Holding on to Reality - Albert Borgman - Part III
pgs 125-233
ELEMENTARY MEASURES
The Electron
(page 125)
-Plato early philosophers tried to subordinate contingency to structure with main point to reduce the mysterious to simplicity and lawfulness.
-things/compounds of physical world as compounds
-greek word for amber is electron
-Heraclean stone is magnet
-complex reciprocal processes underlie in electricity/magnetism were concealed for 2.5 millennia and proper kind of scientist didnt investigate them until modern period
-William Gilbert (1544-1603) first to give insight to attractive force of amber and magnets
(page 126)
-electric=attractive force of amber
-Hans Christian (Danish physicist - 1777-1851) first to see link between electricity and magnetism
-Francis Hauksbee (1666-1713) glow in jars linked to electricity
-Joseph John Thomson (1856-1940) 1897 let a bundle of cathode rays pass between two metal plates and by applying electric and magnetic forces through the plates to the cathode rays, caused the rays to be deflected so that the glowing spot shifted its position at the end of the glass tube.
-in time engineers transformed tube into large fluorescent surface and over more time developed the ray back and forth to create a line after line pattern on the surface now called screens/light/dark points/television/computers were born.
-Thomson/quantitative structure of cathode rays/phenomena of forces/Newtons law of motion-electric/magnetic
(page 127)
-Newtons physics provided Thomson with structure that lawfully related time and space, motion/mass, acceleration and force = make sense of his measurements.
-Thomson discovered particle/atom not at bottom of structure of reality but composed of smaller particles.
(page 128)
The Bit
-Information relation rather than thing/what is measurable and what is not
-term of information=sign
-conventional signs we call writing
-logographs-first signs of writing/too many of them thus go from tons of signs to a simple smaller set to use to clarify ( 26 of them )
(page 129)
-Greek 24 letters
-phonetic/English/40 symbols
-ASCHII contains 82 symbols
-Leibniz (1646-1716) in 1696 or 1697 discovered the binary system of two number signs (1, 0)
(page 130)
-human ability to recall groups of numbers
-we shape and order them/in groups of 7 first then estimate after that
(page 131)
-signal/binary one of two/digit signal//basic bit of information binary digit
(page 133)
-information theory allows us to measure, control, enhance information about reality-enhance human experience
-info theory lets us say how much or how little there is/greater available signs/
(page 135)
-relation between the actual space that signs occupy and space of reference is marked out by signs
-bits of information/logarithm
Content
can larger more sophisticated systems of signs accommodate the presence of things
(page 138)
-bit of information doesn't necessarily mean it will tell us what the content is
-today engineers refers to bits of space on hard drive or disk space
(page 139)
-Information technology has expanded or world of choices but lost structure/resistance
-standard computer screen early 90s had 640 times 480 pixels/pixels could have any one of 256 colors
-----------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 12
Division
(page 141)
-basic structure is division
-God created heaven and earth/making something from nothing
(page 142)
-philosopher Heidegger-hoped to illuminate the relation between humanity, reality and technology through reflections on identity and difference
-Babbage 1822 built calculator/difference engine
(page 143-144)
-vacuum tubes = electronic devices for switching
-1944/1945 John Eckert/Herman Goldstine/ John Mauchly assembled 18,000 of them, 70,000 resisters, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 mechanical switches into ENIAC Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer=could do 5,000 calculations in 1 min that would have been 24 hours
-but had high failure rate/bulbs blew out rapidly
-1948-transistor ws invented by John Bardeen/ Walter Brattain/William Shockely
-1959-Jean Hoerni etched a transistor on a silicon wafer
-5 yrs later=Gordon Moore realized number of elements on silicon chip doubled every year=Moore's Law
-silicon chip=medium that joined unit of information with elementary particle of electron-light and dark, one/zeros, transformed information in reality=computer.
-computer=adding machine, slide ruler, ledger, code book, drawing surface, pen, dynamic chart=take functions to new level
(page 154)
Transistor and Computer
-from structure to matter
-silicon/silica/silicon oxide
-when oxygen is removed from silica=pure silicon
-nucleus of atom of silicon is surrounded by 4 electrons
(page 155)
diagram of open/off
closed/on
Chapter 13
Transparency and Control
(page 166)
Perspicuity and Surveyability
-IT convergence from two technoligies=transmission of info and automation of computation
(page 167)
-pretechnology=writing, printing
-analog info/photos/maps/film/tapes/vinyl records=now edit is easy/handle on diff devices/mobile/
-technology promises to render reality
-memory is where info needs to be stores since natural information changes/recedes/moves forward
-1927 modern map making/contour maps/cartography traditionally drawn by hand art/craft pens/rulers/tsquares, compasses, lettering templates, creativity/good eye
Transparency
(page 170, 171)
-converting inform into digital information is more pliable
-raster system/pixels
--------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 14
Virtuality and Ambiguity
The Resolution of Information
(page 179)
-resolution of signal=signal structure of one bit/how many bits does a thing have?
(page 180)
-unlike a computer, human being would find it impossible to divide the continuous stream of ones and zeros into words
Virtual Reality
(page 183)
-depth/resolution
--------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 15
Fragility and Noise
Physical and Social Fragility
(page 193)
-technological information may be threatened by fragility and noise
-digital structures are enduring/have faultless copying
-technological information is typically written, read , copied by copyists/machines
- with massive amounts of information=precision and vastness are staggering
-26 letters used to make information that is compact and distinctive for humans to grasp
-CDROM/disc contain information stored on them/magnetic tape/ videotape/ disk drives/ digital documents
Origin of Noise
(page 201)
-crackles, hisses, stutters, degrades media and information on it
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFLECTION PAGE
Holding onto Reality leaves us with a tightly packed historical look into how digital information came to fruition. Plato early philosophers tried to subordinate contingency to structure with main point to reduce the mysterious to simplicity and lawfulness. Things are made up of compounds in our physical world.
The Greek word for amber is electron. Heraclean stone is magnet. Its complex reciprocal processes underlies in electricity where magnetism was concealed for 2.5 milennia and where the proper kind of scientist didn't investigate them until the modern world.
William Gilbert of 1544-1603, first gave insight to the attraction force of amber and magnets. Electric=attractive force of amber. Hans Christian, a Danish physicist of 1777-1851, is first to see the link between electricity and magnetism while Francis Hauksbee of 1666-1713, discovered the glow in jars linked to electricity.
Joseph John Thomson of 1856-1940, in 1897 let a bundle of cathode rays pass between two metal plates and by applying electric and magnetic forces through the plates to the cathode rays, caused the rays to be deflected so that the glowing spot shifted its position at the end of the glass tube.
In time engineers transformed tube into large fluorescent surface and over more time developed the ray back and forth to create a line after line pattern on the surface now called screens, light and dark points, television, and hence computers were born. Thomson saw that quantitative structure of cathode rays and the phenomena of forces connected with Newtons law of motion-electric and magnetic. Newtons physics provided Thomson with structure that lawfully related time and space, motion and mass, acceleration and force = make sense of his measurements.
Thomson discovered particle/atom not at bottom of structure of reality but composed of smaller particles. The development of the 'bit' as it pertains to information is related rather than to a thing. What is measurable and what is not.
The term of information is defined as sign but some signs area conventional such as those we call writing. Logographs are the first signs of writing. Through time, we now have too many of them thus we go from massive amounts of signs to a simple smaller set of signs to use. To clarify, a 26 item sign set. There are 24 letters in the Greek alphabet. English phonetics have 40 symbols. ASCHII language contains 82 symbols.
Leibniz of 1646-1716, in 1696 or 1697, discovered the binary system of two number signs more specifically, ones and zeros. The human ability to recall groups of numbers
is incredible and we shape and order them into groups of 7 first then can estimate after that.
A signal or binary one of two digit signal. The basic bit of information binary digit
information theory allows us to measure, control, enhance information about reality and enhance human experience. Information theory lets us say how much or how little there is and has a greater available signs to use. The relation between the actual space that signs occupy and space of reference is marked out by signs. Bits of information transforms into logarithm.
A bit of information doesn't necessarily mean it will tell us what the content is but today's engineers refer to bits of space on hard drive or disk space. Information technology has expanded our world of choices but lost structure and resistance.
The standard computer screen early in the 1990's had 640 times at 480 pixels. The pixels could have any one of 256 colors. Basic structure tells a bit more about what is means to mathematical equations such as division. Borgmann even goes on to relate IA to religion and states that, God created heaven and earth and therefore made something from nothing. The philosopher Heidegger hoped to illuminate the relation between humanity, reality and technology through reflections on identity and difference. While Babbage in 1822 built the first calculator which was refered to as 'difference engine'.
