Greetings, readers! Welcome to the February 2009 issue of ZooNews, from professional Web site design company Zoonini Web Services. Don't hesitate to let me know what you think about this issue, or share ideas for future topics.

As I chronicled in the November 2007 issue of ZooNews, I've stubbornly resisted joining the Facebook hordes. The piece drew quite a reaction, and the following month, I quoted four people also fighting the Facebook pull.

Well, guess what? Every single one of those naysayers now has a Facebook account – including my friend Victoria Stanton, who'd coined the unforgettable term Facebook fascism!

Victoria recently decided to set up a profile on Facebook, but "only for the sake of art." As an internationally recognized performance artist with a fairly common name, Victoria decided to morph her Facebook account into a "relational" art project, where she would only "friend" people also named Victoria Stanton. So far she's been delighted with the positive response she's received from her multiple namesakes, resulting in a slightly surreal profile page that she shared with me.

The lesson I've drawn from all this is that it's OK to change your mind about a technology you first thought you didn't want to be part of, and that it's also OK to twist its intent to make it into something you're more comfortable with. And sometimes it's OK to stubbornly continue to resist the temptation to join the masses, even if only on principle. ;-)

This month it's time to uncover the meaning behind the Internet meme. Wikipedia defines it as "a neologism used to describe a catchphrase or concept that spreads quickly from person to person via the Internet, much like an inside joke."

But how to stay on top of the fast-growing world of Internet memes? Well, if you've ever felt out of the loop when friends started saying things like "I can has cheezburger?" or talking about the "Christian Bale freakout" you'll never feel lost again with The Internet Meme Database at your fingertips.

I was recently "tagged" with the "7 Odd and/or Interesting Things About Me" Internet meme by Lisa Firke of Hit Those Keys, so what better way to illustrate the concept than by example. (ZooNews is rarely "all about me," so for this issue, I hope you'll forgive the indulgence!)

1. I collect vintage Pyrex mixing bowls: the yellow/green/red/blue nested set in particular. My habit is sated mostly via elderly relatives who are headed into retirement homes and/or the next life, but sometimes via church bazaars and flea markets.
2. My first computer was an Apple IIe clone and my first (and last) video game addiction was the 1980s' Snakebyte. My first Mac was an uber-impractical SE model with two floppy slots – but no hard drive.
3. I spent most of my childhood and teenage years aspiring to be a professional actress. I performed the lead in Arsenic & Old Lace, was an extra in the venerable Patrick Dempsey classic Meatballs 3, and stood in for Québecois musical icon Diane Dufresne in a Diet Coke commercial. My dreams shifted when at age 17 I discovered super-8 filmmaking and realized that life behind the camera was far more satisfying – and far, far less harsh on the ego.
4. I first met my husband because I was a fan of his hilariously dark self-published mini-comics and headed to a local comic jam to stalk the man who'd thought up such entertaining black humour. Apparently, this didn't creep him out too badly because, fifteen years later, we're still together.
5. Although I'm quite an un-girly-girl in many ways, I am rather fond of cooking, baking, canning, gardening, sewing, knitting, home decorating and other domestic arts. Except cleaning, which I detest with a passion.
6. At one time I believed I had the world's biggest list-making obsession and even made a short autobiographical video called Kathy P: Listoholic. Then I met my husband-to-be and realized I was just a rank amateur.
7. For two years, I worked as assistant director on Hillary Clinton's favourite kids' show at the time, TLC's Iris the Happy Professor. The ultra-crude, hysterically funny behind-the-scenes antics by the show's puppeteers – caught on tape each season for the wrap-party blooper reel – are the stuff of legend in some circles.

Got a technology term you'd like demystified in ZooNews? Send it to questions@zoonini.com.

It's been a packed month full of site launches for Zoonini clients, and we're proud to announce the birth of each and every one:

Our new site for Montreal's Take Two Productions provides a convenient online home for the freelance writing and translation services of Wendy Helfenbaum, and the professional sound recording services and audio equipment rentals of her partner Martin Patterson.

Kalamazoo, Michigan-based business coach Jean Johnson helps people become better leaders. Our new site for Johnson Leadership Coaching features both inspirational quotes and testimonials from satisfied clients, along with recommended books that Jean has found valuable.

Our sites for Take Two Productions and Johnson Leadership Coaching both feature optimized Web copy from our strategic partner A.C. Riley Communications in order to give these brand-new sites the best shot at being found in search-engine results for the desired keywords.

Finally, our client Michael Bungay Stanier has launched his latest inspirational Flash movie, Find Your Great Work, featuring eye-catching animation by Protopop Design. Created as a viral marketing piece to complement the upcoming launch of his book of the same name, Michael invites you to download the first three chapters for free after the movie finishes playing.

Two fun things happened this month: A new ZooNews subscriber, writer Isabel Joely Black, recently told me that she's dubbing this newsletter ZoonininooZ because she likes palindromes. In nearly four years of putting out ZooNews, this had never occurred to me. How very cool! I just love the insights a fresh pair of eyes can bring!

This month I was also profiled in the iWeb Technologies blog, which even translated the original original interview en français. iWeb is the company through which I'm able to offer Web hosting to my clients, so if you were ever interested to know how I got started in the Web world, or to find out more about running a Web server, feel free to take a peek at the interview!

À la prochaine,

kp
aka Kathryn Presner