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An educated populace is the cornerstone of a successful, affluent culture and a necessity if the United States wants to remain competitive. Our education system is the framework that enables and prepares America’s youths to support, lead, and drive America’s future.  Education, more than any other factor, is responsible for America’s success. It is for that reason that the current shift in enrollment and completion rates among males in higher education may be seen as a crisis. It is immensely disturbing and potentially disastrous.

While there are a lot of theories as to the cause, no one has been able to accurately explain why young male Millennials are abandoning the education system and especially, higher ed. The lion’s share of the discourse on the subject has focused on the increased presence of females in higher education, the shifting nature of male’s roles in society, and other similar concepts. While these may be factors, I believe they overlook the true cause and scope of the issue.

The Cause

The infusion of brilliant young female minds into higher education is a wonderful thing and there is without question some validity to the observations made that womens’ aptitudes are better suited to the standard classroom format. That said, I don’t believe the introduction of women to higher education is what’s causing men to drop out.  Rather, we are seeing a surge in the individual student’s ability to learn and comprehend in a more complex reality. The issue stems from the way members of the Millennial generation are developing and their use of complex, multi-tasking skill sets that have been honed in the daily practice of video gaming, internet access, chatting, and involvement in online social networks.  Simply put, tech savvy Millennials are not being engaged or challenged by the one-dimensional delivery systems in a majority of today’s classrooms. They are not interested in sitting passively and having information spoon fed to them. Much of this information is not interdisciplinary or connected to the real world. They can do better on their own in this new, comprehensive ‘digital classroom’. If we don’t reevaluate the way we educate Millennials, I expect female enrollment numbers to peak and begin to decline as they become more engaged in technology which follows the trend we are currently seeing among males.

Source: National Science Foundation

The growth of the internet between 1995 and 2007 has been staggering as evidenced by these NSF diagrams. The Millennials are a transitional generation.  The oldest Millennials are digital immigrants, while the youngest are digital natives (as coined by Marc Prensky here). Those of us caught in the middle vary widely.  At 23, I find myself in the middle of the pack and surrounded by friends who fall near both extremes. For my part, I consider myself as close to being a digital native as is possible. At the same time, I have friends my age who have only recently started using the web and engaging in its immersing nature.

Source: National Science Foundation

The difference between digital natives and digital immigrants is - I believe - what is responsible for the decline of males in higher education. Historically males have been the early tech adopters.  You’ve probably heard a joke or two about the improbability of finding a female gamer and you’ll no doubt agree that when you hear the word “geek” the last image that jumps to mind is of a woman. While these depictions are cultural stereotypes, they have historically been fairly accurate.  For the last 20 years computers, the Internet, and video games have largely been the domain of men. While that has begun to shift in the last 3-5 years - especially in the gaming industry - fully engaged female digital natives are still relatively rare.

To that end, males have been heavily exposed to - and had their social behavior patterns effected by - technology to a far greater degree than females. The behavioral shift I’m talking about is fundamental.  It’s the way these individuals relate to each other and the environment around them. Where historically most of our interactions were relatively one sided - the news, TV, the classroom, etc. - the modern male has grown up in a highly interactive, immersive environment.  Video games are the most extreme case where this is evident, but the principle applies to the web as well. To use myself as an example:

I started gaming in 1st grade.  By 1998 I abandoned single-player games and began gaming exclusively online. By 2007 I abandoned my TV subscription, opting instead for the web and streaming video.  Why?  Because TV wasn’t engaging enough.  It was boring one-way communication. From YouTube, to Blogs, to Facebook and Reddit, Web 2.0 is how I interact and relate to the world.  I am able to accelerate and pursue my own interactive, interdisciplinary learning style. I run dual 22″ wide screen monitors.  While writing this blog post I have the blog up on one screen, Facebook (w/ Facebook chat), Twitter, Gmail (w/ Gmail chat), iGoogle, and Reddit up as tabs, and at the same time I may have a movie playing which I periodically pause to focus on a thought, or to pull up research for the post I’m writing…all the while, when I find something I want to explore in greater depth, I go for it. To someone used to one-way communication this may seem chaotic. For most, it would seem to be information overload. For a digital native accustomed to these interactive resources, it’s not only the norm, it’s conducive to a productive and enjoyable experience.  I can process information on multiple levels through a diverse range of delivery systems.

Millennials, particularly the digital natives, are able to complete many tasks and extend their understanding of issues well beyond the confines of the typical classroom setting. Interestingly enough, these skills - this hands-on approach - is what has allowed me to stay competitive at the leading edge of the business world. It’s all based on interactivity. While the news and researchers have historically avoided the subject in favor of running pieces on violence inducing video games and brain rot several recent pieces like this one confirm the positive effects and impact of video games. From a recent MSNBC article available here, “One study of 33 laparoscopic surgeons found that those who played video games were 27 percent faster at advanced surgical procedures and made 37 percent fewer errors than those who didn’t”.

