The second theme I thought worth pulling out was the personal web site as
a genre:
>There is an emerging genre of the personal website, and it can be analyzed
>very much as our modeling our schizo-complex postmodern identities ... and
>interesting alternative to the narrative construction of identity in
>autobiography.
I'm not so sure that the "personal web site" really is what it seems.
Even the autobiography often has a purpose that may go well beyond the
individual, but the personal web site I think takes this one step
further. My own web site had one principle purpose: to demonstrate my
competence as a web designer and web applications engineer. It has some
other secondary purposes: It has links to the classes I'm currently
teaching - so lost students can find the web sites. It also serves as
the place where software I've developed can be downloaded for free. In
some sense the personal web site is a more "authentic" expression of a
person's identity: it is a focal point on the web where all your
activities are gathered for the sake of others.
On the other hand, a "personal web site" will die of neglect unless the
author has reason to maintain it. Unless you are a complete egoist (and
have lots of free time,) the maintenance will be around the activities
you do instead of yourself as socio-cultural identity. That is exactly
what happened to my last web site started in 1996. So I suspect a
"living" personal web site, will gradually drift away from the individual
and toward the activities that need support.
So I'm not sure if personal web site aren't really a flash in the pan.
There will be special situations when a person will want to advertise
her/himself. In those settings the personal web site will become
something of a virtual resume or calling card. However, some web search
engines won't even index a personal web page unless it has some
particular content. So the personal web site may disappear before
scholars can get it under the microscope to study it.
Since I've talked all around the silly thing, people are free to visit my
70% finished site. It is missing three things: a collection of my
poetry. the photo album, and the guest book. Knowing that, you'all are
free to wander around. It does require a JavaScript enabled browser to
take full advantage of all its features:
http://canebas.dynip.com/~elagache/
Peace, Edouard
============================================
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 :
. - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - . . . - - - .