Having decided not to expand upon any previous projects, that leaves me with the question of what I am going to do. Warning--the rest of this post may be very stream-of-consciousness-ish, so read ahead at your own risk. In my first thesis class meeting last week, everyone talked about why they came to ITP, what they've gotten out of it so far, their hopes/expectations for thesis, and finally their thesis ideas. I played along until the whole "idea" thing, at which point I benched myself on account of--well, not having one. When it was my turn, I surprised myself by launching into an anti-technology rant. My instructor pointed out that I seemed to have the technology equivalent of road-rage, and she was right. I'm very (painfully) aware that over the last two years I've moved further and further away from my ITP origins in web development. I've been working as a web developer (under various titles and pay scales) for three different employers, as well as doing freelance work, since I moved to NYC in June of 2006. I've been paid well, had pleasant colleagues, suitable amenities (a never-ending supply of free coffee with actual milk, not stupid little packages of creamer), etc. but with each job I've have seen the writing on the wall clearer, larger, bolder, and now actually animated like gif images on ghastly websites in the 90's: "I do not want to be a web developer. Moreover, I do not want to work at any job that requires me to interact primarily with a computer as opposed to actual humans."
It's been pointed out to me that figuring out what one does not want to do for a career/job/living can be extremely helpful in the process of determining what one does want to do. I'm seriously hoping that that's the case here because otherwise I need a New Game Plan. While I absolutely don't want to knock ITP or my time spent here, I've come to realize that I need to look in a different direction. At this point I'm unsure what that's going to be....teaching? nursing? social work? But I recognize that before I can decide upon a new career path, I need to prioritize and come up with a thesis. So here I am.
What do I not want to do for a thesis? I do not want to engage in any project that involves a website component. (I realize that I'm writing this on a blog, which is somewhat ironic, but in this case I mean that I will not create yet another useless website to do xyz.) I may be required to keep online documentation, in which case I will comply, but I will not build any websites. Read my lips: No New Websites. I also don't want to build/simulate/recreate anything that attempts to replace a real world experience with a virtual one. (Part of my anti-technology rant was about simulations such as Wii sports, video tours, and online social networking.) So I'm getting a little closer to knowing what I don't want to do in a generalist sense...I guess.
After listening to my diatribe, several people suggested that I research "anti" or "counter" technologies and perhaps look into creating my own. While that does have a certain appeal, I worry that I'll just get lost in an endless circle of technologies and countertechnologies that end up creating more crap than we had when we started. Then tonight it occurred to me that instead of doing something anti-technology, I might create a project sans technology. Having been forced to read the severely painful Technics and Civilizations (Mumford, written sometime before the Mesozoic Era) in college, I'm aware that millions of things can qualify as "technologies," not just what we in the early twenty-first century tend to refer to as "technology" -- computers, cell phones, the internet, digital cameras, HD, etc. With this in mind, I should clarify that I would like to complete a thesis paper and project without the use of a particular technology--the computer (and thus the internet -- no cheating accessing the internet via my iPhone).
This idea pleases me. I'm going to do a thesis project and paper without using a computer. Not sure what exactly the project will be, but I'm satisfied with my progress for today. More coming tomorrow...