To those who are not familiar with these new applications of technology it would be easy to label multi-tasking digital natives as ADD/ADHD or some other label, suggesting that those who can’t sit as passive-adaptive students in a classroom suffer from an illness. Look at the skyrocketing numbers of ADD/ADHD diagnoses over the last 20 years. It’s not a virus, it’s not a sickness.  It is often young males who want to explore the world around them, who need to be engaged on multiple levels, and who want to contribute as much as they receive. It’s a generation of males who are developing the behavioral framework that will allow them to not only exist, but to excel in the modern digital era. These are the skills that will be required in the future to keep America strong. Research has shown that video games can be used to “treat” ADD/ADHD (example: Online Video Game Therapy For Mental Health Concerns: A Review by Wilkinson, Ang & Goh). Video games may be a key to understand ADD/ADHD. The skill sets utilized in video gaming are the epitome of the new interactive paradigm which the education system needs to both recognize and embrace.

The young males dropping out of and failing to pursue higher education aren’t stupid.  It’s not that they can’t compete with women.  It’s that they are disengaged because the current delivery system is not interactive and is quickly becoming significantly less relevant. The modern male is hardwired for fast-paced, multi-level exchanges. They are being forced into an education system which still operates on a passive one-way model. You go to class, you sit down at a desk in a sterile room, and you listen to someone lecture for somewhere between 60 and 180 minutes. Oftentimes the lecture is little more than a professor reading PowerPoint slides on the screen. If you’re lucky you might be in a small class and be able to ask a question or participate in group discussion for part of the class.  All the while you pray you don’t get called on, because you spent the night before exploring Wikipedia and reading about the Amazon, international business trends, and the history of the windshield wiper instead of reading a dry text and memorizing theory.  Too often the material in the schools is every bit as dead and lifeless as the system delivering it.  Unless he has the family support or long term drive to satisfy the college degree for a quick check-mark on job applications, he’s not going to stick around any longer than he has to.

The CEOs and Founders of most of today’s major tech start ups are prime examples of this phenomenon. Ask yourself how many high tech start ups have historically been founded by women? Of those founded by males, how many of the founders are college or high school dropouts?  How many have masters degrees?  How many have their doctorate? These “drop outs” are the individuals at the leading edge, driving international business forward, and the system did not provide what they needed. They had to leave school to learn and succeed.

The truly scary part is that this is just the beginning. The crisis in education we’re seeing today will only get worse over the next several years as the true digital natives begin to come of age.  Make no mistake, it won’t be limited to males alone.  Now that the gaming industry and the rest of the classic “geek” strongholds have become female-friendly, expect to see similar shifts among women.

The problem isn’t the technology. It’s not video games or too much time on the web. Ironically enough, these are all behaviors we should be embracing and encouraging.  The problem is that our education system has not adapted to serve the population’s needs in the digital age. Fundamentally - it’s failing to educate young males and as a result they are seeking more relevant material and finding delivery systems elsewhere. It won’t be an easy transition and I don’t have the answers for an easy fix. I do know that until we recognize the importance of the digital native skill set, the attrition will continue.

On a side note, I’ve spent over a week contacting the US Census Dept., Dept. of Education, and various other sources trying to get core enrollment and completion numbers for males since 1990.  Unfortunately, despite the straight forward and seemingly basic nature of my request, I have not been able to attain usable data. Most of the data publicly available has been collected in research projects exploring enrollment from particular points-of-view. It is not useful. I’d appreciate your help tracking down valid data and exploring it.

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*EDIT* - Please note that I am in the process of & will be responding to all comments.  If you’ve posted a comment, please look for my response in comment form. If I haven’t gotten to yours yet, I will as soon as possible.  Thanks for your feedback and participation!

*EDIT* - As of the morning of 8/20 I’ve received a response to the request I had made for completion rates from IPEDS(The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) I made last week. I’m currently in the process of converting the core enrollment data to a percentage in order to get concrete data. Once completed I’ll post an update with what it shows.

A large amount of traffic over night from Reddit.  Thank you all for your comments and feedback. I value your feedback and will be responding as soon as possible.

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Thoughts, feedback, questions, experiences?  Please share.

On a final note I’d like to thank Ed and Jo Berger for their thoughts, feedback and serving as a sounding board as I explored  and developed the ideas behind this post. Their rich experience and perspective as educators has been immensely valuable.

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Something happened today that left me rather surprised.  It was one of those powerful epiphanies that don’t necessarily change your views on things, but rather re-affirm and clarify what you already knew in such a powerful and clear cut way that it leaves you a bit shell shocked.

To set the stage - I got a call last night from my mom.  She was interested in setting up her own account and giving Facebook a try. For the last year or so I’ve let both of my parents log in on my account to view my photos (especially trip photos while traveling) and periodic postings.  We got her account set up fairly quickly as I answered several of her initial questions over the phone and before long she was making her way through her basic profile adding information and updating settings. I suggested a few friends and then left her to play with the site. While a traumatizing thought for a lot of young adults my age, that’s not the source of the revelation.

You see, my parents and I have an extremely close relationship.  I typically call home on a daily basis as I make my 20 minute commute home from work and during the call we exchange ideas, reflect on the day, and brainstorm.  They are both incredible mentors that I work and talk with on a regular basis.  A relationship made that much closer by the 2 years we spent on the road together when my brother and I were younger - 1 year backpacking through Europe and another year R.V.ing across the US. To that end, we all know a lot about each other. They are as much parents as they are mentors, and as much mentors as they are friends.

