About jahsonic.com
Welcome to Jahsonic.com, a website exploring the boundaries, bridges and intersections of culture. [Jan 2006]
Welcome
Welcome to Jahsonic: a vocabulary of culture, a website exploring the boundaries, bridges and intersections of culture. The term vocabulary in the title of the website refers to all words on all of the pages (they function as a controlled vocabulary or a taxonomy); but more particularly to a vocabulary which is dear to me: the vocabulary of the non-mainstream. The title itself is inspired by Raymond Williams's 1976 Keywords: A Vocabulary of Culture and Society, in which he explores the sometimes hidden meanings of words and terms in the discourse on culture.
It is hard to define a site like Jahsonic.com, but if anything, it is a testament to the value of serendipity (wich means finding something unexpected and useful while searching for something else entirely).
When I think of my ideal audience, it is someone very much like myself but in a much younger version: an autodidact with an incredible hunger for information. He or she may live in a little village in Nigeria or a mid sized town in China, a place with no libraries in the vicinity but equipped with an internet connection.
There are a couple of ways to use the site. The best way for novices is to start with the blog. Another way to use the site is entering keywords in the search engine on the index page to look up particular words, terms, people, places, films, audio recordings, etc. And a third way is browsing it by clicking any link or the "next" button at the top of the page. These links are highlighted in green.
I hope you find Jahsonic a place of inspiration, learning and intellectual stimulation. The journey is the reward!
If you have any remarks or questions regarding the content of jahsonic.com, please contact me at jwgeerinck at hotmail.com. [Jan 2006]
History
I started jahsonic.com in 1996, by uploading my first web page, a list of remixes by DJ Larry Levan. It has grown into a medium-sized website of favourite topics. Although it was conceived as a personal "searchable" archive, I quite enjoy the fact that so many of you have joined me in my quest.
High and low culture
The perceived contradiction between high and low culture is a recurring theme on Jahsonic.com. I believe that both high culture and low culture are minority tastes and as such can be described as subcultures, both influencing mainstream culture. I also believe that both high and low culture have produced masterpieces and works of mediocrity.Sources
This website draws upon a variety of sources:- various books, magazines, reference works, encyclopedias
- Imdb.com for movie year dates
- Wikipedia for encyclopedia definitions and lots of copy
- The American Heritage Dictionary (AHD) for word definitions
- http://www.etymonline.com "Online Etymology Dictionary" by Douglas Harper
- Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) for commercial information
Each section also features a bibliography.
Comments
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Methodology
"Method of this work:
literary montage.
I have nothing to say only to show."
(Passagenwerk (1927 - 1940) - Walter Benjamin)
The "rhizome" allows for multiple,
non-hierarchical entry and exit points
in data representation and interpretation.
--Mille Plateaux - Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari,
volume 2 of Capitalisme et Schizofrénie (1980)