Ok. Suppose that we are going to create a collaboratorium
and we are going to support the creation of this effort.
Part of this effort is a technical one to have basic
tools. Part of this is social one which identifies specific
methodolocgies and processes. (01)
I wonder we can take our unformed group and find a way to take
our random writings and turn them into a more effective
collaboratorium. (02)
One way to do this is to crank up the heat on things by having
papers , articles with deadlines and reviews. (03)
So... What social processes do you put in place that enable
this development? (04)
Jack Park <jackpark@gmail.com> writes: (05)
% So, now Henry has done a masterful job of detailing a "day in the
% life" of a participant in some imagined DKR. His very thoughtful post
% opens the doors to discussions which, I think, Yak is all about. How
% best to build a collaboratorium...
%
% My suggestion, and the suggestions of others, that Henry consider
% Fleabyte as a blog, make sense. But, my interpretation of my read of
% what Henry appears to *really* be looking for is probably not a blog
% at all, but, rather, a collaboratorium. This gets awfully close to the
% heart of TopicSpaces (twisting hat slightly around, but not fully).
%
% TopicSpaces has in mind the notion that there needs to be a way to
% *federate*, not aggregate (read: aggravate) blogs. I say that with a
% rather strong sense of what I mean, but i'm not sure I convey it well,
% so here's a sketch. I strongly feel that Fleabyte, as it historically
% appears, is a great blog. I suspect Henry wants Fleabyte to morph into
% a collaborative (kindof) blog, with, perhaps, a central editorial
% sense, and contributions by several authors. I would thus morph that
% desire into a collaboration of individual blogs, with a kindof central
% summarizer/topic map. When we aggregate blogs, we collect their
% syndications. That's pretty much it. Sometimes, those syndications get
% categorized, like, by author, time, maybe even subject (whatever that
% is).
%
% I would argue that there is merit in some arguments that the RDF
% folks, the RSS syndicators et al., have somehow managed to ignore the
% notion of *subject identity*. I'll be quick to point out that they
% seem to, these days, be coming to that realization; some papers within
% the RDF camps are talking about PSIs (published subject indicators --
% usually URIs of one sort or another, which, if used properly, rely in
% everybody anchoring their "subjects" with those URIs -- a kind of
% ontological commitment that many people are not ready to make). My
% argument is that there is little sense in aggregating without paying
% attention to subject identity. Once you pay attention to subject
% identity, you just entered the domain of topic maps, so why not topic
% map the blogosphere instead of aggregating it? It's a kind of
% aggravation (maybe a word that includes "google" in it) when you go to
% some site to find out something about a particular subject and what
% you get is a bazillion hits, all somewhat unfiltered -- sortof like
% classic google. It's to the credit of the search universe that search
% engines are beginning to cluster results and paint topic map-like
% results.
%
% Bernard Vatant, one of the contributors to the book _XML Topic Maps_
% (his chapter dealt with PSIs), has started a multi-author blog on
% precisely the subject of "subject identity". You can read it at
% http://universimmedia.blogspot.com/ . Murray and I are among the
% contributors. Subject identity is an enormous inquiry.
%
% Back to Fleabyte.
%
% Given Henry's comments below, and from earlier comments in this and
% other venues, I'm beginning to think that a solution to Henry's quest
% lies more in a collaboratorium, which I would describe as a
% *federation* of blogs. Henry argues for a central authority (probably
% the wrong word to use here), one that is fundable -- perhaps a
% foundation -- which can thus sustain the editorial policies he and
% collaborators would advocate, and which can thus satisfy Henry's quest
% to keep the Fleabyte inquiry alive after Henry retires.
%
% Just a bit of a recap on TopicSpaces. That's the catchy name I
% invented after Sam Hunting badgered me into collaborating with him on
% a project for Tom Munnecke's GivingSpace efforts, as funded through
% the Omidyars. We coupled my tuplespace (TupleSpace4J) with Sam's
% (python) topic map engine and crafted a GIS topic map of villages in
% Africa. Click on certain villages and you were taken to a topic in a
% topic map that served as a collection of all that was then knowable
% about that village (the context being blog entries about that
% village). That project opened the door to the notion that we could use
% a *coordination language* (the simple programming language used for
% tuplespaces) as a means to coordinate a collection of local and remote
% agents which harvest information and send that information in to be
% federated into a central topic map. That's TopicSpaces. How does that
% apply to Henry's quest? I believe it is possible to have local and
% remote weblogs busy serving the needs of some community (e.g.
