news.telegraph.co.uk - Afghans cheer as US jets hit Taliban Smoke billowed from the spot and the men and children of the Kukcha turned to stare. "It hit, it hit," one said excitedly. "Thank you, America," said another, dancing for joy. For the people of Mawara-e-Kukcha, which comprises the four provinces along the river, yesterday was a day to celebrate.
For months they have been harried by Taliban artillery and jets which shelled their settlements. Last winter the Taliban briefly seized the west bank before being driven back in an offensive that cost the Northern Alliance 700 men.
Wednesday, October 31
Tuesday, October 30
Victor Davis Hanson on war on National Review Online Culture is not immune to the ripples of battle. The accelerators of Modernism were Verdun and the Somme. Perhaps the present brand of Postmodernism was born in France after the inexplicable and humiliating German romp through the Ardennes in 1940. The crater in New York at the very epicenter of American arts and letters will have a similar, if not more profound, effect.
Monday, October 29
Networking on the Network Since most researchers already know personally the finite world of individuals whose opinions of their work really matter, and since libraries already make their publications available to the few people who don't get them by exchanging drafts, they do not have strong incentives to create an elaborate home page with their publications and so on. That's how powerful the existing institutions are: they bond people so tightly that even the Internet does not radically change the dynamics. The Internet makes it easier for people in outsider universities (such as the former students of people at the insider universities) to stay in the loop, and as I say it speeds everything up. But the fundamental phenomenon, the one that drives and shapes the research community's day-to-day practices, is the complex of institutions that rewards some activities and not others.
Saturday, October 27
BBC News | ASIA-PACIFIC | Maori take on hi-tech Lego toys After challenging Danish company Lego to stop using Maori words for its hi-tech toys, New Zealand Maori are now planning to work with the company to draft guidelines on how to use traditional knowledge.
Last week a Lego representative went to New Zealand to meet with the Maori, who had complained at Lego's use of Maori words in its Bionicle game
Last week a Lego representative went to New Zealand to meet with the Maori, who had complained at Lego's use of Maori words in its Bionicle game
PSYCHOLOGIE EN GEZONDHEID Echinacea really works
At first it was thought that it was merely the suggestion on our immunity that made the herb Echinacea stimulate immunity. But Canadian researchers have shown us that Echinacea contains different active elements that boost our immune system. It promotes in your body the manufacture of white blood cells. We advise you to take echinacea in 125 mg capsules one to four times daily, as soon as you notice the first signs of a cold or the flu.
At first it was thought that it was merely the suggestion on our immunity that made the herb Echinacea stimulate immunity. But Canadian researchers have shown us that Echinacea contains different active elements that boost our immune system. It promotes in your body the manufacture of white blood cells. We advise you to take echinacea in 125 mg capsules one to four times daily, as soon as you notice the first signs of a cold or the flu.
Future Positive : Welcome Howard Rheingold, in Virtual Communities, was one of the first writers to make the connection between digital communications and gift exchange; since then, it has been repeated in the popular press so often, the connection is taken for granted. We freely circulate information on the Internet in the expectation that we will benefit from the information freely circulated by others.
There's only one problem: gift economies don't work this way. In traditional anthropological studies, gifts are given on ceremonial occasions to members of one's tribe, or the tribe of somebody else to which one wants to affiliate. At weddings, to take one example, there can be a complex arrangement of gift giving between various members of the two families involved. Although somewhat altered, gift giving at occasions such as weddings and birthdays remains a common practice.
There's only one problem: gift economies don't work this way. In traditional anthropological studies, gifts are given on ceremonial occasions to members of one's tribe, or the tribe of somebody else to which one wants to affiliate. At weddings, to take one example, there can be a complex arrangement of gift giving between various members of the two families involved. Although somewhat altered, gift giving at occasions such as weddings and birthdays remains a common practice.
Friday, October 26
The Evil Gerald Online - Oh no, it's another dinner invitation from the Chomskys But it's the way he talks, too. Really measured and monotone, and you can see him almost making these little mental footnotes of further reading for you to follow up later if you've got a few centuries. By now, everybody's staring at their plates or just watching him, eyes glazed, nodding stupidly.
I usually pretend to have indigestion and run for the bathroom. Then I get my phone to ring and pretend I've suddenly got to dash home. But how many times can I pull that trick? And now with the recent events and all... I'm definitely not looking forward to next Thursday.
I usually pretend to have indigestion and run for the bathroom. Then I get my phone to ring and pretend I've suddenly got to dash home. But how many times can I pull that trick? And now with the recent events and all... I'm definitely not looking forward to next Thursday.
Thursday, October 25
Economist.com God meets Mammon
Oct 18th 2001 | MILWAUKEE
From The Economist print edition
The profit of turning thugs into programmers
A brother who could spare a dime
MILWAUKEE'S South Side is not a promising place to start a business. The city has a 60% high-school dropout rate and proportionally twice as many murders as New York. After he had buried his 28th gang member, Brother James Holub, a Jesuit, looked for a way to stop the killings. Arguing that “nothing stops a bullet like a job”, he decided to turn youngsters from local street gangs into programmers.
Oct 18th 2001 | MILWAUKEE
From The Economist print edition
The profit of turning thugs into programmers
A brother who could spare a dime
MILWAUKEE'S South Side is not a promising place to start a business. The city has a 60% high-school dropout rate and proportionally twice as many murders as New York. After he had buried his 28th gang member, Brother James Holub, a Jesuit, looked for a way to stop the killings. Arguing that “nothing stops a bullet like a job”, he decided to turn youngsters from local street gangs into programmers.
Stanford, Berkeley scientists awarded `genius grants' (10/24/2001) Dickinson and his colleagues hope to build mechanical, flying robots. Such robots could be tossed into a burning building to scan for people inside or could retrieve data from outer space, Frye said. He was eager for his boss's return.
``He's a very humble guy. I can't wait until he gets back so I can tease him about it,'' Frye said. ``He'll be all red and hunch into his hands.''
``He's a very humble guy. I can't wait until he gets back so I can tease him about it,'' Frye said. ``He'll be all red and hunch into his hands.''
'Gaydar' device clears up mixed signals Gaydar, or gay radar, billed as the first portable interactive electronic icebreaker/matchmaker for gay men and lesbians, ends the guesswork about the sexual orientation of that person across the room.
Perhaps they could make all sorts of clandestine radar. What happens when gay-bashers buy these and entrap people? Whatever happened to personal semiotics for determining stuff like this? Weird.
Perhaps they could make all sorts of clandestine radar. What happens when gay-bashers buy these and entrap people? Whatever happened to personal semiotics for determining stuff like this? Weird.
Tuesday, October 23
Wicked Fresh Interview -- Joshua Allen of Fireland.com WF: Describe your most ridiculous moment of paranoia since September 11th.
Joshua: I swear, I almost skipped my daily Mango Anthrax Smoothie but then stopped and said: No, if I do, then they win.
Joshua: I swear, I almost skipped my daily Mango Anthrax Smoothie but then stopped and said: No, if I do, then they win.
Monday, October 22
Networking on the Network Fifth, the purpose of networking is to let you escape pathological people by building your own supportive community. The stronger and more extensive your community, the less power the pathological people will have over you. Your network is your personal intelligence system. Your conversations with other people in your network will help you understand how different organizations do things, and they broaden your thinking by helping you internalize a wider range of perspectives on the institutions and the research. When a network is functioning properly, a kind of electricity runs through it: the excitement of the research, the affirmation that comes from sharing that excitement with others, and the confidence that comes from a continually updated affirmation that your research is finding a real audience. The electricity of a functioning network makes pathological personalities seem less important.
Networking on the Network In a narrow sense, the claimed results must be seen to follow from the premises. But in a broad sense, the research topic itself must be seen as legitimate: that is, as novel, conceptually coherent, defensible in its working assumptions, intrinsically important, likely to lead to practical applications, likely to lead to more productive research, and so on. The precise criteria will depend to some degree on the field (engineering is evaluated differently from history), but every field needs someone to put up a fight when the legitimacy of the field's research topics comes into question.
Networking on the Network So is your advisor deliberately brainwashing you in order to build an empire of clones and acolytes? It could be.
