Things that go bump and the things that bump back

cj had told me about Pandora some time ago, but today I tripped over it. While it invites me in to think I'm shaping a personalised radio station, I am aware its also shaping me. I bumped it, and its bumped back...I told it what I like, it comes back with that and more. Its now adding to my repertoire of music i like and expectations of my capacity to shape my world. In a matter of mins my taste has expanded to encompass artists i had previously never heard of. And my expectations too have been bumped - i want this in my car! I want more choice like this in my life. As much as we think we shape our world as actors, the things we interact with, push back. Actor network theory provides me with a framework for exploring the recipricosity in shaping and in being shaped. And the actors involved are not all human; my taste in music (as well as my expectations of freedoms) are being shaped by non-human actors. I see myself rapidly becoming less tolerant of less adaptive media.
I have mulled over my ethics applications for two months, Bumping around the ideas- until they bumped back. Talking my studies through, and through and through. I have now clarified and minimised potential risks, its been a bit like tumbling it around till some of the rough bits are worn away. Now if only i could make sense of the forms... being a student in one institution and studying in another, crossing international boundaries in addition, plus being both student and staff... the real world is messy.