It's my birthday today. I'm 43.

You'd think that I could make up my own mind about things by now but I'm as easily influenced as I ever was. Except now my influences seep in through digital connection as much as face to face.

I went down and upgraded my mobile phone today at the Allphones store at our local shopping centre. I went with a new iPhone on my old plan which turned out to be a good deal as it includes a monthly data allowance of 1G which my old plan didn't have. My choice was heavily influenced by the numerous educators that I have read praising the iPhone as a device. I read in detail on this forum too about some of the issues that I might face with my carrier (3) after a warning tweet from Dean Groom. His past experiences led me to a greater understanding of roaming networks and whether my new upgrade would be a decent deal.

Consider my network as a pretty big influence in that decision. It's also the reason I plan to purchase and salary sacrifice a Mac laptop later in the term. I no longer have to rely on the salesman's pitch - I can gather intelligence from users already using the products I am interested in. I even tweeted a request out to ascertain the need for the Apple Protection Plan and got useful advice from Rachel Boyd, Isaak Kwok and Paul Luke.

Then tonight I watched the first episode of a DVD set that was my birthday gift, purchased way back in March. (A$13.99 a Season, good value.) The series is "The Wire" which I've never seen on Australian television but came higly recommended from another node in my network. Thanks, Dan.

Maybe somewhere my own bits of digital content help to influence and shape other people's choices in a positive way. Wisdom of the crowd, indeed.

dy/av : 006 : carver's classroom management from Dan Meyer on Vimeo.