Advisors' incentives to stifle creativity
The next concept that you need is not so fun. This is the incentive that thesis advisors have to stifle the creativity of their students. It's an insidious phenomenon, and it is not entirely the advisors' fault. Here is how it works. Your advisor will organize seminars, or otherwise recommend reading, and the reading lists that result will derive from the advisor's own voice -- from an intellectual map of the world that reflects the advisor's own effort to define a research program and situate it within an existing network of professional relationships. If you confine your reading to your thesis advisor's recommendations -- or, even worse, if you feel so overwhelmed with work that you accept your advisor's interpretations of those readings rather than engaging with them afresh yourself -- then your thinking will be organized and bounded by your advisor's thinking. You will talk the way your advisor talks, cite the same work, address the same audience, and so on. Of course, this needn't be a disaster. If you are smart, and if your advisor has chosen an expanding disciplinary universe, then you will write a good dissertation within that universe. You will get a good job, and you will take your place in a hierarchy. When the people in your advisor's cohort finally retire, then you will be in charge. It is not such a bad life. But it is not the life that you were meant to live -- the life that you would create
The next concept that you need is not so fun. This is the incentive that thesis advisors have to stifle the creativity of their students. It's an insidious phenomenon, and it is not entirely the advisors' fault. Here is how it works. Your advisor will organize seminars, or otherwise recommend reading, and the reading lists that result will derive from the advisor's own voice -- from an intellectual map of the world that reflects the advisor's own effort to define a research program and situate it within an existing network of professional relationships. If you confine your reading to your thesis advisor's recommendations -- or, even worse, if you feel so overwhelmed with work that you accept your advisor's interpretations of those readings rather than engaging with them afresh yourself -- then your thinking will be organized and bounded by your advisor's thinking. You will talk the way your advisor talks, cite the same work, address the same audience, and so on. Of course, this needn't be a disaster. If you are smart, and if your advisor has chosen an expanding disciplinary universe, then you will write a good dissertation within that universe. You will get a good job, and you will take your place in a hierarchy. When the people in your advisor's cohort finally retire, then you will be in charge. It is not such a bad life. But it is not the life that you were meant to live -- the life that you would create
Networking on the Network Invisible colleges also help explain the emerging uses of technology in research. "Collaboratories", for example, are on-line research community environments that cause invisible colleges to become, so to speak, more real. Most invisible colleges already have conferences, journals, and the like. They may even have Web sites and mailing lists. In each case the pressure is toward ever-greater integration of the different research groups within an invisible college. As the collaboratories become more technically feasible, these pressures will become even more intense. Ongoing real-time collaborations between researchers at different sites will become more common, and seminars might even be held at several sites simultaneously over video links. The details will depend on the needs and finances of each field, of course, but the general direction of the pressure toward integration will be largely the same. It is worth wondering, then, whether too much integration can be a bad thing. It is useful for each university to have its own distinctive approach to a field. Diversity is good, and the institution only supports diversity if a new approaches can colonize a small number of universities without excessive pressures to be interlocked with their opposite numbers at other universities. This may be an important issue in the future.
Networking on the Network The concept of an invisible college is useful for several reasons. First of all, it helps to explain some of the institutional tensions that universities face: individual researchers generally identify more strongly with their invisible college than they do with the organization that employs them. After all, it is principally the invisible college that evaluates the researcher's work by writing letters and refereeing articles. Universities are always threatening to be pulled apart by these centrifugal forces. Industrial labs, likewise, often have trouble persuading researchers to focus on the issues that affect customers, because the researcher's long-term career success depends on staying current with research agendas in the invisible college.
A common mistake during a job interview is to focus your attention on the faculty and ignore everyone else. You need to listen to the students. Are they smart? Mature? Demoralized? Excited about their work? Engaged in a rebellion? Just punching the clock until they get their credential? What are their complaints? What agendas do they bring to the hiring process? Are you only hearing from the activists and complainers, or are you hearing representative views? Try to talk with a group of students without any faculty present. Very often the most vocal segment of students, who may or may not represent a majority, have definite ideas about what sort of faculty are needed -- basically, faculty who can teach the things that they want to learn and that the current faculty can't teach. If you can teach those things then by all means get conversation going on that topic. If not then elicit a broader range of issues and concerns to discover whether that particular topic is the only important one. In addition, graduate students will often have elaborate views about the politics of their department. You can listen to these views as anthropological data, but in practice students' political analyses are wildly uneven in quality; some are very astute -- these are smart people, after all -- but in other cases they just don't have enough information to develop informed ideas. So listen to them, but don't automatically believe or act on what you hear from them.
Networking on the Network . If you want to cause a little trouble, ask innocently about the history of the department and watch what happens.
Networking on the Network Several million people employ electronic mail for some significant portion of their professional communications. Yet in my experience few people have figured out how to use the net productively. A great deal of effort is going into technical means for finding information on the net, but hardly anybody has been helping newcomers figure out where the net fits in the larger picture of their own careers. These notes are a first attempt to fill that gap, building on the most successful practices I've observed in my twenty years on the net. I will focus on the use of electronic communication in research communities, but the underlying principles will be applicable to many other communities as well.
Our students, who will spend most of their working lives in the 21st century, will need to see the computer and related technologies as an extension of themselves, as a tool as important as the pencil or quill pen was for the last several hundred years. Fifteen years ago, few people knew what a personal computer was. Now personal computers are ubiquitous. With the proliferation of personal computers and linked computer networks, there has been an increase in the amount of information produced, as well as new avenues of finding the information. Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) attempts to utilize the computer to help the individual manage the information explosion in a meaningful way.
What is personal knowledge management? It’s a system designed by individuals for their own personal use. Knowledge management has been described by Davenport and Prusak as a systematic attempt to create, gather, distribute, and use knowledge. (a) Lethbridge characterizes it as the process of acquiring, representing, storing and manipulating the categorizations, characterizations and definitions of both things and their relationship. (b) PKM, as conceived at the Anderson School, is a conceptual framework to organize and integrate information that we, as individuals, feel is important so that it becomes part of our personal knowledge base. It provides a strategy for transforming what might be random pieces of information into something that can be systematically applied and that expands our personal knowle
What is personal knowledge management? It’s a system designed by individuals for their own personal use. Knowledge management has been described by Davenport and Prusak as a systematic attempt to create, gather, distribute, and use knowledge. (a) Lethbridge characterizes it as the process of acquiring, representing, storing and manipulating the categorizations, characterizations and definitions of both things and their relationship. (b) PKM, as conceived at the Anderson School, is a conceptual framework to organize and integrate information that we, as individuals, feel is important so that it becomes part of our personal knowledge base. It provides a strategy for transforming what might be random pieces of information into something that can be systematically applied and that expands our personal knowle
Interview | Neil Gaiman And I thought, then: It's not the selling out that's bad. It's that these people are selling out for absolutely nothing. You know, if you're going to sell out, sell out for a million dollars. Sell out for 10 million. Don't sell out to the point where you look at yourself in the mirror going: Oh my Gopod, I'm a hack. Why am I doing this for 2000? For 1500? For heaven's sake!
Interview | Neil Gaiman So you hadn't met him? It wasn't the kind of biography where you tour with the band for half a year or anything?
No. It was the kind of biography where you go down to the BBC and you say: Hello, BBC press cuttings library? I would like to buy everything you have with the words "Duran Duran" in it. And you pay 150 pounds for all their photocopying and you take it away and you take all of these press clippings and you write it into a book. And you listen to the albums.
No. It was the kind of biography where you go down to the BBC and you say: Hello, BBC press cuttings library? I would like to buy everything you have with the words "Duran Duran" in it. And you pay 150 pounds for all their photocopying and you take it away and you take all of these press clippings and you write it into a book. And you listen to the albums.
Interview | Neil Gaiman And I learned a lesson that every now and then the universe conspires to remind me of. It's like my one lesson and if somebody, while writing my life as one of these comedic tragedies, people would point to it as one of those recurring themes that he's needs to be every now and again retaught this one, which is: Whenever I do things for the money...
Whenever I do things because I want to do it and because it seems fun or interesting and so on and so forth, it almost always works. And it almost always winds up more than paying for itself. Whenever I do things for the money, not only does it prove a headache and a pain in the neck and come with all sorts of awful things attached, but I normally don't wind up getting the money, either. So, after a while, you do sort of start to learn [to] just forget about the things where people come to you and dangle huge wads of cash in front of you. Go for the one that seems interesting because, even if it all falls apart, you've got something interesting out of it. Whereas, the other way, you normally wind up getting absolutely nothing out of it.
Stolen from Evhead.com. This has been my experience as well. Whenever I follow the money I get hosed. Something to keep in mind while job hunting.
