Today's Reading

Culley, Margo (1985). Introduction. In M. Culley (Ed.), A Day at a Time: The Diary Literature of American Women from 1764 to Present (pp. 1-26). New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York.

Reading Notes: This Introductory chapter to Culley's edited volume of American Women's dairies is a deep intellectual analysis of the diary and its place in women's lives. Culley states that until the mid-ninetieth century the numbers of journals and diaries kept by men exceeded those kept by women (90% to 10%), though she acknowledges that her sources, Matthews' American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of American Diaries Written Prior to the Year 1861 (1945) and Arksey, Pries, and Reed's American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals (1983), are subject to the under-valuation of women's writing that may have lead to fewer documents written by women making their way into the hands of preservationists.

Culley argues that modern readers tend to attack reading diaries as an entrance into the secret inner life of the writer. However prior to the late 1880's diaries were not documents filled with private thoughts and feelings to be read only by the writer and possibly persons with whom they choice to share those thoughts and feelings. Rather, diaries of the 18th and 19th centuries were semi-public documents intended for an audience, men's journals as records of public life in particular. Women also wrote for a current and future audience of family members in their roles as family and community historians.

The function and content of American diaries has changed from it's forms early roots in spiritual autobiographies that chronicle the authors' religious journey. The function and content than moved to more secular purposes as writers functioned as witnesses and social historians with a focus that is external to the author. Modern diaries have often taken an inward focus where the principle subject is the self exhibited through the extensive use of personal pronouns.

Like the function and content of diaries the reasons for keeping them have varied through time. The keeping of a diary always begins with the same kernel, the idea that one's personal experience is remarkable enough to record and maintain. Often diaries were begun around a transition from one state to another; physical relocation, marriage, and widowhood are but a few. Keeping a diary allows the writer some continuity between their old lives and the new.

The process of selection and arrangement of the details present in the diary create a set of literary concerns including "'audience (real or implied), narrative, shape and structure, persona, voice, imagistic and thematic repletion' and what James Olney [1972] calls 'metaphors of self'" (p. 10). This process dislocates the real from the imagined self of the author which forces the real to stand apart and view the self.

The audience for the writing is a primary part of the objectifying process. Some journals are intended for real, often known, audiences. In some cases the diary itself stands in as the ideal audience ("Dear Diary"), or naming of the volume through personification. No matter the envisioned audience the sense that an audience exists is central to the writing of all diaries.

Through address to the audience the writer creates their envisioned self, by selection of detail and arrangement of information, and the writers' choices in amending and editing their written materials. The ideal manuscript diary contains not only the written words of the diarist but also any physical memorabilia the writer may have included. Culley suggests that as much can be learned about the diarist from their physical artifacts, including the physical diary itself, as can be gleaned from the written words. Likewise she suggests that repetition of material events and the silences within the document are illustrative.

However access to manuscript diaries is difficult for the general public. Most easily accessible are published volumes, like Culley's, that invariably are formed and fashioned through editing. Editor may exhibit a light hand, as has been written of Bunkers' Diaries of Girls and Women: A Midwestern American Sampler (2001), or a with a heavy hand to appeal to the current sense of personal/private distinctions (see Culley's discussion of editing of Maria Mitchell's diary, p. 16), however either tactic creates a second diary that differs from the original. This editing often changes the trajectory of the document from one targeted to the audience for whom it was written and now for one to whom it will be read.

Unlike novels, diaries are a continuing work in progress; diaries are periodic in both creation and structure. Where a novel has a structured beginning, middle, and ending - a diary's shape is often derived from external events, including the calendar year, the end of travels, or the authors marriage. This periodicity of diaries determines the relationship of the writer and reader to the text; in a novel the ending is known to the author allowing them to build anticipation for what will happen next. Because diaries are written in a constant present the author does not have the ability to structure the events for the audience. Their entries are a series of surprises for both the author and the audience.

Reading diaries can be difficult for readers as the documents require much decoding before their meanings can be understood. Culley remarks that the writer invariably knows more about their own worlds then the reader can hope to understand, while the reader may have access to knowledge that was unavailable to the writer. To transcend this gap the reader must take an active role in identifying the writers "presences, including their technology, ritual, etiquette, plan, history, and form" (p.23). The reader's engagement with the materials is a powerful recreation of the text in the present.

