DISPATCH | The Riot Act!

Nan’s online privacy lecture
but in song & dance

Click here to get my FREE 2-page PDF "Online Privacy Worksheet" download. Includes 1 blank online privacy worksheet with me cheering you on and 1 sample filled it out by me. 

NOTE: I’m not a privacy expert or a lawyer or anything like that. Only a seasoned, extremely online Gen-X creature of the world wide web and yes—a Mom!

ALSO: Take a minute to create your own online boundaries! Download the 2-page Online Privacy PDF here.

This Project Changed Me

To start, my Dispatch about online privacy was as pure as the driven snow. Many of us wonder at times what to share and what not to share online. It’s a worthy question, I think.

I’ll bet you haven’t taken a hot minute to jot down your own 16-box online privacy grid with YES on the left and NO on the right. Nobody does that.

I did.

(I typed it up for you, see above.)

Holding the paper, I said to myself, why not do a whole big Dispatch* based on this to share online? And that’s when I ran into trouble.

*A “Dispatch” is to YOU from me, Nan in the Outer Lands Archipelago.

This communique is part of a multi-media message across 4seasonshelf channels worldwide about random topics of interest.

It was the video piece of the package that almost killed me.

Such a proper little online privacy video I made! So many points to make. A lot of talking, but at least I put on a blue sequin top and some dangly earrings.

Talking to a video camera about online privacy—ugh! God! Someone else might have stopped right there.

The video suuuucked

Idling at my desk, thinking my sparkly privacy video lecture was just about done, a trusted advisor popped by my desk. I had the good sense to make them watch the video and tell me what they thought.

About 20 seconds into the full ten+ minutes, my trusted advisor made a face and said something like:

“How long is this?… So you’re gonna, like, lecture people on what to post?…”

I’m paraphrasing. No that may be verbatim. In their defense, they were quite ill. Well they popped by my desk.

Mind you, this video already took a lot outta me. But I knew that my perfectly honest pal was right. I knew it.

I’ll post it anyway, I thought while fetching the poor dear some aspirins. In the name of consistency and cringe first try videos, I’ll just post it anyway and be done with it.

Nope. Back to the drawing board.

Keep going

Do better, blah blah blah.

I went for a ride, took a hike, and jumped off a short pier. A day or two of peak summer R&R turned into most of August.

Oh yes. The algorithm—the machine—took its pound of flesh. It needs to be fed fresh content on a regular schedule. The beast always knows what time it is. My 4seasonshelf channels dried up around the globe.

The longer I held off on posting new stuff, the quieter things got.

The quieter things got, the less pressure I felt. I understood in a new way how cults keep lies going through constant contact.

Tough, but I’m tougher.

I kept at the assignment: the best Dispatch I can about online privacy in my own timeframe to release when ready.

Online privacy. Best quality. Own time. Ready.

But Why Though?

Would you believe a sense of civic duty?

Writing down my personal privacy rules on paper helped me, so maybe it would help you?

And… I needed to burn some fresh rubber on the digital superhighways. This is the subject at hand. Shake and bake, baby!

And I was desperate. Like everyone else in these streets. I mean, look at us! Shakin what our mamas gave us, running the publishing Olympics, believing the dream… so bold, so vulnerable, so visible.

Heck, to get a little attention, how many of us aren’t ready to run down the street naked, hollering our lungs out, waving down traffic?

Summer rebellion

Madness!

Friends, let us resist the algorithm, which is here to serve us. Let it do our dishes so we can amuse ourselves as film directors, poets and dancers.

To get those creative juices flowing, we need some air, am I right? Put the top down, baby. Be freeeeee. Crank those gears, turn the pistons!

That’s how I got an idea for how to make my online privacy video better:

> Read ‘em the RIOT ACT—in song and dance!

> Online Privacy: The Musical!

Dance! Dance is joy! Dance is rebellion. I wanted to share online privacy tips, yes, but I wanted to dance. In sequins. Like Taylor Swift. With music, lights and full copyrights! Where is my costume and set designer?

Brat

But until there’s a proper budget for that, there’s video editing tools, my smartphone and a tripod.

Luckily no one walked into the studio (living room) while I was taping dance moves in a tutu in front of the floor-to-ceiling curtains (drapes).

Kick-turn, spin, stomp, pirouette.

Was the skirt too short?

Actually shake my a**?

Where did I put that sequin top?

Red ankle boots?

Where’d I put that paper with the privacy rules?

Do you talk to yourself, too?

In what reality is this ok?

Could I ever hope to land a corporate job again?

That’s a wrap!

Our destination is just ahead.

After many, many, many hours of video editing, adding in dance moves, theater seats, old movie clips, game show elements, popcorn and the United States Marine Band—it’s a wrap!

Even if my musical sucks, it’s done. It may not “pop off.” Yet there it is, my summer rebellion in the flesh.

Old gals like me may have some miles, but I still run.

Onto the next thing, right? Wrong!

First, there needed to be some more major bumps, surprising and unexpected bumps, on the road. I can’t tell you about them here in the open due to online privacy rules I haven’t broken yet, but I may find a way to share a bit more with my email SHORTLIST subscribers.

Without further ado, here is my privacy lecture in song and dance. Please enjoy!

~ Nan

P.S. Download my free 2-page full color privacy grid pdf here. One page is a blank worksheet for you to fill out your own personal privacy grid. The other page I filled out mine FYI.

P.S.S. Never miss my dispatches by subscribing to my FREE email shortlist below the video.

Online Privacy: The Musical

Download my free 2-page full color privacy grid pdf here. One page is a blank worksheet for you to fill out your own personal privacy grid. The other page I filled out mine.