- Buying a new computer
- NSDL (continued)
- Getting back to the essays
- Recent Thumbnail framing of the Scholar's Box work
- Form drives freedom
- Drowning in Lies
- Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ
- Fog of War
- Notelets
Buying a new computer
I need to finalize plans for buying a new computer, an IbmThinkpadT41p. My IbmThinkpadA22p has been sent off to IBM now. It's hard for me to function (fully) without my notebook computer!
NSDL (continued)
I did a lot of thinking about the NationalScienceDigitalLibrary yesterday, specifically the issue of ScholarsBox/NsdlIntegration. I want to pull together some more thoughts and push them out into a coherent piece for IuTechnologyArchitectureLodge because I think that the issues are relevant to others. (Also I found the exercise of trying to explain ScholarsBox to the NSDL audience revealing in what I took for granted and what is or not compelling to another audience, highlighting the need to capture what the ScholarsBox is in a concise way.)
![[WWW]](/www/moin/htdocs/classic/img/moin-www.png){kind=small}
Dean B. Krafft responded to my email from yesterday with a very thoughtful response, which he kindly gave me permission to quote. A quick demo of ScholarsBox/NsdlIntegration seems to be quite feasible, something that I'm asking TomSchirmer do soon.
I looked briefly into PythonLanguage/WebDavTechniques when I thought that WebDAV would be needed for ScholarsBox/NsdlIntegration -- but it looks as though we won't need heavy-duty WebDAV.
Getting back to the essays
I would like to make some good progress on ScholarsBox/EssaySeries/CurrentState. I also want to write more about the overall directions of the essay series: ScholarsBox/EssaySeries/TopicsList, making contact with MyIuWork/CurrentProjects (which needs some updating).
Recent Thumbnail framing of the Scholar's Box work
At a recent meeting focused on the CaliforniaDigitalLibrary/MetasearchInfrastructure, I presented a list of goals and deliverables that I find helpful in framing the work I'm involved with.
Goals
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To provide software that will allow various key audiences (K-12 teachers, college and university faculty, librarians, etc.) to access and work with materials of interest to them
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To develop a sustainable business plan.
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To provide a model that other people can contextualize and use in their unique situations.
Deliverables:
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Scholar's Box "in the small" (the software)
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Scholar's Box "in the large" the idea, plus technical frameworks implemented elsewhere
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The documents that describe it, plan it, and contextualize it
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How all that aligns with things happening at CDL
How are proceeding on the goals and deliverables?
The software is moving along; TomSchirmer is putting the bulk of his focus on it. I'm in the middle of describing the current state of the ScholarsBox. I started to articulate problems/issues.
Work continued in ScholarsBox/StatusSummary200402.
Form drives freedom
I've found it difficult to speak freely, from the heart, on my weblog; maybe my wiki will be more freeing. Indeed, it has already given me space to be messy, tentative, and downright wrong in my ideas and fact-gathering. At the very least, I've not worried about literary quality in this space. There is a blend of "high" and "low", really refined pieces juxtaposed with a pastiche of URLs, cryptic phrases, uncontextualized observations.
What drives this dichotomy? As LauraShefler pointed out, perhaps it's because I've made a promise on the HypotyposisBlog to be rational, fair, even-handed. I've made no such promise on this wiki. It's not that I don't embrace those qualities. Rather, I let myself be freer to take on many other modes of communication -- and that's what she observed to be missing on my blog. Hmmm....
Oh no, Laura, I managed to misrepresent what you said! How embarrassing. Yet so appropriate. In my feeble attempt to write a bit more freely, inspired by what I thought I had heard from you, I stumbled. Will I now just stop writing now? No -- I must push on, write first, and ask forgiveness later. Hmmmm....
Drowning in Lies
I blame contemporary politics for making me cynical about the possibilities of truth-telling in the public sphere. Does the truth matter anymore? That is to say, even you can get at the truth (which, at times, is hard enough), does it matter? Of course it does -- but that's not I feel.
I need to be more concrete here. What do I have in mind specifically?
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I want to read the literature of people I don't agree with to tease out my own blindspots. Starting with those on the American right -- what should I read? National Review? First Things?
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What is truth-telling in my blogging? See
earlier entry, especially Steven Winn on truth and truth-telling:
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what about ArtSpiegelman's call for "neo-sincerity", those who are "sincere" but who are clearly onto the strategies of irony in a postmodern (or post-postmodern era)....post-irony turning into sincerity (of sorts)???
I'm not even pondering the epistemological issue of whether there is such a thing a truth -- just the question of truth is relevant at times.
The Dawn of McScience, a piece about the commercialization of science and the attendant decline in science's effectiveness a truth-bearing would be a good one to reflect on to add some specifics to my thinking here.
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The fact that I'm not surprised by the great amount of deception half-truths, mistruths, failed attempts to convey the truth, delusions does not mean that I don't long for the truth to be told or for a system in which we can trust each other and our leaders to be truth-tellers (and perhaps, more importantly), truth-bearers. I am tired by the amount of effort it takes to figure out what's going on. It's hard enough when well-meaning people try to communicate. Add to the mix people who are struggling for power over each other and we start to get this incredible mix. I don't exempt myself from the class of people who add to the mess -- for I am deeply sinful too. Hence my dependence on a hermeneutic of self-suspicion in addition to skepticism of others. And to throw in something else I will want to elaborate as I go along -- even well-intentioned self-suspicion is insufficient!
This thread is moved to TruthBearingInPublicSphere for further work.
Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ
The movie opened yesterday. People at my church will be attending a special showing tonight. When the opportunity to do so was first announced, I was ready to jump on it. Tickets were quickly sold out. Then when 40 more tickets became available (because the church got a bigger room, apparently), I decided that I was no longer up for seeing the movie -- at least tonight (with a busy week).
I've been reading reviews. A discussion on PBS -- last night's News Hour was very helpful.
Fog of War
I'm going to see Fog of War this coming Saturday and want to invite others. Let me pull together some reviews/commentary:
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Fog of Power (SF Chronicle)
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reviews from
rottentomatoes.com
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Documentary expert Errol Morris directs THE FOG OF WAR, a captivating look at Robert S. McNamara, who served as the Secretary of Defense during the Vietnam War and the Cuban Missile Crisis. The movie does not exclusively focus on this part of McNamara's career, however, and instead gives a broad overview of the man he was, his multitude of roles--a Harvard Business School graduate, a Colonel in the Air Force during WWII, president of Ford Motor Company--and his opinions on a variety of historical topics. Inspired by two books written by McNamara--IN RETROSPECT (1995) and WILSON'S GHOST (2001)--Morris gives McNamara a forum to talk about the decisions he made and the influence he had during his career. At the age of 85, McNamara has gained necessary perspective to do just that. Sharp as a tack, packed with charisma, and generally fascinating, McNamara easily carries the film with his revealing interviews. Meanwhile, Morris' use of archival footage along with with maps and other effective visual aids add context to McNamara's commentary. Finally, Philip Glass's ominous pulsing score gives the film's important subject matter the gravity it deserves.
This movie screened in October 2003 as part of the 41st New York Film Festival organized by the Film Society of Lincoln Center.
I'm expanding my thoughts on the topic at FogOfWarFilm.
Notelets
NetSnippets has just released its professional edition.
I started to read JimHarris' weblog shed.
The DailyCal reported on ArtSpiegelman's lecture in Berkeley.