Reference List

Arksey, L., Pries, N., & Reed, M. (1983). American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of Published American Diaries and Journals. (vols. 1) Detroit: Gale Research.

Bunkers, S. L. (2001). Diaries of Girls and Women: A Midwestern American Sampler. Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press.

Culley, M. (1985). A Day at a Time: The Diary Literature of American Women from 1764 to Present. New York: The Feminist Press at the City University of New York.

Matthews, W. (1945). American Diaries: An Annotated Bibliography of American Diaries Written Prior to the Year 1891. Berkeley: University of California Press.

Olney, J. (1972). Metaphors of Self: The Meaning of Autobiography. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

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What more can one say...it's very cold

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Music is an important part of my world

I have fairly eclectic musical tastes as you can see from the link list at the left. Oldies (well they weren't oldies when I started listening to them LOL), celtic, folk, jazz, and world music. I actually went for a short list because the full list is ever growing and changing. Expect to see this list change over time. Click through some you don't know. *S* Never know what you might find that you like.

Doing this list was informative. I had no idea that I don't listen to many "groups" anymore. Mostly these are solo performers, singer-songwriters actually.

In my usual place as a counter of things there are 9 females, 12 males, and 4 groups. LOL Very different then it was when I was in high school. Then I listened to mostly groups or male performers.

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Todays reading

Today (Wednesday January 28, 2004) I prepared to teach my class and read one article (well 1.5 actually but I won't post the second article until I have finished it).

Kennedy, Helen (2003). Technobiography: Researching lives, online and off. Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 26(1), pp. 120-139.

Published abstract (taken from the University of Hawai'i Press): This article is an argument for technobiography, a term coined in Cyborg Lives? Women's Technobiographies, a collection I coedited in 2001. I outline what technobiography is, and how, by allowing access to what it feels like to live certain digital experiences, it can contribute to building a comprehensive picture of cybercultural landscapes. If we want to understand lived experiences of the Internet, we need to study not only online, virtual representations of selves, but also lives and selves situated within the social relations of the consumption and production of information and communication technologies. Drawing on two technobiographical projects involving a group of black, working-class women returning to education with the aid of networked technologies and computer-mediated distance learning, and another exploring social relations in a digital multimedia production center I indicate ways in which technobiography can contribute to this important project.

Reading Notes: This article presents an argument for technobiography as a tool for studying digital experiences and the relationship between online and offline lives. "Technobiography" is defined as a first-person narrative that explore the intersections between gender, power, and subjectivity, with technology at the center of the authobiography.

Kennedy cites Bell (2000) in arguing that stories of stories of human interaction with technology (be that interaction material, symbolic, or experiential) create cyberspace. From this discussion Kennedy has created technobiographies as a form of autobiography discussing ones use of and interaction with technology. In particular she stresses the use of technobiography as a way of studying the relationship between online and offline lives.

"First, technobiography makes it possible to examine online lives in offline contexts, and so facilitates moving beyond a focus merely on virtual representations of lives and selves, to a fuller understanding of the social relations of the production and consumption of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). Second, technobiography allows access to the context in which online lives are produced, to lived experience and to living experience -- that is, what it feels like to live certain experiences of digital multimedia from the inside, or to occupy privileged and non-privileged identity position within the micro-power dynamics of technology-rich environments" (p. 121).

Kennedy further grounds her discussion in the works of Kendall (2002) and Baym (1995) for their work in online communities; Chandler (1998) for his work with anonymity and personal home pages; and Hines (2000) for her work in online ethnography.

I found Kennedy's argument for the utility of technobiography so compelling that I will be undertaking my own technobiography that will be linked from this blog page in the future.

Reference List

Baym, Nancy K. (1995). The emergence of community in computer-mediated communication. In S. G. Jones (Ed.), Cybersociety: Computer-Mediated Communication and Community (pp. 138-163). Thousand Oaks CA: Sage Publications.

