A Thoroughly Modern Experience.

The other day i had one of those thoroughly modern experiences.
I forgot the password for one of the myriad online accountts that i have.

Nothing strange about that i hear you cry and rightly so.
I'm sure it's something that has happened to the best of us. Especially in these days of spam, scams and those dodgy emails telling you that you've won lotteries that you've never entered, or even heard of.

You have to be increasing careful out there in the wild west of the Internet. And because of that we now have to have various passwords and usernames for all of those online accounts that have become such an essential part of our everyday lives.

If you're anything like me, you have accounts ranging across a wide spectrum of different interests and usergroups. We are frequently told and quite rightly too, that Internet security is a very serious subject and one that needs to be taken seriously.
I'm always reading accounts of people who have been taken in by the scammers, or who have just been plain stupid and used the same password for all of their accounts.
After all, it's hard work trying to keep track and note of all of those different passwords. Most Internet sites now offer a service which tells you how strong, or otherwise, your intended new password is. So, now you have to be increasingly inventive and start including numbers etc mix it all up.
So, how on earth are we all supposed to remember it all?

Of course, one solution is to keep all these passwords and usernames written down somewhere.
But, what then happens in the event of a burglary at your house? I'm guessing that one of the first things the modern day burglar searches for is that little notebook filled with all your valuable Internet information. Passwords, usernames etc. You just can't win can you?

I would suspect that it would be no exaggeration to say that i have around 100 different accounts of one kind, or another. Now, you may well think that that's a huge number. But, before you criticise, go and count up your own first. The figure may well surprise you.

I have many accounts that i probably no longer use and should really close. I have done that with a few. But, you know how it is? Good intentions and all that....

Also, due to my social networking activites, especially under my 'andymooseman' name. I have tended to sign up to several sites that i've had no real intention of actually ever using.
This may sound a little strange and probably is. But, the idea was to get in quick and grab my online username (andymooseman), just in case somebody else got in there first and grabbed it.
After all, you wouldn't want somebody else using your "name" would you. This could be viewed as being a bit egotistical. But, your Internet username becomes a kind of personal brand name, over time, and one that you will wish to try and protect. Just as any company would do.

I guess that this another one of those thoroughly modern things that you feel the need to do?
And, all those sites need a password, even if the username is already taken care of.

But, my recent predicament took this to a whole new and unexpected level.
I tried to sign into one of those sites that i'd not visited for a long time. Well, not long in Internet terms anyway.
As i mentioned earlier, i realised that i'd forgotten my password and didn't have it written down anywhere. I tried a few variations of other passwords that i've used before. That didn't work. So, i tried the "Forgot your password?" link that you see for just these occasions and then it dawned on me...
I couldn't remember which email address the account was under!

I still don't.
I asked them to send an email, including my password,  to several potential email addresses, but with no luck.

Over my time on the Internet i have had many email accounts and addresses. We've all changed ISP's over time i'm sure? I know i have and many times too. And each new ISP tends to come with a brand new email address. Ones which i have often used in the past.
Thankfully, at some time, i saw sense and signed up for a web based email account. Something for which i am now very grateful. Now, if only i'd done it a lot sooner.

So, be careful out there. They're all out to get you you know.
But, beware of those long lost and forgotten usernames, passwords and email accounts. They may just come back to haunt you in years to come.

Afterthought:
Life was so much in the past wasn't it? Especially as a child.
If you forgot your name, all you had to do was to look inside your coat and read the name tag that your mother had sewn there.
How times change eh?

Well Done Everyone.

I posted a blog post, earlier today, on my Social Media Journeys blog. It was called "Citizen Journalists" and relayed my own experiences yesterday. The day that Hastings Pier burned.
In it i mentioned how i had used various social media sites to get my photos, video & audio podcasts onto the Internet and how they had been spread by others and then used by other sites.

But, i was by no means the only local person who did this and that is what i want to recognise in this blog post.
I want to say "Well done everyone", to all of those local people who helped to show the world what was happening in our town yesterday. Without us, the coverage would have been nowhere near as extensive, especially in those early hours of this major news story.

When i first got down to the seafront and the pier, at just before 6.30am yesterday. There were no media people to be seen anywhere. Not even from our local newspaper, the Hastings Observer.
One of their reporters did turn up a bit later, on his own and without a photographer. I think i even over heard him saying that he couldn't get hold of anyone on his phone!