So, you can imagine my shock when I checked in on my mom’s Facebook progress and found not one, but two pieces of information I had completely wrong about her.  I’ve always thought that she received her masters in education similar to my dad’s doctorate in education as they have both been heavily involved in education for years.  The reality is that her masters was in Planning and Community Development - an equally fascinating field but completely different than education, as I’ve spent the last 15 some odd years believing.  The second revelation came in the form of a date. I always assumed, but had no real idea, she’d received her masters years before I was born. Here again Facebook set me straight. The degree pre-dated my birth by 2 years, not the 5-10 I’d envisioned.

I’ve decided to share these details with you, not because of their individual relevance, but because I believe it is a compelling illustration of the power of social networks as an informative tool offering insights into our friends, and even close family. Before yesterday, if you had asked me if I’d learn something new about my mom through her Facebook account, my answer would have been a confident “no”. Obviously, I was mistaken.  Social networks can provide powerful insights into those we associate with and affiliate with. They collect, sort, and display insights into us that might otherwise never come up in casual conversation but are highly relevant to our relationships. A lot of the dialogue about Facebook and its impact focuses on how social networks connect us with people relationally (eg: 6 degrees of connection) but this experience has reminded me that social networks offer insights far beyond how we connect.  They offer us insights into who we connect with as well.

Today I learned a bit more about one of the three people I’m closest to and it was through Facebook. What a surprising day.

Similar experiences?  Thoughts?  Please share them in the comments!

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Facebook and MySpace have received their fair share of attention.  Thousands of articles have been written looking at the younger generation’s quick adoption of these sites and their prolific success.  Some of these articles have even taken a look at how older generations have begun adopting social networks, while others have looked at why older generations refuse to invest their time and resources into social networks.  Up until recently a large portion of the coverage portrayed social networks as little more than playground gathering places for youths to chitter chatter with each other … Useful from a social sense but irrelevant in the grand scheme of things. With the success and widespread adoption of LinkedIn and record numbers of adults joining social networks that dialogue has begun to change, but it still has largely failed to realize why and how millennials use social networks instead of conventional e-mail and similar resources.

Earlier this year Beth Kanter explored the topic briefly with several significant statistics and insights.  View her post here. To illustrate several of the points I’ll be making later in this post I’ve borrowed the following graph from her post:

Credit: Beth Kanter & Morgan Stanley

This shouldn’t surprise you.  Millennials use Facebook more than older generations, and similarly neglect conventional e-mail which has a significantly stronger usage base among older generations. While this graph breaks the age groups into 15-24 and 44+, I believe individuals currently aged 27-28 is where you will see a very important shift in behavior.   The status quo explanation for this has attributed it to a youth- based fad which I believe is inaccurate.

As a 23-year old heavy Facebook user and early adopter I’ve been able to observe my fellow millennials while comparing those observations to my professional interactions which have predominantly involved individuals in the 26-70 age bracket.

Why Millennials Prefer Social Networks

Non-Millennials embraced the internet during a period where ISP and work associated e-mails were king.  You had one e-mail address, probably associated with your home internet service provider and/or a professional e-mail used for work purposes. Most non-millennials have had the same e-mail address for years and usually only change e-mail addresses when forced to by a move, or employer change. As a result most individuals in this age bracket have had only had one or two e-mail addresses in the last 10-15 years.

Millennials on the other hand grew up wanting and needing privacy, but without the access to ISP/work-based e-mails that their parents had. As a result we turned to free e-mail account providers - companies like Yahoo, MSN and lately Google. En mass we flooded onto these sites and in youthful form registered e-mail addresses that reflected our perception of cool … SurfDude42, Sunbabe555 and thousands of other e-mail addresses were registered.  For example, my first e-mail address was the_ageless_dark_phoenix@yahoo.com - how’s that for a long/odd one? For many of us we registered our first e-mail towards the end of middle school/in the first years of high school. Similarly many of us flooded onto AIM, ICQ and eventually MSN messenger. The combination of these tools meant that we spent most of our time talking to friends on the phone or IM and relied on e-mail for organizing events, communicating with older generations, and exchanging files.

What is particularly significant is that unlike our parents who were still adjusting to e-mail and using it for professional and more measured correspondences, we were talking about school, stuff that interested us, and signing up for every cool web survey and service we could find. This meant that most of us ended up with heavily inundated, under utilized e-mail addresses. However, that was only the beginning.

• By high school some of us were forced to register a new school e-mail address.
• For some the spam we’d accumulated from signing up for web surveys and the like caused us to abandon one e-mail in favor of a freshly registered restart.
• As the offerings evolved many of us also re-located from one provider to another - eg: from MSN to Google.
• By College we had our college e-mail and were forced to switch over or balance several accounts simultaneously.
• As we began to search for internships and look for professional opportunities many of us then were forced to register new more professional e-mail addresses.  Things like Alex.Berger@gmail.com to replace the older playful names.
• By graduation most of us then had to adopt new work e-mail addresses with our employers.  Meanwhile our University e-mails eventually expired.

The end result is that you’ll be hard pressed to find a Millennial who has had fewer than 4 separate e-mail addresses.  Further, because of the fluid nature of our relationships and people constantly updating e-mail addresses most of us have underutilized, out of date, or empty address books. Contact management based on e-mail that non-millennials live off of is virtually non-existent among the millennial population.

Why Social Networks?

Social networks provide an aggregation of the services we were already using.  It has profiles, the ability to instant message, the ability to publicly message and group communicate, and e-mail-like messaging.  All of which is essentially spam free (especially on Facebook and LinkedIn).  Further, it’s name/profile based, not e-mail based so as your school changes, job changes, e-mail changes, etc. you maintain the same profile.  All the while it facilitates large scale social connections and collaboration in a way that group e-mail lists can’t come close to.

