 
Was Patrick McGoohan wrong ?
. . . when he shouted, in almost every episode of the cult 60's TV series The
Prisoner “ I
am not a number ! – I am a free man ! “
Doubt - or at the very least a little sideways illumination - may have been
cast over his declaration by the publication of the latest edition of the
journal
Cybernetics and Human Knowing.
In which Dr. Louis Kauffman presents an article which looks
at the concept of the Human Self - from a purely mathematical point of view.
The doctor, who specialises in the mathematics of knots and combinatorics
at the Department of Mathematics, Statistics, and Computer Science University
of Illinois at Chicago, points out that :
“ Some have said that the human self, the I, is
a hallucination hallucinating
itself. “
And his essay is based on the no less enigmatic observation ( by the
late cybernetic architect Heinz
von Foerster ) that :
“ I am the observed link between myself and observing
myself. “
 To
clarify, the doctor has applied a from of Linguistic Algebra to the statement – and
found that the answer to the ' I ' question is indeed based around a number
- or rather a series of numbers. A very specific series of numbers : The
Fibonacci Sequence.
( for readers who haven’t come across the Fibonacci Sequence, Wikipedia has a good overview )
To sum up :
“ . . . to see mathematical beauty in the I is to see the essence
of the I. “
Link to the full paper ‘ I Am a Fibonacci Form ‘ here
31 JAN 08
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War fairer – with robots
?
Last weekend, the Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility (CPSR) group
held their Technology
in Wartime Conference at Stanford University. [ a video of the conference
will be posted online soon ]
They asked : “ What should socially-responsible computer professionals
do in a time of high tech warfare ? “
Nowadays, all but the lowest-tech grunt weapon has some element of computer
control – and ( so far at least ) a human has to do the programming
that drives it.
The debate has widened considerably with the possibility of autonomous robotic
weapons – especially ones without the so-called man-in-the-loop. [
that should be 'person-in-the-loop' surely ? Ed.]
There are currently four robotic weapons systems in
use across the world, and at least three more under development ( source )
And some proponents of such systems argue that “ robotic soldiers
could be more humane than human soldiers “ ( source )
Perhaps :
If they are designed ( by humans ) to be that way.
If they never malfunction.
If they never think they know better.
30 JAN 08
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Quotatives under the microscope
again
• First a definition :
A Quotative [
Embarrassingly, Really Magazine has been unable to find an exact
definition – possibly
a word to use whilst thinking of something to say – a filler – sort
of, ummmm, lexical putty ]
• An example : 'Like '
• Usage : " And I'm, like, totally, like, whatever ! "
The use of the word ‘ like ‘ as a conversational quotative has
seen a dramatic expansion in the past decade or so, and is now often seen
in Instant Messaging (IM) texts too. Its use :
“ . . . gives a quotative format once thought exclusively oral new
purchase in written language and heralds new strategies of voice representation
within a typewritten medium ostensibly limited in its expressive potential. “
A forthcoming paper in the journal Language & Communication will
reveal all.
This is not the first time that ‘ like ‘ has come in for linguistic
scrutiny. See, for example, ‘ He
goes and I’m like: ‘ from
the Linguistics dept. at Edinburgh University, 2002.
Which found ( amongst much more ) that ‘ like ‘ can also be thought
of as a ‘ Pragmatic Hedge ‘.
29 JAN 08
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The Quest for Authentic Leadership.
A G**gle search for the phrase “ Authentic
Leadership ” brings up an impressive range of results.
Books, Academies, University study programmes etc – 80,300 in all.
But it’s not so easy to find an exact definition – what does
the phrase ' Authentic Leadership ' really mean ?
Perhaps what is needed is an empirical test, a benchmark, a true measure
of what '
Authentic Leadership ' actually is - and, according to the latest
issue of the Journal
of Management, it may have finally been pinned down.
A team from three US universities + Gallup Leadership Institute have developed
what they’re calling the
Authentic Leadership Questionnaire [ALQ]
“ - a theory-driven leadership survey instrument designed to measure
the components that have been conceptualized as comprising authentic leadership. “
The ALQ takes in four scales - which quantify the Self Awareness,
Transparency, Ethics, and ‘ Balanced Processing ’ skills of our
Leaders.
Perhaps use of the new questionnaire will help to alleviate the all-too-familiar
preponderance of what could perhaps be called ' Unauthentic Leadership ' – a
phrase which ( oddly considering its apparent ubiquitousness across
business,
political and
even academic worlds ) as yet only brings up one G**gle hit.
