The "E" Word

You may recall that my initial motivation for writing this blog came from course expectations attached to a class in “new media” at Purdue University. It’s a great course of study, and my being in the world is noticeably changed as a result, but like many of the more important contributors to the composition of a life, familiarity can reduce digital ubiquity to the status of air … life-sustainingly vital but almost entirely beyond our awareness. If you regard this as a kind of sleep-state, I’m wide awake right now!

Reading from Manuel Castells recently, I came across a passage from his discussion of the cultural transformation currently underway where he refers to technology as “the indispensable medium.” Two weeks of troubling computer glitches recently gave way to a twelve-day, total-system collapse of my digital home – a complete loss of record (now only partially recovered) from which I am only just awaking – my own private tsunami. Dr. Castell’s turn of phrase is lived experience for me.

Though, for the most part, I prefer an exchange of (“E”)xplanations only when requested as they otherwise drift toward (E)xcuses and multiply like bunnies, I am offering this writing as a quick answer to any curious among you who may have noticed the recent dearth of posting to this blog. I would’ve if I could’ve … and blah blah blah and so it goes. Here add the grrrrr-growl those who know me best might easily imagine well fitted to these passing days.

I am now happily restored to a new electronic home and working through the sobering reality of rebuilding/refurnishing/resituating. Cleaning up after a digital “disaster” can be a brutal chaser to the celebration of being “back on line” – discovering lost what I didn’t remember to miss only at that particular moment of most needing it. But that’s life in many permutations, so I’ll restrain my grumble and complaint. In the meantime, I’ll be clicking away at an effort to rebuild bookmarks, address books, networked connections, internal organizations, and photo files while I exhale in waves of gratitude for external servers that have preserved files of my identity at a safe distance from my own personal breakdown. It isn’t exactly grave digging, but there is a feel of camaraderie with Dr. Frankenstein as I stitch a digital self back together again from the pieces tucked into corners of the World Wide Web.

I’ll grab a phrase from Arnold and tell you, "I'll be back." Just give me a minute or two to burn a back-up on this file. Ha!