What I am attempting here is to build a distributed narrative in a closed network. The blunter term would be remediation, but the enterprise here aims to do more than merely convey a text through a new medium. What I’m meaning to do is to shatter the text across a networked debris field, in order to convey the artwork in a manner that is outside its original container. The aim is not to implode the text – or try to deconstruct small fragments that I manage to separate from their textual base - just the opposite. I am trying to explode Ulysses, not pull it apart and place it under a lens, but send its narrative into the virtual space of a participatory network and back again.

“I strongly believe in the power of weblogs to transform both writers and readers from "audience" to "public" and from "consumer" to "creator" (1)

When Rebecca Blood made this statement in 2000 (1), the sheer number of blogs was already becoming “unnavigable”. Now, with the advent of Youtube and Google video we can add vlogs to this mix. As we navigate all kinds of blogs, vlogs and emails daily, we are far beyond thinking in terms of a utopia brought about by digital technology, which was resonant of early discussions of the web. Just the opposite: conducting an online search for the terms weblogs, vlogs or blogs and power, the number of results linking these concepts to commercial enterprises is frightening enough to inspire a healthy dose of cynicism. According to one videoblogging website, “..you can make a killing doing what you do best on the internet” (2). Despite this, there has been much said about the revolutionary potential of political blogs, websites and other digital technologies.

An Introduction to Travel + Technology

Travel and technology have become two words that are inextricably tied together. This growing relationship has changed the face of travel, as where we go and how we document it, has irrevocably changed. From organizing your trip to booking your flight and accommodation, everything can be done online, and often at a much more reasonable price. The days of frantic conversations and negotiations with your travel agent are slowly dwindling as more and more people embrace the new independence that the internet has allowed them.

My first blog will be on Indian women attire, music, dance and marriage. India has been known to have wonderful dresses and costumes. Our huge Indian traditional clothes collection consists of mainly sarees, salwar kameez, lehenga. I will be showing few clips of all these three outfits. I am focusing only on women attire in my blog.

The music of India includes multiple varieties of folk, popular, pop, and classical music. India's classical music tradition, including Carnatic and Hindustani music, has a history spanning millennia and, developed over several eras. I will focus on a simple Indian music which will be a Hindi film songs because there is very little time to show all the music.

Introduction to identity online

“On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.”

If you recognise this quote, it is likely that you saw it accompanying a cartoon in which a dog sits at a computer, talking to another dog. The cartoon, by Peter Steiner, was originally published in the New Yorker, but has widely circulated the Internet since. The cartoon and its quote sums up quite nicely the premise of my videoblog: that there is an anonymity on the Internet that allows us to play with the concept of identity. Unlike in the ‘real’ world, where our physical presence announces our existence to people around us, we do not exist online until we ‘write ourselves into being’ (Sunden 2003, quoted in boyd).

Participatory culture or fan culture, and the fan fiction phenomenon started to rise after the release of the movie Star Trek in the 1960s. Following the release of Star Trek, many fan magazines (fanzines) were published. The first fanzine, Spockanalia, was published in 1967 and its creator, Devra Langsam, helped to organise the very first convention in January 1972. The number of visitors was overwhelming. Grup, the first Star Trek fanzine geared towards sexually explicit fan fiction was published in 1972. Photocopying machines were the ‘public’s printing press’ at that time, circulating information, making copies of the same material and passing them on to other people. However, with the advent of technology and the internet, the way information is spread has changed and it is increasingly easier day by day.

Introduction to Online Communities and the Arts

Jurgen Habermas (1989, p.55) stated that a ‘public sphere’ is created when free citizens act as a “public”. It is an aspect to our social lives where public opinion is formed and is open to all citizens; historically, citizens act as a public when dealing with matters of interest voluntarily. Habermas was talking largely about early twentieth century France where people met in cafes and played music and discussed politics As societies and communities have become larger and harder to manage, the public sphere needs certain ways to filter information and that is in the form of the mass media – newspapers, television, radio and the Internet. However, many people believe that online communities have resurrected a more “simple” form of the public sphere, where users can contribute to a space or discover information in a more “intimate” setting.

Text Blog Post 1: An Introduction to Online Communities

The Internet has facilitated the growth of participatory culture and its network structure has enabled an increased connectivity between people. Computer-based communication allows people to participate in social networks, known as virtual communities. Online communication and participation has given rise to extensive debates and influential theories on the nature of virtual communities.

Synopsis:

It was not today…!
It was not even yesterday…!
It was 9000 years ago, evolved gradually, into a democratic, pluralistic, secular, sovereign, intellectual power house….
Its INDIA.
With multitudes of languages, different cultures, different traditions, and existence of every possible religion, India is a classical example of unity in diversity. Celebrations and festivals are the essence of India. Dance and music are the integral part of Indian society.

Detail :

The main theme of my blog is to show the colors of India. I would mainly focus on Indian women, attire, music, cuisine, sightseeing, festivals, marriage…. I will take some clips from Indian movies which would help cover some of the topics since I am now in Australia and will not be able to get live pictures. I also wish to cover some of the Indian restaurants and temples in Perth.

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Just so you all have some idea of what I'm doing:

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Title: Ulysses, the Facebook.

Synopsis:
This project is an attempt to translate the universe of Joyce’s Ulysses into the facebook network. It looks to examine what happens to the work of art in an age of digital representation by filtering this particular cultural artefact through the prism of the social network.

Detail:
While the contents of Facebook and other such social networking sites are rarely accurate representations of proper social groups as they might exist in the real world – a flaw upheld by constraints of access, content, and the exclusionary binary mode of existence - there is the interesting potential for the social network to be employed as a means of representation. The work of Jill Walker (2004) is particularly useful to this project, and I use her ideas of what the concept of the 'distributed narrative' actually entails in order to define the margins of this project.