Whenever I do things because I want to do it and because it seems fun or interesting and so on and so forth, it almost always works. And it almost always winds up more than paying for itself. Whenever I do things for the money, not only does it prove a headache and a pain in the neck and come with all sorts of awful things attached, but I normally don't wind up getting the money, either. So, after a while, you do sort of start to learn [to] just forget about the things where people come to you and dangle huge wads of cash in front of you. Go for the one that seems interesting because, even if it all falls apart, you've got something interesting out of it. Whereas, the other way, you normally wind up getting absolutely nothing out of it.
Stolen from Evhead.com. This has been my experience as well. Whenever I follow the money I get hosed. Something to keep in mind while job hunting.
Saturday, October 20
DRUDGE REPORT FLASH 2001® AFGHAN soldiers were told yesterday that while they were dying in the war their leader was enjoying a life of pleasure with his three wives.
Loudspeaker broadcasts beamed down from American planes accused one-eyed Taliban cleric Mullah Mohammed Omar of hiding in a well-equipped bunker. The speakers boomed out in local dialects: "If dying for this form of Islam is noble, why doesn't Mullah Omar go to the f
Loudspeaker broadcasts beamed down from American planes accused one-eyed Taliban cleric Mullah Mohammed Omar of hiding in a well-equipped bunker. The speakers boomed out in local dialects: "If dying for this form of Islam is noble, why doesn't Mullah Omar go to the f
BBC News | UK | Douglas Coupland (version 164.4.0.3) "My mother, at the age of 62, decided: 'Dammit, I'm tired of being out of the loop, I want to know what's going on'. So she went out, got her own hardware and service provider and now, gosh, it's that Cocoon thing - she's a whole new person!"
WAKING LIFE / **** (R) . It must be depressing to believe that you have been supplied with all the answers, that you must believe them and to question them is disloyal, or a sin. Were we given minds in order to fear their questions?
--Roger Ebert, on Richard Linklater's new film, Waking Life.
--Roger Ebert, on Richard Linklater's new film, Waking Life.
Friday, October 19
Minerva Record View 1 Title:Interactions.
Publisher:New York, NY : Association for Computing Machinery, Inc., c1994-
Location:KERSEY LIBRARY bound periodicals stacks
Call Number:x QA 76.9 .H85 I5925
Number of Items:4
Status:On Shelf
Publisher:New York, NY : Association for Computing Machinery, Inc., c1994-
Location:KERSEY LIBRARY bound periodicals stacks
Call Number:x QA 76.9 .H85 I5925
Number of Items:4
Status:On Shelf
WSJ.com -- From the Archives Knitting needles, pointed metal sticks that average 14 to 16 inches long, can look particularly ominous. Ms. Smith remembers a man who seemed fascinated by her knitting during one flight, and finally commented, "You know, if we crash, you're going to impale yourself."
"Well," she replied, "If we crash, I won't care."
Still, she's mulled the potential danger of the dull-tipped tools. "You'd need something to pound it in with," she says. "And it would be a slow death."
"Well," she replied, "If we crash, I won't care."
Still, she's mulled the potential danger of the dull-tipped tools. "You'd need something to pound it in with," she says. "And it would be a slow death."
Animating a Waking Life "I'm not a technological fetishist," Linklater says. "I want to tell a story in the right way. Technologies can help us in our human desire to express ourselves, to communicate and share our experiences.
"I think that's why Waking Life is more than just an interesting moment in the history of film technology. The technology has allowed this particular story -- a story that probably wouldn't have worked in any other form -- to be told."
"I think that's why Waking Life is more than just an interesting moment in the history of film technology. The technology has allowed this particular story -- a story that probably wouldn't have worked in any other form -- to be told."
Why Linux is About to Lose Here's a comment from my tech-illiterate wife: "Get that damn Linux installed -- I'm sick of this s**t from Microsoft!"
If my wife, of all people, is asking for an alternative to M$'s stuff, then there really is some hope. Linux may never get beyond a 10% desktop share, but just giving up because there's no good spell checker for Linux is silly.
If my wife, of all people, is asking for an alternative to M$'s stuff, then there really is some hope. Linux may never get beyond a 10% desktop share, but just giving up because there's no good spell checker for Linux is silly.
Using N4, N5 or NVivo with your reference material While you would use a bibliographic program to organise your references and for the 'Cite while you write' functions they provide, it is valuable to use NVivo (or N4/N5) for organising your notes you have made (or even downloaded full text) for each reference to assist you in writing the text of your review. You can have the best of both worlds by using the programs in conjunction with each other. Export a bibliography from EndNote or ProCite that is configured to contain also the notes and abstracts fields (perhaps for a selected set of documents, e.g. sorted by keyword), so you get the extra data you have put in. This will be exported as an .rtf file (by default) or a .txt file (by request), so it can be immediately imported into your project with no further work, or you might choose to add some additional formatting to facilitate retrieval of reference details (see below). If you don’t have a bibliographic database, then use NVivo for recording the notes you make as you read—or record them in Word and then import them into NVivo.
If you are using EndNote, choose your preferred output style, and then request that each reference ends with the Notes and Abstracts fields. Users of ProCite, should select the additional fields (such as Notes and Abstracts) in the Configure dialogue when setting up to create their bibliography.
If you are using EndNote, choose your preferred output style, and then request that each reference ends with the Notes and Abstracts fields. Users of ProCite, should select the additional fields (such as Notes and Abstracts) in the Configure dialogue when setting up to create their bibliography.
JOrdan Running shops for a carmp3:
Though I'm sure you're all sick of me talking about my homebuilt car MP3 player that, while perfect in design, has yet to, well, exist, it just keeps getting better. Today, Slashdot linked to this review of Shuttle's SV24 small form-factor barebones system. The case is 10.7" deep, 7.6" wide, and 6.4" tall (270 x 190 x 160mm) and made out of lightweight aluminum. The motherboard is packed with good stuff, including onboard Ethernet, audio (front-mounted output & input), S-video, composite (TV-out), and VGA video output, and both USB (front-mounted) and Firewire (!). It supports Socket 370 CPUs (Celeron and P3). On top of that, it has a hard drive bay, plus one 5.25" empty drive bay and one 3.5" bay, and one PCI slot.
The review gives it 5/5 and an Editor's Choice award. Though it borders on overkill for a simple CarPC, that's about the only strike against it. It lists for $250, but doesn't come with a processor, memory, or hard drive. Pricewatch says that two 64MB DIMMs ($3 each), a 40GB hard drive ($75), and a 500Mhz Celeron ($30) would set me back $111. That's $361 for a fully operational computer system that you could easily carry under one arm (I'd be inclined to attach a handle to the top).
Why this instead of the $200 "New Internet Computer" above? First and foremost, no hacking necessary. Using the N.I.C. would always feel kludgy for me.
Though I'm sure you're all sick of me talking about my homebuilt car MP3 player that, while perfect in design, has yet to, well, exist, it just keeps getting better. Today, Slashdot linked to this review of Shuttle's SV24 small form-factor barebones system. The case is 10.7" deep, 7.6" wide, and 6.4" tall (270 x 190 x 160mm) and made out of lightweight aluminum. The motherboard is packed with good stuff, including onboard Ethernet, audio (front-mounted output & input), S-video, composite (TV-out), and VGA video output, and both USB (front-mounted) and Firewire (!). It supports Socket 370 CPUs (Celeron and P3). On top of that, it has a hard drive bay, plus one 5.25" empty drive bay and one 3.5" bay, and one PCI slot.
The review gives it 5/5 and an Editor's Choice award. Though it borders on overkill for a simple CarPC, that's about the only strike against it. It lists for $250, but doesn't come with a processor, memory, or hard drive. Pricewatch says that two 64MB DIMMs ($3 each), a 40GB hard drive ($75), and a 500Mhz Celeron ($30) would set me back $111. That's $361 for a fully operational computer system that you could easily carry under one arm (I'd be inclined to attach a handle to the top).
Why this instead of the $200 "New Internet Computer" above? First and foremost, no hacking necessary. Using the N.I.C. would always feel kludgy for me.
Wednesday, October 17
June 10, 1999, Thursday Coming Of Age In Palo Alto
By KATIE HAFNER
IN 1981, while doing postdoctoral field work in cultural anthropology, Bonnie A. Nardi lived
with villagers in Western Samoa, trying to understand the cultural reasons that people there have an average of eight children.
