Category — General

For poorer and for poorer. For young couples trying to start a new life together, the dismal economy means more fighting, postponed weddings — and less sex. [Salon.com] [A blog doesn't need a clever name]

this is increasingly true, espectially given college costs and students loans….

On the virtual, some thoughts on social computing and the value of disciplinary heresy. I need to reflect on the feedback I got on my conference presentation, so I'm just going to think out loud for a bit. If you weren't there (and even if you were) you can take a look at the (829 kb) powerpoint version, and I should post a full draft paper within the week. [Purse Lip Square Jaw]

We have to realize that what deleuze means by virtual is not really what even bergson means by virtual, though it is derived from bergson somewhat… and latour, i think is talking about something entirely different, which is closer to the virtual that is used by pierre levy, i think. but yes, quite a bit of this work is more accessible now, and latour is actually becoming in many programs 'required reading' which is good.

Social vaporware. Bill Thompson wants a little less conversation about social software (and presumably, a little more action):

This lack of awareness about what has been done before means that, by and large, the ongoing debate about social software is generally uninteresting, intellectually shallow and largely irrelevant.

It is a shame, because the people having the discussions are intelligent and write well, and… [kottke.org]

It is a shame, because as I was reading last night in an old political theory reader, some of the key points of fascism are anti-intellectualism, a will to end rational discussion, and to just do things. This seems to me to be quite a problem, because lots of people don't want to figure things out before doing them, they just want to do them and damn the consequences when they realize they've done something wrong… well, lets sit back and think a bit before we 'just do it', lets have some open and rational discussion, and then when we figure out whether something is worth doing, then do it, but don't go out there assuming that because it is built it will be good for whatever you intended it to be good for. communities, people, whatever, don't just build it, think, discuss, think again, then act, etc. etc.

Cross-platform, cross-browser XML apps.

Firebird Mac running an XSLT app

Let's review what's happening in this screen shot. I'm running Mozilla Firebird on my Mac. The application is a structured search of my OSCOM slides. There's no search engine beyond the browser itself, which provides the JavaScript UI, the XPath-based search, and the XSLT-driven results display.
… [Jon's Radio]

this is a nifty tool, i wasn't planning on using firebird, but i might have to now….

page not found. Excellent 404 error page [Adam Curry: Adam Curry's Weblog]

this is a good one, he he he

PCD. Post Conference Depression. Didn't know it existed, but it does. [vog blog::vlog 2.0]

yep it does, every time you manage one of these, you spend so much effort and adrenaline amongst other things, that you collapse a bit afterward.

Software Studies. The term is Lev Manovich's, but he hasn't done much to define it, at least not yet. What is software studies then? Or what is software studies to me? Software studies is what media theory becomes after the bubble bursts…. [Matthew G. Kirschenbaum]

there is actually so much more before Manovich's coin of the term. So much more, that I'm not sure he coined it, because there has been a research center in canada doing this sort of thing from a slightly different angle for some time.

I would add to the list Bonnie Nardi's work, and all the other anthropoligists of software, there is a large body of work in relation to information technology and software in the STS literature also. All of it is fascinating… there is also my software and culture list which has been going on for years.

well if we follow the people who came just before habermas, the dialectic of enlightenment provides for a thesis and its antithesis, and the antithesis is fascism, I'm not sure the enlightenment is, as such, the way to go…. perhaps we need a more plural set of possibilities.

Are the universities an instrument?. It is now taken for granted in the policy making culture in Australia that our higher education institutions are, and should be, an instrument for wealth creation. The purpose of deploying the instrument, say the utilitarians, is to ensure comparative or competitive advantage so as to enhance the wealth of the nation vis-a-vis other nations. Things are not so cut and dried in the UK. Whether the universites are an instrument or not is still being debated in Britain. Under the Blair Government the liberal state says universities are an instrument. Thus, Charles Clarke, the UK Education Secretary, stated this position in a recent speech at University College Worcester. He says: “The other day I heard a vice-chancellor argue that the purpose of a university was the unfettered pursuit of truth and excellence. Another distinguished academic wrote a paper in which she argued that we should get back to a… [philosophy.com]

yes, but the problem is that people don't actually understand what about universities produces wealth. many universities are orienting toward the quick buck mentality instead of the growth of cultural capital, which is a slower strategy but more successful over history as technics and investment in them comes and goes, but cultural capital doesn't….

Industrial evolution. One of five industries in the throes of a tech metamorphosis, the life sciences field is hoping information technology can help it deal with an explosion of data and a rush for new pharmaceuticals. [CNET News.com] [A blog doesn't need a clever name]

well if you look at it investment strategies at universities, this becomes quite obvious…