An arm-chair techie confronts Social Media, associated technology (aka Web 2.0), and the implications to community, identity, and privacy.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Web 2.0 and Hobbies

Are you familiar with amateur radio ("Ham" radio)? This is an radio service where people can connect with others (all over the world in some instances). Historically, this has involved FM voice, AM voice, SSB voice, and Morse Code ("CW"). More recently, data communication has been growing in the hobby of amateur radio. It is now possible to send and receive email via amateur radio while chillaxin on your yacht in the Caribbean! This is a much cheaper solution to satellite phones... :-) Another implementation of data in amateur radio is called APRS. This is often used for tracking resources in an emergency situation (there are other uses as well, such as exchanging brief messages between stations).

To see a mashup of amateur radio operators using APRS, check out http://aprs.fi/. At any given time there will be information about antenna towers, weather stations, and mobile operators. If you enter my call sign, W5XQM, you can see some of my recent history (when I was broadcasting). As always, there are privacy implications!

Enjoy! Feel free to comment on where Web 2.0 tools are used in other hobby areas.

73,
de W5XQM

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