Bell, David (2000). Cybercultures Reader: A user's guide. In D. Bell & B. M. Kennedy (Eds.), The Cybercultures Reader (pp. 1-12). New York: Routledge.

Chandler, Daniel (1998). Personal homepages and the construction of identities on the Web. Daniel Chandler's Webpage, The University of Wales, Aberystwyth [On-line]. Available: http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/webident.html

Hine, Christine (2000). Virtual Ethnography. London: Sage Publications Inc.

Kendall, Lori (2002). Hanging Out in the Virtual Pub. Berkeley CA: University of California Press.

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Politics in 2004

I sat and debated on whether I wanted to take this blog to a political place. Truth is I really don't but I can't resist posting this. Found it on the SiteMeter page when I went to check blog stats. The click through is my own addition. *evil grin*

My best political advise is to get out and vote for the person who best fits your world view. ALSO be tolerant of those whose views differ from your own, in the end we are all trying to make the best choices we can. Finally there is no "wasted vote" regardless of who wins merely voting is winning, lots of people in the world don't get that privilege.

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Reading for Scientists and Subjects

The assignment for this week is to read and then answer one or more of a list of questions prepared by our moderator, Ken Pimple. The reading is: Jonas, Hans. (1969). Philosophical reflections on experimenting with human subjects. Daedalus, 98, 219-247. This is a seminal paper by the founder of bioethics addressing a number of the moral dilemmas surrounding medical research involving human subjects of research.

Question 3a. Jonas' discussion turns, in large part, on the conceptual framework of "individual versus society." In your own words, describe the fundamental values that are pitted against each other by experimentation on human beings. Can these values be placed in a hierarchy? What risks would arise by placing one of these values above the others?

Answer: As Jonas (1969) states, the fundamental value is the status of the individual (as unit of analysis) versus society (as a collective of all individuals). However history has often shown that society has missed the value of the individual when that individual is part of a lesser valued group and over-valued individuals who are part of more highly valued groups. Therefore while western culture has stated that individuals are valued, in this struggle it has often read as group (valued) verses group (under-valued) with the valued group standing as society.

I concur with Jonas on his appraisal that the society is owed nothing from the individual, nor is the individual owed anything from society by way of biomedical research. And therefore from a philosophical standpoint the needs of either can not be placed in a single hierarchical ranking. But like most things in research this depends on the lens used to view the situation. From this macro stance there is no hierarchy.

From a micro stance there is always the hierarchy of the known verses the unknown and that is the risk of placing values above the others. I know the children in my life. I think they are precious and irreplaceable; the unknown is of lesser value. At that unit of analysis then anything goes to save them should they we ill.

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It strikes me

You can tell I do content analysis as well as ethnographic research. I'm still counting things and comparing them - like the number of bibliographic entries and Orkut contacts. LOL Not sure if this is just funny or funny-sad.

I spent much of the day doing data entry into Reference Manager and filing. Reference Manager count was up to 2578 at 5 p.m. of course that doesn't reflect all the filing of articles that had been previously entered.

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Fog is closing in

The fog is starting to close in. When you stand in the yard visually it is like being surrounded by white cotton. However the sound is not cotton-like. All around you hear the crack and pop of ice covered branches. Ice pellets are starting to fall bouncing off the already frozen top of the snow. The picture of the front yard clearly shows the ice covering that coats every surface. More winter weather is coming tonight with additional snow and ice fall predicted.

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Snow and Ice is simply not nice

	Well I would have been suprised if we had gone through the entire bad weather event without someone going through one of our farm fences. Though rarely is it quite this dramatic or the outcome so positive. A west bound SUV apparently hit a bump, an ice covered bump, while driving too fast. She became airborne and actually rolled the thing in mid-air. Must have been quite a sight, a neighbor said it was an amazing sound. She hit the corner post of the sheep lot with the roof of the SUV, apparently still headed west. The SUV rotated at least once on the ground so it came to rest on it's side facing east. Amazing and wonderful...she is ok...only a scratch on her finger from climbing out of broken truck window. Click on the thumbnails to see a larger pic.

