complexity, metaphors and tools
preludes & summaries
- a discussion of preludes and summaries
- complexity often more easily understood in reverse
- importance of metaphor, problems with binary 'is/not'
- using 'is' to mean a metaphor → rewording the 'is' of perception
- technology is Promethian → invokation of Epimetheus, brother of prometheus (hindsight, afterthought, foolishness)
summary
- computers are performance machines built out of metaphor
- metaphors direct our creative practice, (eg. git tree, file system, copy/paste, pipes)
- document or application centric views may be problematic. suggestions; more metaphors, assemblages, components, autopoetic pseudo-objects
- we can see the tools we use as extensions of ourselves (literally) as collaborators, contrarians, etc.
- complexity emerges out of interaction and assumptions
- importance of looking backward as well as forward
- from mute systems → conversational systems
- find ways to make context more apparent. material, ephemera and objects.
3 stage exercise
- image selection. “what tool is this?” and “how can this tool work with other tools?”
- groups ~5. explain each tool in circle, explain how they can work together, single shared metaphor
- group of representatives of each group. repeat with shared metaphors and feedback/iteration questions
introduction
questions?
misc.
- embodied tools
- tools as mechanisms for thought > process
- tools as collaborator rather than instrument
- reflexive use of tools
- requirement / necesity for 'friction'
context
- design as problems of collision (rather than problem solving or 'conflict resolution)
- collision of source materials → versioning & conflict resolution
- collisoin “resolve” or “make interesting”
- heterogeneous systems → unix pipes metaphor
- role of metaphor adoption from print → computing, computing → computing, etc
- 'forgotten' or mistranslated metaphors
- representation of 'the page' in software → where else
- ideology vs. pragmatism → FLOSS positioning/purity/debate
questions / problems
- context → how to make more apparent/accesible
- metaphors in use - print/design → computing / unix → design
- what new mataphors? 'forgotten' or lost in translation?
- tangible systems → (qfwfq/metaphor)
- connecting incompatible or partially compatible parts → friction
- toola as collaborators → conversational interaction models
- how to 'sketch' tools → prototyping / accupuncture / pollination
- document formats → programmes → VB Macro virus in Word → 'generative' documents
frictions
- e.g. pipes → API → ORB
- historic examples / other paths → e.g. symbolics concordia, metafont, etc
refs and misdirdections
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimetheus_(mythology)
- burroughs/gysin - 3rd mind
- dream machines (“a minority report”) - ted nelson
- agrippa → book