PayDirt

So, I started a  blog.  I've been building stuff in Notes for going on 12 years and this is the first time I've ever ventured into the Blogosphere.  Why did I do it?  Good question.  I hate to write.  I can never think of anything to enter into these things.  Give me a mic and an audience and I could go on for hours, but writing....yeech!  It took me 3 days just to come up with a title for the blog.  But I'm doing it anyway.  A little encouragement from a few people I've met along the way and an easy way to reach an audience that might care about any of my "a-ha" moments and the pieces have fallen into place. 

I'm in Orlando, FL right now at Lotusphere.  If you're ever gonna have an a-ha moment this is definitely a place that can happen.  But that's not what this first entry is going to be about.  On Monday, while waiting for the General Session, I attended the Salon 2.08.  It was a very interesting and entertaining panel of people up on stage.  Ze Frank was absolutely hilarious.  Golan Levin showed some very interesting stuff.  And Jane McGonigal's "Superpowers" was enlightening.  But a question came up that I just have to throw out for anyone that might actually read this. 

Can something be considered a "social skill" if it's never actually applied in a social setting?

During the Q&A, someone asked about how they could get their kids off of games and back to interacting with real people.  Jane's response was that it wasn't them playing games that was the problem, but, if anything, the kinds of games they play.  The argument being that network games are actually teaching the kids social skills.  Thus, where my question arises from.

That forum was the perfect example.  There we were in a room full of some 400-500(complete estimate, I have no idea how many there actually were.) people.  And, maybe, a half-dozen stood up and asked questions.  How many went and blogged about it?  Just on my way out of the room, I overheard at least 3 different conversations asking questions of each other, but only among groups of people that already knew each other.  Does the anonymity provided by a user name or an avatar create a sense of security that cannot be translated into the real world?  And, if so, is there anything we can do to change that.  Or, are we destined for a world where the only real communication happens right here?