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ex machina

"All the communication technologies we use -- telephones, newspapers, radio, IM, e-mail, mailing lists, TV, books -- are mired in historical cruft that keeps us from seeing clearly what to build next. It is useful to go to first principles, then reexamine whatever communication task you have at hand. So let me suggest the following basic dimensions of communication:"

somewhat relatedly in an obtuse kind of way, is steven johnson's write-up on carrying on two simultaneous group conversations with the same group:

"There's wi-fi in the room, and as people talk and give informal presentations, there's a simultaneous chat going on, restricted solely to the people in the room. The chat is being projected onto a flat screen visible to everyone, so the ten people or so who aren't participating in it can follow the threads as well."

"It was a pretty intoxicating mix -- carrying on two simultaneous group conversations with the same group. You felt like you were pulling down a lot of data: the real-world conversations grounded things, and the chat let the room riff a bit more. But also intoxicating in the dizzying sense. There are a number of cog-sci studies of our ability to follow two verbal conversations at once (we max out above two), but I wonder if the carrying capacity is any different if one conversation is spoken and one is text."

[ Dimensions of Communication via werblog ]

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11/24/2002 09:55:00 PM 0 comments

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[ rhetoric ]

“"it is hard to be brave," said piglet, sniffing slightly, "when you're only a Very Small Animal." rabbit, who had begun to write very busily, looked up and said: "it is because you are a very small animal that you will be Useful in the adventure before us."”

the complete tales & poems of winnie the pooh

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this site chronicles the continuing adventures of my son, odin, who was unexpectedly born on the fourth of july at 25 weeks gestation, weighing 1 pound 7 ounces.

he's quite a fighter and you can always send him a postcard to the most current address listed here if you're inspired by his adventures. see the postcard project/google maps mashup to see a map of the postcards.

if you're new, you can browse the archives to catch up. and don't forget to watch a few movies that i made while we were in the neonatal intensive care unit. or if you want the abridged version and you can find a copy, you can read about his adventures in the november 2005 issue of parents magazine.

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