A huge discovery brought the onset of huge changes yet to come in the fields of electriciy. The vacuum tubes which were electronic devices for switching was developed around 1944, 1945 by John Eckert, Herman Goldstine, John Mauchly. They assembled 18,000 of them including: 70,000 resisters, 10,000 capacitors, 6,000 mechanical switches into ENIAC, Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer. This device could do 5,000 calculations in 1 min that would have been 24 hours.
It proved to have a high failure rate. Bulbs blew out rapidly as they were being used.
Around 1948, the transistor was invented by John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockely. In 1959, Jean Hoerni etched a transistor on a silicon wafer
and 5 yrs later, Gordon Moore realized that a number of elements on silicon chip doubled every year often referred to as Moore's Law.
A silicon chip, a medium that joined a unit of information with elementary particle of electron i.e., light and dark, one and zeros, transformed information in reality hence the computer. The computer quickly served as adding machine, slide ruler, ledger, code book, drawing surface, pen, and a dynamic chart that takes functions to new level.
IT converged from two technologies, the transmission of information and automation of computation. Pretechnology was writing, and printing, the natural structure of information. Then analog information such as photos, maps, film, tapes, vinyl records that now edit is easy and are easy to handle on different types of devices and are mobile.
As technology moved forward, around 1927, the standard for modern map making and cartography consisted of traditionally drawn by hand art and was considered a craft that uses pens, rulers, t-squares, compasses, lettering templates, creativity and a good eye. Now technology is converting information into digital information where it is more pliable and we use a raster system that is made up of pixels.
Resolution of signals structure consist of one bit so the question arose, how many bits does a thing have? Unlike a computer, human beings would find it impossible to divide the continuous stream of ones and zeros into words. Hence the onset of, virtual Reality the replication of depth and of resolution that matches our reality.
But Borgmann states that technological information may be threatened by fragility and noise. That digital structures are enduring with faultless copying abilities. Technological information is typically written, read, and copied by copyists but now we have machines that can the same. With massive amounts of information, precision and vastness of information became staggering. We have 26 letters used to make information compact and simply and that which is distinctive for humans to grasp. However, now we have the digital age of technology that compacts this information onto CDROM discs which hold and contain the information stored on them as digital documents as well as magnetic tape, videotape, and disk drives. And we still have the problem of noise to contend with: crackles, hisses, stutters, all which degrade media and the information on it.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Week 13 -- Readings & Take aways & RELFECTION PAGE
Holding on to Reality - Albert Borgman - Part II
pgs 55-120
CULTURAL INFORMATION - INFORMATION FOR REALITY
Chapter 6
PRODUCING INFORMATION - WRITING AND STRUCTURE
(page 57)
The Analysis of Structure
-natural info=natural signs as opposed to cultural info center on conventional signs=letters texts lines graphs notes scores
-cultural info shapes reality
(page 59)
-evolution of alphabet/letters/writing plays significant role/cultural force
(page 60)
-letters distinctive/representitive/fashion each mark/token to type
(page 61)
-Pluto thought that analysis of language into sounds or letters reflected reducibility of reality into elements
(page 64)
Synthesis of Structure
-hunting gathering/draw circles/shapes/rectangular patterns/lean tos/huts/geometry/bricks=turns into walls, platforms, stairs
(page 66)
-Pythagorean theory=agni's builders task
(page 69)
-ancient Greeks/geometry/arithmetic sep fields/circle to greeks=cup of wine
Chapter 7
Producing Information - Measures and Grids
-Plato hoped words mesh with structure of things
-Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus of 1921=idea was that sameness of structure would allow language and reality to engage one another like cogs so that the movement of one wheel would faithfully reflect the movement of the other.
(page 78)
Measures of Time
-grids/space
--clock/time
longitude/lattitude not helpful til clock was invented
-1st mechanical clocks-13th century
-technology and information helped progress reality
-clocks equalized days/work measured by time
(page 80)
Lines of print
-Durers woodcut of draftsman drawing of reclining nude/figure 10 page 81
(page 81)
-printed page/codex stack pages sewn together/writing and transmission of information
-typesetting was a labor=multiple copies
(page 82)
-maps/Kllosterneuburg near Vienna-charts/maps/ geographical reports
(page 83)
-global currency/measures/grids/ money moves toward universality
Chapter 8
Realizing Information
Reading
(page 85)
Fundamentals
-process of converting instructions of a design -realizing information-paradigms
-reading/performing/building/abstract design come to life in concrete reality/world
(page 87,88)
Comprehension
-Intelligence=general skill of decoding signs and experiences are needed for words in question
Chapter 9
Realizing Information
Playing
(page 93)
Signification and Realization
-reading/contextual/text in turn enlarges context of readers reality by instructing them to place the actual world into possibilities
-Music/structure/score realized structure/a performance=disputed
-building=one time realization
Structure and Contingency
(page 98)
-signs make structure visible
(page 100)
-R Taruskin pointed out that performers work in texture of their time and culture=aim timelessly practice
-musical score reflection of its cultural environment
(page 103)
-Records submerge full structure of information more so than writing
-for score to become real=requires discipline/training=musicians give voice to music
Chapter 10
Realizing Information
Building
(page 105)
Construction and Contingency
-building engages reality
-structure provides outlet for information/contingency is the wellspring-philosophers=Daniel Dennett, Richard Rorty and Scientists Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Weinberg
(page 110)
-older=consummation/happy completion of a task/could be work of art
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFLECTION PAGE
Borgman really delves into a magical world of hard facts but soft descriptions concerning the reality of information as we knew it and as we developed over time being surrounded by it and penetrated by it. Even as early as we know of
natural information which comprised of natural signs as opposed to cultural information, the center on conventional signs morphed into letters, texts, lines, graphs, notes, and scores.
Borgman goes on to state that cultural information shapes reality. Clearly the evolution of our alphabets i.e. letters and writing plays a significant role and has a cultural force within our world of information. Letters are distinctive representations, each having its own unique mark or token which we have created into type.
Pluto thought that analysis of language into sounds or letters reflected reducibility of reality into elements. But as far back as the hunting and gathering times where we draw circles, shapes, rectangular patterns and used shapes to create physical things like lean to's and huts. We eventually morphed or text and signs into mathematical geniuses that once again transformed the way we lived such as geometry and the building of bricks which turns into walls, platforms, and stairs. Even the Greeks used geometry and arithmetic but within separate fields. They saw the circle as a cup of wine. Plato hoped words mesh with structure of things
Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus of 1921, his idea was that sameness of structure would allow language and reality to engage one another like cogs so that the movement of one wheel would faithfully reflect the movement of the other. Some examples of language becoming reality became grids and space, the clock and time as well as longitude and latitude but was not helpful until clock was invented. The 1st mechanical clocks were invented in the 13th century. These technologies and information helped progress reality. Clocks equalized the days events and work was measured by time. Durers woodcut of a draftsman drawing of the reclining nude was illustrating the distance, space and time of the reality of the actual model versus the flat plane page. The codex stack of pages were sewn together. Printed pages and the writing and transmission of information became more fluid yet laborious including typesetting where multiple copies were obtainable.
Maps lent themselves to geographical measures and grids while money moved towards universality. The process of converting instructions of a design became realized information and structures that come to life in a concrete reality.
Music transformed into structure such as scores which realized performance.
R. Taruskin pointed out that performers work in texture of their time and culture which aim timelessly via practice. A musical score is a reflection of its cultural environment. For a score to become real would require discipline and training by musicians in order to give voice to music.
Buildings engage reality in that structures provide outlets for information hence contingency is the wellspring for structure. Philosophers such as Daniel Dennett, Richard Rorty and Scientists Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Weinberg write notable on this subject.
pgs 55-120
CULTURAL INFORMATION - INFORMATION FOR REALITY
Chapter 6
PRODUCING INFORMATION - WRITING AND STRUCTURE
(page 57)
The Analysis of Structure
-natural info=natural signs as opposed to cultural info center on conventional signs=letters texts lines graphs notes scores
-cultural info shapes reality
(page 59)
-evolution of alphabet/letters/writing plays significant role/cultural force
(page 60)
-letters distinctive/representitive/fashion each mark/token to type
(page 61)
-Pluto thought that analysis of language into sounds or letters reflected reducibility of reality into elements
(page 64)
Synthesis of Structure
-hunting gathering/draw circles/shapes/rectangular patterns/lean tos/huts/geometry/bricks=turns into walls, platforms, stairs
(page 66)
-Pythagorean theory=agni's builders task
(page 69)
-ancient Greeks/geometry/arithmetic sep fields/circle to greeks=cup of wine
Chapter 7
Producing Information - Measures and Grids
-Plato hoped words mesh with structure of things
-Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus of 1921=idea was that sameness of structure would allow language and reality to engage one another like cogs so that the movement of one wheel would faithfully reflect the movement of the other.
