PhD Thesis 2005. ‘A Journey of Integration — Virtuality And Physicality In A Computer-Mediated Environment’ — Introduction to A Journey of Integration I first became enchanted by computers in 1985. I had gone to university as a mature student to major in English and History, but it was the optional short course ‘Computers for Management’ that changed my life. It was there that I learned to code in Basic, played adventure games…

Chapter 1 of my 2005 PhD Thesis ‘A Journey of Integration’ — Experiencing the Machine I have been exploring the impact of the computer on our lived experience since 1985. The spread of new technologies, most especially the growth of the World Wide Web, is having a profound societal and cultural effect in every part of the world and giving rise to a cascade of…

Chapter 2 of my 2005 PhD Thesis ‘A Journey of Integration’ — The Instrument of Transformation 1988–1992 I learnt to use a computer in 1985 as part of a B.A. Hons degree in Humanities¹. Prior to that my only intimate experience with complex mechanisms had been using a manual knitting machine, with which I made knitwear at home to sell. At that time I had not yet…

Chapter 3 of my 2005 PhD Thesis ‘A Journey of Integration’ Overwhelming physicality 1992–1995 After Correspondence I turned my attention to a different reading of physicality and, perhaps taking direction from the damp sensualities at the end of the first book, began to imagine the body and its potential beyond flesh, in my…

Chapter 4 of my 2005 PhD Thesis ‘A Journey of Integration’ Note: Much of this chapter is about the now ancient text-based virtual world of LambdaMOO. Years ago I wrote a resource page on how to access it. Much of it is probably out of date now but it might…

Chapter 5 of my 2005 PhD Thesis ‘A Journey of Integration’ In memory of Hilary Kay Doran 1958–2017 Hello World 2000–2004 In September 1999 I moved to my first solo home from the small townhouse in the suburbs of Nottingham where I had lived with my two daughters until they went to university…

Chapter 6 of my 2005 PhD Thesis ‘A Journey of Integration’ Further towards connectedness 2004 The experience of writing Hello World: travels in virtuality, which involved confronting what Arthur Kroker calls ‘the will to virtuality’¹ and beginning to understand its allure, has guided me away from any hope of early clarification and towards other…