http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol11/iss1/art20/

Okay, this needs to fit into a paper on Birth/Death rhythm of cities, technologies, emergent systems, Julia Kristeva, Borgo's bifurcation and pre-emptive bifurcation, the life of a rhetoric, Kairos, network stability (Bruno Latour), my blog experiences, death of an epiphany.

The lifespan of rhetoric? Generations? Generation X?

Reassembling my brain

I'm trying to decipher Bruno Latour's book "Reassembling the Social: An Introduction to Actor-Network- Theory." I'm failing. If this book is an introduction, why does it require that I do outside research before even beginning?

I found some great links that might be helpful to remember.
For instance, Latour states relatively clearly on pages 153 and 155 that Actor-Network Theory and Structuralism are incompatible. Here's a website that gives a great overview of structuralism so you know what ANT isn't. Which is a structuralist proposition (defining something by what it is not).
http://www.brocku.ca/english/courses/4F70/struct.html

To define Actor-Network Theory by an ecology of writing, here's another link:
http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~mryder/itc/act_net_dff.html

I am concerned that this book may not touch the subject of the nature of connections. I shall keep reading.

PTSD - character studies

Post-traumatic stress disorder include several key elements for this character study. First, it usually lasts only about six months after the traumatic incident. Second, it causes an emotional distance from loved ones, and thirdly, it causes a feeling of numbness. It can also lead to other anxiety disorders, but I don't think I'll use that. I think anxiety would make a character too much of a victim for the type of story this character will produce.

http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/anxiety-disorders/post-traumatic-stress-disorder.shtml

Mentions of Shelfari on the web

The notice that Shelfari is getting seems to be lumped in with other, similar sites. There doesn't seem to be anything unique that Shelfari is contributing to that particular type of site, other than a snazzier look and friendlier format. I've compared it with Goodreads and have basically found the same thing; the users don't bring much education into their discussions (for that, I'd recommend Goodreads), but the colors are brighter on Shelfari, and the graphics are more inviting, crisper, brighter, etc. Goodreads gives a more professional feel and a more homey - dust-covered look.
I suppose it has a lot to do with the people they're trying to attract. Book devotees will probably be more inclined toward something simpler, or that exudes the elitism of the literati. The general public, the kind of people who buy romance novels in the grocery store or at an airport will probably let their eyes lead them to color, to a more flashy image.

Here are the best links from a simple Google search:

http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/670000267/post/1170016317.html - a spamming slip-up by a new user
http://www.publishersweekly.com/blog/880000288/post/270015627.html - discovery of the site
http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/01/shelfari.html - mentions a feeling of being "too slick," and the lack of a community feel (compares it to Barnes & Noble, which is especially relevant to the Amazon.com linkage).
http://imaginingtoronto.blogspot.com/2007/03/social-bookmarking-booktribes.html - comparing Shelfari to other networking/software

Did you know that your Shelfari shelf can be added to this blog? I didn't! I'm not ready for that step yet. If you want to find me, I'm called Ondine.

http://blog.wired.com/monkeybites/2007/09/googles-mylibra.html - a Google attempt at something similar, although it's not pushing toward "sharing" (probably due to copyright law), but rather the ability to make one's entire library text searchable. DANG!

General Critical Theory

Roland Barthes: Mythologies http://www.sunderland.ac.uk/~os0tmc/myth.htm
symbols, representation
His Pupil, Julia Kristeva http://www.msu.edu/user/chrenkal/980/JKRIST.HTM
feminism, revolution, conflict

In The Beginning

I am studying three things at the moment: Death as portrayed in Uncle Tom's Cabin and Moby Dick, Discussions of online book sites (Shelfari and Goodreads), and the history of the English Language (specifically either the dialect spoken on the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, or, well, something else). They're not very unified. Hopefully next semester will introduce a little more harmony. Then again, according to Steven Johnson the random connections will produce better results.

I am also writing fiction for which I will be researching 1920's music-hall songs and tenth-century Pictish politics (Jutish? You tell me).

Although I'd rather map my thoughts like the glass-bead game, I hope to have a fairly comprehensive set of tags as soon as possible. Maybe some of this will link up after all.