re: [-empyre-] archiving + preservation] forward from Ken Fields

[Christina McPhee <christina112@earthlink.net>]

this message got bounced by the software  so i am resending,

from Kenneth Fields

christina

Begin forwarded message:



From: Kenneth Fields <ken@ccom.edu.cn>
Date: Fri May 7, 2004  12:15:22 AM US/Pacific
To: soft_skinned_space <empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au>
Cc: DigitalArtOntology <dao-forum@dao.cim3.net>
Subject: Re: [-empyre-] archiving + preservation



Ours as well, but immersion in as many different senses as we could muster.
I think some people want a real-time convo, some want an RSS subscription,
and some just want a webapp. And maybe what they want one day isn't what
they want the next.

what are you aiming for at the moment, or in the near future? RSS to your
'new nodes' page? :)



Ooh, that's spicy. In some ways, English as a language is less-suited for
[wikis/likis]. The amazing thing about supporting [Chinese/Kanji] is that
not only would you get a pop-up for complex terms like "Dan Sandin's Image
Processor," but also simple terms like "computer." I don't know about the
Chinese construction, but in Japanese Kanji, "electricity" is a construction
of two Kanji -- lightning + dragon. "Computer" is lighting + dragon +
machine. So "computer" could be a popup with at least four items (one for
each component [character/concept], and one for the overall concept).

What an interesting thought to imagine nearly every word becoming a
self-deconstructing menu. I imagine that not only would it serve the same
purpose as a [liki/wiki], but could also aid in the understanding of the
language, as a hyperlinked dictionary.

I agree. Humans are always compressing (lightening the load) - if
ElectricBrain (computer), could be compressed to ~{5gDT~} (diannao) (
simplified Chinese script), Then '~{5g~}' becomes a central symbol idea.
Text is a notation of sound (phonemic) - not concepts. Characters are
themselves made up of 214 basic radicals . The translation aspect of
ontology design does offer some opportunity/links to unknown territory. It
also shakes us out of western frameworks. As I alluded to before - the human
mind is itself a network always in danger of being constrained by an ever
tightening matrix of network bonds. Artists are professionals in jostling
this structure, with the big prize going to the one who causes major
disruption, establishment of new cultural attractors, or pushing some
critical threshold over the top.



I'm not too sure that your 2d matrix will show this. It might have to be 3d;
it needs to be able to stretch out and dance in order to shake itself into
positions of greatest potential for mutation when critical thresholds are
reached.

I agree -- at the simplest level, there could be a map which looks the same
as the nodemap from the top, but when it's rotated, you can see that
[stronger/more popular] nodes are raised above the surface of the map.

anyway, your images are great. keep it up. If you want to hear it, go to:
http://cemc.ccom.edu.cn/sounds/caw.html .
You can see, the sound goes from older nodes to newest - green is left
speaker, red (not much of it) goes to right speaker. I changed the black
lines (which don't mean anything to the sonogram) to yellow, which means
center. 
This in itself doesn't have any significance for me. It just highlights the
fact that the mapping of concepts to image (or 3d space) and to sound needs
some critical attention. when we change perceptual domains, we can wonder at
the 'conceptual architecture' or 'conceptual symphony;' the image and the
sound together might highlight something, or bring out some cross-modal
meaning. 

The mapping of concepts to space show clusters of related concepts (strong
links) - that seems to work. Or does it? Is conceptual 'space' more than a
metaphor. Or does literature or symbolic representation (non-spatial)
provide a better mapping. (mathematics). Might a symbolic language (like
chinese) provide a middle road between mathematics and literature. You can
read some older chinese poetry backward, forwards or sideways. The grammar
only enters the picture when language needs to be functional. In poetry, the
characters are to evoke a temporal flow of feelings, relections, concepts,
cultural memories, metaphysical conjunctions.



Education was modeled on the first car factories; education, at least
starting in the digital arts, could afford individualized paths. More
modular (one week in the WavePhenomenon Node) that is shared by visual and
aural artists as well as physicists.

I think wikis (and especially likis) are ideal for self-directed learning
and research. The ability to click on just about any phrase or concept which
is not fully understood eclipses even Google for sheer ease of access.

Coupled with a robust, tested alternative assessment model, maybe the two
could save education before it descends even further into the hell of rote
memorization and standardized testing. My mother happens to be heavily
involved in one popular alternative assessment  model, the Learning Record:
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~~syverson/olr/contents.html

Thanks for that link.

Ken.





-- 
Slipstream transmedias : soundart performance cinema installation
architectures network theory


<www.christinamcphee.net>
<www.naxsmash.net>
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Lecturer, Department of Architecture, c/o Hargrave Studio, California
Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo, California