I got the grant. I will now be spending the summer studying digital media in the historical context of older 'new media'. In other words, looking at how the Greeks responded to the emergence of the written word, how radio was initially understood, and comparing that to the reception that digital text is getting today. Coming from the other side, I'm going to look at the qualities inherent in various new media, and how the expectations and prior experience of older media form our understanding of these inherent qualities. The fun part will be coming up with a series of designs that illustrate how work on the web reflects assumptions carried over from print, video, and other old media.

But before I do this, I have five papers to write. And before that, I have to finish the monster proposal that I'm preparing in order to prove myself worthy as the editor of next year's Argosy. As a side note on this, I shan't be too too disappointed (besides the massive blow to my ego) if I don't get the job. It would be nice to spend one more solid year in Sackville doing schoolwork and then leave. I find that I (often unwittingly) get myself into situations where there are two or more mutually exclusive choices, of which I would be satisfied with any of them. It strikes me that this is a useful way to look at things, especially in situations where others are deciding your worthiness for the activity in question, as with applying to a University, asking for grant money, or applying for a job.

Good thing I have a project to work on in Indymedia Maritimes that can suck serious time away from all of the above, and lest I forget, I'm the webmaster for three different organizations.

I like to put things in perspective now and then. And yet I still can't decide whether I'm slacking off this term or not. Feel free to post comments below.