E-Voyeurism: A User's Guide

Many confuse the fine art of internet voyeurism for stalking. And there is a fine line to negotiate: at what point does e-voyeurism become e-stalking? It's simple: when the subject of your interest becomes inextricably linked with an individual. The beauty of material e-voyeurism is much like that of visiting an art gallery; given similar tools & rules of creation, what have the artists created?

Thus commences the user's guide to e-voyeurism.

+ Blogs, RSS and YouTube Subscriptions
RSS feeds and YouTube subscriptions are my anti-drugs. Bookmarks can be cumbersome and it is easy to lose interest in fumbling through lists of "favourite" websites. In this sense, RSS feeds, such as Google Reader (or, if you're unsure which suits you, read this), are fantastic as they keep everything together & accessible, track your updates, & save entries as read and unread.

By perusing updates in this manner you will quickly find yourself being linked to myriad new websites and blogs. You can easily discover new interests through recommendations, particularly through weekly updates such as Flickr Faves, Link Loves & Things I Love Thursdays by various bloggers.

Try out Google Reader's "Shared Items" feature to find out exactly what I'm talking about!

+ StumbleUpon
StumbleUpon is simply mind-boggling. It is by far the best way to navigate yourself around the internet, as you can quite literally "stumble upon" absolutely anything. It's totally addictive and takes your interests & favourite finds into account in order to direct you towards websites that you will undoubtedly love and perhaps never would have found otherwise. Not only that, there is a certain friend-of-a-friend element about it: what you stumble upon may not be your cup of tea, but an external link from that website may turn out to be the best thing you've ever witnessed online.

Ever had to pester your friends to watch that online video that you found hilarious? Much like blog websites and Flickr, the friend system allows you to connect with peers and share your finds with them. If you click "I like it" on the search bar, the site will be catalogued into your favourites, and your friends can try them out at their leisure without you having to bombard them with links. What could be better than that?!

+ Online Communities
Online communities are an excellent way to connect with people who share your enthusiasm for... well, absolutely everything! The communities I have found, love & favour are primarily on Flickr and LiveJournal. I can't get enough of make-up communities, in my bag photo pools, journal & organizer communities, & so on. There is a deep community sensibility, where you get to know names, faces and styles all at one. Many involve the use of similar items (a bag and its contents, notebook, a bedroom) & through individual elements of style, create polar outcomes. It's fascinating. The only downside, perhaps, is its segue into at least two of the deadliest sins...

+ The motherload: Online Window Shopping
With e-voyeurism comes e-envy, and often e-coveting. Fads spread like wildfire online (especially, I find, from "in my bag" communities), and it's difficult to resist the temptation to whip out the plastic and make impulsive purchases. To curb your cravings, try an age-old tactic with a new-age twist: window shopping.

The French term for window shopping is "lèche-vitrine", literally translates to "window licking". Enough said! Peruse to your heart's content, make a wishlist, covet freely (think of it as vicarious ownership!), on one condition: no credit cards to hand! My favourite places to e-window shop:
-- Etsy.com: An online craft store with home-made content, my go-to for cute purses & storage pouches for all of my gadgets.
-- Play.com: if you live in the UK or Europe, you can't beat it! When in the US, I prefer Amazon.com. Their marketplaces are also a goldmine for finding cheap books & DVDs.
-- FredFlare.com: The cutest gadgets & trinkets in all the land.
-- MojoLondon: My favourite place to buy Moleskines and covet their expensive yet adorable trinkets.

What are your favourite e-voyeurism tactics?

Until next time... Enjoy, explore, e-voyeur to your heart's content!

Nicola x

Sunday YouTube Videos of the Week

I Can't Stand The Rain - Scottish Falsetto Socks in Edinburgh: Reminiscent of the Chewin' The Fat teuchter sock puppets, this tickled me. We've been suffering a ridiculous amount of rain for August, and this perfectly encapsulates the feeling for us Scots. (Although I must note, it is sunny today, but it's not going to last!)
ETA: Not 2 minutes after submitting this post, it started to rain again. Fandabbydosy!

Paladins and Kalgan, Wrath of the Lich King: You're probably thinking, "Wait, what?", but allow me to explain. The title of the video refers to the subtitles, which are based on World of Warcraft in-jokes. If you're not a fan of WoW, however, worry not, I implore you still watch, as you should still find it hilarious.

Seeso - The Song We Never Wrote: Narcisco Lobo, also known as his YouTube alias, Seeso, is one of my favourite YouTube musicians. This is by far his most sweet and enthralling original song. I, for one, can't get enough of it.

Randy Pausch: The Last Lecture: If you don't have a spare hour to watch this... make one! Randy Pausch was an academic at Carnegie Mellon and The University of Virginia, and it the absolutely exceptional story from an absolutely exceptional man. Pausch died aged 47, on July 25th, after battling with pancreatic cancer for almost a year. The lecture was recorded on September 18th 2007, at which point doctors had given him 2-5 months of good health left. "Inspirational" doesn't even begin to cover it.


Until next time... Enjoy!