% Fleabyte), which ship information back to a host collaboratorium where
% a topic map engine is busy federating that content into a larger
% presentation. By application of a variety of important technologies,
% like augmented social networks, it should be possible to create an
% extensible, evolvable, scalable worldwide community of individuals of
% the kind Henry seeks.
%
% Or not.
% Jack
%
%
% On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 16:57:38 -0500, Henry K van Eyken
% <vaneyken@sympatico.ca> wrote:
% > Well, Jack, you provided me with a nice opportunity to dig a little
% > deeper into what I believe Fleabyte ought be capable of doing. Warning:
% > not for hasty reading; needs contemplation leading to solutions.
% >
% > In steps, kind of:
% >
% > 1. I encounter an article that I believe is not merely interesting but
% > of great importance for the voting public at large. (Ruddiman, "How did
% > humans first alter global climate?" Sc. Am., March, 2005). I then refer
% > to the paper in a short story to relate it to the essence of what I
% > believe people and their representatives ought be aware of. In this case
% > there are two such "themes" I want to single out neither one relating
% > to the title of the article):
% >
% > 1a. (Quote): In these kinds of hotly contested topics [global warming]
% > that touch on public policy, scientific results are often used for
% > opposing ends. Global warming skeptics could cite my work as evidence
% > that human generated greenhouse gases played a beneficial role [without
% > them we would already have entered an ice age] by keeping the earth's
% > climate more hospitable than it would otherwise have been. Others might
% > counter that if so few humans with relatively primitive technologies
% > were able to alter the course of climate so significantly, then we have
% > reason to be concerned about the current irse of greenhouse gases to
% > unparalleled concentrations at unprecedented rates.
% >
% > 1b. A diagram showing what Ruddiman believes is the greenhouse effect of
% > human activities thus far and that the present is already past the
% > center of a hockey sticks curve. It then extrapolates into a further
% > steep rise followed by a rapid drop after fossil fuels are depleted.
% >
% > With item 1b I run into a legal problem. I can't duplicate the artwork
% > because it is copyrighted. Either I obtain permission or I arrange for
% > different artwork for same graph. (Information is not copyrighted.) This
% > involves work and delay.
% >
% > Advantage of Ruddiman having that book in press ("Plows, Plagues, and
% > Petroleum: How Humans Took Control of Climate"), one might expect it to
% > permit a useful review-essay, but then again, the SciAm article may be
% > sufficient. That article, though, is not available in digital form,
% > which keeps it out of a DKR (dynamic knowledge repository) and hence
% > presents a weak link in a network leading to purposefully integrations
% > of "lower level" knowledge. But we do have in digital format pdf,
% > actually) a paper that apparently is the forerunner of the SciAm
% > article. Oops! Now I have a technical problem. I am looking for the
% > title of that paper which I have on my harddrive, but my Linux file
% > browser doesn't show me the first page! So, back to googling the
% > Internet; ah, here it is: "The Anthropogenic Greenhouse Era Began
% > Thousands of Years Ago." OK, recovered from that problem.
% >
% > 2. Now the fun begins. Two problems here:
% > 2a. Ruddiman himself states that his hypothesis is provocative and
% > controversial. This needs to be looked into because that is likely to
% > affect what public policy best be.
% > 2b. The opposing schools of thought need be analysed. What interests are
% > behind them? Should any of these interests be taken to task for, say,
% > putting individuals ahead of the community.
% >
% > 4. Jack's reference to www.realclimate.org/ leads to one major barrier
% > to understanding issues more deeply: a grasp of mathematics. Voters here
% > become sitting ducks. A way need be found around this. In many cases
% > this might be the use of, let's say, highly sophisticated electronic
% > calculators of which the algorithms are "understood" in principle (I
% > should really say "in principle of sorts"). In this case the problem is
% > the very mathematical principle involved that calls for some grasp. The
% > reference deals with that, but it ain't good enough from a journalistic
% > point of view.
% >
% > 5. Things need to be put in layman's terms, written in a manner that
% > attracts interest for that is the only way we can get people to come to
% > understand an "issue" and thereby influence political thinking. In other
% > words we need quality journalism, a writing that is plain and does not
% > distort. Tall order.
% >
% > 6. Next I have that Dutch newspaper article. It is in electronic format
% > so I can shove it straight into the DKR. But here we need some extra
% > capability for the OHS: automated translation without distortion. The
% > article concerns a choice that needs a high degree of
% > scientific/technical understanding PLUS a sense of personal
% > responsibility for the future of one's own kids (so as not to use the
% > word "mankind"): going nuclear (less greenhouse gas) or letting the
% > atmosphere heat up, with all its consequences. Will we trust the experts
% > to decide things for us? The politicians?
