Community software, personal contact, and stalking

There is a wonderfully brilliant piece on NPR this morning that presents a case study of the intersection between online contacts and in-person follow ups.  If I believed in tagging, I tag it something like: 

iTunes
neighbors
awkward social encounters
online communities
unintentional stalkers
digital culture

Here's the current link.

If that doesn't work, it's been moved to the archives and you'll have to find it there.  The piece is titled "How iMet My Neighbor on iTunes" by David Kestenbaum, and it was broadcast on the January 12th Morning Edition.

Comments

[Marcus]

If I had a driveway, this is one of those NPR stories that would be a "Driveway Moment" in which I wait to finish listening before parking the car. Instead I paused in the kitchen and listened closely.

I was very touched by Kestenbaum's sadness at his female neighbor's rejection of him. Maybe it's a male/female difference, but it seemed obvious to me that he was a harmless, endearing and somewhat awkward fellow. wHAT a charminbg notion that shared musical interests can quickly lead to friendships. His wife comes down pretty hard on him too, while admitting that she is probably jealous of the mysterious neighbor.

So let me add these tags:

gender differences
endearing naivete
digital fortress