Usage Behavior

What you’ll find is that Millennials almost exclusively use e-mail to communication with/for 1) Non-Millennials 2) Professional Exchanges and 3) To transfer files or store information.

If you look at females (as they are more prone to regular social conversation) in the 26-35 age group, I believe (from personal observation) that you will find that a large percentage e-mail back and forth in a conversational manner very similar to the exchanges that regularly take place on social networks.  The difference being they are outside the millennial window and as a result still rely on the more conventional e-mail-based exchange.

As technology continues to evolve, so too will our reliance on virtual mediums to facilitate communication.  I had a wonderful reminder and illustration of this yesterday during a conversation with my roommate - a 1st grade teacher.  She shared a story with me about one of her co-worker’s 8-month old daughter who, despite not being able to speak or walk yet, actively uses a basic video game. When she strikes a key the game plays a brief video. She shows signs of recognition when the laptop is brought out and is always eager to play the game.  That is the type of digital native which will re-shape the way we view technology 18 years from now.

As always, I value your insights, feeedback and stories!   Please post them in a comment below.

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On June 25th I put together a lengthy writeup looking at Cox Communication’s misleading advertising campaign and sharing general information that the average consumer might not have access to or be able to locate.

You can view that post here.

Today, after suffering through a number of slow loading videos across a number of sites I decided to call in in the hope that I’d learn something useful. Unfortunatly, I learned what I already knew.  That Cox and its agents have no problem what so ever lying to their customers. That, or the level of gross incompetence/lack of internal communication is astonishing.

The one piece of potentially interesting information comes from the Tier 2 Tech’s explanation of the way that Cox handles their bandwidth consumption caps. The catch is, that since his credibility is suspect (high chance he lied to me about a 100% unfiltered network) this information is suspect.

I’ve taken the most relevant 4:27 seconds of Audio out of my 30 minute call and compiled it.  The following audio sequence contains 3 separate clips combined in chronological order.  I apologize for not making the transitions more defined/smoother between the 3.

Listen:

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You’ll note that the Tier 1 Tech, who was very friendly readily admits that Cox does employ P2P filtering Technology. A statement supported by experience, that I and others have confirmed with other Tech Support people within the company, and shown to be accurate by research.  One example of which I noted in my previous article.  To revisit the information ArsTechnica reported:

Of the nine ISPs in the US found to block BitTorrent, Comcast and Cox were far and away the most aggressive. Both blocked more than half of all attempted BitTorrent tests on their networks (82 of 151 tests on Cox were blocked, while 491 of 788 tests on Comcast met the same fate).

Additionally, there is a significant amount of data from other major sources confirming these figures, which if you’re curious I encourage you to research independently.

Now contrast that to the statements made by the Tier 2 Tech. An individual with significantly more technical knowledge and access to Cox’s system.  Further, consider his statements that he has NEVER had any performance complaints similar to mine and that he’s unfamiliar with any information similar to that which I just posted. Keep in mind that Cox has the cable monopoly on a majority of the greater Phoenix Area. Home to a thriving high tech industry, companies like GoDaddy, Google, Flypaper and Ipowerweb, several technical/game design institutes and one of the largest Universities in the U.S. - Anyone want to take bets on how many of those people value a decent connection?

Thoughts, feedback, personal experiences? Post them in a comment.

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The Challenge?

To cook a seafood meal for three, for under $20 a piece with fresh seafood purchased at the local Chinese Cultural Center (best seafood in town). Actual per person cost? Less than $14. This post is a follow up on my earlier, “How To Eat Like a Millionaire on a College Budget” post.

The ingredients?

• 2 Live Dungeness Crabs
• 1.5 Pounds of headless Shrimp
• 3 chunks of fresh Garlic
• 1 set of fresh Green Onions
• 1 bag of Fettuccine Pasta
• 1/2 bottle of Pasta Sauce
• 6 leftover button top mushrooms
• 1 bag of frozen chopped Spinach
• Butter
• Olive Oil
• Several Limes
• Several Lemons
• Garlic Powder
• Italian Seasoning Mix
• Parsley Flakes
• Rosemary

Please note that the cost of the seasonings, olive oil, and butter is not included in the cost because of their multi-use nature.

Without further delay, here’s the video walk through with guest presenters Nathaniel Berger and Charles Trahern.

Post Mortem
The meal was fantastic.  I wasn’t paying attention and accidentally overcooked the Spinach, which was the biggest disappointment, but still very edible.  The shrimp were also slightly overcooked for my taste (I prefer most of my food on the rarer side) but still very flavorful. The crab was absolutely fantastic - packed with flavor and perfectly cooked. The pasta was delicious with a little fuller flavor than standard pasta. The oysters were fantastic.  Fresh, good sized, and full of flavor - remember the salt and lime, it’s a must!

As always, thanks for tuning in!  Please post questions, thoughts and feedback in the comment section - I value your feedback and insights!

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I’m thrilled to announce a number of changes.  Some are fairly small others are major. All should improve the usefulness of the site and make your life easier.  Have no fear the content and blog focus will remain the same, as will all of your old links.