Today Dr. Nardi works at AT&T Labs West in Menlo Park, Calif., and has no regrets. She left academia in 1984 and is considered a pioneer among anthropologists who are employed by high-tech companies to examine consumers' behavior in their homes and offices. ''Usually people say, 'What is an anthropologist doing here?' '' Dr. Nardi said. ''But when I explain that I study how people use technology in order to get new ideas for products and services, it instantly makes sense.'' No longer do companies study consumers' psyches only by asking people what they think about technology and how they use it. Now they conduct observational research, dispatching anthropologists to employ their ethnographic skills by interviewing, watching and videotaping consumers in their natural habitats. In the past several years, companies like Apple, Motorola, Xerox and Intel, as well as telecommunications and cable companies, have brought anthropologists into the corporate fold. The goal is to apply what the anthropologists learn to new product concepts. ''It's the extreme form of understanding the customer,'' Dr. Nardi said.
By KATIE HAFNER
IN 1981, while doing postdoctoral field work in cultural anthropology, Bonnie A. Nardi lived
with villagers in Western Samoa, trying to understand the cultural reasons that people there have an average of eight children.
Today Dr. Nardi works at AT&T Labs West in Menlo Park, Calif., and has no regrets. She left academia in 1984 and is considered a pioneer among anthropologists who are employed by high-tech companies to examine consumers' behavior in their homes and offices. ''Usually people say, 'What is an anthropologist doing here?' '' Dr. Nardi said. ''But when I explain that I study how people use technology in order to get new ideas for products and services, it instantly makes sense.'' No longer do companies study consumers' psyches only by asking people what they think about technology and how they use it. Now they conduct observational research, dispatching anthropologists to employ their ethnographic skills by interviewing, watching and videotaping consumers in their natural habitats. In the past several years, companies like Apple, Motorola, Xerox and Intel, as well as telecommunications and cable companies, have brought anthropologists into the corporate fold. The goal is to apply what the anthropologists learn to new product concepts. ''It's the extreme form of understanding the customer,'' Dr. Nardi said.
Ok.
So last night Ezra, my four-year-old son, asks me to help get this stuffed duck out of the pine tree in front of our student apartment. I throw a broom up into the tree, and it is slung back into my face, popping me next to the eyeball. We're talking 16 stitches! Now I need to find a shirt that says "My name is not Luka."
So last night Ezra, my four-year-old son, asks me to help get this stuffed duck out of the pine tree in front of our student apartment. I throw a broom up into the tree, and it is slung back into my face, popping me next to the eyeball. We're talking 16 stitches! Now I need to find a shirt that says "My name is not Luka."
A Japanese Writer Analyzes Terrorists and Their Victims "If you are trained you can find the passage and come and go between the two worlds. It is easy to find an entrance into this closed circuit, but it is not easy to find an exit. Many gurus offer an entry into the circuit for free. But they don't offer a way out, because they want to keep followers trapped. Those people can be soldiers when they are ordered to be. I think that is very much like what happened with those people who flew the planes into those buildings."
Apache Tutorial: Dynamic Content with CGI CGI outside of ScriptAlias directories
CGI programs are often restricted to ScriptAlias'ed directories for security reasons. In this way, administrators can tightly control who is allowed to use CGI programs. However, if the proper security precautions are taken, there is no reason why CGI programs cannot be run from arbitrary directories. For example, you may wish to let users have web content in their home directories with the UserDir directive. If they want to have their own CGI programs, but don't have access to the main cgi-bin directory, they will need to be able to run CGI programs elsewhere.
Explicitly using Options to permit CGI execution
You could explicitly use the Options directive, inside your main server configuration file, to specify that CGI execution was permitted in a particular directory:
Options ExecCGI
The above directive tells Apache to permit the execution of CGI files. You will also need to tell the server what files are CGI files. The following AddHandler directive tells the server to treat all files with the cgi or pl extension as CGI programs:
AddHandler cgi-script cgi pl
CGI programs are often restricted to ScriptAlias'ed directories for security reasons. In this way, administrators can tightly control who is allowed to use CGI programs. However, if the proper security precautions are taken, there is no reason why CGI programs cannot be run from arbitrary directories. For example, you may wish to let users have web content in their home directories with the UserDir directive. If they want to have their own CGI programs, but don't have access to the main cgi-bin directory, they will need to be able to run CGI programs elsewhere.
Explicitly using Options to permit CGI execution
You could explicitly use the Options directive, inside your main server configuration file, to specify that CGI execution was permitted in a particular directory:
Options ExecCGI
The above directive tells Apache to permit the execution of CGI files. You will also need to tell the server what files are CGI files. The following AddHandler directive tells the server to treat all files with the cgi or pl extension as CGI programs:
AddHandler cgi-script cgi pl
audio for HTML using the EMBED tag Embed mp3 Files Most simply, try to embed your mp3 files in a similar manner to wav files:
Tuesday, October 16
On the Relationship Between Old and New Technologies Witte, Stephen (1999). Literate communication within professional work activity: Toward an activity theoretic perspective on expertise, unit of analysis, and methodology in advanced workplaces. (CRWL Tech. Rep. No.7). Kent, OH: Center for Research on Workplace Literacy.
Statement by John J. Maresca, Vice President, Unocal Corporation One obvious potential route south would be across Iran. However, this option is foreclosed for American companies because of U.S. sanctions legislation. The only other possible route option is across Afghanistan, which has its own unique challenges.
The country has been involved in bitter warfare for almost two decades. The territory across which the pipeline would extend is controlled by the Taliban, an Islamic movement that is not recognized as a government by most other nations. From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of our proposed pipeline cannot begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company.
In spite of this, a route through Afghanistan appears to be the best option with the fewest technical obstacles. It is the shortest route to the sea and has relatively favorable terrain for a pipeline. The route through Afghanistan is the one that would bring Central Asian oil closest to Asian markets and thus would be the cheapest in terms of transporting the oil.
Unocal envisions the creation of a Central Asian Oil Pipeline Consortium. The pipeline would become an integral part of a regional oil pipeline system that will utilize and gather oil from existing pipeline infrastructure in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia.
The country has been involved in bitter warfare for almost two decades. The territory across which the pipeline would extend is controlled by the Taliban, an Islamic movement that is not recognized as a government by most other nations. From the outset, we have made it clear that construction of our proposed pipeline cannot begin until a recognized government is in place that has the confidence of governments, lenders and our company.
In spite of this, a route through Afghanistan appears to be the best option with the fewest technical obstacles. It is the shortest route to the sea and has relatively favorable terrain for a pipeline. The route through Afghanistan is the one that would bring Central Asian oil closest to Asian markets and thus would be the cheapest in terms of transporting the oil.
Unocal envisions the creation of a Central Asian Oil Pipeline Consortium. The pipeline would become an integral part of a regional oil pipeline system that will utilize and gather oil from existing pipeline infrastructure in Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Geology may give bin Laden away / Experts study recent video with hope of identifying his location in Afghanistan He said, "The photo image appears staged, probably with special lighting, in front of rocks that indicate (bin Laden) was probably in a ravine deep inside Paktia, which is a southwestern province in Afghanistan, and Pushtun tribal territory."
NATURAL CAVES IN AREA
In that region, "the rock has a number of natural caves, as well as hand- dug ones," Shroder said in an e-mail. "This site looks reasonably natural, with the hole behind him either being an animal burrow or possibly a site where some human has dug in a bit looking for gold or some other mineral of interest.
"Local peasant people dig all over the place looking for various minerals that they hope will somehow make them some money."
NATURAL CAVES IN AREA
In that region, "the rock has a number of natural caves, as well as hand- dug ones," Shroder said in an e-mail. "This site looks reasonably natural, with the hole behind him either being an animal burrow or possibly a site where some human has dug in a bit looking for gold or some other mineral of interest.
"Local peasant people dig all over the place looking for various minerals that they hope will somehow make them some money."
Monday, October 15
Cold War II: America needs you, Harry Truman Might it not, therefore, be most prudent simply to swallow our ire and "mind our own business" in the hope that the terrorists will leave us, our friends, and our interests be? Remember the Twin Towers and ask yourself how likely that is. If the answer is "not very" then all those American officials and defense intellectuals so recently accused of being "nostalgic for the Cold War" can again get up in the morning with a reason for living. And all of us Vietnam veterans and diplomatic historians can leap to remind them of the qualities most needed - but not always present - in our leaders during Cold War I, including determination, realism, courage, prudence, patience, and faith. Let the saints within us whisper, "Do justice and walk humbly with your God," while the heroes within us shout, "Don't Tread on Me."