(page 78)
Measures of Time
-grids/space
--clock/time
longitude/lattitude not helpful til clock was invented
-1st mechanical clocks-13th century
-technology and information helped progress reality
-clocks equalized days/work measured by time
(page 80)
Lines of print
-Durers woodcut of draftsman drawing of reclining nude/figure 10 page 81
(page 81)
-printed page/codex stack pages sewn together/writing and transmission of information
-typesetting was a labor=multiple copies
(page 82)
-maps/Kllosterneuburg near Vienna-charts/maps/ geographical reports
(page 83)
-global currency/measures/grids/ money moves toward universality
Chapter 8
Realizing Information
Reading
(page 85)
Fundamentals
-process of converting instructions of a design -realizing information-paradigms
-reading/performing/building/abstract design come to life in concrete reality/world
(page 87,88)
Comprehension
-Intelligence=general skill of decoding signs and experiences are needed for words in question
Chapter 9
Realizing Information
Playing
(page 93)
Signification and Realization
-reading/contextual/text in turn enlarges context of readers reality by instructing them to place the actual world into possibilities
-Music/structure/score realized structure/a performance=disputed
-building=one time realization
Structure and Contingency
(page 98)
-signs make structure visible
(page 100)
-R Taruskin pointed out that performers work in texture of their time and culture=aim timelessly practice
-musical score reflection of its cultural environment
(page 103)
-Records submerge full structure of information more so than writing
-for score to become real=requires discipline/training=musicians give voice to music
Chapter 10
Realizing Information
Building
(page 105)
Construction and Contingency
-building engages reality
-structure provides outlet for information/contingency is the wellspring-philosophers=Daniel Dennett, Richard Rorty and Scientists Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Weinberg
(page 110)
-older=consummation/happy completion of a task/could be work of art
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFLECTION PAGE
Borgman really delves into a magical world of hard facts but soft descriptions concerning the reality of information as we knew it and as we developed over time being surrounded by it and penetrated by it. Even as early as we know of
natural information which comprised of natural signs as opposed to cultural information, the center on conventional signs morphed into letters, texts, lines, graphs, notes, and scores.
Borgman goes on to state that cultural information shapes reality. Clearly the evolution of our alphabets i.e. letters and writing plays a significant role and has a cultural force within our world of information. Letters are distinctive representations, each having its own unique mark or token which we have created into type.
Pluto thought that analysis of language into sounds or letters reflected reducibility of reality into elements. But as far back as the hunting and gathering times where we draw circles, shapes, rectangular patterns and used shapes to create physical things like lean to's and huts. We eventually morphed or text and signs into mathematical geniuses that once again transformed the way we lived such as geometry and the building of bricks which turns into walls, platforms, and stairs. Even the Greeks used geometry and arithmetic but within separate fields. They saw the circle as a cup of wine. Plato hoped words mesh with structure of things
Wittgenstein's Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus of 1921, his idea was that sameness of structure would allow language and reality to engage one another like cogs so that the movement of one wheel would faithfully reflect the movement of the other. Some examples of language becoming reality became grids and space, the clock and time as well as longitude and latitude but was not helpful until clock was invented. The 1st mechanical clocks were invented in the 13th century. These technologies and information helped progress reality. Clocks equalized the days events and work was measured by time. Durers woodcut of a draftsman drawing of the reclining nude was illustrating the distance, space and time of the reality of the actual model versus the flat plane page. The codex stack of pages were sewn together. Printed pages and the writing and transmission of information became more fluid yet laborious including typesetting where multiple copies were obtainable.
Maps lent themselves to geographical measures and grids while money moved towards universality. The process of converting instructions of a design became realized information and structures that come to life in a concrete reality.
Music transformed into structure such as scores which realized performance.
R. Taruskin pointed out that performers work in texture of their time and culture which aim timelessly via practice. A musical score is a reflection of its cultural environment. For a score to become real would require discipline and training by musicians in order to give voice to music.
Buildings engage reality in that structures provide outlets for information hence contingency is the wellspring for structure. Philosophers such as Daniel Dennett, Richard Rorty and Scientists Stephen Jay Gould, Steven Weinberg write notable on this subject.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Week 12 -- Readings & Take aways & RELFECTION PAGE - Lesson 12
Web Theory An Introduction by Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall - Chapter 8-end of book (page 152-201)
Chapter 8
THE WEB OF INFORMATIONAL NEWS
(page 152)
The archdeacon comtemplated the gigantic cathedral for a time in silence, then he sighed and stretched out his right hand towards the printed book lying open on his table and his left hand towards Notre-Dame, and he looked sadly from the book to the church. 'Alas, this will kill that.' -- Victor Hugo Notre Dame de Paris
New forms of digital news delivery=local/national and global communications
(page 153)
Multimedia presentations/news/bandwidth/enormous flood of information/
(page 155)
Approaches to delivery of news/digital/newspaper databases/single scrolling window
(page 156)
Usenet newsgroups=narrow subject focus
(page 157)
Push technology=1996 dig news over Internet
(page 162)
Alternatives online/mediachannel/mediachannel.org//designed to engagecitizens with their media and to attract a broad, general audience
(page 163)
Gatekeeping structures of contemporary television networks and newsmagazines
(page 166)
Fans can find plots/storylines/informal news/email groups/all before final episodes i.e. XFiles example
(page 167)
Newspapers are created by journalists, who now have to master a new set of tools to be able to make use of the online medium in the most relevant way. On the one hand, the Internet offers new ways of collecting and reporting information, and the integration of Internet access into the newsroom and enconomisation of the news gathering process will dominate furute news production. On the other hand, making use of the medium to publish newspapers also requires a completely new set of skills. One that at this point few journalists have. They have to learn how to organize stories into structures conducive to interactive reading online. They might need to learn about using audio, video, animations, interactive maps, and databases. These narrative techniques and the critical thinking that goes into them appear to be among he most important skills for online journalists to possess.
van Dusselforp, Scullio an Bierhoff 1999:13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9
WEB OF ENTERTAINMENT
(page 174)
How digital technology and the Internet influence entertainment
Digital formats/CD/networks/MP3/Napster
(page 175)
Webportals/generate audiences/brand name/accessibility/consumers/broadband/mobile/wireless
(page 177)
playlists/dDolby on Internet/music industry/analogue moves into digital transmission
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 12 - Holding on to Reality by Albert Borgmann
Introduction:
(page 7)
Information can illuminate, transform and displace reality. Without tracking and documenting experiences, we can forget about them easily.
(page 8)
Information technology can change the way we look at information and transform it to a different level of reality sometimes challenging what is real.
(page 9)
IA has become a vital part in our post modern culture and a valuable resource.
(page 10)
The flatworld of things like television and now the internet can flatten our senses while we endure the pressures of the real world.
Part One: NATURAL INFORMATION Information about Reality
Chapter 1
(page 9)
The Origin of Information
Information is an old wordverb/Latin informare, to impose a form on some ting, on the mind, to instruct, to improve it/companion of materialization
Birth of information-as a prominent word topic of knowledge/answer problems
(page 12)
Cognitive Information
-structures of environment fail to mesh with our physical senses
-awareness measure of information/seeing object cant be determined by simply knowing what was seen
(page 13)
-ambiguity is considered/Constructivists/skeptics
(page 14)
Information and Presence
-Is having information the same as knowing?
-direct/indirect knowledge
-knowledge by acquaintance/knowledge by description
Chapter Two
THE NATURE OF INFORMATION
The information Relation
(page 17)
-things that are present immediately and things we have heard or read about=instructive information
-about a distant thing
-it delivers not the thing itself but a sense of the thing - a message
(page 20)
-a sign can loose its reference when it is presented at an unnatural scale
-information has to be a relation of at least four terms:person/sign/thing/context
(page 22)
Intelligence
person
sign
thing
context
Chapter Three
Ancestral Information
Natural Signs and Significance
(page 24,25)
-Our ancestors was basically about natural information/evolutionary adaptation/hunting/gathering/stories/serves as point of ref/referring to a wider world/landmarks to encompass order/crucial signs/
(page 28)
-in our digital world now massive amount of information/pruned away all the irrelevant information
-covey information/shaping power
(page 29)
-meaningful structures formed by humans
-eloquence of things makes it possible for signs to be about some thing
(page 30)
once set apart from its natural surroundings, a sign is no longer incidental - its now intentional
Chapter Four
FROM LANDMARKS TO LETTERS
(page 38)
Remembering before Writing
-intelligence provided someone with information by a sign about something within a context
-ledgers/accounts/files/calendars/memos/letters/scores/plans/maps/databases/-suddenly disappear so would order/coherence in society
(page 39)
-language correspond patterns of content and meaning formulas that capture a person, thing, setting in a memorable phrase used over and over again
(page 40)
-counting to remember the number of whatever
(page 43)
-Writing=3 dimensional reality of signs reduced to two dimensions
-what/how many/how much/
.........................................................................
