Social media madness: twitter to tumblr?

≡ Category: Gear and tech, Semi-daily thoughts | ≅ Leave a Comment

I opened my twitter accounts (@lunamania and @djtoro) when twitter really was mostly about what people ate for lunch. Pretty useless, but kind of amusing. Then more people joined and God, Darth Vader and Oprah joined so we now have a never ending twitterverse of useless information to wade through. But somewhere along the way, the sheer number of twittering people, organizations and dieties evolved into a twitterverse offering a particular collective interpretation of real world events that is instantly accessible by anyone with an internet connection (assuming you’re not in a country that censors content).

Given the demographics of twitter users and the 140 word limit, notable twitter trends lean towards the tech heavy (#Amazon Fail) or just trendy (#Susan Boyle). And most times, hoards atwitter about a topic don’t generate any new information per se, but only indicate that lots of users are thinking/reading about that topic (#Swine Flu). In fact, the 140 character limit poses a hard barrier to developing and sharing analytical thoughts.

This all makes me wonder if people will eventually seek out more robust techniques to share their ideas, articles, artwork, etc. If so, I agree with Andrew Davis that Twitter is Done. Tumblr is Next. Tumblr has been around for a while, but until now, it felt a bit like an in-between platform. It was the dead simplest way to start a fairly content rich and personalized blog/tumblelog. That said, at the time it was released, if you had the geek factor to be interested in blogging, WordPress and blogger were just as easy and offered more customization. I set up my Tumblr account mostly to take advantage of Tumblr’s one-click publishing capacity and stream various articles that caught my eye into this blog.

Now that more people are sharing and creating online content, I think Andrew’s article is onto something. Maybe twitter has primed more people to create richer online identities. The caveat is the premise that people actually want to engage in a deeper, more substantive way with each other. On my up days, I imagine an informed cyberworld where respectful, passionate and analytical discussions take place and shape real world events and relationships. But most days are spent contemplating the sheer number of dumb asses twittering about how much porn they watch at work. It’ll be interesting to see how all this evolves.

In the meantime, I’m trying to sort out how to manage and integrate multiple social media accounts. I’m interested in hearing your ideas.

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A history lesson for Japan’s immigration policy

≡ Category: Politicking, Semi-daily thoughts | ≅ Leave a Comment

Conservative Japanese policymakers are experts at revisionist history, but they may want to consider Japan’s position nearly 100 years ago.

A NY Times article from April, 1919 describes Japan’s effort to seek relief from racially discriminatory U.S. immigration policies. It turns to Dr.Sidney Gulick, Secretary of the American National Committee for the Constructive Immigration Legislation to explain Japan’s objection to racially exclusionary immigration laws:

“Japan…is asking for stoppage of differential race legislation, which is humiliating to her… Japan feels humiliated because, although we give citizenship to many, we deny it to them merely because they are Japanese. We assume that because they are Japanese they cannot possess intellectual or moral fitness for citizenship. This is clearly not a question of immigration, but of race humiliation.”

Really, Japan? Well, say hello to the most recent policy towards Nikkei Brazilians. An “enticing” “opportunity” to accept ~$3000 and air fare to Brazil. Be sure to read the fine print because it’s a one-way ticket. That’s correct it’s de facto permanent abolishment from ever working in Japan. Oh and just to be safe, your kids will not be allowed to seek work in Japan either.

According to a United Nations report, Japan has the fastest growing elderly population in the region and one of the lowest birth in the world. This means an alarming shrinkage in the working age population. In order to maintain a productive labor force, Japan will need 17 million immigrants by 2020, or 381,000 between 2005 and 2020.

So….a one-way ticket for Nikkei Brazilians and their descendents: not the most forward thinking economic policy. But Jiro Kawasaki of Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party had this to say:

“We should stop letting unskilled laborers into Japan. We should make sure that even the three-K* jobs are paid well, and that they are filled by Japanese,” he said. “I do not think that Japan should ever become a multiethnic society.” NY Times, April 22, 2009.

A disturbing, yet clear symmetry to U.S. and Japan’s historical immigration policies: use them and lose them.

*Three-K jobs are kitanai, kitsui, kiken: dirty, difficult, dangerous.

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Sheriff Joe has got to go!

≡ Category: Politicking, Semi-daily thoughts | ≅ Leave a Comment

Immigrant rights advocates have long opposed the practice of “deputizing” local law enforcement agencies to enforce complex Federal immigration laws. The movement got a boost yesterday when Ryan Gabrielson and Paul Giblin won a Pulitzer Prize for their 5 part series exposing the human costs of such policies in Maricopa County, Arizona. The county’s Sheriff Jeff Arpaio is notorious for re-introducing chain gangs, charging inmates for the 2 meals they receive daily and terrorizing Latino residents. His ruthlessness has made him a target of a national campaign to revoke Maricopa County’s deputizing agreement.

Send a letter telling Janet Napolitano to give Joe the boot.

Read the prize winning article here.

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