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This week

This week I am working diligently to complete these piles of Reference Manager input so I can start my first quals chapter next week, per the semester plan. This work includes finding bibliographic input, finding abstracts online or keying them in, linking .pdf files from archives to the bibliographic entries, and filing hardcopies of articles. While the work is pretty repetitive and very administrative it does free the mind to ruminate on the information being manipulated. As I start working today my Reference Manager reference count is 2527. I have no good estimate on what it will be when I'm done, nor can I estimate fully if I will be required to buy more filing boxes.

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Late night when there is a winter storm

You never really notice that the road in front of our house is a busy thoroughfare until it isn't busy. Tonight is one of those nights. I sit here at nearly midnight and all I can hear are the night sounds of the house - the fish tank bubbling, the computer humming, the quiet breathing of the old floor boards as they adjust to the cold that creeps in from outside. But there is nary a sound from the road. The snow plows won't touch the pavement outside my window for several more hours as they prepare for the morning commuters from Decatur County heading into town for their factory and office jobs. Until then...it is a sea of silence and stark white drifts. Beautiful, clean, and quiet.

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Winter Storm

Wish-TV Channel 8 from Indianapolis is reporting that we received 5.5" of snow. No local schools are open tomorrow. It's every parents fear...a snow day. The snow in our yard is so quiet it's reflecting the evening sky and looks like water.

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Orkut taken off-line

Hard to check your numbers when the site is taken off-line. Oh well it's a good thing since the spam rate was going up. Can't wait to see the improvements they make.

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Today's reading - Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 23.3

Huff, Cynthia (2003). Reading as
re-vision: Approaches to reading manuscript diaries. Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 23, 505-523.

Published abstract (taken from the University of Hawai'i Press): "Reading as Re-Vision" argues that readers of manuscript diaries might profitably avoid textually-based reading strategies in favor of ones conducive to a multimedia approach, since nineteenth-century British women often constructed themselves and their diaries not as records of a unitary self but rather as chronicles of significant others and the empire.

Reading Notes: This article compels us to use a simultaneously close and extensive reading strategy when approaching manuscript diaries. The author states that "manuscript diaries construct themselves and their texts through their use of space, extra-textual material, voice, ideology, and historical and family positioning, among other factors" (Huff, 2003, p. 521). There are many points of comparison between Huff's discussion of manuscript dairies and diary weblogs, both rely on text but use elements of multi-media to extend and shape the text; both may link text not only to private family matters but to the larger cultural context; and both may exhibit a variety of voices and textual positioning.

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Amazing how this thing grows

Amazing how this thing grows. This clip was pulled at roughly 9 a.m. EST.

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Today's Reading - Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly 26.1

Killoran, John B. (2003). The gnome in the front yard and other public figurations: Genres of self-presentation on personal home pages. Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 26, 66-83.

Published abstract (taken from the University of Hawai'i Press): In light of empirical research showing that personal home pages are not as personal as their reputation suggests, this paper proposes that sustained self-presentation on the Web by ordinary people has been hindered, in part, by the feeble legacy of suitable genres. Drawing on a sample of over one hundred personal home pages, this paper illustrates how, in the absence of generic precedents, public self-presentation is instead achieved through innovation with past genres.

Reading Notes: This paper looks at the ways that personal home pages are rooted in older media. It gives illustrations to show how the generic legacy does not limit personal home page authors to the production of derivative representations. Instead authors draw upon past genres as heuristics deploying them creatively while finding a public voice and profile for themselves. An excellent literature review of extant writings on the personal home page is included.

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Egocentric Networks are so amazing

In five hours my network has grown from one to 2078 people, 2078 people through 5 friends. Not sure how many degrees that is from the source but it's amazing none the less. The interesting part for me is that only one of my immediate friends on the list has more then 10 listed friends in their network. These circles grow quickly.

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Orkut

Google has launched an online networking site called Orkut. At this point it's in beta testing and the only way to access the site is through invitation. Well I lucked out and got an invitation so I signed up. *S* A related news story = Google eyes social networking with Orkut: Company seen moving beyond information-gathering niche by Stacy Cowley, IDG News Service.

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A Scholarly Diary Weblog Bonanza

I just found that Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, 26.1 (2003) did a special issue dedicated to the online diary, it's a bonanza of information. I will be reading from this issue for the next several days. I will post abstracts as I complete each article.

