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February 06 2010

bentrem
The Synaptic Web is not new. It is not a recent trend. It is something that started before the advent of HTTP and HTML gave birth to the actual Web and will continue long after the boom of 'real-time' fades away. It is a simple observation that the most interesting aspect of the Internet generally and the Web specifically is not the nodes on the network, but the type, density and flexibility of the connection between them.

We use the metaphor of the Synapse (the connection between brain cells) as a way to try to relate this idea to the real world - a literal mental model if you will, and over the years, we've observed these connections have morphed in surprising ways. Nodes have atomized (i.e. nodes are now more granular and there are more of them) and the nature of the connections are changing at an accelerating rate.
louisgray.com: Synaptic Web: Realtime is Just the Beginning
bentrem
The perceptive systemic dynamics of information/knowledge processing depend, directly, upon agile local cognitive systemic weavings, supported by interconnected cooperative systemic networks, and, indirectly, depend upon local mechanisms, connected to nonlocal cognitive interfaces, in which intervene cognitive dynamics of abstraction, supported by local systemic dynamics of reflection, reflexivity and reflexibility.
Philosophy, Systems Theory and Risk Science: On perception...
bentrem

“Quidquid recipitur ad modum recipientis recipitur”

Medieval adage that synthesizes an eidos of proportion: Whatever is received is received according to the mode of receiving of the receiver

The (re)tension and the (pro)tension (from the Latin tensio) can consistently be synthesized in an abstract language, as primitive notions to the gathering and utilization of information, in the assumption that the patterns that configure the systems incorporate, in their formative nature, mechanisms of potential rotative projective resonance, linked to the reflexibility of the systems, with appetence and capability to place in relation that which in the systems is the act made proportionately available as presence to the potency (semper quod ens) and that, because of that, determines it.

Philosophy, Systems Theory and Risk Science: (re)tension and the (pro)tension: proportion
bentrem

Increasingly, large media organizations are learning and adapting to the notion that their job is changing. It is moving from 100% content creation through editorial processes to a mix of original content and what many call ‘content curation’.

That is, observing, hand selecting and adding value to content from the social, real-time web. ...

This trend is unfolding for many reasons. Economic constraints, technology advances, the evolution of social media and the emergence of the real-time web mean that everyone with a Twitter account can contribute to telling and spreading the story.

Got Kit? JS-Kit/Echo » "The Transformation from Creation to Curation"
bentrem

A not completely useless presentation for Haiti aid

Ushahidi, which means "testimony" in Swahili, is a website that was initially developed to map reports of violence in Kenya after the post-election fallout at the beginning of 2008. Ushahidi's roots are in the collaboration of Kenyan citizen journalists during a time of crisis. The website was used to map incidents of violence & peace efforts throughout the country based on reports submitted via the web & mobile phone. This initial deployment of Ushahidi had 45,000 users in Kenya, & was the catalyst for us realizing there was a need for a platform based on it, which could be use by others around the world. Since then we have grown from an ad hoc group of volunteers to a focused organization. The team is comprised of individuals with a wide span of experience ranging from human rights work to software development. We have also built a strong team of volunteer developers in primarily in Africa, but also Europe & the U.S.
http://haiti.ushahidi.com ... their use of GoogleMaps ++

Also of interest: PearlTrees, a Flash concept mapping thingamabobble.
bentrem

A recent article in The New York Times discussed the innovation process at Apple. Clearly the process begins and ends with Steve Jobs. And clearly Mr. Jobs is a creative genius. He also has a lot of help with top notch design engineers. As a result, Apple is perceived as one of the most innovative companies on the planet.

If you have visionary leadership at your company, this might be a good way to go. But companies like Procter & Gamble (P&G) also have strong leadership and they have taken a different route to innovation. P&G has been a leader in Open Innovation, and many of the new products they have launched in the past few years have come from outside the company.

