Vacuum - Edward Vielmetti in Ann Arbor, Michigan 48104

Cognition in the Wild, Edwin Hutchins

Cognition in the Wild by Edwin Hutchins (full text Cognet pdf, free on some campuses, from MIT):

Edwin Hutchins combines his background as an anthropologist and an open-ocean racing sailor and navigator in this account of how anthropological methods can be combined with cognitive theory to produce a new reading of cognitive science. His theoretical insights are grounded in an extended analysis of ship navigation - its computational basis, its historical roots, its social organization, and the details of its implementation in actual practice aboard large ships. The result is an unusual interdisciplinary approach to cognition in culturally constituted activities outside the laboratory - "in the wild". Hutchins examines a set of phenomena that have fallen between the established disciplines of psychology and anthropology, bringing to light a new set of relationships between culture and cognition. The standard view is that culture affects the cognition of individuals. Hutchins argues instead that cultural activity systems have cognitive properties of their own that differ from the cognitive properties of the individuals who participate in them.

The Librarything tag cloud for this book right now says

anthropology(1) cog psych(1) Cognition(2) cognitive science(3) distributed cognition(1) ethnographic(1) interaction(1) learning(1) natural history(1) navagation(1) organisational learning(1) psychology(1)

Hutchins article on Distributed Cognition in an Airline Cockpit has a good detailed example of this approach in use:

The excerpt of cockpit activity presented above is only approximately one
and a half minutes in duration, yet it is very rich. It contains within it
illustrations of many of the central concepts of a theory of distributed cognition.
We will present and discuss these concepts by going through the elements of the
example in chronological order and noting what the events in this example tell
us about the nature of this particular system and about systems of distributed
cognition in general

Note taking as an art of transmission (Ann Blair)

Noted from Ann Blair's article of the same name in Critical Inquiry: Arts of Transmision

As the reader heaped historica under topical headings in a notebook, he or she accumulated material from which to write. Young, student readers were encouraged to take notes with no specific purpose. Older, savvier readers and authors tended to take notes targeted to specific projects. 42 Thus the only notebooks of Pierre Bayle's that survive date from before he started publishing; after that Bayle is presumed to have taken notes that were directly integrated into a text for publication--possibly by cutting and pasting them into a text for the printer, or by marking them up directly for publication, as he did with letters he received from which he wanted to quote. 43 A notebook well stocked in examples targeted to the topic of a book can explain the copiousness of many an Early Modern text. Bodin's Six Books of a Commonweale accumulates examples in such abundance that his argumentative points are at times obscured; in his Theatrum Bodin considers different aspects of a question in separate places and offers explanations that contradict one another without realizing the tensions within his abundant material. 44 It is likely that Bodin had followed his own advice on how to take notes on history and had accumulated this material under topical headings along with cursory moral judgments (good and bad, useful and useless behaviors). 45 The copiousness of Montaigne's Essays is similarly due to the numerous examples he strings together; in successive revisions Montaigne typically added more examples without removing any. Montaigne's choices of theme and example often seem startling and strikingly original, but his working method is not fundamentally different from Bodin's. As Francis Goyet has shown, Montaigne has assigned his examples to topical headings very thoughtfully, often revising the assignments in a later reading. 46 A few of Montaigne's examples have been convincingly traced to a printed collection of exempla, Theodor Zwinger's Theatrum humanae vitae, and many of them were available from more than one source to which he would have had access. 47 But commonplace note taking does not imply a commonplace product; Montaigne has certainly avoided the trite and oft-repeated, both in his choice of examples and in his use of them, precisely as Drexel recommended.

There's more from Ann Blair on note taking in Humanist Methods in Natural Philosophy: The Commonplace Book (JSTOR) from the Journal of the History of Ideas.

And more!

Blair, Ann 1961- "Reading Strategies for Coping With Information Overload ca.1550-1700"
Journal of the History of Ideas - Volume 64, Number 1, January 2003, pp. 11-28
University of Pennsylvania Press

Abstract

This article surveys some of the ways in which early modern scholars responded to what they perceived as an overabundance of books. In addition to owning more books and applying selective judgment as well as renewed diligence to their reading and note-taking, scholars devised shortcuts, sometimes based on medieval antecedents. These shortcuts included the use of the alphabetical index, whether printed or handmade, to read a book in parts, and the use of reference books, amanuenses, abbreviations, or the cutting and pasting from printed or manuscript sources to save time and effort in note-taking.

