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Is there life after death online?

Why limit our social networking just because we’re dead? Brief ruminations on online life after death over at the Peep Diaries blog. http://bit.ly/dyrWPU
As Older Users Join Facebook, Network Grapples With Death - NYTimes.com_1279721167196

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Peep Diaries in London Review of Books

The Peep Diaries is described as a “bracingly informal book” in a 5 book essay/review that appeared in the recent issue of the London Review of Books. Check out the whole piece here. The other books discussed are

The Accidental Billionaires: Sex, Money, Betrayal and the Founding of Facebook by Ben Mezrich
The Young and the Digital: What the Migration to Social Network Sites, Games and Anytime, Anywhere Media Means for Our Future by Craig Watkins
Stealing MySpace: The Battle to Control the Most Popular Website in America by Julia Angwin
The Tyranny of Email: The Four Thousand Year Journey to your Inbox by John Freeman

LRBcoverpeep

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Hal talks Reality TV on TVOntario’s Agenda

Last week I was on a long panel discussion about the impact of Reality TV on culture and society. A lot of interesting points were made. You can watch the whole thing here.

The Agenda - Broadcast - Stan Sudol- Will the Strike Ever End- - Reality TV at 10_1276893977110

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The Peep Diaries, Turkish Edition

…is now available. Apparently it is doing well and has been reviewed by 4 newspapers. If you read Turkish, you can read a review of the book in the newspaper Radikal here.

What follows are the first couple of sentences:

Gündelik hayatta yaşananların mutlaka kavramsal karşılığı vardır. Bu karşılık ya hazırdır yada olayların olgu derecesine yükselmesiyle oluşur. Dil zorlanır. Dil kımıldar. Tam da Deniz Baykal örneğinden hareket edildiğinde, nesnenin özne karşısındaki zaferinden söz edilebilir.

Enjoy!

Peepturkishedition

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My Reaction to Reaction Videos Article in Washington Post

Actually the headline should read: My reaction to the Reaction Videos article in the Washington Post that quotes my reaction to Reaction Videos. Got that?

Well, it doesn’t really matter. Check out the article, the piece does a nice job with the whole reaction video phenomenon. My take on it gets mocked (see the end of the piece), but I probably deserve it.

Wait 'Til You See This- Reaction Shots to Viral Videos_1271786632766

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Las Vegas TV Explores Surveillance Society with Hal

LasVegasNow.com recently did a special segment on Living in the Surveillance Society. I comment throughout. You can read the article and watch the two 4 minute videos here. It’s well done  and their conclusion is important, if slightly vague – “Users sacrifice privacy, getting the power of the Internet in return.” What I wonder is if “users” even see giving up privacy as a “sacrifice”? And what, exactly, do they (we) get in return?

Policesurvecamera

 

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Peep Talk in St. Louis

I’ll be doing a talk  in St. Louis about the rise of Peep Culture and its implications on privacy, happening May 6th at 7 pm. Location: Schlafly Branch Library, St. Louis, 225 N. Euclid Ave. St. Louis, MO 63108.

This event is free and open to the public.

contact # for more information is 314 206 6779.

 

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The New Broken Pencil Website

is here! More pics, more comics, more searchability going back 10 plus years! It’s really awesome so go visit.

http://www.brokenpencil.com

Broken Pencil- The Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts_1268750106978

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Hello, Stranger: AP article on ChatRoulette

This piece released by wire service AP quotes me extensively about ChatRoulette and how it fits into the rise of Peep Culture.

Here’s a sample: ‘Chatroulette is stark because it feels like television. It’s like sitting in front of the TV flipping channels, except the people are real,’ says Hal Niedzviecki, author of ‘The Peep Diaries: How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves and Our Neighbors.’

It appeared in the New York Times, The LA Times and a hundred or so other places!

 

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Campus Peep Talk: University of Mary Washington (Virginia)

I’ll be doing a talk about the rise of Peep Culture on the 
campus of University of Mary Washington which is in Richmond, 
Virginia.
The talk is free and open the public and will be held at 7:30 pm, 
Wed., March 31, in Jepson 100 on the campus of the University of
 Mary Washington.
"From Pop to Peep: How We’re Learning to Love
 Watching Ourselves and our Neighbors 
(in the age of reality television, Facebook,
 YouTube, Twitter and so much more!)," 
by Hal Niedzviecki,author of “The Peep Diaries: 
How We’re Learning to Love Watching Ourselves 
and Our Neighbors”; sponsored by the departments
 of psychology, sociology and anthropology, and 
computer science, and CARC; Jepson Hall, Room 100; 
7:30 p.m.; free; (540) 654-1559.

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