Well here it is – my inaugural post! I have never kept a blog before so much of the process and conventions of blogging I am still figuring out. My hope is that this blog will help me to improve my analysis of what is going on in the world around me, refine my voice and open me up to online discussions.
This blog will likely cover a wide range of topics corresponding to my work and my interests. I work as a legal researcher at QUT primarily in the field of open access. Therefore, I intend that many posts will be about the law in Australia and about the open access movement worldwide. However, I hope to also touch on politics and society where I feel motivated to comment.
In addition to my law degree, I also have a degree in Creative Writing. So expect some literary references to creep in. The name of this blog is inspired by Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, one of my all time favourite novels. You can find the relevant extract in the side bar. I chose this extract because of the multiple metaphors that can be read into it. In venturing to host a blog and expose my thoughts and opinions to the world on the internet, I feel a little like I am tightrope-walking over an abyss! But the image of Octavia – of a community suspended, never knowing when the rope will break - can apply equally to the state of copyright law in the digital age, or more generally to the world in which we live today where the nature of our fundamental human rights are at times uncertain. Read into the name and extract what you will. Read into my blog what you will and please feel free to comment on any posts that interest you.
Kylie
Octavia
“Now I will tell how Octavia, the spider-web city, is made. There is a precipice between two steep mountains: the city is over the void, bound to the two crests with ropes and chains and catwalks. You walk on the little wooden ties, careful not to set your foot in the open spaces, or you cling to the hempen strands. Below there is nothing for hundreds and hundreds of feet: a few clouds glide past; farther down you can glimpse the chasm's bed.
This is the foundation of the city: a net which serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks, houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits, baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes and rings for children's games, cable cars, chandeliers, pots with trailing plants.
Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia's inhabitants is less uncertain than in other cities. They know the net will last only so long.”
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (1978) Harvest Books, p75
This is the foundation of the city: a net which serves as passage and as support. All the rest, instead of rising up, is hung below: rope ladders, hammocks, houses made like sacks, clothes hangers, terraces like gondolas, skins of water, gas jets, spits, baskets on strings, dumb-waiters, showers, trapezes and rings for children's games, cable cars, chandeliers, pots with trailing plants.
Suspended over the abyss, the life of Octavia's inhabitants is less uncertain than in other cities. They know the net will last only so long.”
Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities (1978) Harvest Books, p75
About the Author
Curriculum Vitae
Elsewhere on the web
Follow me on twitter: @kyles_p
OctaviaNet is my primarily work-related blog. I also have a personal blog on tumblr that is full of pretty pictures: Sunlit Moments
OctaviaNet is my primarily work-related blog. I also have a personal blog on tumblr that is full of pretty pictures: Sunlit Moments
Search This Blog
Posts
IP and Technology Law Clinic's Fan Box
Blogs I Read
help stop net censorship! sign the EFA petition
1 comment:
Nice! Love your first post. I will save it as a favourite. Can't wait to see you again soon! Ax
Post a Comment