we go back to asking what is “real” what makes something “real” and what is “virtual” and how do these two terms travel through time and context and acquire meaning based on values and social philosophies embedded in everyday living and meaning making….

“Saraswati” from Radha Ki Betiyaan line…

http://cyberdivalivesl.blogspot.com/2008/09/latest-cyberdivalive-creation.html

Disclaimer - This has no connection to the Television series of that name - except that we named our private blog with the name of the Television serial of that name…

Okay now that I have raised the issue of alts in my previous post - I will need to unpack that -eh?

but I have to rush to work now so will come back and edit this post to elaborate on the alt vs clone discussion happening in my head at the moment.

We started with looking at racialization - but we are also finding so many located, contextual offline practices that are being recoded online…nothing new really (others have written about how this happens in various cultural venues) - but its in the way they are being (re)done in online worlds such as secondlife that is interesting. These are practices based in marketing, trading and global exchange of material (whether fabric or hair) needed to “build” identities (even offline - for centuries) in relation to currently existing hierarchies of appearance…. (”fashion” if you like - but more on that some other time).

C, C and I are now looking at some of this in relation to Race and Technology in Sims and in SL - I need to go back and try WoW I suppose…

of course the key is - when the examination shifts from re-presentation and text to practices what happens (and I have written about this before in relation to other sites … …)

On another note…

sometimes an alt that no one recognizes is the only way to get work done - I wish I could have a few of those in RL… sigh

busy offline with semester beginning - hope to have something to post eventually…

This morning - catching up with online stuff - I found myself on the racism review much to my pleasant surprise - although I dont explicitly blog about politics or the political scene(s) worldwide.

We have a mega incoming class again this year (last year was tiny). Great fun meeting everyone - am looking forward to getting to know them.

read in the basement these days. So when I have to get connected - I have to run up two flights of stairs to my room where all the connecting gadgets are lying around…

(I have stopped having the laptop in the living room)

This means that when I am dying to share something with A or S or someone else about something I am reading I have to run up and blog in my private blogs or send email or find my cell phone (we dont have a ground line) ….

But of course the time zones dont always cooperate - so it usually is email or blogging.

Okay - back to the basement.

In the past and now I have always preferred using the blog format for conversations with advisees, research assistants, collaborators and now even some family members.

More the monologue blog that emulates the lone journal writing - I prefer the conversations.

And usually I do these by setting my blogs as private. So increasingly - I have less and less to say (if I ever had anything to say) on this monologue public forum here.

Having said that - I am currently re-reading Langdon Winner’s Whale and the Reactor and of course enjoying it all over again.