Name Change

This blog, formerly Citadel-of-Light.com is now Virtualwayfarer.com. The change is live and you won’t need to change any of your bookmarks or update any of your links.  All of your old links should re-direct to the new domain.

Why the change? I feel that the new name is more appropriate, easier to remember, a better fit for the material I cover, and lacks those pesky -’s making it simpler to type!

Audio Tab

As a follow up to the ability to stream audio versions of many of my blogs, I have added the “Audio” link at the top of the page, next to the About and Photography sections.  This page has direct links to the .mp3 files the site uses.  Interested in listening to my posts while away from your computer?  These .mp3 files can be downloaded and used just like music and most podcasts on your ipod and mobile .mp3 players.

You can also download the posts and play them in your favorite media player for offline & off site listening.

Layout Changes

I have made several changes to the sidebar to make it more user friendly and added several options to improve functionality.

The search bar is now located at the very top. No more scrolling, no more hunting for it.

The old “data” field has been re-labeled “feeds” and moved near the top.

• The RSS feed now has a button.
• You can now add the site to your iGoogle & Google bookmarks with the click of a button.
• RSS Comments, XFN, and another useless button are gone.
• Added a direct favorite link for Technorati.

As always I value your thoughts and feedback.  Features you’d like to see? Changes?  Suggestions? Please let me know in the comments section!

Also, a huge thank you to Glenn Jimmerson for his help with this change and other advanced coding/SEO aid!

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If you’re a long time reader you may be aware of the fact that I’m not overly fond of the Tempe Police Department.  To be clear I’m not talking about the other fine officers and departments throughout the greater Phoenix area or even the officers that work at the Station.  I’m talking about the City of Tempe Police officers specifically. In my 5 years of experience in the Tempe area I’ve been witness to gross abuses of power, a blatant lack of regard for citizens rights and their safety and a seemingly common place disregard for the difference between law abiding citizens and criminals.

I’m a model citizen.  I don’t even have so much as a speeding ticket on my record, I vote regularly, and actively work to improve my community. Yet, I’ve still almost been run down (while on the sidewalk) by police officers riding their horses leisurely down the Mill Avenue sidewalks, been threatened with tazering while making my way peacefully after a broken up salsa party, pulled over eroniously for “not pulling into the closest available lane” as a DUI check, and now nearly been pepper sprayed, run down by horse units, and bumped heavily by a panicked crowd of some 50-100 people caused by the Tempe police.

The officers of the Tempe Police Department seem to believe, that perhaps, because of Tempe’s large student population, the law doesn’t apply to them.  That they can bend the rules, sometimes even suspend them,  and intimidate the student population.  The sad thing is, that because most students are not aware of/completely comfortable in their understanding of their rights, they DO get away with their own version of the law.

The incident early Saturday morning (July 26th) is possibly one of the worst illustrations of this misconduct by mounted police and Tempe officers so far. It occurred at 2:00 AM as the bars closed down and hundreds of bar goers emptied onto Mill Avenue and prepared to make their way home. I’ve put together the following image using a Microsoft maps capture of Mill to help explain the situation:

There are 3 key locations.

• Location A is the Bar Rula Bula where 6 friends and I spent the evening.
• Location B is Cherry Night Club where the original incident apparently occurred.
• Location C is the rear patio and exit from Rula Bula.  Also, the site of a public fountain.
• The Blue lines depict the direction of the stampede/citizens were literally driven.
• The Red dot is the main entrance/exit to Rula Bula.
• The Red lines depict the area that the Tempe Police & mounted officers rapidly covered.
• The Green boxes depict the general locations of EMS services. I noted 1 ambulance and 1 firetruck.

My account from a first person perspective, and as a sober party (designated driver), was fact-checked with other sober members of my group.

As we left point A and exited out the red dot, everything seemed ok. The usual post bar close masses were assembled on the sidewalk immediately in front of the bar as they looked for cabs, collected all the wayward members of their respective groups, said their good nights and then prepared to disperse.  As I passed through the doorway I noticed that the crowd was significantly thicker than usual, and that there were several mounted officers, an ambulance, and a firetruck in front of Cherry (Point B) - a nightclub with a somewhat less reputable clientele. I saw nothing overly out of the ordinary, understand that fights are fairly common at Cherry and on Mill. The Mill avenue bar district usually has a police presence with at least 10-20 officers on patrol during Friday and Saturday nights.

Pressed forward by people exiting the bar behind me, and others corralled between what I quickly realized was a wall of Police to my left (by Cherry), and others on the street in front of me,  people panicked. There were at least 50 people in the small area, and realistically the number is probably closer to 100. The peaceful, milling crowd quickly turned into a stampede as people bolted and the police/mounted units drove their horses into the crowd shouting ”get back” and to “disperse” all the while using industrial-sized canisters of pepperspray on everyone within reach. In a matter of about 30 seconds the Police pushed forward from the first red line, in the direction indicated by the red arrow to the 2nd. Leaving them parallel to and in pepperspray range of Rula Bula’s (Point A’s) main door, which still had innocent bystanders exiting from it.

