Uhm…thanks Wise2owls. I think. Yes. Thanks.
Journal, Diary, & Blogging / The Collective Indoors Of The More-Or-Less Developed World (Analysis)
One of the terrible but beautiful things about YouTube.com is that, if you watch enough of the posted videos made by people in their own homes, you can begin to get a startlingly exacting picture of the content of the indoors of the more-or-less developed world. (For the sake of this story the more-or-less developed world is that part which has high-speed internet connectivity and inhabitants with computers powerful enough to take advantage of that connectivity).
There are millions of folks posting videos on YouTube and other similar sites and if you had the patience and a powerful enough memory (personal memory in your mind, that is… not the Random Access kind) you could also possibly begin to notice which cities you can see in the background through the video posters’ windows and figure out which parts of those cities those people live in. You can catch glimpses of important landmarks like the Astrodome, or Central Park, or Sydney Harbour, or the Sears building, or Broadway through those windows just behind the video people, beyond their book shelves and framed photographs and other assorted private trophies and ornaments. It is way cool when you do catch these glimpses through the windows because it is often unconscious and it adds an extra flavour to the presentation. Over time I am sure you could begin to identify the actual buildings people live in. You could triangulate their position against the position and perspective of the landmarks viewable through their windows and then, oh yes, then you could find the outsides of their buildings on Google Earth, figure out which street they live in, and maybe even zoom in on the street number. Then I guess the only polite thing left to do is to send them a package in the mail.
If you are still with me then imagine if this idea was ever to land in the laps of faceless, soul-less marketing conglomerates. There would suddenly be a huge demand for extremely high resolution video downloading software, with space-age zoom-in functions that would enable marketing company goons to read the fine print on the documents, wallets, files and letters casually left open on video posters’ nearby desks and chairs and cupboards. This software would also enable these marketing company goons to calculate the incomes, careers, hobbies and ages of all members of each video household (based on information gleaned from additional inanimate objects, artworks, pieces of clothing, room fittings, design styles, reference book types and approximate room sizes).
You can also see parts of some video posters’ bedrooms, of their living rooms, of their kitchens, of their hallways, of their front and back yards and balconies, way in the backgrounds of their videos – usually in partial shadow but chock-a-block with still more personal and private details about their lifestyles and leanings.
Yesterday I could have sworn I saw the almost identical living room window view of a mid-western American city that I had seen in another video from a few months ago.
The first one I think was about crochet techniques and ideas, and the second one was about playing the bagpipes. The videos were made by different people, in different languages, and the views out their living room windows were almost identical. Almost – just a slight degree of perspective was different from one to the other.
And their fireplaces were in exactly same place in the room, and the light fittings and the wall paint were identical as well.
I thought to myself : “I bet they live in the same freaking building.”
Lots of home-made videos are mundane, boring, and often they are senseless. When I see these kinds of videos it makes me feel somehow closer to the people in the videos. They don’t edit out discomforting bits, bloopers, and they don’t sanitise the background. They work without a script and you see them as who they truly are for those few moments and you think to yourself: “it is true… we are all the same.” But it is also during those videos that you have the chance to study the titles of the books they have on their bookshelves, to check out the photographs, the paintings, the post-it notes, and all other sorts of odd paraphernalia as well… looming quiet and still in the background while the video presenter themselves is frying your brain with indigestible recipes or wood-working tips or guitar riffs.
Now, I’m not saying it is an efficient way to build up an accurate picture of the collective indoors of the more-or-less developed world… but it will give you enough information to figure out for yourself pretty early on whether you should even bother trying.
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Deadsage reviewed Version 1 -
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goofygoober168 reviewed Version 1 -
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Interesting. Definitely engaging. I’d certainly bookmark your blog page, or subscribe or whatever…just to see what else you’d say.
I completely agree with what you’re saying here too…it is becoming too easy to see the intimate details of people’s lives and homes.
Kudos to ya.
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wise2owls reviewed Version 1 -
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In this journal one notices that he/she seems obsessed by the similarities in certain blogs on the internet. Not necessarily the worst thing to be fixated on but a rather unique spot or rather scene to be wondering about. The scenery out side the windows is almost the same as if these two people live in the same apartment building. The person who wrote this is intriqued by YouTube.com, enough so as to suggest someone take what is on the internet screen and google it, then send a package there. Sort of creepy but this reader likes it. Thank you for sending it to me.
Jacamo reviewed Version 1 -
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Very good observations,excellent attention to detail.The conclusions drawn by the author are indeed fitting to the self made videos on YouTube.No doubt there are at least a thousand marketing types looking at this stuff with greedy eyes and larcenous hearts.
KJEghdami reviewed Version 1 -
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This gives great insight at how easily someone could stalk you. It needs work in the spelling area, but only in a few places. Perhaps you were just typing fast. There are also a few punctuation errors. There are a couple of places with non-capitalized words that I think should have them. I think this shows great insight and talent, however, so I gave it a nine.
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