What has been the internet’s main influence on your life?
The internet’s had a pretty big influence, I’d say. Since I’ve discovered it, I’ve never looked back as it has opened up my social and working world.
A large percentage of my current friends have been made via the internet, through twitter or blogs. In fact I met my girlfriend on twitter last year, and that was through a mutual twitter friend.
I have a very curious mind and always had a big collecting mentality, which the internet perpetually feeds, either by allowing me to keep up with new cartoonists or comics, or through finding new bands. I never find music on the radio anymore and seek stuff out on messageboards or myspace.
It helps tremendously with my work too, in particular with research, as I have to regularly write historical strips for National Geographic Kids and there’s a limitless wealth of information at my fingertips, which was definitel never there before. Libraries are cool, but the selection of available material is always random and limited.
Has this influence been positive or negative?
Mostly positive, for the reasons stated above, but there are definite negative aspects to 24 hour information.
What are the negative aspects?
It can lead to quite an addiction and eat into your time. Like I said, I have a curious mind, so once I get into a subject I can spend hours trawling websites for info and opinions.I remember sitting up till 3 in the morning ploughing through messageboards that ridicule creationists. I also spent a couple of years playing World of Warcraft fairly solidly, which could quite easily be said led to the breakdown of my marriage!
If the internet was a person and you met them in a pub, what would you say to them?Marry me.
Website: http://www.garynorthfield.co.uk/
Blog: http://stupidmonsters.wordpress.com/
What The Net Did: a photography project by Laura Babb -www.laurababb.co.uk
rocker44.tumbler.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27760134@N03/
http://twitter.com/Rocker_44
What has been the internet’s main influence on your life?
I’m not sure there’s a bit of my life the internet hasn’t had an influence on.It helped me grow my teeny tiny knitting group, Stitch London, from three people to just over 8000 members that is the radioactive woolly Godzilla I run for a living today. It means that every project that starts as one tiny stitch takes over the world from our cancer-beating London Lion Scarf to our Stitch Yourself project for the Science Museum.
It was helped me find support and medical terms that baffled me when I fought and beat cancer.
It was where I hid and where I found the weird internet (now real life) friends who shoved me back together when my life imploded two years ago.
It’s made me (or rather helped me make myself), a self-published writer (who now gets asked to write books) who writes on travel and craft and is read daily by who knows who, an unexpected Godfather (Godmother sounds rubbish) of the knitting world, and a sneaky graffiti artist whose work pops up around the world while I stay here in London.
It was where I found my very lovely crazed sheep-sketching boyfriend.
Hooray for the internet. :)
If it has been positive, have there been any negative aspects?
Not one. Well maybe my media whoring has got a little out of control…
If the internet was a person and you met them in a pub, what would you say to them?
“You look shorter in real life but I like your hat.”What The Net Did: a photography project by Laura Babb - www.laurababb.co.uk
Manhattanhenge_Tudor City Place_July 12th 2009 (via Shaun Hawk)
33/365 - balls - Sam and I went to Oddballs juggling workshop (www.odballs.co.uk). I can’t juggle to save my life but I did learn a bit of poi when I was in Thailand, so I took them along. I tried to learn some new moves and failed. Sam tried to learn some poi and failed. We obviously ended up in the pub. We are going back next week, however, so I’ll try to get some practice in this week. I know my friends will take the piss out of me when they read this but AT LEAST I HAVE HOBBIES.
Shamelessly plugging a band who my mates cousin is in (tho I do like them)
THE CUT UPS
