Finally connected! After surviving the kind of identity loss and existential anxiety that inevitably sneaks up on anyone about to loose EVERYTHING on their hard drives (even if they, occasionally, do back-ups), my computer has miraculously been retrived from the dead (thanks to Frank Suffling, comp viz of the week). As an internet researcher, being deprived of the very link to your field, as well as to friends back home, news etc., is a peculiarly tangible, almost physical feeling of being cut off from the world -- and from yourself. Having watched my laptop go through various stages of infection, toward what appeared to be a slow but certain death, it is perhaps ironic that the quick fix in the end involved a removal of the virus shield. So, (momentarily) unprotected and reloaded, I can finally get down to business and start doing something useful.

My 'remediation/reproduction' project will involve, at least, three case studies. One of them dealing with web fiction, one with web-art, and one with online science stuff (on reproductive technologies). More about this later. Starting out with the study in web fiction, I'll use the mind-blowing hypertext 'novel' Patchwork Girl by Shelley Jackson as my point of departure. I deeply recommend it for anybody interested in how issues of reproduction, sexuality, embodiment and monstrosity can be played out in hypertexed writing spaces.

Jenny