Technorati Tags: notetaking

alternate bouts of intense labor and of idleness

From The Summer Next Time By TOM LUTZ Published: September 4, 2006 in the New York Times

Left to our own devices, we seldom organize our time with 8-to-5 discipline. The pre-industrial world of agricultural and artisan labor was structured by what the historian E. P. Thompson calls “alternate bouts of intense labor and of idleness wherever men were in control of their working lives.” Agricultural work was seasonal, interrupted by rain, forced into hyperactivity by the threat of rain, and determined by other uncontrollable natural processes. The force of long cultural habit ensured that the change from such discontinuous tasks to the regimented labor of the factory never went particularly smoothly.

In 1877 a New York cigar manufacturer grumbled that his cigar makers could never be counted on to do a straight shift’s work. They would “come down to the shop in the morning, roll a few cigars,” he complained to The New York Herald, “and then go to a beer saloon and play pinochle or some other game.” The workers would return when they pleased, roll a few more cigars, and then revisit the saloon, all told “working probably two or three hours a day.” Cigar makers in Milwaukee went on strike in 1882 simply to preserve their right to leave the shop at any time without their foreman’s permission.

Tom Lutz is the author of “Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers and Bums in America.” Here's a review of Doing Nothing in Portico, written by R J Keefe:

Nowhere is this paradox more concisely expressed that in the author's picture of his own daily life. As a teacher and a writer, he does not have to spend long hours in a workplace. He has a few classes a day, perhaps a few meetings a week, and he can write wherever he feels like writing. His time is, for the most part, his own. That he spends it largely on the comprehensive research engaged in by today's cultural critics does not, somehow, mean that he is working all the time. How can watching Office Space be "working"? Writing is difficult certainly, but it can be free, as when I'm thinking about what I'm trying to say, or wondering where I'm going to go with something, or it can be bound, as when I reflect that I have got to have something to publish tomorrow. On the best days, writing just flows out of me in a gentle but steady current. Is that work? It certainly doesn't feel like work. On other days, writing is nothing but work - and the worst thing about it is that I often have to discard what I've worked so hard on because the work shows. Happily, the nothing-but-work days are very rare.

Technorati Tags: work, leisure, idleness, gtd

Kerrytown BookFest, September 10, 2006, Ann Arbor MI

Kerrytown BookFest is Sunday September 10, 2006 in Ann Arbor, MI. Featured event is the Grand Conclave of the Miniature Book Society, celebrating books no bigger than 3"x3".

Full press release after the jump. Thanks to Bill Castanier for forwarding it along.

Security and software for cybercafes: call for chapters

as seen on ciresearchers:

CALL FOR CHAPTERS
Proposals Submission Deadline: 10/1/2006
Full Chapters Due: 1/31/2007

Security and Software for Cybercafes
A book edited by Dr. Esharenana E. Adomi, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria

Introduction
Cybercafes, which are places where Internet access is provided for a fee, provide the opportunity for people without access to the Internet, or who are traveling, to access web mail and instant messages, read newspapers and explore other resources of the Net. Due to the important role Internet cafes play in facilitating access to information, there is a need for their systems to have well-installed software in order to ensure smooth service delivery. A good understanding of security measures and software requirements is a sine qua non for efficient management of cybercafes.

The Overall Objective of the Book
In the field of information science, technology and management, there is dire need for an edited collection of articles in this area. The intent of the book is to provide relevant theoretical frameworks and current empirical research findings in the area. The book will be aimed toward professionals, scholars, researchers and teachers of information technology who want to improve their knowledge and understanding of security management and software requirements of cybercafes, both in industrialized and developing countries.

The Target Audience
The audience of the book will consist of professionals, scholars and researchers working in the field of information science, education, technology and management, as well as related disciplines. The text is also intended for all library and information sciences users. The book will particularly provide those working in cybercafes/cybercafe operators with insight into how to control the risks related to cybercafe networks.