Week 12 Reflection
This weeks reading covers the impact that the digital divide has taken (and still has) on the way we delivery formats of communication such the news and music. These new forms of digital methods of delivery for the news spread into the local, national and global communications. With the new ways multimedia tools were developing, journalists had to learn how to use them for presentations, news, bandwidth combined with the enormous flood of information.
Journalist were pushed to new approaches to the delivery of the news using digital formats to create newspaper databases and single scrolling windows. Some digital structures such as Usenet newsgroups would create the news online and narrow the subject focus so that information was compressed for online access. A good example of a news group developed online is Mediachannel.org is a website that is designed to engage users with their media and to attract a broad, general audience.
The news online doesn't just limit to newspapers but also expands to television and magazines. There are structures in place such as gatekeeping structures of contemporary television networks and newsmagazines to use for managing the structure of the news online. Users can now find out about plots to movies and television shows along with storylines and final episodes such as The XFiles. Informal news can be accessed for local, national and global efforts alongside email groups and chat rooms and now we have twitter and facebook for up to date information.
Digital technology and the Internet has had a major impact and influence on the world of entertainment. New and improved digital formats such as CD and iPods available across the network on the Internet and format like MP3 have monopolized the music and video world as we know it. These new digital formats quickly outdated old ones such as tape and VHS and is gaining headway on making CD and DVD obsolete. Companies such as Napster has had to create laws and controlling factors in order to prevent users from downloading without paying videos and music.
Webportals have made entertainment very accessible generating new audiences that otherwise might not have enjoyed venues of entertainment. The digital movement has also created an explosion of brand name and accessibility to consumers via broadband and mobile and wireless devices.
Creative formats for music such as playlists help users personalize their listening entertainment. The music industry has had to scrample making laws that protect musicians and copyrights so that music and videos can still receive the financial commerce they deserve. As analogue moved into digital transmission, the way we communicate and entertain ourselves has exploded into a more versatile, wireless and mobile way of using music, videos and communication, all without landline telephones, radios or televisions.
The next questions that we are facing is the extinction of these old devices. How more can we make our lives easy, mobile and protect our rights, privacy and still be entertained.
We have transformed the way we communicate since hunting and gathering. Marks and signs have be transformed into writing with meanings, counting, and the memory of meaning and from a three dimensional format into a two dimensional format(writing) and now a virtual format (the internet).
Chapter 8
THE WEB OF INFORMATIONAL NEWS
(page 152)
The archdeacon comtemplated the gigantic cathedral for a time in silence, then he sighed and stretched out his right hand towards the printed book lying open on his table and his left hand towards Notre-Dame, and he looked sadly from the book to the church. 'Alas, this will kill that.' -- Victor Hugo Notre Dame de Paris
New forms of digital news delivery=local/national and global communications
(page 153)
Multimedia presentations/news/bandwidth/enormous flood of information/
(page 155)
Approaches to delivery of news/digital/newspaper databases/single scrolling window
(page 156)
Usenet newsgroups=narrow subject focus
(page 157)
Push technology=1996 dig news over Internet
(page 162)
Alternatives online/mediachannel/mediachannel.org//designed to engagecitizens with their media and to attract a broad, general audience
(page 163)
Gatekeeping structures of contemporary television networks and newsmagazines
(page 166)
Fans can find plots/storylines/informal news/email groups/all before final episodes i.e. XFiles example
(page 167)
Newspapers are created by journalists, who now have to master a new set of tools to be able to make use of the online medium in the most relevant way. On the one hand, the Internet offers new ways of collecting and reporting information, and the integration of Internet access into the newsroom and enconomisation of the news gathering process will dominate furute news production. On the other hand, making use of the medium to publish newspapers also requires a completely new set of skills. One that at this point few journalists have. They have to learn how to organize stories into structures conducive to interactive reading online. They might need to learn about using audio, video, animations, interactive maps, and databases. These narrative techniques and the critical thinking that goes into them appear to be among he most important skills for online journalists to possess.
van Dusselforp, Scullio an Bierhoff 1999:13
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9
WEB OF ENTERTAINMENT
(page 174)
How digital technology and the Internet influence entertainment
Digital formats/CD/networks/MP3/Napster
(page 175)
Webportals/generate audiences/brand name/accessibility/consumers/broadband/mobile/wireless
(page 177)
playlists/dDolby on Internet/music industry/analogue moves into digital transmission
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Week 12 - Holding on to Reality by Albert Borgmann
Introduction:
(page 7)
Information can illuminate, transform and displace reality. Without tracking and documenting experiences, we can forget about them easily.
(page 8)
Information technology can change the way we look at information and transform it to a different level of reality sometimes challenging what is real.
(page 9)
IA has become a vital part in our post modern culture and a valuable resource.
(page 10)
The flatworld of things like television and now the internet can flatten our senses while we endure the pressures of the real world.
Part One: NATURAL INFORMATION Information about Reality
Chapter 1
(page 9)
The Origin of Information
Information is an old wordverb/Latin informare, to impose a form on some ting, on the mind, to instruct, to improve it/companion of materialization
Birth of information-as a prominent word topic of knowledge/answer problems
(page 12)
Cognitive Information
-structures of environment fail to mesh with our physical senses
-awareness measure of information/seeing object cant be determined by simply knowing what was seen
(page 13)
-ambiguity is considered/Constructivists/skeptics
(page 14)
Information and Presence
-Is having information the same as knowing?
-direct/indirect knowledge
-knowledge by acquaintance/knowledge by description
Chapter Two
THE NATURE OF INFORMATION
The information Relation
(page 17)
-things that are present immediately and things we have heard or read about=instructive information
-about a distant thing
-it delivers not the thing itself but a sense of the thing - a message
(page 20)
-a sign can loose its reference when it is presented at an unnatural scale
-information has to be a relation of at least four terms:person/sign/thing/context
(page 22)
Intelligence
person
sign
thing
context
Chapter Three
Ancestral Information
Natural Signs and Significance
(page 24,25)
-Our ancestors was basically about natural information/evolutionary adaptation/hunting/gathering/stories/serves as point of ref/referring to a wider world/landmarks to encompass order/crucial signs/
(page 28)
-in our digital world now massive amount of information/pruned away all the irrelevant information
-covey information/shaping power
(page 29)
-meaningful structures formed by humans
-eloquence of things makes it possible for signs to be about some thing
(page 30)
once set apart from its natural surroundings, a sign is no longer incidental - its now intentional
Chapter Four
FROM LANDMARKS TO LETTERS
(page 38)
Remembering before Writing
-intelligence provided someone with information by a sign about something within a context
-ledgers/accounts/files/calendars/memos/letters/scores/plans/maps/databases/-suddenly disappear so would order/coherence in society
(page 39)
-language correspond patterns of content and meaning formulas that capture a person, thing, setting in a memorable phrase used over and over again
(page 40)
-counting to remember the number of whatever
(page 43)
-Writing=3 dimensional reality of signs reduced to two dimensions
-what/how many/how much/
.........................................................................
Week 12 Reflection
This weeks reading covers the impact that the digital divide has taken (and still has) on the way we delivery formats of communication such the news and music. These new forms of digital methods of delivery for the news spread into the local, national and global communications. With the new ways multimedia tools were developing, journalists had to learn how to use them for presentations, news, bandwidth combined with the enormous flood of information.
Journalist were pushed to new approaches to the delivery of the news using digital formats to create newspaper databases and single scrolling windows. Some digital structures such as Usenet newsgroups would create the news online and narrow the subject focus so that information was compressed for online access. A good example of a news group developed online is Mediachannel.org is a website that is designed to engage users with their media and to attract a broad, general audience.
The news online doesn't just limit to newspapers but also expands to television and magazines. There are structures in place such as gatekeeping structures of contemporary television networks and newsmagazines to use for managing the structure of the news online. Users can now find out about plots to movies and television shows along with storylines and final episodes such as The XFiles. Informal news can be accessed for local, national and global efforts alongside email groups and chat rooms and now we have twitter and facebook for up to date information.
Digital technology and the Internet has had a major impact and influence on the world of entertainment. New and improved digital formats such as CD and iPods available across the network on the Internet and format like MP3 have monopolized the music and video world as we know it. These new digital formats quickly outdated old ones such as tape and VHS and is gaining headway on making CD and DVD obsolete. Companies such as Napster has had to create laws and controlling factors in order to prevent users from downloading without paying videos and music.
Webportals have made entertainment very accessible generating new audiences that otherwise might not have enjoyed venues of entertainment. The digital movement has also created an explosion of brand name and accessibility to consumers via broadband and mobile and wireless devices.
Creative formats for music such as playlists help users personalize their listening entertainment. The music industry has had to scrample making laws that protect musicians and copyrights so that music and videos can still receive the financial commerce they deserve. As analogue moved into digital transmission, the way we communicate and entertain ourselves has exploded into a more versatile, wireless and mobile way of using music, videos and communication, all without landline telephones, radios or televisions.
