Filed under: World wide web, Blogging, Social Software, web 2.0

Recently I was interviewed by a graduate student who was working on a thesis about representations of female sexual empowerment in popular culture. Much of our conversation centered on women’s usage of the web. One of the first questions she asked me was whether I thought there was still a stigma against women being openly sexual on the internet. After stumbling over my words because I couldn’t get the “yes” out fast enough, I gave her an example that shows just how much of a problem this is.

I go to a lot of conferences, unconferences, and all variety of social media-oriented events. Frankly, I’m feeling a tiny conferenced out at this point. Anyway, at each of these events I go to, there’s nearly always a panel or session or discussion group focused on the question of how to “present yourself” on the web - usually framed in a business context. And even if there isn’t a session nominally devoted to this topic, it ends up coming up sooner or later. It’s obligatory, just like the incessant “bloggers vs. journalists” debate.

These discussions can get quite heated, with people becoming very earnest about not wanting to look “unprofessional” online. Women in particular tend to get very worked up about it (which isn’t surprising; there are expectations placed on us that men won’t ever experience). Without fail, the ultimate example of “unprofessional” is always something sexual. Someone will be ranting about the presentation of their professional demeanor online and attracting new clients and blah blah blah, and it’s only a matter of time before they make an offhand remark like, “So, I’m not going to go around posting naked pictures or anything!” Such comments are usually received with much laughter and nodding in agreement.

So, YES, if one’s sexuality is the ultimate representation of what it means to be unprofessional, then absolutely we have a problem here.

Continue reading Compartmentalize, or you’ll get 20 lashes! (unless you’re into that sort of thing)

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Filed under: Text, Web services, Social Software, web 2.0

Simkl is a web service that saves your instant message history to its servers so that you can access that searchable history from any computer with World wide web access. You’ll need a Simkl account and some money (1 month of archiving is $2.99 and one year is $24.99). You’ll also have to change a setting in your IM client to use Simkl as a proxy (so that it can save your messages).

If the thought of a third party (besides the actual service provider) archiving your instant messages doesn’t bother you, you can try out the service for a week for free. The history viewer is web-based, and you can do full-text searches on your IM history.

Simkl supports most of the popular IM clients including Yahoo, MSN, AIM, Pidgin, iChat, ICQ, Trillian, and Adium. Keep in mind that many of these IM clients like Pidgin and Trillian can log your chats individually, but if you use multiple computers with different IM clients, Simkl can unify your IM logging.

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Filed under: Borrowing, Cards, Debt

With millions of Americans struggling to make their mortgage of payments and home equity loans and refinancing less viable in the face of declining home prices, people are looking to another source of liquidity: credit cards.

According to the USA Today, “Credit agency analyses of consumer payment data show that financially squeezed borrowers have begun paying their credit card and car bills before their mortgages. That’s a striking reversal from the norm, one that reflects rising desperation. It advocates that some people essentially have given up trying to stay current with their mortgages and instead are focused on using credit cards to squeak by.”

In many cases, that’s a perfectly rationale move. If you’re apt to end in foreclosure anyway, you’re superior off avoiding tossing good money after bad. Paying credit card bills on time can at least let people retain the ability to, in some cases, literally feed their families.

The problem is that relying on credit cards while not paying a mortgage can lead to a vicious cycle of rapidly falling FICO scores and the resulting increase in interest rates.

I worry that a lot of people in this situation will find themselves out of a home and dependent for living expenses on credit cards with interest rates north of 15% — a treadmill that will be very tough to get off.

20 years from now, a lot of people will still be suffering through the effects of increased credit card use in the face of lower FICO scores.

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