The stampede this caused was extremely dangerous as some 50-100 people were forced to literally run to avoid getting peppersprayed. The jostle of humanity left people running full force in the directions indicated by the blue lines to escape the pepper spray and police. Many of those panicked and running had been partially or directly peppersprayed. These weren’t dangerous individuals.  These were innocent, mostly peaceful bar goers.  I witnessed two 5′2 or so girls in high heels with faces full of pepperspray trying to get out of the police’s way.  Many of the individuals sprayed could easily have been designated drivers, now unable to drive.  The girls I was with, most of whom were under 5′5 were shoved, pushed, and nearly trampled in the rush.  As we moved to the car (parked near point C) there was a large gathering surrounding one of the outdoor, public fountains using the dirty water to try and wash their faces and eyes. I want to reiterate that many of these individuals were girls, not potential rioters or hooligans.

Beyond the lack of a need for the whole thing, what really disturbs me is the approach the Police used. It was impossible to be near the officers without being indiscriminately sprayed. Because of my height, and despite the pandemonium of the whole thing, I was able to see it a lot clearer than most and luckily get out of the way in time. From what I saw at least 10 - probably closer to 20 people were peppersprayed, most while trying to actively disperse/at a loss for what was going on.

Between the stampede their actions caused, the blatant abuse of innocents, and the potential harm of pepperspraying large numbers of possibly asthmatic individuals, the whole thing was not only a mess but profoundly damaging to the Tempe Police’s image and relationship with the average citizens involved. All of this could have easily been avoided if the police handled the situation in a halfway intelligent/respectful manner. Most of the incident could have been avoided completely if they’d just had everyone exit the bar through the back (Point C) entrance to Rula Bula.

This was riot-style treatment and in all probability nearly caused a riot. It put at least 50 people in direct danger most of who didn’t have even the potential of being a threat, and it did direct harm to at least a third of those individuals.

The police did the exact opposite of their duty.  They knowingly and intentionally endangered innocents while trampling their rights.  It’s not the first time, and sadly I fear it won’t be the last time.

If anyone thought to record video footage of the event please let me know.  I’d like a copy.

*Edit*

7/26/2008 1:00PM - I placed the following call into the Tempe Police Department and spoke with a very helpful officer in what was the epitome of how things should go *hat tip to her*.  I am currently waiting to be contacted by the head of the mounted division.  I will do what I can to record the call for the sake of accuracy and transparency. Also, please note that I removed my phone # from this call and some dead time while she changed headsets.

Listen to the call:

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7/26/2008 6:20PM - Received a call from the mounted supervisor.  He was involved in the incident but during the call was helpful/fairly candid.  I appreciate his prompt response to my call and taking the time to respond to my concerns. Hopefully we’ll see some changes this evening.  While the situation was obviously precarious I still don’t believe it was handled correctly and stand by the sentiments expressed during my conversation and in this post. Will summarize the call soon.

*EDIT* I’ve updated the “Feeling Lazy?” text with an embedded flash player to make listening easier. Please note that the audio version of this post does not reflect this change.

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Hello all, I’m thrilled to announce a new addition to the site. In an effort to continue to expand the usability of the blog while taking full advantage of available technology I’ve made the decision to offer audio versions of my posts. The audio is in .mp3 format and can be streamed off of the site and/or downloaded.  While I’ll most likely add a master library later down the road, the audio versions of my blog posts are currently only accessible from the actual blog posts themselves.  If there is an audio version of the post available you should see the “Feeling lazy?  Listen to this post.” text before the start of the post.  Simply click the link and the file should open in your default audio player.

Since this is something new, and fairly different than standard blogging practice I’d appreciate your feedback.  Please post it as a comment in response to this thread.  Did the audio work? Were you satisfied with the quality? Will you be using the audio versions?  Other thoughts and feedback?

Thanks!

Feeling lazy? Listen to this post instead:

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I’m a firm believer that virtual worlds are a major part of the future.  I am confident they will play a culture-shifting role in our society and re-define the way we interact, carry out business, and perform various key actions.  Though it’s much more difficult to see, they’re probably already impacting you.  In fact, you most likely enjoy technology or are at least familiar with technology that was initially introduced, and which proved itself, in the gaming arena. Software like Skype and Flash may not have been made exclusively by the gaming community, but the technology they are based on and their widespread success depended on it.

Thankfully, the national dialogue on gaming and virtual worlds is starting to shift. The media, probably clued into the size of the demographic, has paired back their perpetual assault on the gaming community, games, and gamers in general.  That said,  the general populace and the media still operate based on several fundamental fallacies.  These misconceptions have resulted in resistance to the development and support of virtual environments.

The issue was brought to my attention most recently on the PR Junkie blog on Ragan.com. The site is a social networking resource for communicators and public relations professionals.  The article was titled “Virtual Worlds Will Never Catch On” by Michael Sebastian. While I don’t mean to single Michael out, his post and some of the justifications outlined in it/the philosophy behind it, is an excellent illustration of the mainstream arguments and biases against virtual worlds.  Some of you may be familiar with my honors thesis work. For those of you who are not, my research focused on the social impact of virtual worlds while exploring their demographics and benefits.  Written a bit over a year ago, the environment has already changed drastically.  Despite the recent controversy associated with Grand Theft Auto and several other titles, and in part due to the success of SecondLife, the media and mainstream research has finally begun to look at some of the benefits of games. I feel it’s necessary to dedicate a post to looking at a few of the main misconceptions and addressing them.

Sex and Pornacopia

Sex.  It’s always a big issue. It’s a big part of our lives and unsurprisingly a major complaint that comes up again and again when discussing virtual worlds.  There are two main parts to these arguments.  The first stems from objections to the prevalence of sexual imagery and pornographic content. The other is tied to concerns raised over the nature of non-real world relationships and romantic interactions.

