First I followed the links on yesterday's blog which gave me food for thought.
1) I liked the fact that McLuhan used the phrase "Quest for Identity" several times - how prescient I was in my choice of Blog identity!
2) McLuhan stated that things (texts???) need an audience to make meanings....and so this Blog has no meaning without an audience - as I had already realised, hence my assertion yesterday that I was going to ask a trusted friend to be my guinea pig
3) Said Guinea Pig emailed me to this effect:
"Nice idea ....And some lovely visuals...... But this blog seems to be a one way channel (or am I missing a simple button somewhere?). It is from you to us, which leaves out a fundamental aspect of many blogs, the interactivity that they allow (encourage?) as part of the democratisation process – and also part of the collective ‘archive’ – the interactivity that the net allows and fosters is part of the new world, and I hesitate to suggest, the new world of literature. Your ideas are no longer just your own (if they ever were) but part of a conversation which has an audience enabled to respond!I’m also not clear how I ‘follow’ (get notified each time you add something new)"
4) This was an important email for me as I had not realised I needed to set up the interconnectivity - I had just kind of assumed it would happen! Any way, I have now set it up with my guinea pig - I hope - and eagerly await his response.
When McLuhan said texts need an audience to make meanings - did he mean that everything is meaningless without interaction or attention from others, or did he mean that the readers/viewers add their own input and therefore create meanings? That would imply the meaning of your blog is only what I believe it to mean, and not what you intended it to mean. Hmm, any thoughts?
ReplyDeleteDoes it not mean that there are as many meanings as.... participants? viewers? guinea pigs? dummies? What is your meaning?
ReplyDelete