Blogging Innovation - Innovation blog articles, videos, and insights
bentrem
In several countries more official data are being issued in raw form so that anybody can use them. This forces bureaucrats and creative types to interact in new ways
Data and transparency: Of governments and geeks | The Economist

January 29 2010

bentrem

Patterning problems: patterning the problematique

The number of problems and their degree of interrelationship are a continuing challenge to comprehension. Without any patterning, the amount of information is overwhelming. The simplistic patternings characteristic of conventional practice in documentation systems are however part of the conceptual problem rather than the solution. They disguise complexity and create deceptive impressions of order where order is lacking, or rather where higher forms of order are implicit.

World problems project - commentaries | Union of International Associations

January 27 2010

bentrem

The "Do Good Gauge"; Measuring the Democratic Value of an Intelligent Argument

"Humans have learned scientifically that the exact truth can never be attained or told. We can reduce the degree of tolerated error, but we have learned physically, as Heisenberg discovered, that exactitude is prohibited, because most exquisite physical experiment has shown that "the act of measuring always alters that which is measured".
Buckminster Fuller
The Do Good Gauge - The Buckminster Fuller Connection

January 23 2010

bentrem
An amusing yet deep cutting article titled 'Renouncing Evil Powers' appeared in the International Herald Tribune this morning written by Garrison Keillor.  My favorite quote from the article goes like this, "War requires very well-brought-up people to do vicious things that they are able to do efficiently because the recipients of their viciousness are unknown to them."
Seasonal Paradise: Is Facebook A Catalyst For World Peace?

January 19 2010

bentrem

Don't Be a Jerk

Back when dinosaurs ruled the earth, FM 22-100, Military Leadership, listed a sense of humor as one of the 23 traits of character. If memory serves, it was number sixteen down the list, between Candor and Competence. So we all got shot up or shot down — big deal. Berating other players sucks the life out of everyone; likewise, we can see the score and know you did a great job.
SimHQ.com - Land Combat Zone - Roger, Out! TeamSpeak Rules of the Road

January 17 2010

bentrem
In P2P James Burke reports: "Stefan Meretz has produced, with his daughter, a very useful and clear taxonomy of common goods, according to five criteria." viz:
"Commons are common pool resources. Commons are common goods. Commons are social relationships. You can find all of these descriptions for the term. Which is the correct one? All three versions are valid—at the same time! The word „common“ is the best starting point for the analysis. The common thing within a commons are the resources, which are used and cared for, are the goods resulting from joint activities, and are the social relationships emerging from acting together. These three aspects are so different for all commons, that no one could describe them in a reasonably complete manner."
P2P Foundation » Blog Archive » Commons in a taxonomy of goods
bentrem
From paperwork to public buildings, from social networks to street protests, the liberal project has always relied on a set of tools and techniques to make its way in the world. Sometimes it finds these tools lying around; other times it is forced to forge them on its own. The purpose of this working group will be to study the technics of liberal states, societies, and social movements in historical and comparative contexts.

[...] What can technics tell us about liberalism, its pasts, its presents, its futures, its powers, and its failures? How have liberal technics circulated between metropoles, colonies, and postcolonies? Do neoliberal or illiberal projects rely on qualitatively different tools and techniques? How and why are non-liberal techniques marshaled in the name of liberalism? What happens when liberal technics break down, or fail to engage? What accounts for liberalism’s resiliency, and what are its limits? And finally, how can the "global university," with its contradictory imperatives to reproduce and critique these technics, work to ensure that liberalism becomes increasingly democratic?
Technics of Liberalism | Institute for Public Knowledge

January 11 2010

bentrem
"Could Data Governance Help the War on Terror?" > http://bit.ly/8xAbto < "the government should be addressing process issues." (Follow @jilldyche)
Ben Tremblay (bentrem) on Twitter

January 10 2010

bentrem
One California community is honing in on this vulnerable segment of the homeless population. The Ventura County 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness calls for a zero-tolerance policy of discharging people from jails, hospitals and other institutions to the streets. The plan also requires a coordinated effort to cut the number being discharged into homelessness by at least 10 percent annually
Replacing the Revolving Door With the Front Door | End Homelessness | Change.org
bentrem

[The] study on "Social Software and National Security," out of the Pentagon-sponsored National Defense University, that actually makes sense. Written by Mark Drapeau and former Pentagon CIO Lin Wells, the upcoming paper takes a clear-eyed view of what these new apps can do — and makes some smart, if basic, suggestions for how government types might uses the tools.

