Response to Invitation by the Artist Lee Ming - Sheng for the work entitled "More Than A Sketch And An Image"

Title of Response: " Let I = The Avatar M. River (AKA More Than a Construct And A Body)"
Question 5. Where are you living now? How would you describe it?

I, M. River, live on line, on the net, on the netz, in data lines from server to server, from domain to domain, from URL to URL within cgis, scripts, html, dhtml, java, jpegs, gifs, sig files, tifs, and of course, email asci. Here are some things you should know about life on line.

1. My domain (http://mteww.com), my home you might say. It sits on a server in Southern California that I will never see in real life. My studio (http://tinjail.com) is on another server someplace elese. I could go on for another some time telling you all the places that you may locate me...but you get the idea...life on the net is about the space between space.

2. Like I said in the introduction, I have never met Lee Ming - Sheng. An email showed up in my "public" account asking me to write about my life. On the net, as an avatar, you sometimes just need to let things happen.

3. Language: Code is the digital structure that rest beneath the net. Although it is hard to say just how, code has a certain beauty to it.

4. At the moment, this is my favorite piece of code (java). It is from the artist Mouchette ( http://mouchette.org) who took it from the artist known as JODI (http://jodi.org) who may have gotten it from someplace else.

<script><!--
var doScrolling = false;
var index = 0;
var yy = 0;
var xx = 0;
var Colors = new Array("#000000","#111100");
this.scroll(120,100);
function scrollToCenter() {
this.scroll(120,100);
}
function scrollit( ) {
window.setTimeout( "scrollit()", 1);
xx = Math.round( 90 + Math.random() * 200);

yy = Math.round( 70 + Math.random() * 150);

this.scroll(xx,yy);
changeBG();
}
function changeBG() {
index = Math.round(Math.random() * (Colors.length-1) );
document.bgColor = Colors[index];
}
// -->
</script>

5. Economics: At this moment, Information on the net like the code above, is given and taken without much thought as to ownership. Unfortunately, people seem to be trying to change this.

6. Location: On the net, your home is just a click away from site about some million dollar company or somebodies cat.

7. Architecture: With a little bit of skill, you can make a site that is more sophisticated than the million dollar company that is just a click away. Inversely, someone can make a site about there cat that blows you away.

8. Time: The net was created when I was young. We are now growing together.

9. People: Sometimes it is hard to say who is who. My name is not M. River , but this is who I choose to be online.

10. Change: The net will be different by the time you reach the end of this sentence.

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