Recently I’ve been thinking about social networks as a space for self-representation and/or artistic expression. This is largely a result of taking an art history and new media course this semester, and trying to figure out how to bring in media studies and my own interests. But, I’ve found Flickr to be a really interesting place to start thinking about PWD using online services and digital media to create art/representation and to share it in a pseudo-gallery space.

Several Flickr groups have been interesting jumping-off points – Blind Photographers, for instance, is a small group, but one that explicitly asks “How does having a different visual experience affect our photography?” !Rock That Disability! is another interesting (and much larger) group. Photos here include both those taken by PWD and those taken of PWD and assistive devices. The group also seems to have an active community forming. And, of course, there are tons of gorgeous, interesting and moving photos to browse through. Wheelchairs, Disability Arts Around the Globe and Disability History all also offer some interesting images and communities. The photo with this post is from the Disability History pool, posted by the Library of Congress, and depicts a turn-of-the-century woman using a dictaphone – in a written caption, she’s identified as a “blind stenographer.” Just another reminder of how assistive devices have always been with us and served both PWD and others who needed dictation machinery.

Last week my Twitter feed was burning up with w00tstock 2009, versions 1.0 and 1.01 in San Francisco, and version 1.1 in Los Angeles. Featuring Adam Savage (of Mythbusters), Wil Wheaton (of ST:TNG and superblog WWDN: In Exile) and comedy musicians Paul and Storm, as well as various special guests, the festival honored the cultural rise of the geek/nerd.

Here, Wheaton kicks things off, making fun of and celebrating his own geek status. W00tstock also happened to coincide with the geek-gasm of Wheaton’s appearance (as himself) on The Big Bang Theory on CBS.

But one of the most interesting elements of the LA performance was the popularity of Felicia Day, who has become an icon of the geek world in the past year through gaming-themed web series The Guild. Below, she and her castmates perform an acoustic version of their hit promotional music video “Do You Wanna Date My Avatar?”

Day has had a speedy rise to near-fame – from bit roles on television to starring in Dr. Horrible’s Sing Along Blog, and writing/producing/starring in The Guild, and appearing in the best-received (and never aired) episode of Dollhouse season one. She’s a gamer, she’s part of the Joss-verse, and throughout, she’s used social media to build her star image and interact with fans. Day’s Twitter feed is more popular than Wheaton’s; her Goodreads account makes her reading habits public; she’s run a personal blog for nearly three years; and she’s on Flickr, Facebook, and delicious, to name a few. I’m watching her use of social media and her rising star pretty closely – could she be the first person to turn social media success  into a bona fide subcultural stardom?

P.S. Tila Tequila is not a star.

I woke up early yesterday to listen in on the National Broadband Plan’s workshop on access for people with disabilities (PWD).  It’s a long session, but with a lot of really interesting people from government, advocacy/non-profit, industry and academia. As I’ve gone in and out, I’ve heard a lot of discussion about how accessibility can be better funded and supported within the government, and how that might affect outcomes and outreach about accessible online content. There’s been a lot of talk about the ADA, Section 508, the Rehabilitation Act more broadly, of course; seems there’s still some uncertainty about which of these laws’ definitions of disability should be used in things like the Census supplement.

I was surprised, though, to hear Eric Bridges from the American Council of the Blind praise Apple for the development of the iPhone, “the first accessible PDA, with no buttons on it.” He didn’t get a chance to elaborate, but I’m planning to explore my iPhone a little more and see if I can’t take its accessibility features for a ride. Is it voice activated? Alternate touch interface? So. Curious.

I didn’t get a chance to listen to the full session, so I’m looking forward to getting the public record and seeing how this develops. The FCC’s blog, blogband, is a great resource for keeping on top of the National Broadband Plan, whether your interest is disability, rural access, policy, or broadband access more generally.

First, the confession – despite being an avid blog reader, a general blogging advocate, and a frequent blog-researcher, I’ve never managed to maintain a personal blog.

There a number of factors at play here. First, I’m a perfectionist about writing- everything goes through several drafts – and that style didn’t seem to fit with blogging. Secondly, I’m just kind of shy. And, of course, there’s the usual issue of blogging as a time commitment that people often find they can’t squeeze in. Why start if I can’t keep it up?

But as I’ve become more comfortable with having myself out there – on Facebook, on Twitter, whatever – I’ve been thinking about giving blogging a real try. Sometimes you just need more than 140 characters. Like my other online outlets, I suspect that this blog will address both my personal and academic interests, but it will be weighted to the latter. I plan to use this space to share things I find interesting, and to work through some ideas and connections between media, feminist and disability theory, technology, and so on.

The title of this blog is a bit of a pun. While early rhetoric of the internet and online social communities celebrated a space without bodies (no one knows you’re a dog!), it is clear that gender, race, class, sexuality and nationality all come into play in our online interactions and presentation. The internet is not a disembodied space. My focus is on disability as a form of embodiment and identity that can impede access to technology, and as an underexplored identity online. Dis/Embody pulls together these interests in disability, online identity, internet technology and embodied experience.

So there it is. I’m gonna blog. 🙂