Flexibility leads to Interdependency
I’m not sure yet which is most desirable: Flexibility or Monolithic-ness. I’ve constantly been thorn at home between using multiple software and/or online services that provided hooks (APIs) through which I could interconnect my digital life or using a single piece of software that provided most of what I needed.
Today, I use WordPress, Scuttle, Gallery, activeCollab, SlimStat and SideJobTrack. I also have some custom HTML code and multiple hacks to make these all work together, which they sometimes do. I’ve always believed that home computing should be simple, and free us from the admin/management chores which burden companies and other larger organizations.
Which is why I often advocate people to use Macs. They just work. Simple. And no fuss about virii and spyware. On the flipside, I also like flexibility. The flexibility that WordPress plugins provide, the extensibility which they allow me to mold my installation into something truly personal. But I now think that time has past.
If I am to get things done, why do I put myself in a position where I need to be a webmaster, network admin, coder and support person? Why is it that having a digital person now takes so many skills, and that at a time where managing our privacy is becoming more and more of a concern, we see a proliferation of ways in which an individual can share their information with little ways in which to manage it all – easily – once it’s online?
Of course, to address the webmaster issue, I could easily switch to from running my own domain to using hosted environments, but then, I would relinquish the last piece of control I have over my personal information: to delete it from the internet. Now, I know it would still live in someone’s cache (Google’s, for starters), but at least, I have that control.
As I’ve mentionned before, I’m now looking at drupal as the single portal which would reside on arseneault.ca. I’m not sure where this will bring me, but I only hope it’s one step closer to simplifying my digital representation.