From Fox New’s embarrassing coverage of Mass Effect which eventually led to an apology and retraction, to the MSM’s coverage of GTA IV, virtual environments are constantly under attack for sexual content or violence.  Sebastian summed up the the mainstream sentiment when he labeled SecondLife a, “hive for sex and drugs” while echoing a Forbes.com article which noted,

It turns out that avatars seem more interested in having sex and hatching pranks than spending time warming up to real-world brands. “There is nothing to do in Second Life except, pardon my bluntness, try to get laid,” blogged David Churbuck, Web-marketing vice president for computer maker Lenovo.

The issue of Virtual Worlds and sex hasn’t just been limited to the virtual realms.  E3 (Electronic Entertainment Expo) has recently been facing it’s own bad press over their famous and now former booth babes.  All of this is relevant because the argument is made, and the implication is, that virtual worlds are fringe communities populated by fringe individuals.  Perverts, sexaholics, and the stereotypical, overweight, socially limited nerd. They conclude that as a result, the technology is somehow not viable and that the formation of more “mainstream” communities isn’t realistic.

Interestingly, these arguments in opposition to virtual worlds are many of the same ones that the internet initially faced and is still responding to. VHS is another wonderful example of the positive, if uncomfortable role adult content plays in developing new technology.  Open up your e-mail’s spam box and it’s a safe bet it’s got at least one offer for male enhancement or Viagra. Surf the web long enough and you’re bound to stumble onto some sort of inappropriate content. As the web has caught on, these annoyances have become commonplace and acceptable.  Similarly, the multitude of porn sites dedicated to any number of countless obscenities that in many ways are the web’s dirty secret don’t undermine the validity, authenticity, or usability of professional and social sites. Keep in mind that up until just few years ago whitehouse.com was an adult website. Believe me, I know, I made the mistake of accessing it in the middle of a computer lab in high school while doing homework.  As the web has matured, so too has the filtering and the community makeup. Whitehouse.com is no longer an adult site, Google has safe search options, and email is used for all sorts of correspondence.

The Pedophile Myth

A favorite subcategory of the sex discourse is that of child molesters.  Virtual worlds like World of Warcraft and social networking sites like MySpace seem to be perpetually under media-based attack, projected as hotbeds for sexual abuse and assault. Often these articles are loaded with condemnation with little/no understanding of how the environment/software actually works or what’s taking place.

In his article, Sebastian notes: “Sex and drugs … fake penises … pedophilia … are there any rational-thinking people out there who really—and I mean really—believe this will take-off?” All of which ties into an erronious basic assumption or belief which is too typically implied and occasionally stated outright. People assume that when individuals log onto the internet and find virtual worlds, a switch is flipped, they give into temptation, and become corrupted and turn into pedophiles.  This line of reasoning frustrates me to no end.

These individuals aren’t some ultra rare types of socially defunct recluses that reach out across the internet to prey on children.  These individuals are capable of entertaining the same thoughts in a virtual environment as they do as they sit in a work cubicle next to you, in mass on Sunday, as a Police officer, or any other mainstream activity. The delusion that somehow there are two spheres of morality, one for the web and one for the real world is false.  People don’t change when they log onto the internet. Their behaviors do. The shocking lesson we should be taking note of is how many people are only moral if they fear getting caught.  We should be taking note of how many of the people we assumed were good, moral, decent citizens who, when provided some degree of anonymity, offer us sad and disturbing insights into their corpse personality.

Defining Real Relationships

A second major argument in opposition to virtual worlds is the claim that virtual relationships lack real interaction and cannot accurately be counted as real social exchanges.  In a follow up discussion to his post, Sebastian shared the following which I believe does an excellent job summarizing many of the concerns I commonly hear raised:

For me it doesn’t come down to technology or even, necessarily, the people using it, but insead this continued withdraw from face-to-face communication and contact. I appreciate that people find spouses and lovers online, but it’s a slippery slope I think. Where will the virtual relationship stop?

What I’m suggesting is will couples have sex in Second Life? Will family dinners become Second Life experiences because we’re all so busy.

It’s a tough issue, one about which it is difficult to gain perspective .  I feel very lucky. I’m both a digital native and someone who’s interests and experiences have allowed me to analyze the process, it’s impacts, benefits, and the relationships that have come out of my virtual world experiences.  I’ve made real world friends through virtual worlds, spent time in both worlds as first a shy, quiet, geeky teen, and then seen the flip side as a confident, socially competent, social node.

Interestingly, I’ve learned more about people’s social behavior, motivations, and personalities through virtual worlds than I ever have through my communication and sociological curriculum at ASU. To those who believe that it’s not possible to reach out and make meaningful, powerful connections through virtual environments let me ask you this: How many suicidal friends and acquaintances have you been able to help through difficult times? As a guild leader and casual friend there were at least two instances with two separate individuals who I’d never met face to face who I was able to help.  These individuals were able to reach out to me and others within the community in a way they were not able or comfortable to seek help in their real world interactions. They were able to get help, support, and advice.  While I can’t attest to where they phycally live, I can attest to the fact that a year later, both are still alive, have transitioned to healthy states, and become better people.  If a relationship and communication occurring in/through virtual worlds is strong enough to save a life, it has established itself as a powerful and effective medium for interactive communication.

