Mathemagenic

A bit more from Adrian Miles, on how we are written by our blogs:

Where does your blog begin and end? The answer is not the date of the first and most recent post. You have links out of your blog, is the ‘end’ of your blog what lies at the destination of that link (after all it is ‘your’ link)? And what if that link leads somewhere else? What about all the links into your blog, these also ‘write’ your blog, and these are not written by you.

This is, if we make it simpler, your blog identity. It is who you are as a blogger. This is also, very much, your network identity. This is the some of the relations you establish and are established outside of you by your participation in the network. This network is radically outside of you in ways that existing networks aren’t. Your existing networks are largely defined by spatial proximity - same class, suburb, bus, workplace, and so on. Not here.

In other words your indentity if the sum of those connections that you are a participant in, but, you have little or no say. It is difficult, for example, to prevent someone else from linking to one of your blog posts, or to your blog. Just as they can’t really prevent you linking to them. You are written by this.

The questions that makes me wondering is Who constructs your identity? Not that I'm the best experts to judge it theory-wise, but I'm not sure that the way others could construct my identity from links to me is the same as my identity from my perspective. From my perspective "incoming links" matter, but it's me who decides what role they play in a bigger picture...

I think this is called karma - if you research other people via their weblogs someone will come to research you :)))

Adrian Miles gives his students an assignment to study people online - and I happened to be in the list. I've got email from one of the students who study me - being studied feels fun and strange...

And - I found the page where the results are being documented and weblogs of students who study me :) Wasn't going to do that, but the email reminded me that I was far behind in reading Adrian's blog, then I saw posts about the assignment and the rest was the result of curiousity and having some searching/browsing skills.

Now I'm a bit wondering if I spoil anything in Adrian's plan by blogging it :) May be, but I'm trying to be a nice girl and do not add names and links. And - this is a good example of how things may be in the online space: you study bloggers, someone comes to study you and you may want to decide to study those who study you :)))