The next questions that we are facing is the extinction of these old devices. How more can we make our lives easy, mobile and protect our rights, privacy and still be entertained.
We have transformed the way we communicate since hunting and gathering. Marks and signs have be transformed into writing with meanings, counting, and the memory of meaning and from a three dimensional format into a two dimensional format(writing) and now a virtual format (the internet).
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Week 11 -- Readings & Take aways & RELFECTION PAGE - Lesson 11
Web Theory An Introduction by Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall - Chapter 5-7 (page 81-150)
Chapter 5
THE LOOK OF THE WEB
(page 81)
Meaning generated behind the design of the WWW
(page 82)
GUI Graphic User Interface MAC Apple computer 1984
Applets=actual graphic look of the Mac was a series of lists with appliets--could be opened with full screen version
(page 83)
HTML=hypertext markup language/layering of coding
(page 85)
URL Universal resource locators=interlinked network less graphicall but browsable
Gopher=support hypertext Internet presented the links as a series of underlined units in text
(page 94)
Weblogs=webcam sites, web diaries/family album sites
(page 95)
Websites share features across genres add meaning
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 6
THE WEB ECONOMY
People shop over the Internet/1999/NYcity/web related sales soared
Agora
=people change /web retailers massive advertising/EBay/virtual dept stores
(page 106)
Agora resembles stream of conscious crowds of people surfing/shopping/noisy information/classes cross paths/flow of commerce/flow of politics/commercial discourse/
(page 107)
Gift of commodity
shareware movement
downloading
circulation of digital information
(page 109)
Web=governmnt/public serv/education=Information Superhighway
Computer mediated communication CMC/digital divide
Used to be PTT post telephone and telegraph
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 7
THE WEB OF POLICY, G=REGULATION AND COPYRIGHT
"Our industry will be changing the way people do business, the way they learn and even the way they entertain themselves, far more than I think people outside our industry expect." -- Bill Gates 1996
(page 126)
Convergence of technological determinism
(page 128)
Daniel Bell 1973/Peter Drucker 1994/George Gilder 1994/John Naisbitt 1982/Nicholas Negroponte 1995/ Alvin Toffler 1970/reinforced view taht we are witnessing emergence of posindustrial economy whose primary resource was infor and whose workforce would consist of an elite class of knowledge workers.
(page 129)
information superghighways=seamless web of communications networks/computers, databases, consumer electronics
(page 132)
Global village=information age
(page 136)
information infrastructure=new digital technologies/digtial dilema/
(page 137)
copyright in cyberspace=powers to determine content to assign legal liability to regulate the development material/redraw the public/private realm distinction
(page 140)
code and Other Laws of Cyberspace 1999/
(page 141)
Information on Interent is:
digital/malleable/reproduction/distribution
(page 142)
Use of Internet is transparent/pay pr view/copy/pricing structure
NII National Information Infrastructure
WIPO Working Group on Intellectual Property/World Intellectual Property Organiztion
(page 145)
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
10 general highlights of the DMCA
.....................................................................
Week 11 Reflection
Web Theory An Introduction by Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall - Chapters 5-7 (81-150)
THE LOOK OF THE WEB
The design and appearance of the World Wide Web and changed dramatically since it's inception. Analyzing the structure and the graphics for the Web from personal computers to the business generated on the Web. Hypertext technology connection has transformed the aesthetics of the Web. GUI, Graphic User Interface developed by Apple computers brought the Mac computer to the world. (Yeah, I am a Mac user). The mouse became an intregral part of the user and the computer. Clicking on icons became the process rather than typing in a series of commands. Applets, menus and icons transformed the way we progressed in our strategic use of computers. HTML, hyper text mark up language is a layering of coded information on the personal computer. Now the relationship between text and files fell into a dynamic structure of ideas with embedded links of information.
URLs (http) aided linked connections of websites while the user navigated through cyberspace. Meanwhile, graphic development alongside links converged the aesthetic appeal of the web. Browsing the web, searching sites for information gave birth to Netscape, Google, and AOL. Graphics attracting users pronounced banner graphics that filled the viewers with eye candy ads, fonts, images, moving images such as Flash animations as well as streaming video, more links and pop ups of information. A showcase of commerce, communication, social sites and more flourished and continue to boom rapidly with an abundance of users. The web became a promotional venue following its graphical predecessor, television. Now you can watch television on the web.
Common themes are evident in the web across many different genres. Colors, textures, backgrounds, links, all explore various points of interest when analyzing the design of how the web looks. The web can now be personalized in some many different ways and be interactive, include forms of media. Newspapers, radio and the library are now all on the web.
An explosion of media and virtual interactive dimensions brought about new and inventive software, shareware, downloading free and accessible images and information. Almost overnight, connections to institutions like libraries, the government, and businesses bloomed. Activities that required a telephone or driving to a place could now be accessed on the web. The great digital divide was already restructuring the way we look at communication, the way we conduct business and the way we socialize. Our information highway became our shopping malls, banks, schools, post office, place to connect to loved ones and cross borders internationally.
Regulating, controlling and monitoring all this virtual activity became paramount and still plays an vast role in the way we use the web today. The significance of web policy, ideology, and economics are the prominent focus of many groups that review, discuss and make policy surrounding the web. It takes a global village to maintain such incredibly vast global endeavors. (p. 132) Liability, copyright and other legal matters take the lead in many legislative decisions now. Information on the internet is digital, malleable, reproducable and transforms systems of distribution. (p. 141)
Chapter 5
THE LOOK OF THE WEB
(page 81)
Meaning generated behind the design of the WWW
(page 82)
GUI Graphic User Interface MAC Apple computer 1984
Applets=actual graphic look of the Mac was a series of lists with appliets--could be opened with full screen version
(page 83)
HTML=hypertext markup language/layering of coding
(page 85)
URL Universal resource locators=interlinked network less graphicall but browsable
Gopher=support hypertext Internet presented the links as a series of underlined units in text
(page 94)
Weblogs=webcam sites, web diaries/family album sites
(page 95)
Websites share features across genres add meaning
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 6
THE WEB ECONOMY
People shop over the Internet/1999/NYcity/web related sales soared
Agora
=people change /web retailers massive advertising/EBay/virtual dept stores
(page 106)
Agora resembles stream of conscious crowds of people surfing/shopping/noisy information/classes cross paths/flow of commerce/flow of politics/commercial discourse/
(page 107)
Gift of commodity
shareware movement
downloading
circulation of digital information
(page 109)
Web=governmnt/public serv/education=Information Superhighway
Computer mediated communication CMC/digital divide
Used to be PTT post telephone and telegraph
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 7
THE WEB OF POLICY, G=REGULATION AND COPYRIGHT
"Our industry will be changing the way people do business, the way they learn and even the way they entertain themselves, far more than I think people outside our industry expect." -- Bill Gates 1996
(page 126)
Convergence of technological determinism
(page 128)
Daniel Bell 1973/Peter Drucker 1994/George Gilder 1994/John Naisbitt 1982/Nicholas Negroponte 1995/ Alvin Toffler 1970/reinforced view taht we are witnessing emergence of posindustrial economy whose primary resource was infor and whose workforce would consist of an elite class of knowledge workers.
(page 129)
information superghighways=seamless web of communications networks/computers, databases, consumer electronics
(page 132)
Global village=information age
(page 136)
information infrastructure=new digital technologies/digtial dilema/
(page 137)
copyright in cyberspace=powers to determine content to assign legal liability to regulate the development material/redraw the public/private realm distinction
(page 140)
code and Other Laws of Cyberspace 1999/
(page 141)
Information on Interent is:
digital/malleable/reproduction/distribution
(page 142)
Use of Internet is transparent/pay pr view/copy/pricing structure
NII National Information Infrastructure
WIPO Working Group on Intellectual Property/World Intellectual Property Organiztion
(page 145)
Digital Millennium Copyright Act
10 general highlights of the DMCA
.....................................................................
Week 11 Reflection
Web Theory An Introduction by Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall - Chapters 5-7 (81-150)
THE LOOK OF THE WEB
The design and appearance of the World Wide Web and changed dramatically since it's inception. Analyzing the structure and the graphics for the Web from personal computers to the business generated on the Web. Hypertext technology connection has transformed the aesthetics of the Web. GUI, Graphic User Interface developed by Apple computers brought the Mac computer to the world. (Yeah, I am a Mac user). The mouse became an intregral part of the user and the computer. Clicking on icons became the process rather than typing in a series of commands. Applets, menus and icons transformed the way we progressed in our strategic use of computers. HTML, hyper text mark up language is a layering of coded information on the personal computer. Now the relationship between text and files fell into a dynamic structure of ideas with embedded links of information.
