Whatever
June 18th 2008 08:21
I checked out the site, cumul.us tonight, but didn’t bother to register. I’m sure it’ll be fun to do so, but I’m already registered with so many sites I never ever go back to that I can’t see any point in picking up this one. It was mentioned in an article about whether people were now trusting Wikipedia more than books when it comes to finding out information (the answer is probably, Yes, for the most part), but it strikes me that cumul.us is more of a social networking site than an information one. After all the ‘weather report’ is based on people feeding in information about a particular place, and who’s to know who’s telling the truth? (Which is perhaps where the link with Wikipedia comes in.)
I guess it’s more useful to tell the truth here than not, but what makes me think this is more of a social site than an informational one is the fact that having found out what the weather is, you’re then asked to fill in a bunch of boxes to say what you’ll be wearing – in order to cope with the weather. When we note that all the gear – at least on the home page – is trendy young women’s gear, I think this pretty much tells us all we need to know. This isn’t an information site about the weather, it’s about what you’re wearing. And what your friends are wearing. The weather is just a ruse.
Not having registered, I thought I’d done with the site, but then I discovered that the weather report isn’t actually provided by people literally on the ground, like myself (who could go outside and tell you exactly what’s happening with the weather). It’s provided – in the case of my home town, Dunedin, NZ – by three different forecasters: Weather Underground (not a good title, to my way of thinking); The Weather Channel, and, Accuweather.
Respectively, these three give three totally different temperature readings for the city: 4, 6 and 9 (celsius). Crikey, that’s quite a difference! I can tell you it ain’t 9 outside; it’s probably closer to 4.
So if the degree of accuracy is so varied, what use is the site? As I said, I think its value is to young ladies who want to see what other young ladies are wearing. I emphasise young ladies, because I don’t think most young blokes could give two hoots what their mates or (even more) people they don’t even know, are wearing. I was tempted to register after all and say I was wearing a medical bracelet but I couldn’t find a box to tick.
I guess it’s more useful to tell the truth here than not, but what makes me think this is more of a social site than an informational one is the fact that having found out what the weather is, you’re then asked to fill in a bunch of boxes to say what you’ll be wearing – in order to cope with the weather. When we note that all the gear – at least on the home page – is trendy young women’s gear, I think this pretty much tells us all we need to know. This isn’t an information site about the weather, it’s about what you’re wearing. And what your friends are wearing. The weather is just a ruse.
Not having registered, I thought I’d done with the site, but then I discovered that the weather report isn’t actually provided by people literally on the ground, like myself (who could go outside and tell you exactly what’s happening with the weather). It’s provided – in the case of my home town, Dunedin, NZ – by three different forecasters: Weather Underground (not a good title, to my way of thinking); The Weather Channel, and, Accuweather.
Respectively, these three give three totally different temperature readings for the city: 4, 6 and 9 (celsius). Crikey, that’s quite a difference! I can tell you it ain’t 9 outside; it’s probably closer to 4.
So if the degree of accuracy is so varied, what use is the site? As I said, I think its value is to young ladies who want to see what other young ladies are wearing. I emphasise young ladies, because I don’t think most young blokes could give two hoots what their mates or (even more) people they don’t even know, are wearing. I was tempted to register after all and say I was wearing a medical bracelet but I couldn’t find a box to tick.
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