I was reading the Wiki entry for William Gibson, and I discovered at the end of the entry a link to the website /patternHunter [/ph]. If, like me, you have an obsession with really sophisticated science fiction and emerging techno-cultural patterns of change, this site is something like an endless feast of fun.
I have been, [...]

I’m clearly too personally invested in the topic of my dissertation. I have found a lot of the ideas that I’ve been working on sneaking their way into this novel I’ve recently started writing–the book is rife with hipsters, ironic cool, searches for political sincerity in a hypermediated world, and an out of control [...]

I have sent off a half-dozen copies of my pretty-much-complete colloquium paper to various readers. I am quite happy with how the process is coming. I am even managing to control my tendencies to write long, convoluted sentences with many relative clauses. More substance later, I promise.

My colloquium paper overview is essentially finished. It magically shrunk from 15 pages of convoluted argumentation and allusion to a tightly written 6-page statement of direction for my dissertation. I am pleased with this. I may post it here soon. Meanwhile, my chapter breakdown is a big mess. I have [...]

I have settled on, for now, the title by which my dissertation will be called by when it becomes a book. Because dissertations have to have different titles than the books they become, I will probably come up with some academic sounding title when I file in a few years. But when the thing comes [...]

I talked with my advisor and with a friend of mine today about my first draft of the colloquium proposal. Both meetings left me feeling good about the state of my dissertation idea, although I also have come to feel that my writing is less disciplined than it should be. My main problem [...]