LifeStream Summary Weeks 11 & 12
I feel like the student who did not pay enough attention in class to instructions and my summary for Week 11 got lost in the ether! I will try not to impose on this weekly (fortnightly) summary my overall thoughts for the whole lifestream but I think it is illustrative of the processes I go through. I believe in caves and taking time to reflect and “go internal”. This is something I’ve mentioned a few times over the course of this module and it’s interesting that this has not changed.
Lost in my own world
The pressing topic has been to come up with an essay topic and then start scouting around for material. I’ve found this challenging as I could not seem to knit together the disparate ideas I had floating around. At the same time, I moved offline and spent time reading, almost none of which is seen in my LifeStream, as I was reading print materials rather than online. I hadn’t realised the extent of this till now when I looked back to see what I’d done. I think this reflects an aspect of Digital Culture which was not pursued or examined on the course but perhaps demands closer examination: local context, censorship and fear of the consequences of exposure.
It seems to be taken from granted that the digiverse is an free realm for expression and exploration. I’ve never really shaken off the knowledge that I am monitored and held liable to disciplinary action should anything I express online displease my employers or the authorities of the country I have chosen to live in. So, combined with my natural inclination for caves, the LifeStream has been ill-fed this past 2 weeks. What it does show is that I rely on outside stimuli to spark ideas. The thoughts of Zombies or Medieval Scientists or the work of archeologists in the Sudan can take me to new places as I ponder what exactly it is we’re creating. As ever, issues in items not showing up but I’ve come to realise that this is part of our imperfect world. Just as lifts sometimes stop, ATMs run out of cash and there never seems to be milk in the fridge when I most want it, the LifeStream can judder and jam and spit out for which it seems not to care!
