Full-Time Intimate Community
I first read the term "Full-Time Intimate Community" on Joi Ito's post about Radar. Joi describes FTIC as "the close group of friends ... with whom you share presence. Most mobile youths know whether members of their FTIC are awake, at school, happy, sick, finished with their homework, etc. They use their mobile phones to keep in touch with their FTIC usually sending state changes by text message."
I understood instantly what the term meant. I don't use my mobile phone to alert my peers to state change; instead I change my IRC nick (or connect to IRC from my Treo), or set my instant messenger's Away message. My kids don't (yet) text their peers, but they do effectively communicate state change to one another. They play Runescape or Club Penguin with their friends, and know full well what's going on with one another through most of their game sessions. I can only imagine how much texting my kids will do when they are permitted to do so...
Last night dad and I went to a Columbus Blue Jackets hockey game. Two teenage girls sat in the row in front of us, and spent the bulk of the evening sending text messages to their friends (and damn is it hard to discreetly read cellphone text messages over someone's shoulder!). I was equally amazed at the hockey playing skill as I was the skill used to quickly navigate the cell phone interface: one girl would snap a picture with her phonecam, and then in a blur append some text and send it on to four or five of her contacts.
(My ability to watch both the game and the texting perfectly highlights another term I first read on Joi Ito's site: continuous partial attention. I've been increasingly aware in the last several months just how my attention ebbs and flows around a variety of focal points at any given time. It's increasingly rare that I dedicate my entire concentration to any particular task for very long.)
As I think through the implications of FTIC, I realize there are various strata to both the communities in which we participate, and the ways in which we communicate state change. For example, I don't post here too often -- usually only when I feel I have something interesting to say. Most of my "real life" (read: offline) close friends aren't aware of much of what's going on day-to-day with me unless I post about it, or email them; but my peers in IRC know almost instantly things that are happening at work or at home. Carina on the other hand, updates her blog quite frequently, and often with what I consider to be trivial or inconsequential items. I realize now that she's communicating state change to her friends, most of whom keep in touch through LiveJournal friends lists.
I don't have any meaningful conclusions to share at this time. I found the notion of FTIC interesting, particularly as I evaluated my own communities and how I interact with them. How do you communicate state change to your communities?
I think we were at the same Blue Jackets game--Jackets won 5 to 2, right? Heck of a game!
Yup: 5-2 Blue Jackets. It was a good game! If I'd known you were there, I could have sent you text messages!
I appreciate the fact that Carina posts so much and so often as it keeps me in touch with some of what's going on with my far-away family.
I was introduced to text messaging in Peace Corps - I was more in touch with my fellow volunteers than with other friends at any other time of my life. Perhaps because we were all so isolated (geographically, culturally, linguistically), we used text messages as a way to communicate almost constantly.
I think I'm more like you, Scott, with my blog, in that I tend to write mostly about things I deem "worthy" of an entry. But I do often think about writing about the everyday things that happen. Carina's blog has helped me to realize that I don't need to write a big, impressive essay every time I post.
As for the new vocabulary, I can almost hear Mom getting all excited about a new topic for her Generations workshop!
Holy smokes, Ann, you're absolutely correct that mom would have integrated these terms into her training material in no time! I'm certain she'd use me as a prime example of one, or both of them, too!
I post much as Carina does... as a way of communicating what's up with me now. I don't text (as that's prohibitively expensive on a pay as you go phone) and am not usually connected to the computer. I almost never use the Away messages on Gaim to communicate anything... just that I'm not there and won't be able to respond. I like being able to post moods and snapshots in time -- looking back at what I've felt and written has been interesting to say the least! It's like a new journaling experience, only one where I'm sharing what I'm feeling, not just dumping it.
And that's funny that we were at the same game. Didn't you see my post about it? ;)
...y provide. I have my blog, and I'm satisfied with it.There is a very rigid limit to my capacity for continuous partial attention, so I am extremely conscious about adding new things to follow. I intentionally limit the number of...