September 9, 2005
all ideas connect somewhere and everywhere
sometimes when i'm listening to an idea in class i meander too deeply into my own thoughts so that when i finally comment aloud, i'm way across the pond from the original stream of thought, which often reminds me of the quick succession of jumps in hypertext that can take your from your search on zebras to the medicinal properties of birch trees, as an example.
when we were talking about breaking the formally imposed rules of text my mind started clicking through the entire history of literacy and print culture. One of my plan b papers for the M.A. is about early modern authors and the distribution of their work during a time of unprecedent global changes. One of my classes this fall is "Readers and Book History" which i am avidly interested in because it kind of rounds out my initial studies, plus Rob's class is a nice foil, so to speak, along with and against the discussion of history and audiences.
I really sit forward and pay attention when looking at the theory and history around class, literacy and technology and how these evolving cultural aspects collectively transform social structures, how we mass communicate and so on. Last night I read a chapter from
A History of Reading In the West which talked about how we moved from only reading aloud to silent reading. Only monks and the such used to reading silently. With the advent of silent reading, people gained a lot of privacy, as you can imagine.
Posted by wood0072 at September 9, 2005 6:53 AM
since we're on the subject of capitalization...(smooth segue, eh?)
wood0072, i couldn't help but notice yours. we talked in class about it briefly and since then i've been watching what folks do. in your post you start out without any caps. you're talking about your mind meandering like your web searches (cool analogy, btw) and then you start talking about your grad program (in english!) and the capital letters show up. my guess is that was unconscious. was it?
yes, i guess it was. I suppose it's similar to how I switch from print to cursive without a thought. my physical being is so ruled by my brain that unless I am utterly clear-headed, i forget to check my composure. plus, i spend so much time alone, or with my three year old son, I'm not used to really filtering myself, so if i pick my nose in class it's because I've lost track of my surroundings...ha ha, i jest, mostly...
i'd noticed that bit about the nose, but i wasn't going to say anything.
seriously though...a 3 yr old and grad school. that sounds intense. i bet the web is a nice, adult escape after your son is in bed. i guess it's glaringly obvious i but hadn't really thought of that before. the www could be an intellectual (and social) lifeline for a parent who's feeling isolated. sure there are all sorts of parent-stuff sites...but i mean the www can be a refuge where you step away from parenthood and think about something else for a while.
it does appear that many folks use the web for social connection, but myself, i prefer to shut the 'puter off as soon as i can. i have a lot of parenting books though. but i do love the ease of finding almost any answer in a matter of minutes on the web, whether it be about tantrums or teleological studies in literature or a recipe for quiche.