a few weeks back I started reading Sadie Plants' Zeros and Ones, after originally dismissing it as another breathless, impenetrable Internet rave when the review copy came my way in 1997.
now I'm quite enjoying it. she has a referential, sweeping style that doesn't try to explain where she's going, but does try to make it fun as you go; the connections emerge as you read (though I'm probably not getting them all).

she's on about the female side of computing, the influence of female ways and means in the development of networks, the secret influences and implications of the switch from linear to hypertextual, the impact of the zero itself in the binary world. it's all slightly trippy, but I am starting to get something from it.
at about page 130 (my hardback copy) she moves from the secretive nature of viruses (pointing out that the most successful computer viruses are probably ones we don't find) to multiple personality disorders, often suffered by women.
and I wonder about the Web and the Net and their potential for hosting multiple personalities. Plant quotes one personality of a multiple personality, complaining about how everyone wants them to "Integrate", protesting that would be a kind of death: "It means my (any of our) individuality doesn't count."

this is sort of what my Ratava idea is about; that the Web, by supporting multiple selves for a single body (ratava), actually increases/changes the possibilities for that ratava. A ratava isn't just a body, it's a body in relation to a set of digital identities (avatars).

in the way that photography changed painting, electronic identity is changing what it is to be.

whew. all tired now from that big think. might go cross-post this at ratava. really feel I'm getting close to working out what it is I want to say/study/learn/teach.

apparently you only need to have a mark of 70 per cent or above to do honors at Melbourne. so I could just do that. but do I want to? or do I want to jump straight into a masters'?
and I did a B.Litt, not a BA. does that allow an honors year? all too confusing.

well, I think I've ruled RMIT out. too far down the practical-applied end of things.

so, let's see, that was December 12, probably December 13 over here.
today is December 28, and I'm already surfing the university sites looking for a masters' program that would suit what I want to do.
so I guess this blog is going again, as a kind of notebook for thoughts and possibilities. I'll reserve the ratava blog/site for things that are actually useful to other people.

Possible courses: Swinburne has a mixed coursework/thesis MA in communications. I think they have some good, modern people - I find myself still struggling with the idea that big-name universities are the best, even though I know quite well Melbourne Uni doesn't really have that much to offer me.

RMIT has an MA in Media Arts, by research, that would be convenient location-wise, but seems very open-ended.

I really need to find out what supervisors/guidance each of these has. Monash has some really cool thinkers, but I think they are really in the fine art area mostly, or in hard computer science.

and of course I really need to have a very clear idea what I want to research/think about before I start looking seriously into courses. I don't think I just want to do more lectures/reading/essay stuff. but I know I also need guidance. and if I head down the track of internet identity/blogging/ratavas/etc, the main problem will be defining what's in and what's out.

of course it's too late to start at the beginning of 2002 - some courses have midyear intakes or allow anytime starts for MAs by research, though.

and whatever you do, don't even mention the idea of a PhD. some of these courses are already looking like costing me $14,000. which I can't afford and don't have. but what else am I supposed to do? let my brain stagnate? I suppose I could study without getting a degree.

must also investigate my work's study provisions.

This blog is now closed. if you're interested, I received a mark of 88% for this subject, which I expect was more to do with my essay about blogs than this blog itself, plus a fictional biography-thing. I have yet to receive the actual essays back from my tutor, so I have no idea why I got such a high mark. My B.Litt is now FINISHED and I am valiantly resisting the urge to do more study; if I do, the blogging subcommittee may reconvene to consider reactiviting Internet Flaneur. but it's more likely any action would be moved to Ratava.
If you simply can't live without more of me, go to bloggety blog.
Thank you for your attention.