Inspired By...

So for my final project my course leader has decided I must produce an "artifact" (apparently, the shows I'm working on, with their constituent research packets, study guides, program notes, etc... as well as the dissertation-length paper I was planning to write laying out the results of the "compare and contrast" study I've been prepping all year, don't count) and Wednesday night it occurred to me: build a website! I talked it over with the course leader on Thursday and he's thrilled - Friday in Web Presence I realized this module would be a big help in designing and populating an effective Dramaturgy website.

I haven't decided if this class inspired the madness, or is just enabling it. Or both.

Now if it would just help me come up with the perfect domain name...

First Day of Class

Welcome to Web Presence! In breaking news, Space is the Final Frontier!

Wait.

I think maybe we knew that already, or at least had heard that before. That's OK, though, there are plenty of other new things to think about from today's session!

Realized: Space, I think, is a matter of time, distance, measurement, relativity... I kept coming back to the idea that space is perspective. When we see a new way of relating to someone (or where, or thing) we experience a perspective shift. Our space changes.

In discussion we 'humanized' Einstein's Theory of Relativity by applying it to the idea of national culture: does location/proximity make a person more or less susceptible to the culture of that location? Does the person's presence in any way affect that culture? Etc... I started to find/become aware that these issues (protection of national culture; integration, assimilation, 'loss' of culture) are not in any way new, that they have surfaced repeatedly throughout history. What has changed is our perception of and response to these issues when they arise again; or rather, when we become aware that these issues are present and relevant in our own time and history. We are so resistant to change - and more, we are extraordinarily resistant to the concept that our perceptions should/ought to/can change. Then we talk about it, think about it, realize that perception change is a good/progressive/irrefutable thing, and go on to resist something else.

An acceptance of change in perception (both the idea of change in general and specific personal shifts) can lead to a removal or adjustment of value judgements. 'Addict' is a word referring to the state of being addicted - we are conditioned to assign this word negative connotations. However, that word may be used not to determine a 'problem', or a condition that needs/ought to be changed, but a simple statement of fact to be judged by no more than its definition. People generally scoff when I say I'm 'addicted' to chocolate - but they deny the idea that that particular affinity is in any way bad, not that it exists. They reject their own perception that an addiction of any kind is negative, since in this case it is applied to chocolate. They scoff at their own judgement, and then resume their regularly scheduled perception of "addiction" by dropping the topic altogether. A more progressive, non-value-based response might be to say instead, "And that's a bad thing...?" thereby validating the definition of the word but leaving the judgement up to the statement's author (me). 

Space. Perception. Relativity between two bodies. Perceiving the relative distance between those two bodies. Filling the space.

Yay, theatre!