My best friend probably (rightfully so!) cringes whenever my email address comes up in conversation. She's been really good natured about it, but I should be honest. It's time to bring Skelly out of the closet. Skelly needs a vacation. Closets are dark, chilly, and boring.
Skelly holds a secret of mine. She's been the caretaker of this dark secret for several years. Well, Skelly and my husband and my best friend. Ha.
I switch my email service provider frequently and sometimes, *gasp* close accounts.
How frequent are we talking? Oh, usually every few months. I don't know if I've used an email address longer than 9 months at a time. Sometimes, I've switched them a lot more frequently. Why do I do this? It's mostly because I change my mind frequently about these service providers or how I want to keep my digital detritus contained. (Yes, there is a TON of detritus by now. Shh.) Of course I have regrets -- like closing that really well-named Gmail address/account. I decide that I don't like a feature of one part of my setup, so I scrub it all and "move house" to another provider. I move my emails, online cloud storage, account settings... all of it. I've done it so many times now that I am a PRO-FESSIONAL at digital moving. I could probably be a freelance consultant for others wanting to move house to another provider. I've learned tricks and tidbits about various providers and their quirks. How to import, export, and expat oneself from one provider to another.
But no more.
One of my 2015 resolutions is to pick a provider and stick with it all year (and then some?) long. I'm going to tell myself to get over whatever little things may bother me or normally cause me to move house. And be a stick in the mud about certain things like the quirks of a blogging platform, or the idea of using certain software on my computer.
The lessons I have learned in my constant migration are these:
1. No one likes to email me because they don't know which email address to use. I am the Debbie Downer of emailing and I hate that I make people uncomfortable. Note, I am only assuming that people are a tad annoyed -- no one has actually said anything concrete. That's okay though! I got the hint. ;)
2. I am getting older and having a hard time remembering which online account is using which email address (or which password, but that's another issue entirely haha). I don't
want to have to remember so many dang details. I already have a lot going on in my life and trying to remember something as trivial as an online login is just
irritating.
3. I just want stuff to work. I really don't care who makes the software/service. I don't need to get all hung up on "corporate integrity" because, when it comes down to it, we're all data sheep in their big algorithmic shearing farm ;) I will strive to get over the "
Google products" on my "
Apple products" thing going on in my head. It doesn't matter, Liz. Shush, brain.
I'm sure I've learned some other lessons over the past little while, but those three are the ones I could describe right now.
PLAN OF ACTION
Yes, I have a plan of action! I am a list-making, double-checking, box-filling nerd. Of course I have a plan of action. Below are some basic details of what I plan to do. This is mostly as a reminder in case I daydream off and forget to check a box ;)
Email/Calendars
I'm going to switch to Gmail. I tend to waffle between giving my digital soul to the Big G. Some days, I don't want to be a sheep. Other days, I need the fluid interoperability of the Big G's services. What can I say? :) I do plan to keep my other email addresses. I will just funnel them through forwards into my Gmail account. If we chat on Google Talk/Hangouts, you already have my Gmail account. If you want my Gmail address, send me a note using the Contact form at the bottom or message me on
Twitter. I also have the herculean effort to transfer all of my iCloud calendars to Google. I know it's really not
that herculean since I have export/import. But you know what I mean. (I have a lot of calendars).
Cloud Storage
I'm going to switch to Google Drive. I've been using iCloud Drive and it works okay. I was really excited for the announcement, but it just doesn't work very well in reality. I have a feeling that Apple will eventually get iCloud Drive up to Dropbox/Google Drive standards. Eventually. I don't have that kind of patience. :| Since Google Drive is pretty seamless with Gmail, I'm just going to go with that. Make my already busy life a little less complex.
Note-Taking
I'm going to switch to Evernote. I know I
just said I didn't like Evernote, but this is one of those situations where some small thing just irritated me. I'm resolving this year to get the heck over that irritation and give Evernote a third try (don't ask; you know the drill by now).
Other Stuff
I will, eventually, update my email address in my other online accounts to the Gmail address. I also need to update the apps on my phone so everything syncs correctly. The syncing thing will be a big part of this plan since #3 above is a big deal to me. I like having access to my "stuff" whenever, wherever I am.
Conclusion + How this relates to information science
So! That's my plan. I'm sure I will think of something else I need to do that I haven't written down here. And actually, now that I think about it, most of y'all probably don't really care about all this. Oh well!
Back to info science, though!
Digital detritus or clutter is the many, many online accounts, email addresses, websites, profiles and such that people collect over the course of using the Internet. Some people have more than others, but we all will eventually need to face our Skelly in the closet. Seriously, this is going to be a real issue because these accounts are becoming lasting impressions on the Internet as server sizes swell into the terabytes. More space is coming to store all of this clutter. All of this data, stored on servers, the cloud,
wherever, feeds into algorithms in various places. Will it clog up the virtual information highways? Will we need a special episode of Hoarders?
The big question, though, is how do we corral all of this information about ourselves? Do we even need to? Court cases abound related to messages posted to online spaces -- will that iloveporkrinds screen name come back to haunt you? Or will it become the mostly benign expired can of soup in the cabinet that just needs to be thrown away?
I'm not sure yet, but I hope to not "hindsight is 20/20" the answer to those questions!