This was a major news story, possibly the biggest the town of Hastings has had for many years and there were no local news reporters present to record it. Or, any other media outlets for that matter. Even though the pier had been burning for over 5 hours at that point.

So, what did the established local and national media have to do? They had to rely on you and me, the citizen reporters.

We were the people whose photos and videos appeared on numerous news websites and social media sites generally.
We were the people who were on the scene first and who captured the really defining images. Those powerful images of the pier burning in the darkness, or in the early morning light. Before the media cavalry arrived.

I have seen video and photo's from many local people used on various tv programmes, news websites and even national newspapers.
One local photographer, Andy Wilson, who i know via Twitter, had one of his photos used by The Guardian newspaper, as it's lead front page image
Well done Andy.

We were also ably assisted by all those other locals who passed on our images etc. Whether by Twitter, email or other means. You also helped to get this historic story "out there".

I only hope that the efforts of our local citizen reporters is appreciated when the Hastings Observer brings out it's special "Hastings Pier burns" edition this Friday.
I think it is only fitting that they are. After all, it was us who provided the world with those first dramatic images of that dreadful fire.

I could now go off into another rant and maybe i will, about how woeful the Hastings Observer were with their initial coverage of the story. About how they were comprehensively beaten to the story by the Brighton Argus, amongst others.

I was contacted, via Twitter, by the Brighton Argus asking for permission to use my material, at 09.00. My YouTube video was linked on their website by 09.20 that morning. They also had one of my photos on their site, by the same time.

By contrast, the first Tweet of the day from the Hastings Observer was at 10.30am.

It wasn't until around this time that any mention of this huge local story first appeared on the Hastings Observer website. I could go on, but.....

So, well done everyone.
You did your town proud yesterday.
You recorded a little piece of history. And it's just as well that you did. Because there was nobody else there to do it for us.
And for that, the whole town and the media world in general, should be eternally grateful.

PS: For a local poets version of events. Watch this. It's well worth it.

A Digital Memory Bank

I recently watched a video by one of my favourite video makers. The basic idea behind the video was that, if something isn't documented, then it never really happened. I guess the argument being, that you have no real proof, if the documentation doesn't exist?
Now, i don't want to go into any big philosophical arguments about this topic & whether this idea is correct, or not. But, it certainly got me thinking. As Margarets videos usually do.
My initital thoughts, which i included in a comment on the video, were that sometimes we do need that documentation & for various reasons.
Our memories can often be selective & that's just the memories that we can recall. We often put things out of our mind, because we want to forget them. How many times have you been reminded of something you'd rather forget, or had put out of your mind? Quite a few i'd guess. We have all cringed at the sight of an old photograph, video clip, or even the verbal memory of a friend, or relative.
But, this can of course work in a positive way as well. Documentation, in whatever form, can help us to remember things that we'd like to remember, but had forgotten. Basically the opposite of what i mentioned above. That cringe could well be a smile, under different circumstances.
Documentation can also be used to correct a persons memory of an event.
Our memories can often play tricks on us, for many reasons. Causing us to remember things differently to how they actually happened. There is also a criminal, or deceitful angle to this as well, of course.

But, my main thought was about whether this worry about documentation will shortly become a thing of the past.
I have been, intentionally or not, documenting aspects of my life for the past 3+ years. Whether that be on YouTube, via blog posts, or just generally on the many Internet & social networking sites that i use.
I have made several YouTube videos about just this topic. We are creating a Digital Memory Bank. Everything that we do online, is stored somewhere. That is something that many people fail to realise. Until, that is, their boss finds that inappropriate photo of them on Facebook & decides that that isn't the sort of behaviour we expect & then sacks the unsuspecting person.
That is the negative side to this online documentation. But, there are many positive sides to this as well. Especially, if you control what you put "out there", as i try to do with my videos & blogs.
I am also leaving behind a record of my recent past for anyone to see, myself included.
I am very pleased that i started making my YouTube video over 3 years ago. It's great to be able to look back on them, just as it is an old photograph. For as many times as i might think, "did i really look like that, actually say that, or think that way", there are many more times when i'm just so pleased that i took the time & trouble to record it all in the first place.
Samual Pepys had his diary. I have my computer, video camera & an Internet connection. My own personal diary might not include the Great Fire Of London, as Pepys' did. But, it's still history.
We are all making history & now we all have a way to record it for the future. I, for one, intend to make full use of that opportunity.
All of this will help to prove that i did indeed exist & i now have the documentation to prove it.