؟ ؟ ؟
The authors are making available their questionnaire
to (valid ) research groups via this
site
which also publishes a number of other ‘ instruments’ – such
as : • The Barron Welsh Art Scale “ A non-verbal and remarkably
valid measure of creativity “
And the
• Non-Verbal
Measure of Stress ( click the 'look-at-this-image' link to compare
the two dolphins in the photo and measure your current stress levels )
28 JAN 08
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Classifieds !
Really Magazine is beta-testing a new classified ad
facility, and, for a limited period, will be accepting reeaders' ads completely free
of charge. [ subject to acceptance ] Go
here.
26 JAN 08
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Deep notions.
Back in 2005, the Centre for Communication & Cognition, at Northumbria
University, Newcastle upon Tyne, published a
research paper outlining the
possible relationship between human males’ body size and how deep their
voices are.
In general, their experimental measurements found that - the bigger the
man, the deeper the voice.
With the implication :
“ A deep male voice may play a role in courtship
and competitive behaviours in humans by attracting female mates and indicating
body size to male competitors. “
However, the fact that two factors tend to be found together doesn’t
necessarily imply ( or explain ) the existence of fundamental underlying
'glue' behind a statistical link.
As an example, ‘ Birds ’ and ‘ Flying ’ are often
associated - but as we know, not all flying things are birds, and not all
birds fly.
So, further refinement of the big-body/deep-voice effect was required, has
been undertaken, and is about
to be published in the journal Biological Psychology.
The newly extended enquiry hypothesised that there might also be a link
between mens’ deep-voiced-ness and their levels of testosterone.
The hunch proved correct. Low Voice =[often]= High Testosterone.
“ Findings confirm that vocal frequencies may provide an honest signal
of the speaker's hormonal quality. “
suggesting that :
“ . . . male voices may have deepened over the course of evolution
in order to signal dominance and/or to increase the speaker's attractiveness. “
Possible Implications [ according to Really Magazine ]
Avoid speaking in a high voice if you want to imply to someone that you
might have a high level of testosterone.
A smell by any other name.
New research from Canada, just published in the Journal
of Neurophysiology has investigated the implications of the ‘ name ‘ given
to a smell - and its perceived level of ‘ pleasantness ‘.
The investigators gave experimental subjects the chance to sniff carefully
prepared samples of odours – juniper berries, Parmesan cheese, almond
extract etc – but the names which were given to the smell were either
positive ( e.g. Curry-Spice-Mix ) neutral ( e.g. Number Fifty
Four ) or negative
( e.g. Dry Vomit ).
It was determined that not only were the negatively named odours perceived
as less pleasant – but the Sniff Volume (SV) tended to be lower.
“ Taken together, these experiments show that there is a lot to a
name, at least when it comes to olfactory perception. “
Possible Implications [ according to Really Magazine ]
Perfume manufacturers might well be better off avoiding names like Glue
Stick, Old Socks, and Dentists’s Office etc etc.
Full paper here :
Down the tube.
From the current edition of Social Studies of Science.
“ This paper explores the effects of iconic, abstract representations
of complex objects on our interactions with those objects through an ethnographic
study of the use of the London Underground Map to tame and enframe the city
of London “
Instead of regarding ( as so many do ) the London
Underground map simply
as a ‘ map of the underground ‘ - why not think of it
instead in terms of “ approaching the individual
as a `user' of a city and its graphical interface. “ ?
The analysis explores :
“ . . . the public understanding of an inscription in the world beyond
the laboratory bench, the indexicality of the immutable mobile's visual language,
and the relationship between representing and intervening. “
Possible Implications [ according to Really Magazine ]
Perhaps the tube map could be renamed The Urban Indexicality
Enframement Interface ( London ) version 01.08 ?
Full paper here
25 JAN 08 ( late edition )
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Bytes of Strings
You’re probably looking at one right now. But have you ever asked
yourself ‘ What, exactly, is a computer ? ‘
Defining one is considerably more difficult than might appear at
first glance. . .
For example, is an ocean a computer ? Some ( especially
enthusiasts of Cellular
Automata )
might say ‘ maybe ‘. After all, the sea very effectively sorts
inanimate objects of different kinds - depositing them in semi-permanent
geographical locations according to their size and density etc etc. In a
sense, the uniformly graded sand grains on a beach have been through an extremely
efficient sorting algorithm. A no less intriguing an example is discussed in an article published in
the latest issue of the journal Philosophy of Science.
