[Surf's Up, as published in The Telegram on Friday, Oct. 7, 2005. Click here to read this and previous Surf's Up columns as a group.]
As much as Marshall McLuhan's famed phrase "global village" is overused and sometimes misapplied, there's no doubt that there is a global village online.
Actually, there are a lot of them. Not one village, but thousands ― even millions.
You can customize your online community, or even create multiple communities to which you can belong.
Here are two good examples of how the online world is being sliced, diced and finessed to be just right for you.
Rollyo
Rollyo, as in Roll Your Own ― and not cigarettes. It means, roll your own search roll, or a list of site that you commonly visit, and from which you can search for, well, whatever you want. If you're a news junkie, pick just the sites you tend to follow. If you're into digital photography, ditto.
You can actually create more than one roll, too, or take advantage of what other people have created. (Not a bad idea, actually.) You're not obliged to make your roll public, if you don't want to.
The upside: you can save time if you know what you like and know where to find it. The downside: you won't likely be stumbling over the things you didn't know you ought to know.
Individual Google
I've been using this Google add-on for quite a while, and keep tinkering with my setup. I have it set up to capture sources and topics I like to follow. It feeds me latest headlines from the New York Times, Wired news, the BBC and numerous others, and I keep up-to-date with some cartoons (Doonesbury, for one) and bloggers whose postings I read (including Newfoundlander Damian Penny).
I've added various news-search queries, too, on subjects I follow professionally, and hobbies that compete for my leisure time.
IG is really simple to use; you can add and subtract the number of headlines you want to see, and drag and drop the array, so you can arrange the presentation just the way you like.
Elsewhere this week
Picture History
For history buffs, here's a site to feed the appetite. Picture History is oriented toward U.S. history specifically, and is specially oriented toward users that are looking to license pictures for their own use. If you're just a casual browser like me, nonetheless, this is a fun site to consider.
Meal Me
Eating out? Take notes. Someone else ― like the kind of person who will read Meal Me ― may want to know what you thought about this diner's soup or that restaurant's spaghetti bolognese.
Good News Blog
Drudge keeps track of breaking political news, Fark keeps up with all the weird stuff … and here's a blog that is interested only in the positive stuff. Yes, most newscasts tend to carry things that can be considered bleak (that is, often, why it's actually "news"). So, this blog is interested in life-saving teens, lottery winners, "miracle" recipes and the like.
Good Food
From the U.S. radio station KCRW comes Good Food, a weekly show about food ― and not about recipes. Available in podcast form.
Know This?
Do loyalty programs work? What elements of packaging actually draw a customer's eye? What's happening in the battle against counterfeit merchandise? I was surprised to find just how much news I've seen flowing through Know This?, a site that is all about marketing.
Piano humour
www.pianoparadise.com/humor.html
One of my chief regrets in life is that I didn't learn to play the piano ― yet. Here's a small collection of funny bits about the instrument that is several times bigger than a breadbox.
John Gushue is a news writer for CBC.ca in St. John's. E-mail: surf at thetelegram.com. Read past Surf's Up columns and much more at his blog: johngushue.typepad.com.
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