CRG -- "OSAMAGATE" Among the foreign mercenaries now fighting in Macedonia (October 2001) in the ranks of self-proclaimed National Liberation Army (NLA), are Mujahideen from the Middle East and the Central Asian republics of the former Soviet Union. Also within the KLA's proxy force in Macedonia are senior US military advisers from a private mercenary outfit on contract to the Pentagon as well as "soldiers of fortune" from Britain, Holland and Germany. Some of these Western mercenaries had previously fought with the KLA and the Bosnian Muslim Army.18
Eszter Hargittai and Miguel Centeno examine ways to define and map globalisation - On Line Opinion 15/9/01. Second, it is clear that globalisation does not involve a flattening of a global hierarchy. Some countries are richer, have better communications, and play a more central role. Moreover, there are clear benefits to be derived from this centrality. As globalisation intensifies, these benefits might even increase, producing practically insurmountable (if invisible) walls around the new empires. More specifically, practically all the studies point to the dominant position of the United States in practically every international network. In many ways, globalisation may be better understood as the Americanisation of the world.
James S. Robbins on war/ bin Laden on National Review Online So the World Trade Towers had to come down because some psychopath can't come to grips with the end of World War I? Basically, yes.
CBS Considers WTC Comedy CBS Considers WTC Comedy
After weeks of Hollywood going out of its way to eliminate images of New York's skyline--particularly the Twin Towers--from movies and TV shows, CBS says it's considering a comedy set in the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedies.
Network president Leslie Moonves told reported Thursday that he's considering green-lighting a romantic comedy series about two people brought together after their spouses are killed in the collapse of the landmark complex.
Moonves said a producer (whom he declined to name) pitched him a series involving a middle-aged couple prior to the events September 11. Following the attacks, the producer came back and said the premise "could easily be changed" to "heighten the stakes" and tell some of the more poignant personal yarns that came out of the disaster.
"Is it exploitive to do something like that? Not if it's handled properly," Moonves said.
After weeks of Hollywood going out of its way to eliminate images of New York's skyline--particularly the Twin Towers--from movies and TV shows, CBS says it's considering a comedy set in the aftermath of the World Trade Center tragedies.
Network president Leslie Moonves told reported Thursday that he's considering green-lighting a romantic comedy series about two people brought together after their spouses are killed in the collapse of the landmark complex.
Moonves said a producer (whom he declined to name) pitched him a series involving a middle-aged couple prior to the events September 11. Following the attacks, the producer came back and said the premise "could easily be changed" to "heighten the stakes" and tell some of the more poignant personal yarns that came out of the disaster.
"Is it exploitive to do something like that? Not if it's handled properly," Moonves said.
Eszter Hargittai and Miguel Centeno examine ways to define and map globalisation - On Line Opinion 15/9/01. The new geography of globalisation should begin to gather data at levels of aggregation smaller than the nation-state. Cities or specific regions within countries (e.g., Emilia-Romagna in Italy, Catalonia in Spain, the American coasts) are much more integrated into the global economy. Cross-border zones are very much a part of globalisation and may account for a disproportionate share of relational links. The new geography should make every attempt to privilege these sub-units, which are increasingly more relevant than our nation-centric analytical atlas.
Walter Lippmann gave the conflict its name - the Cold War - and a left-to-right spectrum from Henry Wallace to George Kennan to Robert Taft immediately warned that a protracted conflict against the communist conspiracy might draw the United States into unlimited commitments, Machiavellian ploys, and collusion with all manner of foul bedfellows. But the Congress and public stood up almost as one behind the Truman Doctrine, Marshall Plan, NATO, and the Korean War.
The second Cold War may also have crept up on us slowly. Leaving aside introspective domestic recriminations to the effect that America deserved the attack of September 11 (a matter best left to the purveyor of "infinite justice"), historians are certain to clash over questions of causality and blame. Did Americans' energy-guzzling habits, hence dependence on Persian Gulf oil and support for authoritarian Muslim regimes, create fertile soil for Islamic fanatics? Did American disengagement from Afghanistan following the expulsion of the Soviets permit the Taliban to seize power? Did American support for Israel and the 1991 war on Iraq validate in the bazaars an image of the United States as the Great Satan? Did the George H W Bush administration's display of irresistible military might but reluctance to finish off Saddam Hussein all but invite rogue states to wage asymmetrical warfare, including sponsorship of terrorist groups, to promote their agendas? Did the Clinton administration's penchant for poking, but not killing, t
The second Cold War may also have crept up on us slowly. Leaving aside introspective domestic recriminations to the effect that America deserved the attack of September 11 (a matter best left to the purveyor of "infinite justice"), historians are certain to clash over questions of causality and blame. Did Americans' energy-guzzling habits, hence dependence on Persian Gulf oil and support for authoritarian Muslim regimes, create fertile soil for Islamic fanatics? Did American disengagement from Afghanistan following the expulsion of the Soviets permit the Taliban to seize power? Did American support for Israel and the 1991 war on Iraq validate in the bazaars an image of the United States as the Great Satan? Did the George H W Bush administration's display of irresistible military might but reluctance to finish off Saddam Hussein all but invite rogue states to wage asymmetrical warfare, including sponsorship of terrorist groups, to promote their agendas? Did the Clinton administration's penchant for poking, but not killing, t
How the terror trail went unseen The latest evidence from the FBI suggests that the hijackers easily hid under the noses of the American government, not by using advanced technology but by being as American as apple pie.
Saturday, October 13
Xeno's Arrow - 10 Laws of Bad Science Fiction Remember that technology introduced at the start of the story always causes everyone's problems, while technology introduced in the middle or at the end of the story always solves everyone's problems.This could be referred to as the "If-Only-I'd-Invented-It-Ninety-Minutes-Later" Conundrum.
Requiem for a Cheerleader: Silicon Alley Magazine Is Dead "Having a magazine about the Internet now is like having a magazine about refrigerators," he said. "What can you say about them? They work."
Friday, October 12
AlterNet -- 10 Things to Know About the Middle East 3. Why is there so much violence and political instability in the Middle East?
For most of the past 500 years, the Middle East actually saw less violence and warfare and more political stability than Europe or most other regions of the world. It has only been in the last century that the region has seen such widespread conflict. The roots of the conflict are similar to those elsewhere in the Third World, and have to do with the legacy of colonialism, such as artificial political boundaries, autocratic regimes, militarization, economic inequality and economies based on the export of raw materials for finished goods. Indeed, the Middle East has more autocratic regimes, militarization, economic inequality and the greatest ratio of exports to domestic consumption than any region in the world.
For most of the past 500 years, the Middle East actually saw less violence and warfare and more political stability than Europe or most other regions of the world. It has only been in the last century that the region has seen such widespread conflict. The roots of the conflict are similar to those elsewhere in the Third World, and have to do with the legacy of colonialism, such as artificial political boundaries, autocratic regimes, militarization, economic inequality and economies based on the export of raw materials for finished goods. Indeed, the Middle East has more autocratic regimes, militarization, economic inequality and the greatest ratio of exports to domestic consumption than any region in the world.
Thursday, October 11
Red Rock Eater Digest - notes and recommendations Computer networks do sometimes promote transparency, but
the conditions under which they do so are complicated.
the conditions under which they do so are complicated.
A later version is the concept of community of practice, which began
with work by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger at a Xerox PARC spinoff,
the Institute for Research on Learning, in the 1980s. Etienne later
wrote a book called Communities of Practice (Cambridge University
Press, 1998). A community of practice is a group of people with
its own culture, which uses its rituals to pool knowledge among
its members. New members are acculturated by participating at
the edges of the activity, for example through apprenticeship, and
then by moving to successively more central roles in the community.
The community of practice framework does not provide hard-and-fast
generalizations about the workings of the communities, but rather
a set of concepts that have proven useful in analyzing the workings
of many particular cases. In a series of papers and a recent book,
The Social Life of Information (Harvard Business School Press, 2000),
John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid have developed the community of
practice framework in making suggestions about the future of several
institutions, such as politics and the university. The key in each
case is to amplify (and certainly not to destroy) the conditions that
make communities of practice possible. A university, for example,
should be viewed (at least from one perspective) as a mechanism for
introducing an individual into the community of practice in which they
will spend their career.
with work by Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger at a Xerox PARC spinoff,
the Institute for Research on Learning, in the 1980s. Etienne later
wrote a book called Communities of Practice (Cambridge University
Press, 1998). A community of practice is a group of people with
its own culture, which uses its rituals to pool knowledge among
its members. New members are acculturated by participating at
the edges of the activity, for example through apprenticeship, and
then by moving to successively more central roles in the community.
