Sat, 2008-Nov-22 by nmw.

What? Where? Who Were They & How Did They Vote?

 Google violates its “don’t be evil” motto

1. Before the debate (For the motion: 21% ; Against the motion: 31% ; Undecided: 48%)

2. After the debate (For the motion: 47% ; Against the motion: 47% ; Undecided: 6%)

3. Saul Hansell’s article @ NYTimes Bit’s Blog — Comments (For the motion: 22% ; Against the motion: 28% ; Undecided: 50%)

“Rational” vs “Prejudiced”

Note that if it can be assumed that the 42% who apparently “made up their mind” as a result of the debate (well, it’s complicated ;) were simply “in addition to” those people who had previously made up their minds (and who subsequently stuck to their previous convictions), then this group (”rational” group) is markedly different from those who had made up their minds beforhand (”prejudiced” group).

These 2 (hypothetical) subgroups voted as follows (note that the “prejudiced” group [52%] is slightly larger than the “rational” group [42%], but the remaining “don’t know” group is relatively small [6%]):

“Prejudiced” group: For the motion: 40% ; Against the motion: 60%

“Rational” group:  For the motion: 62% ; Against the motion: 38%

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Tue, 2008-Nov-18 by nmw.

#2 Reason: You Have to Chop Down Trees to Make It

Wha? #2?!? So what’s #1?

#1: It Can’t be Edited as Easily as a Cloud

That’s right — and paper is not really all that good at leaving a “paper trail” either.

As a trained archivist, I know how photocopy machines can cause more confusion. And then came mailing lists, reply to all — you name it.

Wiki has really revolutionized publication — but it is still the darling of web entrepreneurs….

Where do we Go from Here?

Well, maybe we need to get back to the idea of “markup” — the original version. Well, I’m not talking about marking typos per se, but rather incorporating structure to revisions — for example, Authorship:Is it really “correct” to say that the last editor of a collaboratively created document is its “sole” or “primary” author? Probably not. How do we leave trace of authorship? When does a remark lose it’s relationship to the author, because one or more words have been revised, changed, deleted or additional words are included? These are all important questions — difficult to answer, but important nonetheless. Otherwise, we would be fooling ourselves into thinking we are behaving responsibly — quite the contrary would be the case: we would be about as responsible as the pack of children “toying” with power in the Lord of the Flies.

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Wed, 2008-Jul-23 by nmw.

Yesterday

ah, all that business seems so far away! :D — So what do I recommend for “summer reading”? How about Groundswell? I am happy that MWJV has received a personalized copy of this book ( via the very influential Susan Bratton ;) ! OK, before you start calling me a shill, let me explain why I think you should read Charlene Li’s book.

I agree

( First of all: note I haven’t read all of the book yet — and so if you would like to read it for me and then tell me what you think of it, then please: be my guest! ;)

But second of all, I have read and been inspired by Ms. Li’s work over the years, and especially (third of all): Charlene’s interview with Susan was very interesting and insightful ( and maybe even a little revealing ;)…. The crux of Mrs. Li’s research lies at the intersection of people with technology — and this is basically what language is all about (indeed: it is very closely related to issues raised in the Wisdom of the Language article) — language is the technology we use to communicate how we understand the world we live in (and [according to Chomsky] it’s actually deeply intertwined with our nature [as human beings] — in other words: language is the quintessential “hermeneutic tool”).

The reason why I am eager to read Charlene’s book is to learn more about the those aspects of the intersection of people and technology which are apparently independent of language (and many of these, I feel, may very well be addressed in the book). Currently the book is making its rounds through the office, and I have already set it on my “Indian Summer” reading list — and I look forward to poring over all of the nitty-gritty details!

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Sun, 2008-Jun-15 by nmw.

For a good time, call: http://bargains.at/domainermeeting

( Use the link above to arrange an appointment to discuss collaborative opportunities, deals, share stories, whatever. :)

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