Dib, Lina - The Blog as a Technology of the Self

In this conference presentation, Lina Dib explores the idea that blogs can be 'technologies of the self', as Foucault described Ancient Greek diaries (hypomnemata). Dib is actually talking about a specific genre of blogs - the personal blog, or blog-as-diary. Her analysis would have difficulty incorporating political blogs, academic blogs, etc.

Blog is a work in progress. It is always unfinished, much like the self. Thus the blog is a continual process of self-care.

Blog as a collection of discourses. Where Greek culture was affected by the "prevalence of personal discourses" hypomnemata were used to care for the self by creating a collage of relevant material. Material must be sifted through in order to draw out that which is relevant to the self.

In blogs, the connection between the self and others is made apparent by use of hyperlinks. It is impossible to read a blog outside of the context of the network.

Blog as public. It puts the self on exhibition. The reactions of others generates reflexivity. This is a so-called "paradox" - the self requires the other to understand itself. This is an extension of the blog as a collection. It takes the discourses of others and presents it to others. This is in some way a creative act of the self. (I should link this to Ames' concept of 'creativity' in Confucian philosophy. As I recall, he argues that true creativity is only possible in an immanent worldview. If the discourses of others can only be 'others', then relaying cannot be a creative act. But if the self is defined by the discourses of others, then creativity is possible. Something like that?)

Blogs straddle borders between public and private, national and transnational. De Kerckhove states: “Computers have created a new kind of intermediate cognition, a bridge of continuous interactions, a corpus callosum between the outside world and our inner selves”. The blog serves to connect the 'inner self' with the 'outside world', presuming the existence of both of these things and the division between them. I would hypothesize that in the Classical Chinese tradition such a division is not present, and therefore there is no paradox to resolve, no bridge to build. Therefore the blog as a tool to resolve this division is a particularly Western concern.

Dib concludes by questioning the ability of the blog to preserve memory. Plato doubts the ability of writing to preserve memory. Writing leads one to forget what one records, gaining only a 'receipt' for the memory. This is not entirely related to her previous arguments, instead being a 'preview' of her current work on digital archives. You can see how they relate, though: questioning Western concerns and assumptions in the use of technology. Here: the self as independent identity, there: the archive as attempt at eternal preservation.