The community of practice framework does not provide hard-and-fast
generalizations about the workings of the communities, but rather
a set of concepts that have proven useful in analyzing the workings
of many particular cases. In a series of papers and a recent book,
The Social Life of Information (Harvard Business School Press, 2000),
John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid have developed the community of
practice framework in making suggestions about the future of several
institutions, such as politics and the university. The key in each
case is to amplify (and certainly not to destroy) the conditions that
make communities of practice possible. A university, for example,
should be viewed (at least from one perspective) as a mechanism for
introducing an individual into the community of practice in which they
will spend their career.
Computers Invite a Tangled Web of Complications For that matter, what do I know? If I were Web savvy, I could find out. And easy access to facts is one more terrible thing about writing with computers. There's nothing worse than getting a hard fact stuck in the Royal portable (or IBM Selectric) when you're trying to pound out truths. Imagine "Gulliver's Travels" if Jonathan Swift had known what was on the other side of the world.
EQUINOX Tourlite Options The EQUINOX Tourlite Nordic Sled
FEATURES
Simply release the tongue and wheels, attach skis or snow blanket and your are set to take your children cross country skiing with the EQUINOX Tourlite Nordic Ski Sled Kit.
EQUINOX Tourlite Nordic Sled can be purchased as a Ski Sled alone, or as a Optional Kit for The EQUINOX Tourlite Bicycle Trailer, EQUINOX Stroller, etc.
FEATURES
Simply release the tongue and wheels, attach skis or snow blanket and your are set to take your children cross country skiing with the EQUINOX Tourlite Nordic Ski Sled Kit.
EQUINOX Tourlite Nordic Sled can be purchased as a Ski Sled alone, or as a Optional Kit for The EQUINOX Tourlite Bicycle Trailer, EQUINOX Stroller, etc.
Wednesday, October 10
The 2,988 Words That Changed a Presidency: An Etymology They knew little for certain, and knowing little increased their natural tendency to sound like Churchill, whose writing they all liked. Gerson tried out: ''In the long term, terrorism is not answered by higher walls and deeper bunkers.'' The team kept going: ''Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done.'' The computer screen filled with rolling triads. ''This is the world's fight; this is civilization's fight; this is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom.'' Words tumbled out.
''They were just sitting there, jamming,'' said Juleanna Glover Weiss, the vice president's press secretary, whose office is next door. ''There was a sort of one-upsmanship to it.'' Gerson wrote, ''Freedom is at war with fear.'' Together, they tweaked it: ''Freedom and fear are at war.'' They worked steadily, getting meals from the White House mess to keep them going.
''They were just sitting there, jamming,'' said Juleanna Glover Weiss, the vice president's press secretary, whose office is next door. ''There was a sort of one-upsmanship to it.'' Gerson wrote, ''Freedom is at war with fear.'' Together, they tweaked it: ''Freedom and fear are at war.'' They worked steadily, getting meals from the White House mess to keep them going.
Justin Hall Reviews GameStudies The editors feel their time has come: "Today we have the possibility to build a new field. We have a billion dollar industry with almost no basic research, we have the most fascinating cultural material to appear in a very long time, and we have the chance of uniting aesthetic, cultural and technical design aspects in a single discipline" (Computer Game Studies, Year One by Espen Aarseth).
waredevil / services / web maintenance comparison chart Based on a junior web designer salary of $50,000 and a senior web design salary of $100,000. (We have not accounted for insurance or other forms of compensation with these figures.)
For more accurate figures visit Salary.com's US averages for Web Designer and Web Designer, Sr..
For more accurate figures visit Salary.com's US averages for Web Designer and Web Designer, Sr..
DoCTA Resources - Literature Review Kaptelinin, V. & Nardi, B. A. (1997). The Activity Checklist: A tool for representing the "space" of context. Working paper. Department of Informatics, Umeå University, .
This paper introduces the Activity Checklist, a practical tool to provide guidance and structure for empirical work that takes account of context in design and evalutation. The Checklist is based on activity theory, whick provides concepts and vocabulary for analyzing the context of computer-supported work. The paper discusses activity theory, presents the Checklist, and shows its use via an example of a specific technology, Apple Data Detectors.
This paper introduces the Activity Checklist, a practical tool to provide guidance and structure for empirical work that takes account of context in design and evalutation. The Checklist is based on activity theory, whick provides concepts and vocabulary for analyzing the context of computer-supported work. The paper discusses activity theory, presents the Checklist, and shows its use via an example of a specific technology, Apple Data Detectors.
Mark,
There is not a short answer to your question. But below is a list of resources that might be helpful. If you haven't read Cole's book or Engestrom's book, that is the place to start. Also, there is a lot of stuff from the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) that explains AT much more clearly than anything in our own field and I would encourage you to seek that out. Specifically, Kaptelinin, V; Nardi, Bonnie and Macaulay, C . The Activity Checklist: A Tool for Representing the "Space" of Context. Interactions 6. This article is specifically intended for people who need some guidance in using AT in their own work. Also, Bodker is someone who explains things pretty clearly for the HCI audience. I also find Stephen Witte to be extremely clear on this topic. Really my best advice is to find people outside our field who have been using AT as a methodology rather than a theory; they explain it the best. HCI wins the prize in my book for explaining AT so well that lots of people in the field actually started to use it.
David Russell has just written a paper that attempts to clearly outline the terms for our field, but it's not published yet. I've written an article trying to do a similar thing that is under consideration. We both feel that there is really nothing in OUR field that is clear enough to get people on board. Until Russell's new article comes out, though, I'd suggest you read some of the things in the list below. Engestrom's triangle, explained by Engestrom and then Cole is the absolutely crucial thing to try to get.
Basically, I would have to say that it took me about 2 years of mentoring with David Russell to get a grasp on AT. I think that without that face to face help I would not have really ever known what I was talking about. If you all are loving AT but finding no one there to guide you in it, you might put AT aside for a while and read Etienne Wenger's Communities of Practice. It is a lot clearer and really makes many of the same points as AT.
To your particular question I will just say that the primary unit of analysis is the ACTIVITY SYSTEM. Within that Engestrom has outlined six components than can be helpful in mapping out what is happening within the activity system that you as the researcher have decided to examine. Keep in mind that YOU, the researcher, decide to look at a particular activity system but that decision is really rather arbitrary. My classroom might be an activity system, but my dept might be also, and maybe my college. Maybe even the university. There are systems within systems and lots of activities within those systems and lots of overlapping systems; as a researcher you just have to decide what you are focusing on and remember not to be too structuralist about it. Within that system you can pick any activity to focus on, also keeping in mind that it is not THE only activity you could be focusing on. What is important is the object of the activity and the tools people use in common to accomplish the activity.
Hope this helps some.
Elizabeth
Engestrom, Yrgo. Learning By Expanding: An Activity-Theoretical Approach To Developmental Research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit, 1987.
Cole, Michael. Cultural Psychology. Harvard University Press, 1996.
Witte, Stephen. Literate Communication Within Professional Work Activity: Toward An Activity Theoretic Perspective On Expertise, Unit Of Analysis, And Methodology In Advanced Workplaces. CRWL Technical Report. Kent, OH: Kent State University, Center for Research on Workplace Literacy, 1998.
Witte, Stephen. The Advanced Workplace Ensemble (AWE): An Introduction to a Unit of Analysis for Studying Literacy in Advanced or Professional Workplaces.
Russell, David. Looking Beyond the Interface. Forthcoming.
Prior, Paul. Writing/Disciplinarity: A Sociohistoric Account of Literate Activity in the Academy. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998.
Hasu, Mervi and Yrgo Engestrom. Measurement In Action: An Activity-Theoretical Perspective On Producer-User Interaction. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 53, 2000. 61-89.
Decortis, Francoise; Samuel Noirfalise and Berthe Saudelli. Activity Theory, Cognitive Ergonomics And Distributed Cognition: Three Views Of A Transport Company. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 53, 2000. 5-33.
Cole, Michael and Yrgo Engeström. A Cultural-Historical Approach To Distributed Cognition. In G. Salomon (Ed.) Distributed Cognitions: Psychological And Educational Considerations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 1-46.
At 02:26 PM 10/2/2001 -0400, you wrote:
Hello.
