I’m creeping back into this blog after many months. I don’t feel SO bad because I’ve been reading up a storm – most notable is a nifty book I came across by C. Kaha Waite – Mediation and the Communication Matrix. Part of the “Digital Formations” series. I love it. So much that I’m adding it to my source list. Not only does it broach a number of topics discussed in Dr. Byron Hawk’s class at MASON, but it might prove to be a wonderful companion to a few new thoughts I have.
My thesis is changing. No matter what I do I can’t slip quietly away from what’s been stewing inside me since I started reading up on Artificial Life (A-Life).. but anyway, more on that later.
Ok so here’s a passage from the book: On p34 Waite writes, “An epistemology that equates words with thought and images with emotion will be incapable of addressing the essential features of the screen.” She mentions this in the context that “both images and words contribute to an understanding of the ‘context’ about which Ong writes.” I completely agree. Which presents a certain conundrum.
If epistemology investigates the origin, nature, methods and limits of human knowledge, it seems as if we can’t rule out the emotional effect images have on our psyche. Barthes’ photographs and whatnot. But I’m forced to wonder whether or not this contradicts Ulmer. I’m particularly thinking of his Mystory, in which the emotion and ‘homesickness’ are used to center — or decenter (depending on how you look at it) the reader.
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