This is a question I am asked every single time I try to explain what I’m studying.
A bachelor of Communication is simple enough, then they want to know what I do within that.
“Media.” I say.
“Oh, okay… so like, what kind of media?” is usually the reply.
“Well, I’m doing a literature class, a writing class, and an ontography class,”
“Ontogra-what?”
Literature is easy enough to explain, I write about stuff that other people have written about a long time ago.
And writing is pretty self explanatory, I make stuff up and try to make it sound good.
But Ontography, what is ontography? When people would first ask me, I’d recite the definition I’d gathered from the first few readings and classes.
“It’s a list,” said I
“So you’re studying lists?”
“Well, no, not lists.”
“So what do you actually study?”
I think this class is less about ontography, less about listing things and what those things think, and how those things think and exist in their own world.
It’s an exploration of things, of media things. It’s also an attempt to make us look at things differently.
Take a step back from what me may think is true about a thing, and discover a completely new perspective.
But my favourite part about this course, is I could be so far away from any kind of correct answer, and it doesn’t matter.
Because this class, and media itself isn’t about the right answer, it’s about the exploration of any answer.
So when people ask me what I actually study.
“Media.” I say.
