Once again, it’s been a long time between posts. Two months at least. My BA in Internet Communications is really eating up my time. I am now in the third period doing my fifth and sixth subjects. One of those subjects is an introductory subject to studying at Uni that everyone who studies at Curtin, at least everyone doing a humanities degree, has to do. It focuses on how to write essays, reflective or critical thinking, working in groups, and we have to give an oral presentation. I am having a bit of trouble figuring out how to do reflective writing, although my tutor said my second practice attempt was excellent. I have always found it challenging to get my voice heard in groups – hey, that is one reason why the independent life of writing appealed. I don’t like giving speeches either. So, the subject is going to have its challenges.
The other subject is New Media, focusing on participatory culture and remediations. A remediation is changing one media object into another, e.g., turning a book into a film. We have to create our own simple remediation. I plan to remediate the national anthem by making a slide show of its words that critiques Australia.
I recently got the results for my second-period subjects, a distinction for The Internet and Everyday Life, which I loathed, as much of the time, I felt clueless about what I was doing. For that, my major assignment was an essay on how the internet enables people with disabilities to advocate effectively. For Interactive Web Design (a second-year subject), I scrapped in with a high distinction. I built a website on disability-friendly housing that had a slideshow, interactive tabs (accordions), a menu that moved down the page as a user scrolled down it and tooltips or hotspots where when the cursor moves over an object on the page, information comes up.
I went to the Melbourne Writers Festival, which luckily started on the weekend between the second and third study periods. My primary interest was to see Justin Cronin, author of the superb and critically acclaimed Passage trilogy. He considers the trilogy science fiction – not horror. I saw him in two sessions. The second was him with the creator of the excellent horror/fantasy/sci-fi series Glitch, made for the ABC. I am very glad to hear that they are making a second series of Glitch, as it had a huge hanging ending. Interestingly, they both mentioned liking the American series Leftovers, which has as its premise 5% of the Earth’s population suddenly vanishing. It is a very different series, based on novels, and the novels have the characters moving to Australia in the third series, so it is going to be or already is filming in Australia.
Another memorable session at the writer’s festival was with Geoff Dyer. He is a writer who has written many diverse books, from nonfiction books on yoga and tennis to biographies to novels. Just about every book he has written has been with a different publisher and editor. He said he hates the writing process.
Due to the course, I have been doing very little writing—just a few minutes a day as I redraft a novel. I have not finished reading a novel this year. I started reading and enjoyed the third novel in the Passage series on the train back from the writers festival.
Well – it is time to get back to study.