the process of trying to discover the outside world, I have largely been disappointing.  I have yet to experience any rel interaction with strangers.  This is in part due to the types of outdoor activities I've attended (Cinespia's outdoor screening series, Glow) where there has always been a main attraction.  People go to see the movie screening or the art, not the people. Since then, I have become interested in another public space: the internet, which is a digital rather than physical "space" (is there such thing as space when speaking in digital terms?)

I just finished reading an interesting blog post from Dirt about the need for physical public spaces in urban cities (ie: parks) to enable "'non-structured and non-goal-orientated' interactions among many kinds of people. To cite the blog which cites Sarah Williams Goldenhagen

“[America[]has become more an archipelago than a nation, increasi

Social Media and Civic Engagement

So far, most of the topics on this blog have dealt with physical public spaces within an urban environment (ie: Los Angeles.) However, I'm hoping to change the direction of this blog a bit, focusing on public spaces and how we interact with each other in urban environments, but I will be focusing more on technology and the internet (the most public of spaces) and how those can contribute (if they contribute) to how citizens of an urban environment engage with each other.)

Here's a review on an article I read about how local governments are trying to use social media to create civic engagement in their communities:

Mann, Bonnie. "Cities embrace social media for public engagement." Nation's Cities Weekly 13 Sept. 2010: 3. Academic OneFile. Web. 20 Oct. 2010.

Bonnie Mann’s article on social media as a tool for public engagement argues that social media, a product of web 2.0, has enabled the development of activities that integrate technology, social interaction and content creation. However, in spite of this, many local government’s have been slow to pick up on this technology as a way of engaging with citizens and allowing citizens to engage with each other.
Mann brings up examples of certain local governments who have adopted this technology and the effectiveness of the social media. The authors relies mainly on facts and data to develop her argument (which, in essence is that social media can create lively and productive communities.) This article is more about presenting information rather than arguing the theoretical implications or what it means for the future of local politics in terms of their use of social media as a tool for productive civic engagement. Nonetheless, Mann’s tone seems optimistic, or at the very least, she is convinced that social media, as it continues to develop, will become a common tool utilized by local governments.
The article’s main strengths are its use of examples and its data, which could be utilized in a research paper about social media and civic engagement because of the empirical data it presents. Also, the article refers to various organization dedicated to the study of technology and government (Public Technology Institute, Fels Institute of Government,) which would be useful resources for a research paper. This is very current article, written a little more than a month ago so as far as the field of social media is concerned, which seems to be transforming and evolving constantly, is pretty relevant. Because of it’s brevity and length, the article serves as a good introduction to the topic of social media/civic engagement.

WHERE

anddd, I commented on another blog called Where on a post about the creative class:

I definitely see what I guess you could call the dangers of inviting the creative class into a city, and in doing so, risking gentrification.  You can see this happening (or it has already happened) in Silverlake and Los Feliz.  And even earlier than that Venice, Ca.  Importing or giving incentive for the “creative class” to enter a city has its ups and downs, and I don’t necessarily think that cities need to be reinvigorated with outside talent when that talent could very well already exist within that city and just needs to be found.

The “creative class” connotes, a certain hierarchy, that, just looking at local examples of this “creative class,” is young, middle class and white.  In effect, living in places like Los Feliz, became to expensive to live in (which is a good sign of economic progress) making it difficult the existing population could no longer live there (which kind of sucks.)  I wonder if there is a possible equilibrium between these different groups (or I guess you could say “classes”.)

allaboutcities.ca

hey,

So I recently commented on the blog allaboutcities that "explores the economy, society, communities, people, businesses, organizations, infrastructure, civil society and government of cities -- and the tensions and connections between them":

