13 July 1997 - Every good page needs it's manifesto, and
here's mine. The page about the page - my reasons why.
it boils down to this - this is an experiment. I am staking
out my chunk of cyberspace (images of the wild west? manifest destiny?)
and planting myself here. In my week of web experience, I've begun to
realize that no matter how I try, this page is going to reflect who I am.
My style, my mannerisms... this is my personal site after all.
15 July 1997 - Hmm. This is becoming a sort of running
commentary on the process of building this page. Probably a good check.
But I haven't said anything much. A page for the sake of a page, is that
what this is? In a way yes...
But in a way... who you are is defined these days by your
webpresence. Some friends I know (ie. my boyfriend) have created
extremely biographical homepages. And isn't it interesting that a popular
time to create a homepage is... upon entering college? The stereotypical
"time of discovery." So for many of these people, the act of creating a
homepage is in another sense, the act of codifying an identity. I've been
trying to avoid this so far... but in the act of creating anything... you
reflect yourself in it.
That worries me a bit... the words "who you are is defined
these days by your webpresence" - because it is not true only for people.
But for institutions as well... I received a shock today. Here at
Interlochen, simultaneous with the creation of my own homepage, I am
attempting, with my coworker, Justin Foster, to create a Music Library
home page. There is something called "Information Services" here. Does
this name frighten you? It sure scares me. Because from the
accounts I've gathered... Info Services would be just as
pleased to create their own Music Library homepage as to let
us create it... in fact, more so, if they can do it
themselves. How better to preserve Interlochen's corporate
identity... but I may be overreacting. We'll see...
16 July 1997 - I overreacted. The Information Services
people (at least the one that Del, our supervisor talked to) like the idea
in general. And will allow us (hopefully, this will go through _his_
supervisor) scanner time and netscape time. (Yup, that is controlled here
too.) And... the page will be censored. Maybe I didn't overreact...
23 July 1997 - A breach of a couple of days in my record
here. But a couple of reflections nonetheless. The page has been open to
the world for what? two weeks now... and the comments from friends have
been... enlightening. Especially with something like a personal webpage
which is so close to one's essence (I think it's due to it's proximity to
e-mail!) Hmm... the body electric... or maybe now - the body electronic.
E-mail's your voice (that, and irc and various chat whatevers, etc...)
then what's your webpage? The electronic body? Perhaps not... perhaps as
maybe I suggested before... a codification of one's own personality,
whether one likes it or not...
Now here's the million pixel question - why is it so
important psychologically (ie. why is there such a homepage drive?) to
have such a pure codification of one's personality online? Is it due to
the fact that cyberpersonality, through its disconnection with one's own
physical body, one's face and voice... is essentially so fluid and
changeable? That we have to root down the way we are in _reality_ before
we can step into cyberreality? Food for thought...
(I think that explains a lot of the cyber-going-ons at
Interlochen, though...)
Another interesting thing is that people keep on asking me
(mostly non-computer-oriented sorts of people) when my webpages will be
complete... I usually tell them never. The cybermedium is fascinating in
that essence... that it is alive and still growing... always... there is
no deadline for the publisher, no final proofs... and, hence, no end.
9 August 1997 - A lapse on my part. Yuck! And only a week
left as a music librarian. The Music Library page was a royal flop... to
cut through the red tape and get it on the Interlochen server looks like
it could take several years of judicious querying. The other option is
putting it on the Swarthmore server... an unofficial page... while the
official page that information services will eventually concoct will be
all the more soulless and unrepresentative of the character of the music
library. Still, while putting it on the Swarthmore server gives us the
freedom to do what we'd like... it seems to miss the point too... this is
the Interlochen Music Library after all, not the Swarthmore
one.
So I'm back to just working on my own page. Probably better.
Considering Information Services here, I don't know if I could ever be
pleased with a page that they had censored. Probably would take out the
best stuff. (ie. click the pipe and watch it leak!)
I have to admit though that I have managed to very accurately
depict how not to write a webpage. For the moment at least (and it may be
a very long moment) the Interlochen Music Library will have to be
satisfied with an unpage. And nothing more.
21 August 1997 - Home again. And at the end of an ultimately
satisfying day in cyberspace. Today I added backgrounds. No other images
yet... but the backgrounds make such a difference! And yes, they were
even worth the hour slaving over ftp...
I'm becoming very much fascinating by the idea of
cyberspace...especially so today, after seeing how much more "real"
the backgrounds make my pages look. Especially for the catacombs... I had
been trying to have some sort of brown shade in all the backgrounds for
the catacombs to convey the feel of stone walls, of the subterranean. And
the new "stone" background I put up today... well, it does the trick
admirably. The catacombs are ever more convincing for it. (Now all I
need to add is a sound file of dripping water!)
But what is this space, pressed flat against the computer
screen, which we are searching for in all of our pages? This creation of
new frontiers? I suppose we cannot know yet.
18 May 1998 - Yep. It's been a while... ok, more than a
while... try three-quarters of a year. Home from my sophomore year now,
two weeks to kill before shipping out. It was a good year, but, well, in
terms of web pages, maybe not. Hopefully I can fill out more of the
Singularity before I rush off. We'll see.
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