Are Americans getting angry and is that anger driving a polarization of the electorate?
The Angry American by Paul Starobin suggests that we are getting angry (conservative anger towards Clinton, anger towards Bush) but that this is good and shows we aren’t cynical. A cute point, but he doesn’t deal with the problems of anger politics – the willingness to contemplate any means to achieve an unexamined end. The partisan politics and willingness to spend too much on politics.
How can Maturana’s theory of “autopoiesis” be applied to understanding computing?
Randall Whitaker has an extensive site on Autropoiesis that provides a background and discusses in depth many of the concepts. See Self-Organization, Autopoiesis, and Enterprises. Whitaker is interested in how autorpoietic theory can be applied to enterprise computing – groupwork, human factors, and information systesms.
Continue reading Whitaker’s Autopoiesis
What does it mean to say Humanism is dea?
Such a statement could be historical, in the sense that the Italian Renaissance movement called Humanism is over. See Humanism [Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy].
More radically it could mean that the values of humanism are no longer shared. What would these values be?
– The return and admiration of the classics and classicism.
– A focus on human achievements and expression, especially those in a self-conscious tradition that goes back to the Greeks and Romans.
– Preference for practicies of dialogue and academic organizations over practices of science and professional organizations.
– Preference for interdisciplinarity or antidisciplinarity over specialization and professionalization.
Are these values no longer shared? Have we moved on?
If we have, it would call into question the relevance of Humanities Computing as that application of computing to humanistic disciplines. Could HC be an interested extension of a dead tradition?
Continue reading Is Humanism Dead?
Are there alternatives to the piping model of communication?
Maturana and Varela’s Autopoiesis and Cognition has been suggested to me as an original work that crosses biology, cognitive science, and information theory (not to mention applications to philosophy and literary theory.) In a paper by Maturana called Biology of Language:The Epistemology of Reality he looks at “languaging” or the relationship of saying and observing.
They to understanding dialogue as more than just the piping of messages from one system to another is that we observe our own sayings (and writings) as we create them. There is a folding back of the message to the sender that recursively changes the sender and what is being sent as it is sent. In other words we listen to ourselves speak as we speak while simultaneously watching the reception in the other in order to manipulate the saying in real time.
Continue reading Maturana and Languaging
What would a Creative Technology programme look like? Would there be a need for graduates?
Following on Beyond Productivity I have been asking if there is a need for such arts/computing graduates. Here is a story in the Globe and Mail in the Globetechnology section. The game industry seems especially hungry for appropriate employees.
Continue reading Creative Technology Curriculum
Ludology.org – Videogame Theory is a good blog on game theory. Good starting spot for game research.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of open source content systems?
Open-source content management systems is a clear summary of the pros and cons. Most people forget to mention the cons, but this article does.
Continue reading Open Source Content Management
How are blogs used to support research?
I found myself asking how others use blogs for research and found this great list and paper on the subject, see research blogs.
Another source of information is a blog by Sèbastian Paquet in Montreal. Note: the blog has disappeared.
Continue reading Blogs for Research
Just what is the Internet?
World of Ends is an interesting essay on what it is and what it is not that suffers from being too sure of itself (that geek RTFM tone that is so annoying and so often wrong.)
Still, clearly structured set of talking points including, “2. The Internet isn’t a thing. It’s an agreement.” Exactly, it is agreed upon formal protocols that are open so anyone can build things that work with other people’s things.
Continue reading World of Ends; What the Internet Is and How to Stop Mistaking it for Something Else
The Faculty of Information Studies at the University of Toronto is going through an exciting planning process. See the PDF Chartreuse Paper at WebBoard – Guest User Page.
In the paper the dean, Briank Cantwell Smith raises questions about what is the subject of information studies (we all study information.) He argues for an issues oriented, interdisciplinary centre that looks at documentary practices and performances.
What is exciting about the process is that it is open (I can look at it) and openness is also one of the issues (as in Open Source as an issue.)
Perhaps what we need is a clear philosophy of open source research as a practice.