If found this post on wifi in cafes to be really interesting and I do see the value in places that are unplugged. However, as a college student without an internet connection in my apartment, cafes with wifi are a lifesaver and a necessity. My alternative is going to the library however I find that going to a café is more comfortable for me mainly because there is more freedom there (ie: not restrictions on food.)
As far as your comment that “reeloading internet access off restaurants and cafes may start to become very ‘low brow’ or ‘un-hip,’” I can see that happening to some customers but for customers like me, I don’t feel comfortable working on my computer in a café unless I see someone else with theirs. And to be honest, although I live and have lived in an “urban” city my whole life (Los Angeles,) I don’t really do so to “experience other people.” A problem, I know, but living in an urban city also grants me a sense of anonymity, even among a large group of people, say at a coffee shop, which allows me to get my work done. That is not to say that I do not want to experience others. I believe that getting experience is a problem in itself in the city I live in, and I am sort of curios how coffee shop socializing actually plays out and if engagement really does occur. Among what type of people? Someone commented about tiers of coffee shops resulting from wifi offerings and essentially choosing with coffee shop meet your needs. Would these “tiers” begin to distinguish one coffee shop goer set from another and in what ways? I think I may be taking this too far and I definitely am overanalyzing but is essence, I am interested to see what comes of these developments in terms of urban life.

GLOW

A few weekends ago, a friend and I went to GLOW, an outdoor, all-night, arts festival held in Santa Monica, CA.  Although not what I had originally anticipated,  glow embodied the type of integration of the public space, art, entertainment and community in a city I feel typically is unconcerned with this fusion.

As I've mentioned in previous blog posts, doing anything in Los Angeles is contingent on ones access to transportation, the most convenient being a car.  One major issue Los Angeles has, that all of my friends who come from somewhere other than Los Angeles, and even those who have lived here their whole life, complain about how difficult it is to get around without a car, and getting from West LA to East is a feat that, if lucky, takes 2 hours and a couple confusing transfers (all of which is a topic for another blog post.)  Going from USC to Santa Monica would have been really difficult (and even with a car, it was somewhat inconvenient to the increased traffic caused by the event and also the cost of parking....argh.) In fact, one of the reasons why I decided to attend Glow was because my roommate (who does not own a car...or a drivers license) asked me for a ride.

Fail

I have completely failed at getting out of my house.

...maybe I have this?  or am just lazy.

If I could go outside, I'd want to go somewhere that looks like this:

but I don't think it exists in Southern California.

As you can tell, I have nothing to write about but I will after this weekend when I go to Glow and I will write an amazing post about it.

Trio

Hello, World:

Hi.

This is going to be a blog about the outdoors.  Kind of.

Life in Los Angeles seems to be defined by what is private.  If it’s not private, it’s indoors (your car, your apartment, class, work, etc.)  I have lived in Los Angeles my entire life and am not entirely sure where public places exist and if they do, what goes on there? Who is going to these places? 

As a kid, my brothers and I would walk to the park up the hill to play with the other kids from the neighborhood. It was a place to meet new kids and see what type of people I lived next too. As I’ve gotten older, the space between my house and school, or my house and anywhere is mediated by my car.  With my air conditioning, I don’t even breathe the air from outside.  My life as a kid seemed much more public, riding my bike to my friends house, taking the bus from school, picnics at the park.  Now, my life is largely experienced from my bed where I have easy access to the internet.

I want to use this blog to explore the public space outside of the enclosed areas I am so used to living in.  Going to Los Angeles parks, outdoor movie screenings or festivals, taking the bus home, talking to strangers on the street…observing and hopefully becoming part of these public environments that at this point are mostly foreign to me. To offer some form of consistency, the places I visit will contain some sort of review (what I liked, how easy was it to access, will I return?) I’m also going to drag a few of my friends along with me and see how they like it, which should be interesting since most of them are not from Los Angeles and could add an interesting perspective to my experiences.  

Cinespia-Hollywood Forever Cemetary Screenings

A few weekends ago, a couple of friends and I went to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery screenings put on by Cinespia. I generally don't hang around cemeteries but I had been invited and it would have been rude not to go.  For those of you who have never heard of Cinespia and their Cemetery Screenings, it is exactly what it sound like.  Throughout the summer months, movies are projected onto the side of a mausoleum ranging from Hollywood Classics to Cult films and the audience sits (not on graves) and eat dinner. 