Recommended topics includes, but are not limited to, the following:
# Cybercafe systems security
# Viruses and virus protection in cybercafes
# Network security devices
# Software requirements
# Cybercafe management software
# Information and security policies
# Cyber laws and cybercafes
# Government control of cybercafes
# Research in cybercafe security and software
# Cybercafes cybercrime, detection and prevention
# Case study on any of the topics

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE
Researchers and professionals are invited to submit on or before October 1, 2006 a 2-5 page manuscript proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of the proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by November 1, 2006 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter organizational guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by January 31, 2007. All submitted chapters, will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. The book is scheduled to be published by Idea Group, Inc., www.idea-group.com, publisher of the Idea Group Publishing, Information Science Publishing, IRM Press, CyberTech Publishing and Idea Group Reference imprints.

Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to:

Dr. Esharenana E. Adomi
Department of Library and Information Science
Delta State University
Abraka, Nigeria
Tel: +234 802 (0) 842 9087
E-mail: esharenana.adomi@gmail.com

(add this to the "information security" category)

Technorati Tags: cybercafe, infosec

Links for August 2, 2006

Inbox is down to 26, in part because I'm blogging it here while I look at it.

The Midwest ISO has declared an Energy Emergency Alert level 2 for the afternoon. Power pricing map for the region (requires SVG) shows how congested the grid is.

Marshall Poe interview in the Atlantic Online on the marvels and pitfalls of Wikipedia.

Doctored orange juice from Everfresh / Home Juice in Detroit, a story of father vs. son. (via Metro Times)

The Michigan Ohio CHI group (MOCHI) has a blog. including a report from CHI 2006 on tagging and folksonomy.

Tuesday was an Ozone Action Day. Don't fill your car with gas during the day, and don't mow the lawn (as if that's a high priority when it's 95 in the shade). National maps from Airnow (EPA).

There was a 3 foot by 3 foot Federal Depository Library logo graffiti stenciled to the side of the State Theater in Ann Arbor visible during Art Fair; it's gone now. (via GOVDOC-L, and MSHS '87 grad Noa Kaumeheiwa)

Google Book Search made some small changes to their page layout and URL structure,
and now you can link to books there by ISBN. I fixed the Google Books Linky on superpatron.
(thanks to Laura Pope-Robbins from Dowling College, who noted that you just need to
change @class='title' to @class='btitle' in the source).

Beinhocker's "Origin of Wealth" suggests wealth creation is
a function of a three step process, or so says the review (tracking
down a copy now): 1. Differentiate. 2. Select. 3. Amplify. (4. Profit!!!) (via value-networks)

Untapped niche: translate Japanese productivity books for the American GTD market.

UC Berkeley is putting an Internet and Communications Technology for Development
graduate certificate program into their new School of Information curriculum. (Noted by Steve
Jackson)

Play Money: Or, How I Quit My Day Job and Made Millions Trading Virtual Loot by Julian Dibbell has been ordered for the Ann Arbor District Library collection. Cataloged under "Internet addiction - economic aspects". (I love it when the library orders my suggestions)

The Askwith Media Library at the U of Michigan has over 25,000 titles in closed stacks of DVDs, CDs, video tapes, 16mm film, and laserdiscs. The core collection of what is now the Askwith Media Library was established in 1939 as the University Extension Division’s “Visual Education Bureau”. (thanks Jake)

The Socrates Cafe meeting for this month is going to be on Thursday, Aug 31st, 7.00PM -8.30PM, at the main Branch of the AADL at the Freespace, which is located on the 3rd Floor. The Socrates cafe is based on the concept of asking Socratic questions, and is affiliated with the Society for Philosophical Inquiry, started by Christopher Phillips, author of the book "Socrates Cafe". (thanks Sid)

Clickstream heat maps show how Ajax and new web technologies are changing user browser and focus behavior. (via Web Site Optimization and Andy King) And eye tracking and thermals show user behavior at a variety of ages on SirsiDynix designed pages (via Stephen Abram and WILS World)

Pew report on blogging - surprise, surprise, most users report on personal experiences, not politics. (thanks Stephen Abram)

Chad Vader, Day Shift Manager, filmed on location at the Willy Street Coop in Madison, WI. (via Boing Boing)

You Gotta Teach This Essay! weblog

A group blog that came out of the 2006 AWP conference, You Gotta Teach This Essay is a resource for teaching the art and craft of literary nonfiction writing. It's also a great series of stories with capsule reviews. Some recent listings include:

• John McPhee's "The Search for Marvin Gardens", found in his book
  "Pieces of the Frame" (John McPhee)
• Reg Saner's "The Road's Motion" road essay
• Gregory Martin's "Macular Degeneration"
• Adam Gopnik's "Bumping into Mr. Ravioli"
• Phil Gerard's "What they don't teach you about hurricanes"

Another good resource along this theme is Creative Nonfiction, "The journal devoted exclusively to the creative nonfiction genre".