This is Mark Crane from your former place of education. We have a problem that we are too embarassed to ask about.
Various individuals who remain nameless start playing with activity theory around here. At some point they start designing a study, and start asking the question,
"So what's the unit of activity? The student text? The classroom? The Department?"
After about three days of this they start badmouthing AT and just steal key terms and use them out of context.
So, my question is, how would you answer the above question about context? Given that you are closer to Mecca than we are, we thought you could help us out here.
There is not a short answer to your question. But below is a list of resources that might be helpful. If you haven't read Cole's book or Engestrom's book, that is the place to start. Also, there is a lot of stuff from the field of human-computer interaction (HCI) that explains AT much more clearly than anything in our own field and I would encourage you to seek that out. Specifically, Kaptelinin, V; Nardi, Bonnie and Macaulay, C . The Activity Checklist: A Tool for Representing the "Space" of Context. Interactions 6. This article is specifically intended for people who need some guidance in using AT in their own work. Also, Bodker is someone who explains things pretty clearly for the HCI audience. I also find Stephen Witte to be extremely clear on this topic. Really my best advice is to find people outside our field who have been using AT as a methodology rather than a theory; they explain it the best. HCI wins the prize in my book for explaining AT so well that lots of people in the field actually started to use it.
David Russell has just written a paper that attempts to clearly outline the terms for our field, but it's not published yet. I've written an article trying to do a similar thing that is under consideration. We both feel that there is really nothing in OUR field that is clear enough to get people on board. Until Russell's new article comes out, though, I'd suggest you read some of the things in the list below. Engestrom's triangle, explained by Engestrom and then Cole is the absolutely crucial thing to try to get.
Basically, I would have to say that it took me about 2 years of mentoring with David Russell to get a grasp on AT. I think that without that face to face help I would not have really ever known what I was talking about. If you all are loving AT but finding no one there to guide you in it, you might put AT aside for a while and read Etienne Wenger's Communities of Practice. It is a lot clearer and really makes many of the same points as AT.
To your particular question I will just say that the primary unit of analysis is the ACTIVITY SYSTEM. Within that Engestrom has outlined six components than can be helpful in mapping out what is happening within the activity system that you as the researcher have decided to examine. Keep in mind that YOU, the researcher, decide to look at a particular activity system but that decision is really rather arbitrary. My classroom might be an activity system, but my dept might be also, and maybe my college. Maybe even the university. There are systems within systems and lots of activities within those systems and lots of overlapping systems; as a researcher you just have to decide what you are focusing on and remember not to be too structuralist about it. Within that system you can pick any activity to focus on, also keeping in mind that it is not THE only activity you could be focusing on. What is important is the object of the activity and the tools people use in common to accomplish the activity.
Hope this helps some.
Elizabeth
Engestrom, Yrgo. Learning By Expanding: An Activity-Theoretical Approach To Developmental Research. Helsinki: Orienta-Konsultit, 1987.
Cole, Michael. Cultural Psychology. Harvard University Press, 1996.
Witte, Stephen. Literate Communication Within Professional Work Activity: Toward An Activity Theoretic Perspective On Expertise, Unit Of Analysis, And Methodology In Advanced Workplaces. CRWL Technical Report. Kent, OH: Kent State University, Center for Research on Workplace Literacy, 1998.
Witte, Stephen. The Advanced Workplace Ensemble (AWE): An Introduction to a Unit of Analysis for Studying Literacy in Advanced or Professional Workplaces.
Russell, David. Looking Beyond the Interface. Forthcoming.
Prior, Paul. Writing/Disciplinarity: A Sociohistoric Account of Literate Activity in the Academy. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1998.
Hasu, Mervi and Yrgo Engestrom. Measurement In Action: An Activity-Theoretical Perspective On Producer-User Interaction. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 53, 2000. 61-89.
Decortis, Francoise; Samuel Noirfalise and Berthe Saudelli. Activity Theory, Cognitive Ergonomics And Distributed Cognition: Three Views Of A Transport Company. International Journal of Human-Computer Studies, 53, 2000. 5-33.
Cole, Michael and Yrgo Engeström. A Cultural-Historical Approach To Distributed Cognition. In G. Salomon (Ed.) Distributed Cognitions: Psychological And Educational Considerations. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 1-46.
At 02:26 PM 10/2/2001 -0400, you wrote:
Hello.
This is Mark Crane from your former place of education. We have a problem that we are too embarassed to ask about.
Various individuals who remain nameless start playing with activity theory around here. At some point they start designing a study, and start asking the question,
"So what's the unit of activity? The student text? The classroom? The Department?"
After about three days of this they start badmouthing AT and just steal key terms and use them out of context.
So, my question is, how would you answer the above question about context? Given that you are closer to Mecca than we are, we thought you could help us out here.
Tuesday, October 9
A Cautionary Tale for a New Age of Surveillance "The technology here is geared up to terrorism," Parsons told me. "The fact that we're getting ordinary people -- burglars stealing cars -- as a result of it is sort of a bonus."
Have you caught any terrorists? I asked. "No, not using this technology, no," he replied.
Have you caught any terrorists? I asked. "No, not using this technology, no," he replied.
Monday, October 8
LILEKS (James) The Bleat Here’s a definition of the times in which we find ourselves: a jet gets blown up by an errant rocket, a Florida man comes down with anthrax, the Afghan refugee camps are swept by an Ebola-style bleed-from-all-available-exits disease, and it’s not necessarily a big news day. A brisk one, yes, but nothing to get excited about. The sight of the two tall towers coming down set the standard for News. Military action by US forces will be the only thing to really set pulses galloping again.
Biking @ 80 MPH Its interesting that there is no sport body able to successfully promote HPV racing. The technology potential doesn't diminish the athletic acheivement the same way golf does, and its suprising because it gives the manufacturers more crap to sell, which one would assume drives the sport.
... Maybe I've been around the golf industry to long.
... Maybe I've been around the golf industry to long.
Noam Chomsky Most specialists on the region, and in fact, foreign leaders, NATO leaders, have been telling Washington as loudly as they can that if the U.S. carries out a large military attack which very visibly kills a lot of innocent Afghans, that will be an answer to Bin Laden’s prayers. It will be like virtually a recruitment procedure for new people to join his horrendous cause. And if he’s killed, even more so, he then becomes an martyr. I think that’s probably why Washington has backed off from its early militant rhetoric, it’s been hearing that message. That would not only be a crime in itself but as you said, it would be a way of recruiting others who want to take revenge for the crime. That’s just what the terrorists want. They would react the same way many people here reacted to the bombing of the World Trade Center. They want revenge. If we want to be serious about it, we have to choose a course of action which will not escalate the cycle of violence and play into the hands of the terrorist groups.
Noam Chomsky ??
Noam Chomsky: Personally I don’t think and have never thought that we should discontinue support of Israel. I am very critical of their policy towards Israel but that’s in part because I think it’s very harmful to the people of Israel. It happens to support the government, but it’s harmful to the people in my opinion. What we should do, I think, is join what has been a very broad international consensus for about 25 years now, which calls for a two state settlement on the internationally recognized borders (that means pre-June 1967) in recognizing the rights and guaranteeing the security of all states in the region including Israel and a Palestinian state. That has been the overwhelming position of the entire world for 25 years. In fact, the resolution to that effect was vetoed by the United States at the Security Council 25 years ago and Washington has been blocking similar initiatives ever since, still is. I don’t think that that is moral or wise.
Noam Chomsky: Personally I don’t think and have never thought that we should discontinue support of Israel. I am very critical of their policy towards Israel but that’s in part because I think it’s very harmful to the people of Israel. It happens to support the government, but it’s harmful to the people in my opinion. What we should do, I think, is join what has been a very broad international consensus for about 25 years now, which calls for a two state settlement on the internationally recognized borders (that means pre-June 1967) in recognizing the rights and guaranteeing the security of all states in the region including Israel and a Palestinian state. That has been the overwhelming position of the entire world for 25 years. In fact, the resolution to that effect was vetoed by the United States at the Security Council 25 years ago and Washington has been blocking similar initiatives ever since, still is. I don’t think that that is moral or wise.
So do Bob Dylan's lyrics even apply any more?
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks
You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain
You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins
How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul
And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead
Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
13 Labs You know,
. . . and pardon me if I'm stating the obvious here. But I just took a moment to reassess all the information I've been aborbing up to and through this morning from a wide range of sources--sources as disparate as msnbc, zmag, the tribune, the nation, cnn, harpers, npr, salon and on and on . . .