 

When I arrived with my friends after an hour in traffic (because you have to drive to get to the outdoors,) I had the overwhelming feeling that we came unprepared.  We had stopped by a Fresh and Easy to pick up some snacks (hummus, wine, pasta) but when we got there, people (obviously veterans) had portable barbecues, lawn chairs, coolers, pillows, etc.  You pay a $10 "donation" to get in (I put donation in quotes because I always think of donations as optional like, maybe I want to pay $5 this week but $20 the next, but you actually have to pay the $10...which is fine because it goes to the cemetery and upkeep, but still...)  Some dj's played some music to entertain us as we set up our blankets and ate dinner.  The smell of weed wafted over to our area and as the sun set over the tombstones,our movie began.  The Coen Brother's classic: Raising Arizona

Here's a trailer!

It's possibly the only good movie Nicholas Cage has ever starred and it seemed like the audience knew it because he practically received a standing ovation by the crowd when he stepped into frame.  That sort of thing is probably the best part of going to a cemetery screening --people go out of their way to get here and watch this movie and as a result, seem to become much more involved in what is going on, making for an overall more enjoyable movie going experience than one might get at the traditional multiplex.

The evening had started out warm but a quarter way through the movie, grew uncomfortably chilly.  I tried to imagine I was in an over air conditioned theater but when the bugs started biting, the illusion was broken. 

It kind of surprised me, the amount of people who attended this event.  It takes a lot of effort to actually go outside of your house in Los Angeles, and then add to that, you have to get out of your car...it doesn't seem very likely.  Cinespia feels like a cross between summer camp and a movie theater.  Although it was my first time there, I noticed people greeting each other in line, like they were seeing each other for the first time after a long school year.  But the screening we went to was the penultimate showing, signaling not just the end of this seasons Cinespia, but the end of summer.

The movie finished and the audience walked back through the cemetery, underlight creepily by multicolor lights....to liven up the place? like zombies walking back to their graves...sorrry. lame joke.

anyways, good times all around

voice

The voice of the Where Blog is difficult to pinpoint because there are 7 separate bloggers who contributed to content on the site. The voices range from ironic comments on modern cities to real in depth dissections of how cities are structured and the way people interact. Among all the bloggers there is an overwhelming connotation that we are all at the same level. In one blog post, “The Urban Path,” the blogger opens with: “Human navigation is a key component in the organization and form our cities take on. Whether we choose to walk, bike, take public transport, or drive, we are making choices that shape our experience of the city and that will transform the city itself over time.”

This is actually one of the driest blogs I’ve ever read, but blogs on my subject don’t seem that intent on infusing their personality into their subject matter. Which is strange given that many refer to “we” or “us” is their post, connoting a sense of community, which, it seems, is essential in any city. However, the majority of these blogs posts are straightforward dissections of urban developments, use of public space, technological advancements, etc, that help to characterize and forma city. For example, the post “Dhavari II: Does This Look Like a Slum” begins by quoting soundbites from international news sources on Dhavari. This post is concerned mainly with fact, consistently referring to experts in the field (ex: “According to Sharad Mahajan of MASHAL”) and citing data through links (official survey of Dhavari, Bombay Municipal Corportation, etc) to add legitimacy to their post and further their argument. Sort of like writing an essay, but shorter and less argued because essentially, they are preaching to the choir.

Other post take a slightly more casual approach, appealing to the sense of community that is connoted in an internet setting and the readership of the blog. In fact, the post in entitled “Informality, Enhanced” and just poses questions to the reader. The format corresponds to the title: it’s informal. The blogger asks: “Why is it that so many of the people out there studying/analyzing/writing about new urban trends, new technologies, new social configurations, etc. are either well past or fast approaching midlife?” insinuating that he is young and hip, or at least nowhere near approaching midlife and doing so appeals to his imagined audience (young twenty-somethings interested in new urban trends, new technologies, new social configurations, etc.) Essentially, he is like us. Then to finish up his post on how to make the modern, global world more informal, he asks “ Would anyone like to take a shot?,” simultaneously opening up the conversation to the internet/blogging community and using the modern AND informal colloquialism “take a shot.” He is also self deprecating, where earlier in the post he makes reference to his blog track record in which he receives few comments on his posts, making his asking questions irrelevant (but he wouldn’t write them if he didn’t think so) and making the discussion informal (although technically, if he thinks no one will comment to answer his questions, it's a discussion/conversation he is having with himself.)

