Comments

Comments made on my wiki responses...

comments:

response to Ashley - sbaldwin --sbaldwin, Sun, 22 Jan 2006 22:20:45 -0500 reply
Ashley: Yes, he does focus on similarities in shape and size between the bed and the page. How does this comparison play out in the rest of the text - i.e. are we meant to see similarities between the page and the neighborhood, for example? Interesting question about why it's disasterous for too many to sleep in one bed... if I understand you correctly, you're arguing that the comparison is possible because the page is a site of intimacy, of proximity between and author and his/her thoughts. Again, how far do you think this general comparison applies throughout the text? Perhaps we could understand the other spaces as all reflections on aspects of writing - as well as on the particularities of those spaces.

Response to response 3 --sbaldwin, Mon, 30 Jan 2006 20:37:54 -0500 reply

Now, I know what you mean about it being rather abstract to think of carrying the taxonomy elsewhere and even building a party around it. I suppose he's interested in the most abstract aspects of the taxonomy - of the form and nothing else. Perhaps that's paradoxical given what he's dealing with is "living" space? I think he's correct that we think too little of these abstractions, and there's certainly good reason to do these taxonomies, but at the same time, they're only meaningful in relation to lived space. I suppose the basic advantage of the taxonomy is capturing something that isn't visible but is nonetheless quite true. The sensory aspects of the room are so visible that we often are unable to see these other aspects.

When you talk about your future room knowing where you are etc., you're thinking of the n_house project? Yes, that is rather wild, though a sort of logical development, isn't it? From decorations that supposedly personalize a space, we add technologies that allow us to personalize all the more.

Response 4- Vannavar Bush --sbaldwin, Mon, 06 Feb 2006 09:54:20 -0500 reply
Ashley: OK, good response. I think you could be more specific about the problem, as he formulated it. The issue was the growth of knowledge exceeding our ability to make use of that knowledge. A number of new technologies - for Bush - would address the problem, but the memex would address the specific aspect of the problem involved selection and memorization of connected informaiton.

Thinking about question 3: certainly it was the first real idea for linking/hypertext. Now, a computer is really a machine for processing information - i.e. they're basically very fast calculating machines - and hypertext/linking is one possible way information can be processed. So, it's probably now an idea of a computer.

Response 5-desktop environment --sbaldwin, Wed, 15 Feb 2006 10:25:27 -0500 reply
Ahsley: In terms of question 1, Xerox invented the Alto computer to interface with their copy machines, especially for large machines (i.e. businesses often use enormous and complex copiers). The Alto was the first "graphical" interface, and the basis for windows and mac interfaces - quite literally the basis, as the designers of windows and mac visited xerox and developed their interface based on the the Alto.

OK, but question 3. I think you're right that the answer lies with purpose/function. Clearly the metaphor of the desktop directs and structures our interactions with the computer and helps determine its function. Of course, there are other uses for computers - they're originally invented for number-crunching, for complex computations, but - as you note - we now think of their function as "to hold your work." Is this a limitation of the desktop metaphor? I mean, desktop computers are only one kind of computers; scientists and businesses and so on, use enormous computers with enormous processing power to compute all sorts of things, but I think you're pointing out that we increasingly focus only on the desktop. Perhaps the point is that there's a split: between the computer as a space for organizing information - for which the desktop metaphor is perfect - and the computer as computation/number-cruncher. Perhaps they're almost two different things now?

isnt it weird? --BoWVU123?, Tue, 21 Feb 2006 14:53:02 -0500 reply
Yeah, I guess it is interesting that at a young age people grow up wanting what they can't have or whatever is the newest and freshest product. People like to spoil themselves when they can with fun devices and in most cases these things make daily life easier. More and more can be done because of these products that continually advance.

Advertising --kkline, Tue, 21 Feb 2006 15:02:44 -0500 reply
I think that you pose a really interesting point of view that I hadn't thought about; I'm also interested in advertising and from what I've studied I think you're right on. Advertising itself is as old as society, but I think the demand our culture has for being bigger, better and newer is causing us to become obsessed with technology. To your function/actual space question, I think that new technological items are advertised to us as something functional, and to a certain extent, necessary in our everyday lives; however, I could argue that these items allow the user (like playing games on a cellphone in the mountainlair) to forget the actual space, therein making it invisible, as you mentioned.

