Developing Usable Experiences

Communication Shutdown for a Cause

November 1st, 2010 6:21 am —  16 views

My wife’s cousin and his wife are participating in a “communication shutdown” today that is a campaign to raise funds and awareness about autism in countries around the world. The shutdown part involves not posting to Facebook or Twitter during one day (Nov. 1st). I’m not sure if participants are allowed to access those services or not but, but certainly there is to be no posting…beyond the post from the App saying they aren’t communicating because of this cause.

And it’s a good cause: raising awareness about autism and Asperger syndrome. Families or individuals affected by either need help understanding these disorders and how to live with them. And people do live with them. I don’t know much about either but am slowly learning more. I’m part of one of those families.

This isn’t Facebook, it isn’t Twitter, it isn’t a social networking service like those. However, there is some socializing that takes place. Commenting is interaction. Facebook and Twitter, while being similarly asynchronous communication mediums, are increasingly synchronous. That distinction means you are interacting with others, who are aware of each other, during time specific periods like sporting events and holidays.

Is blogging a form of social communication, in the ranks of Facebook and/or Twitter? I started pondering that this morning, thinking about how raising awareness of something means communicating information about it. Donating is involved as well. These programs need funds to support the communication costs associating with raising awareness. I imagine you can give at any time. What I don’t know is if you’ll forever after be on their communication lists.

Which is why I thought I would help by communicating to raise awareness.

It’s time insensitive (I’m assuming) because autism and asperger syndrome aren’t just going to go away and I don’t really know who reads this anyway. I have an idea if these posts are actually read. There is little interaction and what interaction there is tends to be widely asychronous. So I don’t think it’s like Facebook or Twitter that much.

These blog posts are just me gathering or sifting thoughts in a way that I’m ok with someone else seeing. The act of writing is sometimes helpful to me, but it’s not easy. It’s like brain exercise. Maybe the goal of such exercise is to write stories or a book. Something more interesting than my random mutterings on my life and interest in human-computer interactions.

Image: This is an eerie picture I took of a deer inside a shed near an archery range in the middle of the Outdoor Discovery Center near Holland, Mi. It kind of freaked me out a little. The place was deserted and cold and then I saw this deer looking out at me.

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