omegle.com 4/9/2009 1200pm

I talked to a Finn with omegle.com stranger-chat. He was really nice.

Connecting to server...

You're now chatting with a random stranger. Say hi!

Stranger: Hey!

You: Hey man!

You: What's up?

Stranger: nothing much

Stranger: u?

You: the usual

Stranger: yeah

Stranger: from?

You: Seattle

Stranger: cool

You: how about you?

Stranger: Helsinki Finland, far away

You: Finland is awesome

Stranger: have u been here?

You: I really want to go

You: and I own a nokia

Stranger: u should, its nice

Stranger: cool

Stranger: i've always wanted to go to seattle

You: I studied scandinavia in college

Stranger: cool

You: seattle is real nice

You: lots of Finns

Stranger: wow, i did'nt know

Stranger: is it summer over there?

You: spring

Stranger: here its still cold

You: cloudy and a bit of rain

Stranger: we have still some snow

Stranger: :D

You: how do you feel about Karelia?

Stranger: well, its sad because it was part of our culture...but nothing you can do about it

You: yeah, it is sad

Stranger: we still want it back:D but its impossible

You: Russian would never give it back

Stranger: no they wont

Stranger: they've ruined it, they dumped nuclear waste there

You: oh really?

You: that is terrible

Stranger: yes, it was on the news

Stranger: long time ago but still

You: yeah, that is really awful

Stranger: the lakes are toxic now

Stranger: but we still have our beautiful nature over here

Stranger: thousanda of lakes

You: there is a river near seattle that had a nuclear power plant on it

Stranger: thousands

Stranger: oh?

You: and it got really contaminated

Stranger: thats sad

You: yeah, it was near an indian resevation too

Stranger: oh, that sucks

You: so what drove you to talk to strangers?

Stranger: i don't know...first time here, but it seems there are a lot of idiots here, you not of course

You: haha, yeah

You: its easy to be an idiot when its anonymous

Stranger: but i like to learn more about people and other countries

Stranger: true

You: I am really interested in why people talk to strangers

Stranger: yeah?so whats you theory?

You: I don't think people do so enough

You: I work in a museum

Stranger: true, they never do on the streets, but here it's so easy

You: and my job is to get people to interact with eachother

Stranger: its funny

You: I know!

Stranger: oh, cool

You: so this is like a safe place

Stranger: yeah, funny indeed

Stranger: imagine how the world would be if we would talk like this outside, face to face?

You: I think th world woould be a much better place

Stranger: thats so true

Stranger: we acctually have much in common with other people, it doesnt matter wat country, sex or culture

Stranger: what

You: I think talking to strangers is the best way to get new views, and at the same time understand how similar we all really are

You: exactly

Stranger: but in our country it would be considered strange and weird to talk to some stranger

You: Same in the US

Stranger: yes, i get your point

Stranger: this is a good idea

You: The only people who really talk to strangers on the street are considered "crazy"

Stranger: this website

Stranger: true, how has that happened?

You: I think people are just nervous about interacting with others

You: especially outside

You: it is different in a bar, or at a party

Stranger: yeah, its funny that we need alcohol to talk to people

Stranger: ridiculous if you think about it

You: it is!

You: When I meet someone friendly on the street and have a conversation it makes me feel so good

You: but at a bar, it feels forced until you're both drunk

Stranger: thats true....it happens so rarely nowadays, but thats makes it even more special

Stranger: true

Stranger: sorry abouy my english, its not so perfect:D

Stranger: about

You: its really good, actually

Stranger: have you met any finns before?

You: A few, yeah

You: I work with some

Stranger: i've met a couple, and also someone from australia

Stranger: oh cool

You: and lots come to my museum

Stranger: so you know some finnish already

You: hah, no way

Stranger: :D

You: but I read the kalevala

Stranger: cool

You: Okay man, I need to go to work

Stranger: i hate when people start with asl, and then disconnect after that:D

You: thanks for talking to me!

Stranger: ok, no problem, seetake care

Stranger: Buy

You: Talk to someone on the street for me

You: :)

Stranger: i will

Stranger: :D

Something a bit different: The quarters game

I am talking a class with Nina Simon of Museum 2.0 through the University of Washington's Department of Museology. On Sunday we met for the first time at the Woodland Park Zoo and were tasked with creating circumstances in which strangers would talk to each other.


I joined forces with Kelly and Katie and devised a scavenger hunt style game based on a pile of Canadian and American currency. The game was extremely simple: we set a pile of Canadian and American coins on the ground near the Northern Trails exhibit at the Woodland Park Zoo with the following four instructions:

1. Take a coin.
2. Find the animal.
3. Ask for help (if you need it)
4. Give the coin to someone else!

Some people were confused by the game and asked those around them if they knew what the game was all about and who set it up. Others, particularly children, were totally into reading the rules and selecting a coin to explore the zoo with.

I am still battling with the value of this game. I know it accomplished a few things like helping people explore the Zoo, and prompting social interaction, but it didn't do much for the Zoo's mission: saving animals and their habitats through conservation leadership and engaging experiences, inspiring people to learn, care and act.

We have been talking a great deal about social objects as things that draw individuals together, which is great, but I feel like something is missing. So, let me try to fill this gap by introducing a new concept: the focus object. A focus object is something that gives an individual a reason to do something; the object focuses the individual's attention toward a specific task or activity, like finding an animal or talking to someone else.

In the quarters game the coin itself wasn't inherently social (although currency is a part of many social interactions). Rather, the coin focused the players on a specific objective (find the caribou) which may have allowed for a richer, more potent zoo experience. The social aspects of the game (ask for help, give the coin to another) were secondary to finding the animal. The coin itself is a small prize for achieving the objective, but what is more important is that the player found the animal and (hopefully) learned something because they were focused on completing the game.

Before we set up the quarters game at the Northern Trails exhibit, we tried it out with a family near the Raptor Center. The Raptor Center is basically a fenced-off field in which Zoo keepers handle predatory birds before an audience. We approached a family of four with the new Idaho state quarter and asked if they would help us figure out what kind of bird was on it. We gave the quarter to a young boy who approached a neighboring family to ask if they could identify the bird. Unsuccessful, the boy returned to us and we suggested that he ask a nearby zoo keeper. The boy was nervous, but his parents were really into the game at that point and led him up to te front of the crowd to ask his question. It turned out that the zoo keeper knew about the idaho quarter, and that the bird she was holding, a peregrin falcon, was the bird featured on the quarter. The boy was really excited by his discovery and the parents thought the game was pretty cool. We told the boy that he could keep the quarter and distributed stickers. Everyone seemed to come away from the game really happy.

In this situation, the boy was given a specific task with a variety of avenues for completion. He chose to ask other visitors for the information that he needed, but he could have looked around for signs or looked the answer up on dad's iphone. Once the task was completed, the boy recieved a prize. While the experience could have occurred without the coin, the quarter focused the boy on a specific goal and gave him a reason to interact with others.

Facespacetwitterverse

This study by the Pew Internet & American Life project shows that as of December 2008, 11% of American adults on-line use the micro-blogging service Twitter. But as Twitter grows, how will it turn itself into a viable, profitable business. Yesterday was April Fools Day and Wired Magazine tweeted about Twitter Inc.'s plan to make money. Har. But it cuts to the relevant issue that these services, not just limited to Twitter, which we all use and take for granted, are not generating huge revenue, nor are they operating sustainably. An astute individual would understand that Twitter will not be around forever. It is a potent tool to use right now, but it will drop off at some point, and some newer, better, more innovating tool will emerge. Our job is to know what to adopt, and what to drop it.