profile post

http://allaboutcities.ca/turning-off-wifi-and-plugging-into-cities/

The author writing it is looking at cities from a personal, professional and academic view, which I think is a good combination for a subject like this. The blog post I'm looking at is about wi-fi offerings in cafe's and restaurants and that many of them are actually shutting off their wi-fi services because they found that what initially drew customer's in, is now deterring other customers from entering. The author writes that "It suggests that this cafe is for food, coffee and socializing, as well as being 'unplugged' and thinking without the distraction of constant information" and that it is "very urban–after all, why are people in cities if not to experience other people." I'm actually writing this at Starbucks right now because they have free internet...

the author of the blog provides research and analysis related to urban economic trends for a large Canadian real estate investment management company as part of her normal "day job" and I think this background is very relevant to the topics she covers (McMansions in historic neighborhoods, race, class and urban sprawl.) Basically, her log aims to dissect how a city works by looking at its economic and social forces. She's ranked 72497 on techorati. There are definitely elements of this blog that relates to my work...mainly the blog post I just cited. However, the author definitely has a more academic/professional approach to cities and a much deeper background in the sociopolitics of how a city functions, which is apparent in many of her posts. I feel my blog will be less professional and based more on personal observations and experiences. However, I think this blog will be a great resource in maybe helping me add a level of intellect to this subject which I really don't possess...

Hi.

This is going to be a blog about the outdoors.  Kind of.

Life in Los Angeles seems to be defined by what is private.  If it’s not private, it’s indoors (your car, your apartment, class, work, etc.)  I have lived in Los Angeles my entire life and am not entirely sure where public places exist and if they do, what goes on there? Who is going to these places? 

As a kid, my brothers and I would walk to the park up the hill to play with the other kids from the neighborhood. It was a place to meet new kids and see what type of people I lived next too. As I’ve gotten older, the space between my house and school, or my house and anywhere is mediated by my car.  With my air conditioning, I don’t even breathe the air from outside.  My life as a kid seemed much more public, riding my bike to my friends house, taking the bus from school, picnics at the park.  Now, my life is largely experienced from my bed where I have easy access to the internet.

I want to use this blog to explore the public space outside of the enclosed areas I am so used to living in.  Going to Los Angeles parks, outdoor movie screenings or festivals, taking the bus home, talking to strangers on the street…observing and hopefully becoming part of these public environments that at this point are mostly foreign to me. To offer some form of consistency, the places I visit will contain some sort of review (what I liked, how easy was it to access, will I return?) I’m also going to drag a few of my friends along with me and see how they like it, which should be interesting since most of them are not from Los Angeles and could add an interesting perspective to my experiences. 

I also want to explore what is the phobia or the seeming unwillingness for people like me to just go for a walk in this city and see where I end up or who I meet.  I have spent time outside of Los Angeles in other cities where one of my favorite things to do was take the bus or subway, get off somewhere interesting, and then walk around for a few hours.  Los Angeles is not structured like most cities, but I wonder if that is the only reason for why you rarely see people walking on the streets.

I think my first post is going to be on Cinespia, and outdoor screening series that takes place and the Hollywood Forever cemetery. It fits my qualifications mainly because it takes place outdoors but is also one of those rare cinematic experiences where members of the audience picnic, meet, interact, while sitting on someone’s grave.  I think that’s what you do…

This blog is, essentially, a way for me to try and relive my childhood.  It’s sad. But it is also meant to be a way for me to explore the city that I have lived in for 20 years (but I don’t think the first few years count…)