% >
% > 7. I mentioned consequences. These include mortal conflicts and, hence,
% > Fleabyte should be concerned with the nature of human morality - a
% > subject involving, again, mathematics, believe it or not.
% >
% > Let me stop here. Fleabyte, to be effective at all, cannot be a simple
% > blog of one person putting his thoughts on the Internet.
% >
% > Enough said for now about matters editorial. Now we have some
% > technological problems to look at:
% > a. The relatively simple one of making magazine production efficient and
% > present a clean face to the world. You have already seen the hassles on
% > this forum.
% > b. The organization of the archives. Clearly, this cannot be a simple
% > listing of articles.
% >
% > I believe that going the route described in the article "A Medium for
% > Global Civics" is the way to go; that in a democratic, be it national or
% > worldwid,e society we have no alternative route. (Or do we?) I also see
% > it as exceedingly difficult to make a go of it.
% >
% > How is this for a 30-sec. elevator speech?
% >
% > Henry
% >
% >
% > On Sat, 2005-02-19 at 13:28, Jack Park wrote:
% > > Actually, Henry, the post was to highlight the power of a good blog,
% > > not so much to enter the climate debate. I have my own opinions on
% > > that, and this isn't the forum for those. But, several people are
% > > using blogs for real work.
% > >
% > > Incidentally, one of my favorite typos: I said the blog was TypePad.
% > > It is *not*. It is *WordPress*, an open source product.
% > >
% > > Jack
% > >
% > >
% > > On Sat, 19 Feb 2005 13:16:53 -0500, Henry K van Eyken
% > > <vaneyken@sympatico.ca> wrote:
% > > > Jack.
% > > >
% > > > Scientific American of February has an article by Ruddiman (who has a
% > > > book in the press called "Plows, Plague and Petroleum" - rings a bell
% > > > somewhere? He hypothisizes that global warming began about 8000 years
% > > > ago due to beginnings of agriculture (CH4 emissions from wetland like
% > > > rice paddies) with also effect beginning about 5000 years ago (CO2 from
% > > > deforestation). Latter effect enhanced in last century, hence the
hockey
% > > > stick graph. His data are based on analyses of ice cores. Without those
% > > > effects we would have followed the temperature pattern consequential to
% > > > solar radiation variations due to changing Earth-Sun geometry. That
% > > > would have already put is in the now still upcoming ice age.
% > > >
% > > > I thought it would be interesting to combine Ruddiman's hypothesis with
% > > > a Dutch newspaper report about politicians reviving notion of stepping
% > > > up nuclear. Given the choice, nuclear or global warming, talk is of
% > > > nuclear being less of these evils. However, nuclear would engender
% > > > resistance in The Neherlands whereas not so in France (different
% > > > populations, hence different attitudes).
% > > >
% > > > Googling for "global warming" brings up as top candidates a sight by
the
% > > > Environmental Protection Agency and a strongly contrasting "consumers
% > > > rights" site.
% > > >
% > > > Mix all this in with what we find on the site you refer to
(RealClimate)
% > > > and we have the beginnings of a heap of material that really takes a
% > > > cooperative effort to turn into a comprehensible digest upon which to
% > > > take a position.
% > > >
% > > > I thought I might do some item on Ruddiman and public attitudes, but it
% > > > is clear I would only add to the noise surrounding a complex issue.
% > > >
% > > > Which makes me wonder about the sanity of going ahead with Fleabyte as
a
% > > > blog, to say nothing of my own sanity.
% > > >
% > > > Well, here is still pondering,
% > > >
% > > > Henry
% > > >
% > > >
% > > > On Sat, 2005-02-19 at 11:48, Jack Park wrote:
% > > > > Here [1] is a really interesting blog, using TypePad. It's a bunch of
% > > > > climate scientists (or appears to be so) doing a useful job of
% > > > > discussing climate issues in light of the scary headlines starting to
% > > > > show up everywhere.
% > > > >
% > > > > Jack
% > > > > [1] http://www.realclimate.org/
% > > >
% > > > --
% > > > This message is archived at:
% > > >
% > > >
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=yak&i=1108837012.3014.20.camel@localhost.localdomain
% > > >
% > > >
% >
% > --
% > This message is archived at:
% >
% >
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=yak&i=1108850258.2800.85.camel@localhost.localdomain
% >
% >
%
% --
% This message is archived at:
%
%
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=yak&i=5179aafa0502201052704a14f@mail.gmail.com
% (06)
-----
John Sechrest . Helping people use
. computers and the Internet
. more effectively
.
. Internet: sechrest@peak.org
.
. http://www.peak.org/~sechrest (07)
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