Stephen PrenticeAs a photographer one of the things you learn early on is to think about the “negative space” – the background, the stuff that is not the focus of attention. The human brain has an amazing ability to filter out the negative space whilst concentrating on the main subject – until you see the final image on a print or screen and think “I never saw that at the time!”. It is a useful lesson that can be applied elsewhere.
One of the benefits of travelling is that you get to read a lot – and on a flight down to Melbourne (where the weather, mercifully, has returned to something a little more normal) I read avery thought provoking article in Wired regarding the use of geosocial applications (applications which automatically provide information about your location). The writer, Mathew Honan provides a good summary of the benefits but, for the first time in my experience, also drives home the dangers of revealing too much about where you are – like where you are NOT (the negative space thing). For example, tell the world you are going on a trip (and even provide proof of how far you have got) and announce to the world that your house is now empty, time for a little burglary perhaps?
Sure, a smart hacker can gain this information from your cellular carrier, but should we really make it that simple, especially as the law enforcement authorities expect an increase in “acquisitive crime” during economic downturns?
This article might just make you more cautious about revealing too much!
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Category: Behaviour technology Tags: geosocial
