You are a committed seminarian to post while on new-baby duty, Semi-structured! I agree that the initial reading of Engelbart can be slow — it’s the afterglow and fallout that I think will resonate with you after the cut and paste touchstone settles down. Among the many things I cherish about Engelbart is his vision, evident from the outset, to use computers and networks to help people solve complex problems together. In my mind, this is where the real “augmentation” lies.
LikeLike
yes, yes, yes! Some of us have to wait to read Alan McKay to get the salience of “the computer is an instrument whose music is ideas,” but you are already well on your way. Check this out:
http://www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1/?p=1952
There’s so much here – thanks for this, Ritz Bitz! First of all, I’m eager to hear what you think about Ted Nelson, whose vision for linking shares many of the insights you drew from Engelbart and “track changes.” Ahhhh, “track changes”! What a great illustration of how quantity and time can obscure the meaning of the connections. I’m wondering how this plays out in similar (or maybe not so similar?) ways in shared Google Docs when you look at the version history — it can be quite enlightening, and I’m always intrigued by the visual traces that multi-authored collaborations leave.
LikeLike
Your 4 year old IS awesome! AND I couldn’t agree more with the idea that Engelbart’s genius was to suggest and foresee how networked computing would enable us to interact (with digital environments and each other) in ways that would transform (and yes, augment) the way we think, learn and communicate.
Thanks for this!
Thanks so much for pushing the implications of what we mean by “thinking” and “humanity” in ways that really resonate with your own research and contemporary concerns. There’s always this tension between categories and concepts we assume to be “universal” and the continuum of experience and expression that complicates those concepts. Your research on elective double-eyelid surgery really brings that tension out. Thanks! Can’t wait to read you next post!
Oh I love this post! I had similar responses to the issue of what “thinking” is and what we mean by “human” when I read the excerpt. I feel like these questions — and I love the discussion of the husband who becomes a learning machine in order to become the husband he always wanted to be — highlight how fraught (open?) some of these terms still are — is “humanity” a given, an ideal type, or a condition to which we aspire? Or is it inflected and individuated according to conditions of nature and nurture? Same things with “thinking” — a measure or capacity against which others are deemed worthy or found wanting? (got to go – student in office….)
Shape and disrupt? I’m so grateful for the gravity (emphasis) you place on selected words in your “nuggets.” I’m guessing Semi-Structured (https://semistructuredblog.wordpress.com/2015/02/12/man-and-machine/) and others will find much here that resonates with them as well. Regardless of the equation / question it seems that the relationship is key. The technology / medium / mode / expression shapes and reflects the social and economic (Power) relationships that need transformation.
Oh let’s please talk about this more today! I love how you bridge the gendered norms and assumptions of Bush’s era with the prevailing inequities of today. My other “favorite” snippet from “As We May Think” on this topic: “Such machines will have enormous appetites. One of them will take instructions and data from a whole roomful of girls armed with simple key board punches….”. It’s a good thing we have reminders, such as “When Computers Were Women” and the BBC series “The Bletchley Circle” about the importance of women’s labor and intellect to the founding of modern computing. Also on my list of things to do this semester: finish the readings and activities for the Wikipedia sections of the “Gender, Equity, Access” unit of the Cmooc I took last semester. http://connectedcourses.net/thecourse/diversity-equity-access/
LikeLike
Welcome, Ritz Bitz! We are all grateful for your CS insights, and know I have a new appreciation of that “Hello World” post that comes with every new WordPress blog.
LikeLike