Sebastian asks where do we stop?  My answer is that we need to re-frame the question.  What defines a real relationship?  Physical intimacy is a wonderful and necessary component in romantic relationships. The regularity and duration of that interaction varies widely. Physical connection and presence offers certain instinctual and primal bonding benefits that other forms of communication lack.  The presence, the things we say with our bodies, but which never get formulated into words, and just the general feeling of companionship are all very real.  So, Sebastian’s concerns are legitimate, but I think his question holds its own answer. We are at our core social and communal creatures. That is why the degradation or undermining of those behaviors scares him and others so much. We need companionship and interaction, both physical and social to be healthy and happy. For that reason we’ll always reach out to each other and strive to supplement our remote interactions with physical ones.  Most gamers do this. They meet  and get to know each other through virtual worlds.  They organize physical get togethers and, as a tribute to the strength of the bond made in the virtual world, many gamers travel thousands of miles, sometimes even internationally, to attend conferences, meetings and get togethers.

In a more specific sense, let’s look at relational dynamics. I don’t have the research on hand, but a few years ago a study found that 1 in 8 adults in serious relationships had met online. Initially, I found this information somewhat shocking.  Yet, when I paused and actually thought things through, it makes perfect sense and should give anyone concerned with the loss of face-to-face interaction insight and hope.  Without going in-depth, the internet has been a wonderful tool for single people everywhere. Sites like match.com or craigslist personals have allowed individuals too often confined to seeking love in bars, through groups of friends, or in their workplace to reach out and tap into a near endless world of opportunities.  The acceptability of online dating sites has skyrocketed in the past few years, and their usage numbers are fantastic. Despite all of the opportunities these sites offer, they’re still fairly awkward and do not allow significant interaction. That’s where virtual worlds come into play.

Virtual worlds allow individuals to immerse themselves in a creative, engaging environment with thousands of other individuals all working, interacting and playing together. While dating sites offer compatibility profiles and facilitate a quick chat, individuals who meet their romantic partners through virtual worlds have a huge advantage.  They have the opportunity to spend hours a week together engaged in a co-operative activity while casually and socially chatting about the game, life, and each other.  All the while, games like Everquest and World of Warcraft , which are adventure-based, place these individuals in co-operative, high stress environments and allow them to monitor how they interact with each other and others, giving insights into the views, personality type, and wiring of potential friends. With the advent and widespread adoption of VoIP software like TeamSpeak, a more powerful predecessor to Skype and other virtual VoIP software, real voice-2-voice conversations become both regular and common place.

Does interaction through the internet change a person’s behavior, or are the insights gained a window into core behavior and personality type? Obviously, it’s the latter. The opportunity to observe - access behavior - when external controls are not threatening to “catch you,”  is an accurate way to learn about someone’s core values. Behavior based upon fear of being caught or fear of consequences is not healthy or moral.

I mentioned previously that I’ve been on both ends of the spectrum.  As someone who now enjoys a very active social life, I can say, both from experience and analysis, that one of the things I find truly exciting about virtual worlds and social networks is their power to enable healthy social behavior.  Time is a valuable commodity, especially when you add in a few projects, a 9-5 day job, and the need to sleep.  It makes it very difficult to maintain even a small group of close friends.  Add in one or two additional cliques of good friends and squeezing in regular face-time with more than 20 or 30 casual friends on a monthly basis, and it becomes difficult if not impossible. Until the spread of e-mail it was impossible.  Now add in que, facebook, twitter, friend feed, etc. and utilize the logical evolution of communication - an immersive, interactive, virtual world.

With nearly 600 friends on facebook, I’m able to keep in contact with hundreds of people a month.  These are individuals I’ve met in the last decade during my travels, social activities and academics. All of whom are people I’d happily stop and spend time with.  Social networking tools allows me to maintain my relationships, keep up on current affairs, and to chat/exchange thoughts on a regular basis regardless of their location.  So, while Sebastian and others are fearful that we are losing our ability to interact socially, I would say the exact opposite is happening.  It just LOOKS like our face-to-face interactions have gone down, while in reality they have stayed the same or increased, while our pool of active contacts has skyrocketed exponentially. The exchanges I have with friends over facebook and other social media outlets are often every bit as meaningful, valuable, and rewarding as those shared with best friends on Saturday afternoons. The key is that people interacting and exchanging thoughts and energy is the important part. These tools, and the increased interaction through virtual worlds, allow me to enjoy a significantly richer social experience and network than those who have yet to partake in/embrace digital exchanges.

This post has gotten far too long. I invite you to post your questions and feedback in a comment.  I’d love to explore the concept further with you and answer questions or offer points of clarfication where necessary.

The winds grow high; Impending tempests charge the sky; The lightning flies, the thunder roars; And big waves lash the frightened shores. - Matthew Prior

Last night the valley got its first real monsoon of the season. With howling winds, thunderous bolts of lightning, and rain that left a number of roads shut down overnight, it burst upon the valley and left us all splashing about in the warm rain and clean air.

After a small get together at my brother’s place where I weathered the worst of the storm, I headed down to Tempe Town Lake in the hopes of snapping a few fun shots, avoiding getting drenched, and playing with one or two newly discovered features on my camera.

If you’d like to see full-sized versions of these images and others from the evening, they are available in the photography section of my website.  Click here for a