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Colloquia and reading

Today was spent on campus attending the monthly IRB meeting, I serve as student representative; attending a colloquia; and doing some reading.

The School of Informatics Colloquia was presented by Kathryn Stam, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, N.Y. her topic was "Organizations Catching Up to the Information Age: Learning about IT Adoption from Employees' Expectations, Motivations, and Perceptions." The following abstract was provided by Stam: The introduction of new information technology systems into organizations results in a variety of changes that affect the organizational structure and job functions of key stakeholders. Current demands in the realm of information security and privacy add to the complexity of these changes. Further insights can be gained when these changes are studied within social and behavioral frameworks, following the evolution of the technology adoption process. This talk presents a longitudinal study of six not-for-profit health and social service agencies in Central New York undergoing IT change. The results are based on interview transcripts and field notes that were analyzed using Atlas T.I. software for qualitative research. Issues of technology acceptance and motivation as they affect users, managers, administrators, and information technology professionals will be explored.

I read two articles while I waited for the IRB meeting time. Was a lovely day to sit in the law library next to the huge windows that overlook Dunn Woods, hit this link for a virtual tour. I sat there wrapped up in my coat to keep out the cold that was seeping through the mile high windows. But it was a great place to read. *S*

Bunkers, Suzanne L. (2003). Whose Diary Is It, Anyway? Issues of Agency, Authority, Ownership. A/B: Auto/Biography Studies, 17, 11-27. Discusses the concepts that diaries are neither always intended to be private nor are they always the sole property of the dairist. Bunkers' states that while diaries were (are?) often private in the sense that they are not meant for publication they were often intended to be shared with family and friends. Some dairies functioned as collaborative texts between two or more authors, making the diary both personal and communal. Bunkers work in this paper and the Introduction to her book [Bunkers, S. L. (Ed.) (2001). Diaries of Girls and Women: A Midwestern American Sampler (pp. 3-40). Madison WI: University of Wisconsin Press] are proving foundational to my thinking about diary blogs.

Gill, Joanna (2001). Someone Else's Misfortunes: The Vicarious Pleasures of the Confessional Text. Journal of Popular Culture, 35, 81-94. Gill argues that confessional texts knowingly anticipate the anxieties of their readers in order to ensure a successful reading. She reminds us that these are mediated textualizations of an experience and that the authors solicit our attention in strategic ways. Further she cites Foucault and other who have argued that "there must be a listener/reader/confessor in order for the speaker/penitent's confession to be realized (Gill, 2001, p. 82).

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Blogs I read semi-regularly

I am fascinated by the audiences for blogs. Not those that actually read the posts but those that the writer is addressing; the implied or explicit audience. I'm doing reading on the subject of diaries and audiences for presentation at conferences this year. More information is available on my website.

So the following are blogs that interest me because of their audiences as much as their content. First is Davina in Oz. This blog is an extended letter home to people she knows face-to-face from a doctor serving overseas, in this case an Englishwomen in Australia. The blog is filled with chatty content and vacationy-type pictures of her activities. I am not part of her implied audience but I enjoy reading her exploits none the less.

Discordia: Information InFiltration. Artivistic, mediatechnic, culturive, and more is a fascinating "critical and innovative weblog working at the intersection of art, activism and emerging networked technologies." They take an external focus to their topics and utilize a social weblog format to allow criticism and community to coexist. It's probably the only "A-list" blog that I review with any regularity, and definitely the only one that holds my attention.

A friend turned me on to Autopsy Report: Log of experiences as a Medical Examiner Intern. This blog garners lots of comments. The author takes a scholarly tone to his discussion of his work as a medical examiner intern. This is not a place I would normally go, call it the CSI effect I guess. It is certainly a subject I knew very little about before I began reading this blog.

Mercy Me v. 7.0: lay back the top and ride with me is written by a college freshman. She has interesting hobbies or obsessions as she calls them: Civil War Reenacting, genealogy, and performing arts. When this blog took a vacation last fall, I missed it. That is the best endorsement I know.

poupou: the future is meow is the only blog I read where the author is known to me personally. Not sure I am part of her intended audience but I do enjoy commenting from time to time.