NB: see "Missional Government 2.0" and "Crossing Over Technology With Government" at Technosailor.com

WTF? Military Web 2.0 Report Actually Making Sense | Danger Room | Wired.com
bentrem

YouTube are sorta like bookmarks

A buncha stuff to keep track of, a buncha individuals, a number of groups, in a number of related topics sooooo a PlayList!

December 30 2009

bentrem

Gnit Pick

from nit·pick (nit'pik')
intr.v. nit·picked, nit·pick·ing, nit·picks

verb (used with object)

1. to be excessively concerned with or critical of inconsequential details.
2. to criticize by focusing on inconsequential details.

noun
3. a carping, petty criticism.

adjective
4. of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a nitpicker or nitpicking.
Also, nit-pick or gnit-pick

Origin:
1965-70; nit 1 + pick 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged

Definition of Nitpick at Dictionary.com

December 18 2009

bentrem

Me and "them"


Here's the mockup I created of the graphical interface to IssuePress:


(Click for explanation)

And here's the fancy graphical front end for "Grab More Science":

When you click on one of the boxes, you get this:


*blink*

Sooooo, who's getting paid to develop this stuff? Not me ...
bentrem

Praxis - solutions arising from needs analysis

*Draft; 1st cut*

Here's something I think will interest you; it's a Cognexus PPT. (I grabbed years ago, perhaps 2002, in a period when I _per force majeur_ needed to do most of my work offline.)

I recommend it for 2 points in particular:
1) it presents the mechanics that were my main concern when I took courses in cog-psych (Dalhousie U; concentration on discourse and the dynamics of personal opinion, i.e. formation; conviction; conversion) and, where I had already developed a dynamic VRML environment (my first hyper-documents date back to 1989, working in an avionics R&D environment), the Cognexus interface shows how conventional "theory-based" design results in an interface that only an uber-geek could love. (see cite from PDF on the importance of design)
2) It embodies the sort of refractory resistance to innovation that comes from institutional investment; refining the _status quo_ is the only line of development. (see cite from PDF on bureaucratic reluctance)


A typical over-view statement is this, from Marc Canter's "Eruptions, Change and Cleveland":
It seems pretty clear to me that there won’t be one wiki, one social network, one blogging or messaging platform - or one interactive conversation platform that we’ll be using as our ‘collaboration platform’. There are lots of different ways of having ‘workspaces‘ and managing projects.


Metcalfe's Law:
"Robert Metcalfe, inventor of the Ethernet protocol and founder of 3Com, asserted that the value of a communication system grows as pproximately the square of the number of nodes of the system. This assertion has become known as Metcalfe’s Law (Metcalfe, 1996). A single telephone or a single fax machine has no communication value. Two phones have a little value. Two thousand phones have some value. Two hundred million interconnected phones are a system that has incredible communication value."

from "The Wiki and the Blog: Toward a Complex Adaptive Intelligence Community"
D. Calvin Andrus; CIA



Principle #2 – Crowdsource Relevance:
"Most social networking sites and communities have so much content, that it can be overwhelming to users. These sites, to varying degrees, make use of crowdsourcing, where users essentially do the work of “classifying” the information. For enterprises, crowdsourcing is a powerful tool that enables the organization to take mountains of information and connect users with only the best and most relevant content. Just a few examples of crowdsourcing in action include when users bookmark information (which is an implicit endorsement), users mark something as helpful, users visit something (implies popularity), users tag or classify 2/5 something (when you upload the content) which provides important meta-data. Crowdsourcing, when used in conjunction with social filtering, becomes a powerful tool for government 2.0 initiatives as the information is classified and aggregated for users, enabling them to get the most valuable information fast, sorting information by what their peers find most valuable."

from "A Practical Guide to Government 2.0;
Success Strategies for Applying Proven Social Networking Principles within the Government and Military"
Eric Sauve; tomoye community software



*Draft; 1st cut*
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