The Keeper of the iBook

Dimension

By Mark Newhouse, <ibook_keeper@mac.com>
May 22, 2000

A slice of (my) life

The interesting thing about writing is that I can present and explore different personalities. That is not to say that I am intentionally misrepresenting who I am, but that each time I write something you only see a two dimensional representation of a multi-dimensional person(ality).

If you have ever seen an MRI or a CT scan, you know that these imaging technologies create a three dimensional view of the inside of our bodies by creating many 2-D slices, and stacking them up. Each time I write something, it is like seeing one of those 2-D slices through my personlity.

So, who are you, anyway?

From the articles that I post here at the Keeper of the iBook, you probably get a picture of me as a staunch Apple advocate. I portray myself as someone who carries his iBook everywhere, someone for whom computers is his life.

While it is true that during the week, computers are a major part of my day, that does not really define who I am. Computers are only a part of who I am, and a relatively small part, at that.

Another part of who I am is a writer. It probably won't surprise anyone to find out that writing is also a fairly small part of who I am; but writing allows me to explore many other facets of my personality. By writing, I can isolate something and focus on it, learning more about how I relate to it and how that affects who I am. Hopefully, you who are along for the ride will learn something, too. Or at least enjoy the ride.

The Web allows me to explore my writing, revealing only what I want to at any given time. As you read my writing, or the writing of any other author, you begin to form a picture of that person. And, like looking at a stack of MRI slices, the more you read, the more complete the picture becomes.

iBlog?

So, I have begun posting a web diary of sorts - some of you have read it already. It has become, for me, another outlet for writing, and falls under a new genre of web writing and design called a weblog, or blog. Mine is called "iBook, iMac, iBlog" and is primarily focused on news and views about Apple's consumer space. And, like this site, it's also hosted on an iDisk.

I could never live my life on the web the way some authors do. First of all, my life is not really interesting enough for anyone to care, and second, I have too many other people intimately involved with my life and I wouldn't want to expose them to that kind of public scrutiny. So iBlog consists of short bits of commentary and links to sites and articles of interest.

But wait, there's more

I also indulge in other types of writing, as my muse directs. I originally secured PowerBlog at the mac.com domain as a place to blog the professional side of Apple's market, but iBlog is enough to keep me busy. So PowerBlog will be reserved for the other writing that I do, or have done, that doesn't fit the Keeper of the iBook, and is too long for iBlog. Currently there is only one piece there. Called "C'mon Bill," it is my response to a recent "article" by Bill Gates that appeared in the online edition of Time magazine, written to explain why the DOJ should leave Microsoft intact. I have more writing that will follow soon.

Why do I tell you about these other sites (besides ego gratification, I mean)? Because they let you in on a little more about who I am. You can get a better understanding of what the Keeper of the iBook is like. But you must remember that these additional pieces, even when combined with my other writing, only present a part of the picture.

What does this have to do with the iBook? Not that I have to answer to an editor - I am free to put whatever I want on this site; after all, it is mine to do or not. Like the iBook gestalt, I am more than the sum of my writings. And so is every other author you read on the web.

An important thing to remember.

Mark Newhouse is the Web Designer for the public outreach arm of the National Optical Astronomy Observatories in Tucson, AZ, where, for better or worse, his iBook has been a tool to allow him to explore through writing.