I read it for the pictures. They make me warm. The Island Chronicles.

PhotoBloke.com: Random thoughts, musings, and memories good pics. I like photoblogs.

That will do for now. I'm sure I will be adding more as we pull more data for BROG and as I go searching for blogs for my audience presentations.

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Teaching Research Ethics (TRE) 2004

I opened some mail that had been set aside while I was in Hawaii. In that group I found an announcement for this year's Teaching Research Ethics Workshop offered through the Poynter Center. If your institution is a sponsor check on the possibility of attending this excellent workshop. I have to admit that I would love to go again this year. I learned so much last year that I'm sure I missed many useful points while I thought about some previously presented materials.

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Sidebar Additions

I've added links to the side bar for blogs, webpages, and software recommendations. My first substantive move into customizing my blog. Let me know if you find any of these interesting or useful.

Posted by prolurkr at 05:27 PM | TrackBack

w.bloggar

I'm testing a new blog posting tool called w.bloggar. Ok...new to me not actually new. The tool allows you to make entries while online or offline, for later automatic upload. It works with many blogging software programs not just Movable Type.

Posted by prolurkr at 08:52 AM | TrackBack

Interpersonal Communication Syllabus

This class has a coursebook that was developed at IUPUI Department of Communication Studies, in it are topic breakdown and readings for each week of the course. The instructor, me, has to finalize the dates for each topic and test, plus develop written assignments. The class had a unit on CMC designed into the structure, I added a second week and some additional readings to round out the topic. Check out the syllabus and due date list if you are interested in the class structure. (Links added 01/20/04.)

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International Communication Association Conference 2004

Just got the word that my paper has been accepted for presentation at ICA. My paper Buxom Girls and Boys in Baseball Hats: Adolescent Avatars in Graphical Chat Spaces is available on the SLIS Working Papers site. The abstract is as follows, check the paper for color avatar pictures:

This paper explores the types of avatars adolescents use in graphical chat spaces and how gender is represented in these avatars. Content analysis found that adolescents predominately utilize publicly available avatars depicting drawn images of Caucasian human forms. Specifically it was found that females adopt postures that indicate subordination to others, while males display psychological withdrawal from the actions around them. The influence of gaming and fantasy is seen in male avatar selection.

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Sticking a Toe in an Academic Pool

I am going to spend the rest of today trying to be productive. I have two projects that are pressing:

• I am taking an online workshop this semester, Scientists and Subjects, sponsored by the Poynter Center at IU. I strongly recommend the Poynter Center’s programs to anyone interested in research ethics; they offer local, online, and resident workshops. I’m just lucky they are at my backdoor.
• I am also teaching a class in Interpersonal Communication this semester. The syllabus is under construction, I’m a bit behind because of the accident. I’m working on pulling additional readings for my undergrad students and will post links when the work is completed.

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Last Day on the Big Island, part 2

Well needless to say it got interesting after I fell. I got an additional night in Hawaii?good but not for this reason. I enjoyed a nice Champagne Brunch on Sunday with friends, at the King Kamehameha.

My flights back to Indiana totaled only 13 hours which is a VERY good thing. So the remainder of the week has been tied up with doctors, workers compensation paperwork, and resting. Though today I am ready to tackle something academic, just not sure what to do first.

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Last Day on the Big Island, part 1

Today was the last day on the island, or was to be the last day but more on that later. I spent part of the day driving south on HI-11 stopping to see what I could see. I got as far south as Ho'okena before turning around and coming back into Kailua-Kona,

Then I wandered around town. Best places I found were Mermaid's, Hang Loose Brudda, and a return visit to the Kona Farmers Market.

I sat on a retaining wall at the harbor and watched the sunset. For those attuned to the Hawaiian environment time stops for the 15 minutes around sunset.

Well I ran some errands then returned my rental car before I headed to the airport to catch a redeye flight back to the mainland. And from that point things went fairly radically off course.

After checking in I was instructed to take my carry-on luggage and walk close to a block on pavement to the open-air waiting area for this fl