URLs (http) aided linked connections of websites while the user navigated through cyberspace. Meanwhile, graphic development alongside links converged the aesthetic appeal of the web. Browsing the web, searching sites for information gave birth to Netscape, Google, and AOL. Graphics attracting users pronounced banner graphics that filled the viewers with eye candy ads, fonts, images, moving images such as Flash animations as well as streaming video, more links and pop ups of information. A showcase of commerce, communication, social sites and more flourished and continue to boom rapidly with an abundance of users. The web became a promotional venue following its graphical predecessor, television. Now you can watch television on the web.
Common themes are evident in the web across many different genres. Colors, textures, backgrounds, links, all explore various points of interest when analyzing the design of how the web looks. The web can now be personalized in some many different ways and be interactive, include forms of media. Newspapers, radio and the library are now all on the web.
An explosion of media and virtual interactive dimensions brought about new and inventive software, shareware, downloading free and accessible images and information. Almost overnight, connections to institutions like libraries, the government, and businesses bloomed. Activities that required a telephone or driving to a place could now be accessed on the web. The great digital divide was already restructuring the way we look at communication, the way we conduct business and the way we socialize. Our information highway became our shopping malls, banks, schools, post office, place to connect to loved ones and cross borders internationally.
Regulating, controlling and monitoring all this virtual activity became paramount and still plays an vast role in the way we use the web today. The significance of web policy, ideology, and economics are the prominent focus of many groups that review, discuss and make policy surrounding the web. It takes a global village to maintain such incredibly vast global endeavors. (p. 132) Liability, copyright and other legal matters take the lead in many legislative decisions now. Information on the internet is digital, malleable, reproducable and transforms systems of distribution. (p. 141)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Week 10 -- Readings & Take aways & RELFECTION PAGE - Lesson 10
Web Theory An Introduction by Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall - Chapter 2-4 (page 23-80)
Chapter 2
INFORMATION AND NETWORKS
(page 23)
Internet burgeoning supply of information; we are on overload of information both at an individual level and as a society.
(page 24)
Binary code=expressed in series of 1's and 0's
Digitization=original display analogue into binary code/allow for greater manipulation, non linear editing, =convergence of forms through computerization=digital language
(page2 25)
Cybernetics=a critical concept connected to digital binary/cyberspace/cyborg/greek means to steer
(page 26)
Rudimentary programming=series of sequences and feedback loops that are emulations of the cybernetic system.
(page 27)
Idea of machine being smart=exhibits elements of automation, series of decisions are made without human intervention
(page 28)
World Wide Web=a system entirely built from digital binarycybernetic in control and capacity to create elaborate feedback loop /graphical architecture/point/double click/navigate/hypertextual
(page 29)
Databases=link words or phrases with another/Boolean search/web search engines
Packet switching=moves digital signals from one server to another/then onto personal computers
Bandwidth=networks bandwidth
Cookies=web identification traces or crumbs are left on the personal computer and on the web site which identify where the person has been.
(page 30)
Downloadingload software or other digital information from WWW to computer
(page 31)
Interactivity=elaborate system of feedbacks that can respond to the requests and decisions of the user.
(page 32)
Hypertext=applets, avatars, knowing its users
(page 34)
Register=the web can be the source of very well recognized sources of information that rely on past media hierarchies
(page 35)
Network=a connection between key elements/points/units/relayed exchange among its elements
Globalization=shift in culture/now network in society
Spatial Dimension=how the network works over geographical areas and a temporal dimension/timeframe made possible by the network/how relationship to time shapes the networks use
(page 36)
Hub=of the Web is composed of those sites that are cabled to each other through the original
ISP Internet Service Provider=network of networks/connection directly to hub
Loose audience=audience produced by the web/attached to a particular event or coverage/clicking engaging
(page 41)
Network society=envelops an are beyond even the nation state to express something truly global in its reach and impact
Post Industrial Society=exchange of information formed a new layer over the industrialization process that has occurred in Western countries over the last 150 years
Web Culture=about proliferation and production of information and its accessability to be viewed and read
(page 43)
Globalization=network society
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 3
THE WEB AS COMMUNICATION
(page 45)
Internet=network/convergence/loose audience/
(page 46)
Communication network=comprised of millions of interconnected computers that freely exchange information with each other worldwide
(page 47)
one to one model=when one person communicates to another
one to many=mass media
many to one=computer mediated communication
many to many=GUI graphci user interface/anyone to be a sender or receiver personal or mass msgs
(page 48)
Intranet=Rogers (1986) 3 levels to communication:
face to face
many to many
one to many
interpersonal communication
group communication
mass communication/webportals/monologue
(page 49)
dialogue/discussion/FtF/synchronous
(page 50
asynchronous/broadcast/multicast
(page 53)
emoticons
(page 55)
acronyms
(page 56)
Table of characteristics of Internet communication services
(page 57)
Tim Berners-Lee man credited with inventing the WWW
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 4
WEBS OF IDENTITY
(page 60)
we are moving from modernist calculation to postmodernist simulation, where the self is a multiple, distributed system
--Turkle 1996: 148
Technocultural hybrids=technologies of information and communication - media- in the broad sense of the term
Email=shape social and individual consciousness along specific lines, creating unique networks of perceptions, experiences, and interpersonal possibilities that help shape society
(page 62)
Web of identity=refers to the role that the Internet now plays in the construction of contemporary identities
MUDS multi user domains
(page 70)
Cultural production thesis=to organize that interpretation of the user and how it relates to but differentiates itself form how people use traditional media
(page 72)
Search engines=movements around the Web as browsing and hence web browser as both person and search engine software overlay
.....................................................................
Week 10 -- REFLECTION PAGE
INFORMATION AND NETWORKS AND CYBERCULTURE
We are in overload of information. Internet overflowing with access to information and its getting harder to confirm facts on the Web. It has been determined there is a surplus of content and could be questionable information. Computer technology begins with an expression of codes which are ones and zeros that are transmitted into binary code. It is presented in a pattern of information then decoded and represented which is what we see on our screen, hence digitization.
Converting the code from analogue information into binary code allows for greater manipulation converging digital language. Cybernetics emgerges among this digital divide. Cyber has become a additive term referring to what the Greek call 'steersman' or to steer or self-steering.
The concept of machines being smart technology or artificial intelligence acknowledges the fact that automation has come full circle in the world of communication and information. Graphics, icons and text within windows as the user clicks/selects from an organized set of structured pages of information.
The World Wide Web was born out of the need for ultimate convenient form of communication. The architecture of ones and zeros, of words and graphics and it's elaborate structure was developed out of the birth of the World Wide Web. Search engines and database arose out of the need to organize all the information people were wanting to share on the web. Cookies and crumbs became necessary for tracking types of information analyzing it.
Users began to look at and search for all kinds of information on the web hence surfing the web was born. Then users began to download and save the information they found. Information Architects took notice of this kind of interactivity on the web and now feedback and comments can be sent and stored on websites.
Networking as social organizations and business interests was realized creating patterns of socializing and communicating so the web has become not only a place to find information but a place to exchange information and possible network connections as a society of people and businesses. Firewalls were constructed to help control information so now the free interchange of information was so vast, it needs to be controlled and monitored.
The notion that the web has an audience became apparent and prompted more structure to the architecture of sites, navigation, clarity of information, new media and expression of graphics, video and audio now called multimedia. Socializing on the computer (the web) now plays a significant role in the power of information. The Web is now a productive cultural force to be read, viewed, exchanged and displayed.
Globalization is synonymous with the webs network society. Communicating across the globe using the web in a virtual world of text and images is now just as powerful or more so than the actual phone call over a telephone.
Dialogues now can be not just between two people but what is now called many-to-many. Group interaction is available on shared networks and resources such as blogs, facebook, email, skype, web conferencing and websites. Synchronous (live interaction like skype) and asynchronous (like email) interaction occurs.
Emotional icons like emoticons emerged conveying emotions in a quick small image. Acronyms emerged and shortened blurps of communication. BFF Best Friends Forever.
A loose web filled with so many types of activities now defines the basis of communication on the web using all of the technologies that have emerged blending with personal or business sites.
Cyberculture web theory talks about virtual persona (like avatars and Second Life) and multi user domains, a phenomenon that could possible fragment our society. Simulated persons and content that create a larger divide between what is real and what is virtual is surmounting, invading our personal lives offline degrading our quality time with ourselves and families. Society is becoming more anonymous and less social in real life and more so online.
The web is engaging and productive in so many ways and society seeks such new virtual communications and is flourishing. Yet at the same time, society seeks to balance the online world with the everyday world.
.....................................................................
Chapter 2
INFORMATION AND NETWORKS
(page 23)
Internet burgeoning supply of information; we are on overload of information both at an individual level and as a society.
(page 24)
Binary code=expressed in series of 1's and 0's
Digitization=original display analogue into binary code/allow for greater manipulation, non linear editing, =convergence of forms through computerization=digital language
(page2 25)
Cybernetics=a critical concept connected to digital binary/cyberspace/cyborg/greek means to steer
(page 26)
Rudimentary programming=series of sequences and feedback loops that are emulations of the cybernetic system.