. . . as I check all that against what I know of history, namely, the inception of past global conflicts, I have to say, really, that we're on the threshold of a third world war here. I think this may be it. I hope I'm wrong.
posted by Musashi, Miyamoto ; Killer of men 11:33 AM link
. . . and pardon me if I'm stating the obvious here. But I just took a moment to reassess all the information I've been aborbing up to and through this morning from a wide range of sources--sources as disparate as msnbc, zmag, the tribune, the nation, cnn, harpers, npr, salon and on and on . . .
. . . as I check all that against what I know of history, namely, the inception of past global conflicts, I have to say, really, that we're on the threshold of a third world war here. I think this may be it. I hope I'm wrong.
posted by Musashi, Miyamoto ; Killer of men 11:33 AM link
Saturday, October 6
Custom bumper stickers you design online! - MakeStickers.com
The internet has just reached its full potential.
The internet has just reached its full potential.
Wednesday, October 3
ZOOLANDER / * (PG-13) There have been articles lately asking why the United States is so hated in some parts of the world. As this week's Exhibit A from Hollywood, I offer "Zoolander," a comedy about a plot to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia because of his opposition to child labor. You might want to read that sentence twice. The logic: Child labor is necessary to the economic health of the fashion industry, and so its opponents must be eliminated. Ben Stiller stars as Derek Zoolander, a moronic male model who is brainwashed to perform the murder.
Tensions Stagger Mideast Startups "The (situation) is a depressant," Hecker said. "Every day there are several shootings on the roads, prevented suicide attacks, mortars fired in Gaza. Those are normal days.... It paralyzes you. It's difficult to care about defining (Omnisky's) location-based instant messaging services when there are bombs exploding down the street."
Slashdot | Managing Mailing Lists If we take mailing list technology as a given, there are still some pieces of advice that I think are required for anyone running a mailing list:
- Always moderate your mailing list. There are too many e-mail worms and other nasty crap that happens via e-mail these days. It's possible to infect hundreds of people instantaneously via an unmoderated mailing list. This stuff can be caught if a human reads every submission.
- Moderate daily. People hate seeing their messages sit in queue for too long.
- Moderate mistakes. One-line "I agree" posts, "fuck you" posts, posts that clearly were not intended for the list, and empty posts should never go to the list.
- Resist the urge to limit discussion. If someone has an opinion that you disagree with, this is exactly the sort of thing that you want to see on your list. Most moderators make the mistake (as they do on Slashdot) that because they disagree with the poster's opinion, it shouldn't be seen by anyone. A healthy disagreement is critical to the survival of any online forum.
- Always moderate your mailing list. There are too many e-mail worms and other nasty crap that happens via e-mail these days. It's possible to infect hundreds of people instantaneously via an unmoderated mailing list. This stuff can be caught if a human reads every submission.
- Moderate daily. People hate seeing their messages sit in queue for too long.
- Moderate mistakes. One-line "I agree" posts, "fuck you" posts, posts that clearly were not intended for the list, and empty posts should never go to the list.
- Resist the urge to limit discussion. If someone has an opinion that you disagree with, this is exactly the sort of thing that you want to see on your list. Most moderators make the mistake (as they do on Slashdot) that because they disagree with the poster's opinion, it shouldn't be seen by anyone. A healthy disagreement is critical to the survival of any online forum.
Economist.com Until now, size and production cost were the main obstacles that stopped companies from embedding identification chips in everyday items. But Hitachi has managed to create an integrated circuit that is not only tiny but cheap. The company expects a single chip to cost less than ¥20 (16 cents). Originally, the chip was built in an attempt to foil counterfeiters. It is small and thin enough to be woven into paper, and folding does not harm it. In combination with a bar-code reader, the chips can prove the authenticity of money or official documents, thwarting counterfeiters before they have even begun.
digitalMass at Boston.comElm Square has designed touchscreens with simple graphics and bold colors (to replace ancient machines that had 200 buttons with menu items scrawled in tiny print) networked to kitchen computer screens that can translate orders into Spanish or German. Portuguese is on the way. The new computers require fewer key strokes for every sale, and they show how to make change, with pictures of dollar bills and coins. A Web system lets Shapiro monitor the store remotely, so he can track sales hour by hour, check staffing and customer waiting time, and communicate with managers. Self-service ordering for customers is just around the corner.
Tuesday, October 2
Here's my blurb on Alias I've been playing with since I saw it:
'Imagine the hair of "Run, Lola Run", the teeth torture of "Marathon Man," the butt-kicking female agent of "La Femme Nikita" and some heavy John Wu influence. Now add the subplots and soundtrack from Felicity. And wrap the whole thing inside a Nokia commercial.'
They're going to make a bazillion dollars. Not to lose my street cred here (like I have any) but it was pretty durn violent for network teevee. It's a good thing they pulled those teeth out of the back so she'd still look good later in the show. My wife *hated* this show. She said something like, "We just saw people falling out of exploding buildings. I don't need this right now."
I felt kind of worked over after seeing it.
'Imagine the hair of "Run, Lola Run", the teeth torture of "Marathon Man," the butt-kicking female agent of "La Femme Nikita" and some heavy John Wu influence. Now add the subplots and soundtrack from Felicity. And wrap the whole thing inside a Nokia commercial.'
They're going to make a bazillion dollars. Not to lose my street cred here (like I have any) but it was pretty durn violent for network teevee. It's a good thing they pulled those teeth out of the back so she'd still look good later in the show. My wife *hated* this show. She said something like, "We just saw people falling out of exploding buildings. I don't need this right now."
I felt kind of worked over after seeing it.
Business 2.0 - Web Article - The Peter Drucker Interview -- Unabridged Why are so many management thinkers also consultants?
Fifty-five years ago, I said no to the Harvard Business School. One of the main reasons was the then-dean laid down the rule that faculty could only have one day a week consulting. He had a problem with faculty spending more time off campus. To me, management is a practice, and a practitioner needs a practice. I look at my consulting practice as my laboratory. Before World War II, there were almost no graduate schools of business. There were only schools of commerce. And now there are more than 600. And it grew so fast that faculties now have almost no practical experience. Now that this rapid explosion is flattening out, I hope they will learn that they should have consulting services just as in medical school, where you can bring the patient into the classroom. You can't do that in management school, so you have to go out and get your practical experience as a consultant.
Fifty-five years ago, I said no to the Harvard Business School. One of the main reasons was the then-dean laid down the rule that faculty could only have one day a week consulting. He had a problem with faculty spending more time off campus. To me, management is a practice, and a practitioner needs a practice. I look at my consulting practice as my laboratory. Before World War II, there were almost no graduate schools of business. There were only schools of commerce. And now there are more than 600. And it grew so fast that faculties now have almost no practical experience. Now that this rapid explosion is flattening out, I hope they will learn that they should have consulting services just as in medical school, where you can bring the patient into the classroom. You can't do that in management school, so you have to go out and get your practical experience as a consultant.
Business 2.0 - Web Article - The Peter Drucker Interview -- Unabridged You know what the Internet is? Not a few days goes by when on my e-mail there is not a letter from a student someplace in the world asking me to write their paper for them. It usually says, "Dear professor," or, "Mr. Drucker: On Monday morning I have to hand in a paper on management. Will you please be good enough to send me immediately what I should be writing about?" Most of these letters do not tell me where they come from. They come in all languages. I throw them in the wastepaper basket and that's it. And the kids know that. But what is the risk? It doesn't cost anything.
news.telegraph.co.uk - I was one of the Taliban's torturers: I crucified people "At first, Mr Hassani's job was to patrol the streets at night looking for thieves and signs of subversion. However, as the Taliban leadership began issuing more and more extreme edicts, his duties changed.
Instead of just searching for criminals, the night patrols were instructed to seek out people watching videos, playing cards or, bizarrely, keeping caged birds. Men without long enough beards were to be arrested, as was any woman who dared venture outside her house. Even owning a kite became a criminal offence."
I wonder if full encryption is allowed in Afghanistan? I wonder what they could do with face-recognition technology?
Instead of just searching for criminals, the night patrols were instructed to seek out people watching videos, playing cards or, bizarrely, keeping caged birds. Men without long enough beards were to be arrested, as was any woman who dared venture outside her house. Even owning a kite became a criminal offence."
I wonder if full encryption is allowed in Afghanistan? I wonder what they could do with face-recognition technology?
Monday, October 1
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