... --LauraLindsey?, Tue, 21 Feb 2006 15:05:16 -0500 reply
The way that you draw the connection between the quest for eternal youth or our obsession with youth and our tendency toward the newest, freshest, "youngest" products is interesting. It's funny how we often fail to recognize how obsessed we are with innovation and newness. When did creating or having the newest thing become more important that making do with what you have?

response from sandy on Morville --sbaldwin, Fri, 10 Mar 2006 12:34:00 -0500 reply
Ashley: I wonder if it's possible to specify how technology changes genre? One thing, perhaps, is that genre becomes a function of what the technology does - but perhaps this was always the case? So perhaps we are now foregrounding technology, noticing it more... This might be the point of Morville's comment about the medium: not that this is different now but that our awareness is different?

Comments Made on My Space

Writing Space --ahamilt4, Tue, 24 Jan 2006 15:30:50 -0500 reply
I think I will be writing about my bedroom. Ar first I thought I wanted to write about my bed, but it seemed like that mught be too specific and I would have trouble really elaborating on it. So I settled on my bedroom. It is a very important place to me and one I think I could say a lot about.

TO DO

I need to sit in my room with nothing on and really just look around and remember everything that is in there instead of passing it by like I do everyday with little to no thought.

I also think it would help if I did a free write, a kind of flow of consciousness writing about the objects in my room, their function, and arrangement.

... --LauraLindsey?, Tue, 14 Feb 2006 15:13:59 -0500 reply
I think you did a really good job with the taxonomy portion of the space. You describe in detail each aspect of the room and leave the reader with a good visual of the layout and contents of the space. I think there could be a bit more self-reflection in the writing. You mention several things that are important to you including the valentines from your freshman year and your sorority pin and paddle, among other things, but you say very little about why they are so important. The links and nodes make sense and it is clear to me why you chose to link the nodes you did. The nodes you created all describe an important part of the room. Each node feeds into those linked to it and each link emphasizes the connection between the things in the room or related to the room. I don't think that you necessarily need to add any additional nodes, but I do think that you should elaborate in the existing ones. You might want to talk about your friends, sisters, visitors, etc. and the emotions and feelings you associate with the different objects in your room. You do this slightly, but more stories and emotion could be added. Overall, I really enjoyed reading the space and thought that the details you used create a visual image of the room for the reader.

response --sbaldwin, Tue, 28 Feb 2006 11:23:00 -0500 reply
Ashley:

This is a good start. I’m offering a few thoughts towards expanding your space.

Some of the nodes are a little sparse, so think about adding more. Think about detail and description: make the reader “see” what you’re describing. Also, think more about lateral links, i.e. not just going deep but links between nodes.

The other thing is reflection – one way to get at this is to move from the details in your room to memories/events. You do this some, describing where items came from, but is it possible to move more towards the story about the item, to tell us the tale of when you got it and with whom, and so on. This was we start to see how these things reflect you as a person with a life and a history.

I also notice how significant your sorority is to you. The room is your personal space but very much within the space of the sorority house. Can you reflect on the importance of the sorority to you? What does it give you?

Definitely incorporate pictures into your pages!

response for Sandy --sbaldwin, Thu, 13 Apr 2006 14:25:25 -0400 reply
Ashley:

This looks really good.

The door works well. The first page (Space) is a large chunk of text. Readers on the web often have trouble with this much – keep it to only 100 or 200 words. Some strategies:

• break this up more with formatting, e.g. italics, bold, headings, color - break into different pages, maybe after the second paragraph and then again before moving to discuss your bed… and so on. Several pages accessed linearly

The images on the individual pages work well. I love the door of room 9! In several cases, text between the images is used to describe or label the image. You might consider making this bold or formatting it in some other way so that it’s set off.

The organizing image here is your room. The whole space is organized in terms of your room. What experience is this space conveying? That is, if you lead the reader through your room, what do you want to show the reader? Clearly it’s about you, about how you are reflected in your room. Can you reflect on this more, that is, can you right some more about how these objects represent you, and what they say about you – that is, who does it say you are? What attributes, what kind of person?

One way into this is to write more in relation to the images. Write about details in the images, tell more about the story of the images…

Just some thoughts. But it looks great!

... --sbaldwin, Fri, 28 Apr 2006 16:50:23 -0400 reply
This looks pretty good. I would say it's in the high B range in terms of grading at this point. Some thoughts: - The text is pretty good. Consider tell stories - as they happened - to go with the rich details you already are presenting. For example, the pictures and posters on the countertop... what's the story there? where do they come from? - The Alpha Omicron Pi page is quite long. Consider breaking it up and/or formatting it in ways that make it more readable. You could make the pictures smaller or use headings, etc. - Add the pictures needed under "frequent visitors." - Use only one Quicktime movie per page, otherwise it takes too long ot load (e.g. the Large House page) - Try to include links on every page. You still have some "dead ends" (My Walls page, for example) - I like the use of formatting (the colored text on My Walls, for example). Try to use this in other places.