(page 27)
Idea of machine being smart=exhibits elements of automation, series of decisions are made without human intervention
(page 28)
World Wide Web=a system entirely built from digital binarycybernetic in control and capacity to create elaborate feedback loop /graphical architecture/point/double click/navigate/hypertextual
(page 29)
Databases=link words or phrases with another/Boolean search/web search engines
Packet switching=moves digital signals from one server to another/then onto personal computers
Bandwidth=networks bandwidth
Cookies=web identification traces or crumbs are left on the personal computer and on the web site which identify where the person has been.
(page 30)
Downloadingload software or other digital information from WWW to computer
(page 31)
Interactivity=elaborate system of feedbacks that can respond to the requests and decisions of the user.
(page 32)
Hypertext=applets, avatars, knowing its users
(page 34)
Register=the web can be the source of very well recognized sources of information that rely on past media hierarchies
(page 35)
Network=a connection between key elements/points/units/relayed exchange among its elements
Globalization=shift in culture/now network in society
Spatial Dimension=how the network works over geographical areas and a temporal dimension/timeframe made possible by the network/how relationship to time shapes the networks use
(page 36)
Hub=of the Web is composed of those sites that are cabled to each other through the original
ISP Internet Service Provider=network of networks/connection directly to hub
Loose audience=audience produced by the web/attached to a particular event or coverage/clicking engaging
(page 41)
Network society=envelops an are beyond even the nation state to express something truly global in its reach and impact
Post Industrial Society=exchange of information formed a new layer over the industrialization process that has occurred in Western countries over the last 150 years
Web Culture=about proliferation and production of information and its accessability to be viewed and read
(page 43)
Globalization=network society
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 3
THE WEB AS COMMUNICATION
(page 45)
Internet=network/convergence/loose audience/
(page 46)
Communication network=comprised of millions of interconnected computers that freely exchange information with each other worldwide
(page 47)
one to one model=when one person communicates to another
one to many=mass media
many to one=computer mediated communication
many to many=GUI graphci user interface/anyone to be a sender or receiver personal or mass msgs
(page 48)
Intranet=Rogers (1986) 3 levels to communication:
face to face
many to many
one to many
interpersonal communication
group communication
mass communication/webportals/monologue
(page 49)
dialogue/discussion/FtF/synchronous
(page 50
asynchronous/broadcast/multicast
(page 53)
emoticons
(page 55)
acronyms
(page 56)
Table of characteristics of Internet communication services
(page 57)
Tim Berners-Lee man credited with inventing the WWW
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Chapter 4
WEBS OF IDENTITY
(page 60)
we are moving from modernist calculation to postmodernist simulation, where the self is a multiple, distributed system
--Turkle 1996: 148
Technocultural hybrids=technologies of information and communication - media- in the broad sense of the term
Email=shape social and individual consciousness along specific lines, creating unique networks of perceptions, experiences, and interpersonal possibilities that help shape society
(page 62)
Web of identity=refers to the role that the Internet now plays in the construction of contemporary identities
MUDS multi user domains
(page 70)
Cultural production thesis=to organize that interpretation of the user and how it relates to but differentiates itself form how people use traditional media
(page 72)
Search engines=movements around the Web as browsing and hence web browser as both person and search engine software overlay
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Week 10 -- REFLECTION PAGE
INFORMATION AND NETWORKS AND CYBERCULTURE
We are in overload of information. Internet overflowing with access to information and its getting harder to confirm facts on the Web. It has been determined there is a surplus of content and could be questionable information. Computer technology begins with an expression of codes which are ones and zeros that are transmitted into binary code. It is presented in a pattern of information then decoded and represented which is what we see on our screen, hence digitization.
Converting the code from analogue information into binary code allows for greater manipulation converging digital language. Cybernetics emgerges among this digital divide. Cyber has become a additive term referring to what the Greek call 'steersman' or to steer or self-steering.
The concept of machines being smart technology or artificial intelligence acknowledges the fact that automation has come full circle in the world of communication and information. Graphics, icons and text within windows as the user clicks/selects from an organized set of structured pages of information.
The World Wide Web was born out of the need for ultimate convenient form of communication. The architecture of ones and zeros, of words and graphics and it's elaborate structure was developed out of the birth of the World Wide Web. Search engines and database arose out of the need to organize all the information people were wanting to share on the web. Cookies and crumbs became necessary for tracking types of information analyzing it.
Users began to look at and search for all kinds of information on the web hence surfing the web was born. Then users began to download and save the information they found. Information Architects took notice of this kind of interactivity on the web and now feedback and comments can be sent and stored on websites.
Networking as social organizations and business interests was realized creating patterns of socializing and communicating so the web has become not only a place to find information but a place to exchange information and possible network connections as a society of people and businesses. Firewalls were constructed to help control information so now the free interchange of information was so vast, it needs to be controlled and monitored.
The notion that the web has an audience became apparent and prompted more structure to the architecture of sites, navigation, clarity of information, new media and expression of graphics, video and audio now called multimedia. Socializing on the computer (the web) now plays a significant role in the power of information. The Web is now a productive cultural force to be read, viewed, exchanged and displayed.
Globalization is synonymous with the webs network society. Communicating across the globe using the web in a virtual world of text and images is now just as powerful or more so than the actual phone call over a telephone.
Dialogues now can be not just between two people but what is now called many-to-many. Group interaction is available on shared networks and resources such as blogs, facebook, email, skype, web conferencing and websites. Synchronous (live interaction like skype) and asynchronous (like email) interaction occurs.
Emotional icons like emoticons emerged conveying emotions in a quick small image. Acronyms emerged and shortened blurps of communication. BFF Best Friends Forever.
A loose web filled with so many types of activities now defines the basis of communication on the web using all of the technologies that have emerged blending with personal or business sites.
Cyberculture web theory talks about virtual persona (like avatars and Second Life) and multi user domains, a phenomenon that could possible fragment our society. Simulated persons and content that create a larger divide between what is real and what is virtual is surmounting, invading our personal lives offline degrading our quality time with ourselves and families. Society is becoming more anonymous and less social in real life and more so online.
The web is engaging and productive in so many ways and society seeks such new virtual communications and is flourishing. Yet at the same time, society seeks to balance the online world with the everyday world.
.....................................................................
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Week 9 - Review Websites
Digital Web Magazine http://www.digital-web.com/
Digital Web Magazine
The web professional's online magazine intended for professional web designers, web developers and information architects. The magazine consists primarily of work contributed by web authors, as well as by others who occasionally delve into the web realm. We put emphasis on and provide recognition for contributed work. The Magazine is recognized by nearly all of the major web design agencies in the industry.
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InfoCamp http://asistpnw.org/infocamp2007/
A sponsored conference type event where IA's come together for support, share information, challenges and successes: a BarCamp conference for information architecture, libraries, user experience design, interaction design, usability, user-centered design, and information science research.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intranet Roadmap http://www.intranetroadmap.com/
The Intranet Road Map is an intranet guide, portal and tutorial for those creating a corporate intranet or those wanting to improve an existing intranet. This site is interesting in that it walks the user through step by step on how to navigate and utilize the interent wisely.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adaptive Path http://www.adaptivepath.com/
Their goals are to deliver great experiences that improve people's lives, while sharing our advances in the field with our clients, partners, and peers. We measure our success by our contribution to smart, agile organizations that are responsive to their users. Some goals are experience strategy and design consulting, public events and workshops, in-house training, ideas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information ArchiTECH http://www.informationarchitech.com/
This company specializes in the art of findability. It offers Recent work done as examples and case studies, recent news and a list of subjects to browse through.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Digital Web Magazine
The web professional's online magazine intended for professional web designers, web developers and information architects. The magazine consists primarily of work contributed by web authors, as well as by others who occasionally delve into the web realm. We put emphasis on and provide recognition for contributed work. The Magazine is recognized by nearly all of the major web design agencies in the industry.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
InfoCamp http://asistpnw.org/infocamp2007/
A sponsored conference type event where IA's come together for support, share information, challenges and successes: a BarCamp conference for information architecture, libraries, user experience design, interaction design, usability, user-centered design, and information science research.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Intranet Roadmap http://www.intranetroadmap.com/
The Intranet Road Map is an intranet guide, portal and tutorial for those creating a corporate intranet or those wanting to improve an existing intranet. This site is interesting in that it walks the user through step by step on how to navigate and utilize the interent wisely.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adaptive Path http://www.adaptivepath.com/
Their goals are to deliver great experiences that improve people's lives, while sharing our advances in the field with our clients, partners, and peers. We measure our success by our contribution to smart, agile organizations that are responsive to their users. Some goals are experience strategy and design consulting, public events and workshops, in-house training, ideas.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information ArchiTECH http://www.informationarchitech.com/
This company specializes in the art of findability. It offers Recent work done as examples and case studies, recent news and a list of subjects to browse through.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFLECTION PAGE - Lesson 9
.....................................................................
