That's an interesting question Richard. One I struggled with to be honest.
At first I really didn't want people to know a lot about me. Part of the reason I adopted the persona of "The Batman Geek" was for that reason. Now to be honest part of the reason for the "Batman Geek" was one, I really do like Batman and two, I was trying to create a "hook" for my batman geek "show". I had this silly notion that I could create a show and talk about geeky toy things and become a huge star. (no, I do not take drugs, although I can understand why some may think I do.) But a funny thing happened, I really started enjoying the very personal nature of videoblogging. And I started to get to know people and I became less worried about people finding out who I really am. Yes there are risks, and to be honest there is still a ton people DON'T know about me. As I am sure is the case with most. Maybe not on this list but I venture to guess that outside the list it is very true. What are the risks? employeers seeing me run in the street with scissors or talk about my depression and go. "No, thanks" Some stranger showing up at my house and cleaning me out. And so on and so on. But the other side is that I get to meet some really cool people and make real world connections that I otherwise would never have. I mean if I had met Jay, or Michael or Ryann or a few others on the street randomly....I would have been like "no way" but through vlogging I got to know the people and the people are pretty cool. Don't always have to like or agree, but hey I love my wife and we fight so.... Honestly now I wish I was not the "batman geek" I wish I was just Heath, because to be honest sometime I think people see "batman geek" and go, "who the $%&* is this guy?" But I can't control that so, I just try to be myself and let the chips fall where they may. So do I care about privacy, sure I do, there are some things I keep to myself, like the thing with my family, although I did share a bit about my Dad, I took down the post a week later because well.....it was personal and private and should stay that way for now. some conversations and dialogue are best suited face to face or with close friends, not everyone. But do I care you know I live in Cincinnati, that I like Batman, that I love to have conversation, that I believe in God, that I love my wife and kids and that I have some of the most amazing friends on the planet and that my world has been turned upside down the minute I fould freevlog on the web? Not at all....... Heath http://batmangeek.com This post probably was all over and lord knows I am sure I misspled a lot of stuff but just speaking from my heart, so.. ;) --- In [email protected], "Richard (Show) Hall" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Disclosure: This post is part of my on-going attempt to relate my research, > which is a big part of what I do for a living, with my passion (which is, of > course is vlogging), so, if you answer this post, you will be influencing > on-going discussions about my student's thesis project. > > Having said that, we're talking about this broad issue of privacy, and how, > as you know, there are a lot of people who are afraid to put like anything > on the web. And, of course, there are many frightening anecdotes going > around (true and not) about privacy issues and the web. > > So, as we're discussing this fundamental issue, relating to the web, I'm > wondering why I've never worried about this. Of course I plaster my own face > all over my videos, and my wife's and even my children and grand children > are in some of my videos, and I'm sure it wouldn't be hard to get my home > address somewhere in my web sites etc ... so I'm wondering what's odd about > me (with regard to lack of privacy concerns - not all the other odd stuff > about me :) > > And I note that the "culture" on this list seems to be very open - for > example, I often find cell phone numbers on some of the most active list > participants on their sites, or even in email signatures ... as a group, it > seems to me that we are very open in that way. I remember, in one video, Jay > Dedman showing his new apartment, and commenting that the extra room was for > anyone watching who needed an extra room when they were in New York > > I don't remember any very lengthy/serious thread in more than two years on > the list where anyone discussed the issue of dangers associated with posting > videos of yourself on the web. > > I had never given this much thought in the past, but as I think about it, I > guess, the main reasons *I* don't seem to care about privacy are: > > 1) Nothing bad has happened to me so far, for posting my stuff all over the > web, with the exception that there have been a few times that it was sort of > professionally awkward, when one of my academic colleagues finds videos of > me, with my fat belly hanging out, jumping into cold water. > > ... When my 83 year old mother first saw any of my videos, she was concerned > that people at the National Science Foundation, who often fund my research, > would see these videos and quit funding any of my work. My response to her > was that, if they quite giving money for projects that they think are worthy > of funding, because one of the investigators has video of themselves doing > silly things on the web, then I'm really worried about the National Science > Foundation, not me. > > 2) I feel a strong sense of openness within the vlog group and the web > culture in general, so that we take advantage of all the things this > openness can afford (like me bugging Michael Verdi with a mac question > because I can find his cell phone number on the web), or, more importantly, > I can get to know people by watching their own videos etc ... > > ... I'm wondering if the nature of video bloggers is that we are at the > farthest open end of this dimension, because we are people who wanted to put > videos of ourselves on the web, and then I wonder is this just a > characteristic of those hams, like me, who do put lots of video of ourselves > on the web, whereas I know a lot of my video blogging friends who actually, > rarely, show themselves on camera ... > > ... Anyway, I would love to hear any of your thoughts on this topic. > > ... Richard > > -- > Richard > http://richardhhall.org > Shows > http://richardshow.org > http://inspiredhealing.tv > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] >
