Re: Personal web sites as - not (Re: mice and men-2)

Kim Cooney (kimcooney who-is-at hotmail.com)
Fri, 11 Dec 1998 15:00:18 PST

Hi Edouard and all,

I just wanted to compliment Edouard on his website. It is the best I=20
personally have seen in my ? years on the Net. I absolutely LOVE the=20
icon 'signature'? It is like a modern day coat-of-arms. A very=20
interesting idea. Although Edouard ordered his site from work to=20
personal - I looked at the personal before the work. I was excited by=20
the fact that he included aquariums as one of his hobbies (also one of=20
mine) and read with great interest the link to seahorses. =20

Another thing I found interesting was the way the site 'identified' me=20
and my location. Can you get it to say "Welcome (name or email=20
address)" Edouard? That would be a nice touch indeed.

Thank you for sharing your site with us Edouard. I'll return to it=20
again as it develops.

Regards to all,
Kim
____________________________________________________________________
Kim Cooney
Brisbane, Australia
Griffith University - http://www.edn.gu.edu.au/
School of Cognition Language and Special Education: =20
Email: K.Cooney who-is-at edn.gu.edu.au
or
KimCooney who-is-at bigpond.com or kimcooney@hotmail.com
****************************************************
HABIT

Curious things, habits. People themselves never knew they had them.

Agatha Christie (1891-1976) British detective-story writer. Witness for=20
the Prosecution

=A9 1994 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. All rights reserved.
****************************************************

----Original Message Follows----
Subject: Personal web sites as - not (Re: mice and men-2)
Date: Wed, 9 Dec 98 15:54:37 -0800
From: Edouard Lagache <elagache who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
To: "xmca Internet aspect of MCA" <xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu>
Reply-To: xmca who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu

Hi again Jay and everyone!

The second theme I thought worth pulling out was the personal web site=20
as=20
a genre:

>There is an emerging genre of the personal website, and it can be=20
analyzed
>very much as our modeling our schizo-complex postmodern identities ...=20
and
>interesting alternative to the narrative construction of identity in
>autobiography.=20

I'm not so sure that the "personal web site" really is what it seems. =20
Even the autobiography often has a purpose that may go well beyond the=20
individual, but the personal web site I think takes this one step=20
further. My own web site had one principle purpose: to demonstrate my=20
competence as a web designer and web applications engineer. It has some=20
other secondary purposes: It has links to the classes I'm currently=20
teaching - so lost students can find the web sites. It also serves as=20
the place where software I've developed can be downloaded for free. In=20
some sense the personal web site is a more "authentic" expression of a=20
person's identity: it is a focal point on the web where all your=20
activities are gathered for the sake of others.

On the other hand, a "personal web site" will die of neglect unless the=20
author has reason to maintain it. Unless you are a complete egoist (and=20
have lots of free time,) the maintenance will be around the activities=20
you do instead of yourself as socio-cultural identity. That is exactly=20
what happened to my last web site started in 1996. So I suspect a=20
"living" personal web site, will gradually drift away from the=20
individual=20
and toward the activities that need support.

So I'm not sure if personal web site aren't really a flash in the pan. =20
There will be special situations when a person will want to advertise=20
her/himself. In those settings the personal web site will become=20
something of a virtual resume or calling card. However, some web search=20
engines won't even index a personal web page unless it has some=20
particular content. So the personal web site may disappear before=20
scholars can get it under the microscope to study it.

Since I've talked all around the silly thing, people are free to visit=20
my=20
70% finished site. It is missing three things: a collection of my=20
poetry. the photo album, and the guest book. Knowing that, you'all are=20
free to wander around. It does require a JavaScript enabled browser to=20
take full advantage of all its features:

http://canebas.dynip.com/~elagache/

Peace, Edouard

=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=
=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D=3D
Edouard Lagache, PhD
Webmaster - Lecturer
Information Technologies
U.C. San Diego, Division of Extended Studies
Voice: (619) 622-5758, FAX: (619) 622-5742
email: elagache who-is-at weber.ucsd.edu
:...................................................................:
: I flew soundlessly in exharating flight and the heard the sounds :
: of the seas, felt it's deep rhythms listened to my own rhythms. :
: . . . The oceans breathed a life into me that could have never :
: conjured up on my own, and will forever be in its debt :
: Carlos Eyles, _Solo Diving_, 1991 :
. - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - .

______________________________________________________
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