The case study for MSWEB takes on a vast immense job of assessing MSWEB and variety of things to fix. The major point covered in the polar text are 3 taxonomies used, the IA made to support it, and how the team revamped the MSWEB intranet.
With approximately 3,100,000 pages and 50,000 employees who work in 74 countries and 8,000 sep internet sites, the IA team has a huge task infront of them. Trying to determine where to begin is a large undertaking and some places were obvious but some points where scattered throughout the site. They found that navigation systems not consistent due to various labeling schemes. All the possible labels are hard to search for and retrieve; there are too many variations.
Some places had different concepts for same label. That can surely be confusing to the user. So employees frustrated because they don't know when to stop searching.
There are 50 different variants to product vocabulary. This can also cause concern, frustration and difficulty finding information or to know when you are done searching.
Some IA is inhouse contained and built by inhouse technical staff and other areas are maintained by hand or simple tool like MS Frontpage. By definition, taxonomy is about a specialized system for naming and organizing things, especially plants and animals, into groups which share similar qualities.
It holds three key points.
1. descriptive vocabularies-controlled vocabularies over a specific domain
2. metadata-collection of information about a particular document
3. category labels-set of terms used for navigation systems
Characteristics of their content determined several steps the team took to get started.
First was a search log anaylysis-needs in users own terms to decide appropriate vocabulary terms. They looked for vocabulary that already existed from inhouse work--don't reinvent the wheel. Other issues considered at the start was politics, talking with stakeholders about concepts, and commitment and thier level of participation. They focused on vocabularies with broad appeal.
They narrowed the vocabulary to certain subjects: geography, languages, proper names, organization and business names, subjects and product/standards/technology names. Metadata and controlled vocabulary will describe content.
They focused on simplicity, balance, description for display, integration into browsing schemes. They decided on core field schema's: URL title, URL Description, URL, ToolTip, Comment, Contact Alias, Review Date, Status, Strongly Recommended, Products, Category label, Keywords. So all three taxonomies come together and were used to create search results. Dublin Core schema partially used.
VocabMan, visual basic client providing access to MDR. VocabMan was used to create thesauri relationships ie heirarchical equivalence and associative between terms within specific taxonomies and between terms in different taxonomies and as a workbench for managing, creating, and tagging records.
Some of their successes include, since the company has so many employees, this provides a wide area of opportunity as a test bed for improvements. They selected a major area to work on that benefited both users, employees and managers. They made the improvements in a modular fashion thereby making the improvements applicable to other areas within the project and across the company. The design was flexible across departments so it spoke to not just other IA's but to technical communication, designers, and strategists. The teams efforts saved the company money while in baby steps but was significant to support the primary goals as they rolled out.
Some of the benefits to users, prompted them to take a look at some of the problems such as too many clicks, inaccessible documents and too hard to search for them - awakened the need for improvement. Measurable changes of the task success rate was +10.7%, time on task -16 seconds, and number of clicks -8 clicks where it used to be +13 clicks... big changes.
Another case study involves evolt.org where they developed an IA with almost no budget.
They are a world community for web developers, promoting the mutual free exchange of ideas, skills and experiences which was prompted out of rapid growth of members/registered users. evolt has classes and thier allowed levels of participation=anyone level, member level, administrator level.
Discussion list postings, tips, published articles, authors, readers, receives/pays, biography listings, new ventures, free communities,
Web Theory: An Introduction by Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall and chapter 1 called Web of technology starts off with a blast from the past description about the growth of the web and directions and possibilities it was headed into which ironically are all unfolding. Virtual reality and information and technology paths are taking most of the paths that Nicolas Negroponte describes in his book, Being Digital.
The promise of a better world with webs capabilities towards communication and expanding our horizons in the media world and fast paced expanding media world.
Technology is determined to expand and take the world into new and ever demanding technologies. What became apparent is the demands for communication, and how were people going to interact with the new technologies becoming available. Cyberspace was becoming the place for the chat, correspondence, digital imagery, fast paced business opportunities and more.
Approaches of how to offer these kinds of resources to the world was obviously needed to be managed and organized and done well so that users would use sites which tumbled the snowball of visibility, commerce and competition. Access to computers was blooming fast like televsion sets bloomed when they were 'born'. Instant images over the space and time, thusly instant communication and reaching audiences over the computer screen.
.....................................................................
The case study for MSWEB takes on a vast immense job of assessing MSWEB and variety of things to fix. The major point covered in the polar text are 3 taxonomies used, the IA made to support it, and how the team revamped the MSWEB intranet.
With approximately 3,100,000 pages and 50,000 employees who work in 74 countries and 8,000 sep internet sites, the IA team has a huge task infront of them. Trying to determine where to begin is a large undertaking and some places were obvious but some points where scattered throughout the site. They found that navigation systems not consistent due to various labeling schemes. All the possible labels are hard to search for and retrieve; there are too many variations.
Some places had different concepts for same label. That can surely be confusing to the user. So employees frustrated because they don't know when to stop searching.
There are 50 different variants to product vocabulary. This can also cause concern, frustration and difficulty finding information or to know when you are done searching.
Some IA is inhouse contained and built by inhouse technical staff and other areas are maintained by hand or simple tool like MS Frontpage. By definition, taxonomy is about a specialized system for naming and organizing things, especially plants and animals, into groups which share similar qualities.
It holds three key points.
1. descriptive vocabularies-controlled vocabularies over a specific domain
2. metadata-collection of information about a particular document
3. category labels-set of terms used for navigation systems
Characteristics of their content determined several steps the team took to get started.
First was a search log anaylysis-needs in users own terms to decide appropriate vocabulary terms. They looked for vocabulary that already existed from inhouse work--don't reinvent the wheel. Other issues considered at the start was politics, talking with stakeholders about concepts, and commitment and thier level of participation. They focused on vocabularies with broad appeal.
They narrowed the vocabulary to certain subjects: geography, languages, proper names, organization and business names, subjects and product/standards/technology names. Metadata and controlled vocabulary will describe content.
They focused on simplicity, balance, description for display, integration into browsing schemes. They decided on core field schema's: URL title, URL Description, URL, ToolTip, Comment, Contact Alias, Review Date, Status, Strongly Recommended, Products, Category label, Keywords. So all three taxonomies come together and were used to create search results. Dublin Core schema partially used.
VocabMan, visual basic client providing access to MDR. VocabMan was used to create thesauri relationships ie heirarchical equivalence and associative between terms within specific taxonomies and between terms in different taxonomies and as a workbench for managing, creating, and tagging records.
Some of their successes include, since the company has so many employees, this provides a wide area of opportunity as a test bed for improvements. They selected a major area to work on that benefited both users, employees and managers. They made the improvements in a modular fashion thereby making the improvements applicable to other areas within the project and across the company. The design was flexible across departments so it spoke to not just other IA's but to technical communication, designers, and strategists. The teams efforts saved the company money while in baby steps but was significant to support the primary goals as they rolled out.
Some of the benefits to users, prompted them to take a look at some of the problems such as too many clicks, inaccessible documents and too hard to search for them - awakened the need for improvement. Measurable changes of the task success rate was +10.7%, time on task -16 seconds, and number of clicks -8 clicks where it used to be +13 clicks... big changes.
Another case study involves evolt.org where they developed an IA with almost no budget.
They are a world community for web developers, promoting the mutual free exchange of ideas, skills and experiences which was prompted out of rapid growth of members/registered users. evolt has classes and thier allowed levels of participation=anyone level, member level, administrator level.
Discussion list postings, tips, published articles, authors, readers, receives/pays, biography listings, new ventures, free communities,
Web Theory: An Introduction by Robert Burnett and P. David Marshall and chapter 1 called Web of technology starts off with a blast from the past description about the growth of the web and directions and possibilities it was headed into which ironically are all unfolding. Virtual reality and information and technology paths are taking most of the paths that Nicolas Negroponte describes in his book, Being Digital.
The promise of a better world with webs capabilities towards communication and expanding our horizons in the media world and fast paced expanding media world.
Technology is determined to expand and take the world into new and ever demanding technologies. What became apparent is the demands for communication, and how were people going to interact with the new technologies becoming available. Cyberspace was becoming the place for the chat, correspondence, digital imagery, fast paced business opportunities and more.
Approaches of how to offer these kinds of resources to the world was obviously needed to be managed and organized and done well so that users would use sites which tumbled the snowball of visibility, commerce and competition. Access to computers was blooming fast like televsion sets bloomed when they were 'born'. Instant images over the space and time, thusly instant communication and reaching audiences over the computer screen.
.....................................................................
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