The Great Good Place, by Henry James

Even in 1900, the telegraph and the printing press could contribute to a sense of overwhelming information overload and perpetual busyness. Here's the start of a Henry James short story. What would George Dane have done with a network connection?

The Great Good Place, by Henry James:

George Dane had opened his eyes to a bright new day, the face of nature well washed by last night's downpour and shining as with high spirits, good resolutions, lively intentions--the great glare of recommencement in short fixed in his patch of sky. He had sat up late to finish work--arrears overwhelming, then at last had gone to bed with the pile but little reduced. He was now to return to it after the pause of the night; but he could only look at it, for the time, over the bristling hedge of letters planted by the early postman an hour before and already, on the customary table by the chimney-piece, formally rounded and squared by his systematic servant. It was something too merciless, the domestic perfection of Brown. There were newspapers on another table, ranged with the same rigour of custom, newspapers too many--what could any creature want of so much news?--and each with its hand on the neck of the other, so that the row of their bodiless heads was like a series of decapitations. Other journals, other periodicals of every sort, folded and in wrappers, made a huddled mound that had been growing for several days and of which he had been wearily, helplessly aware. There were new books, also in wrappers as well as disenveloped and dropped again--books from (226) publishers, books from authors, books from friends, books from enemies, books from his own bookseller, who took, it sometimes struck him, inconceivable things for granted. He touched nothing, approached nothing, only turned a heavy eye over the work, as it were, of the night--the fact, in his high wide-windowed room, where duty shed its hard light into every corner, of the still unashamed admonitions. It was the old rising tide, and it rose and rose even under a minute's watching. It had been up to his shoulders last night--it was up to his chin now.

I came across this short story while listening to the Adam Gopnik "Bumping into Mr. Ravioli" piece on Assistive Media.

New books sidebar powered by LibraryThing

I've added a new sidebar to this blog (for you RSS-only readers out there). It tracks the most recent additions to my collection at LibraryThing. It might be a little bit random for a while, because some number of books are being added from shelves and boxes and they aren't all "new" in any real sense yet.

CrazyBusy: Overstretched, overbooked, and about to snap! Edward Hallowell

"strategies for coping in a world gone ADD"

Some quick notes - I checked it out of the library when I saw it on the new books shelf, sat down, read it, ignored my blackberry, tried to focus on it but also read very fast to get the idea.

More from the book's web site, "Crazy Busy Life".

The book is in two parts. The first half is a series of anecdotes about how the world has gone mad with fragmented attention spans, so that people have environmentally-induced ADD. The second half is self-help on coping with that world, and a few really neat exercises to improve your concentration.

There's a number-matching game done with pencil and paper that really deserves to be turned into a computer game. And there are lots and lots of lists of things you should do to be a better, more focused person, which I didn't quite find that I had enough time to focus on.

Hallowell has a very interesting, almost throwaway comment in at the end of the book on blogs and the Internet, after going through a series of tirades about how "screensucking" time is awful:

Blogs could become one of the most powerful problem-solving devices ever invented. Through the creative use of blogs, all the talking heads and consultants we've grown so accustomed to could give way to the collective wisdom of millions of thinking heads, all brought forth in seconds.

Would that it were so.

He has invented a couple of fun words which I won't define but that should serve to mark this posting - gemmelsmerch, blather, C-state and F-state, doomdarts, EMV (e-mail voice), frazzing, gigaguilt, gush, leeches and lilies, OHIO, pizzled, taildogging, and a few more. Does psychiatry of a certain school give you carte blanche to invent words?

Popularity index: at the moment, four people have this book cataloged at LibraryThing.

Technorati Tags: books, crazybusy, gemmelsmerch, listing, reviews