Hot Flesh* (Corporeality, Identity and Participation in a Post-Wired World)

Disclaimer/Terms of Services:
The following (above) blogs are quasi-anthropological essays: I am more versed in creative writing than phenomena-based ethnography. Fortunately, ethnography consists of a type of creative writing, and phenomenology arises quite naturally from the study of the world through my bodily senses. These senses guide my auto-ethnographic research and in these essays I strive to be more aware of post-Internet (or “wired”) concepts of body, consciousness and culture by altering my own default sensory perceptions--senses acclimated to 20+ years of computer use. Through this methodology, I examine how digital literacy affects the lifeworld of the literate within the context posited by phenomenologist Maurice Merleau-Ponty, who argued that all knowledge radiates from the body’s direct reciprocity with the world.

Towards auto-ethnography, much of my research is self-reflective. I am a computer user (a Mac, not a PC) and I frequent the Internet daily through various websites and multiple personal accounts including: Facebook (1), Myspace (4), LinkedIn (1), Youtube (2), Second Life (1), Yahoo (1), Gmail (1), Twitter (1), Blogger (1) Flickr (1) and Gryphon Mail at SLC (1). I also recently acquired an iPhone. Off-line, I use my computer to write, make videos, take pictures, and compose music.

Supplementing the study of my own experience, I have conducted five intensive interviews (two in person, three over email) and more limited inquiries while exploring the virtual on-line world of Second Life. I have also familiarized myself with scholarship on traditional literacy, consciousness, corporeality and culture through the works of Walter Ong and David Abram.

Note: Digital literacy allows a near-instant feedback loop between author and audience--a nod back to the mode of oral traditions where philosophers would share their stories to a live, participatory audience. I welcome this aspect of the Internet interface and therefore I encourage you to leave comments on my blog.

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* When “Googling” ideas for my title, I came across the erotic comic hero spoof “Flesh Gordon” (1974) whose mission is “to save the world from the Incredible Sex Ray.” Check out the “PG” rated trailer on Youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FilYgi_LZ_c).