Here, the assistant professor of the philosophy department at the University
of Missouri examines in some depth possible comparisons between a computer
and an animal's digestive system.
That’s bearing in mind that a computer is normally thought-of as a
system which takes an input, processes it, and subsequently delivers an output
:
“ The most obvious place to start for the role of input seems to be
bites of food, and the most obvious candidate for the role of output seems
to be the nutrients absorbed by the body plus the feces. “
However :
“ Upon being ingested, food is chewed, mixed with saliva, swallowed,
and mixed with digestive fluid. The result, far from being responsive to
any obvious differences between bites of food or their order, is a relatively
uniform bolus. “
Thus :
“ . . . treating the digestive system as a computing
mechanism faces considerable challenges. “
؟ ؟ ؟
Despite the obvious comparisons with bites/bytes, bugs, and even the inputting/outputting
of ‘ strings ‘ Really
Magazine agrees.
؟ ؟ ؟ Absorb the full
paper here :
24 JAN 08
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I can’t believe it’s
not sham pain.
Really Magazine has been waiting patiently for the publication
of ‘ Effects
of sham intoxication on cognitive functioning and performance ‘ in
the journal Appetite. Sadly, it’s still filed under ‘Articles
in Press’
But our investigators have managed to track down some info on the
research, which was carried out two years ago by the Wheeling Jesuit
University, in Virginia, US.
Copious previous research projects have clearly demonstrated that alcohol
consumption can negatively influence some human performance measures -
particularly in terms of increased aggression and impaired cognition.
“ However,
little research has been performed regarding whether sham intoxication
produces similar effects. “ The experimenters encouraged participants ( students ? ) to drink 48
ounces of beer* – and then fill-in a questionnaire regarding their
mood and perceived workload, in addition to performing the neurocognitive
function
tests.
Sure enough, the subjects in the study consistenly showed an increase in
pain tolerance, anger, confusion and fatigue.
*They were not aware, however, that the beer they were drinking was in fact
non-alcoholic.
" It's a marvel of the human mind and how our
attention tends to wander based on suggestibility. “
Further info here :
23 JAN 08
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Pig-tailed Langurs
( Simias
concolor ) live only on the Mentawai Islands.
They have no natural predators ( apart from humans.)
In stark contrast to their close relatives on mainland Sumatra, which are
the prey of large felines such as tigers and leopards.
Due to the Mentawi's isolation from the mainland, the Pig-tailed Langurs
have been separated from the big cats for at least half a million years.
Would the Langurs retain a ‘ race memory ‘ of the sound of tiger
growls ? ( even after 500,000 years ).
Researchers from the University
of California Davis tested
the idea by playing the monkeys recordings of leopard calls and growls. The monkeys were not alarmed.
They were also played bird and pig noises ( which are non-predators ) – but
were unperturbed.
When played human noises they fled within 1 second. ( humans hunt the monkeys
)
See :
Island Monkeys Do Not Recognize Big Cat Calls
22 JAN 08
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Philosophy : Facial : Follicles
If you are interested in Phenomenology, - ‘ a philosophy
aimed at understanding structures of lived experience and modes of human
existence ’ - and happen
to be in London on the afternoon/evening of 29th Jan, then why
not head down to the
Institute of Contemporary Arts ( ICA ).
Where you can find out “ What can be learned
from other people's experience of things we rarely think about ? “
In this case “ The Philosophy of the Overlooked:
Facial Hair “
A talk on the subject from Billy Childish, artist, writer and musician
and Gustav
Temple, editor of The Chap will be followed by a live demonstration
from a barber.
Details here :
؟ ؟ ؟
Further research here :
21 JAN 08
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Cone of Silence - an update
The American Institute of Physics has a nice
summary of a recent paper just published in Phys.
Rev. Lett. ( which is subscribers only )
subject : Acoustic Cloaking.
Really Magazine welcomes readers' suggestions as to what it could
be used for.
[ Note : Before any wrong-end-of-the-stick media flurry hits,
it's worth bearing in mind that, like
Optical Cloaking, Acoustical Cloaking is still at the theory stage : no practical
device has
yet been
built. ]
Here’s a link to a previous paper from the same team, same subject
19 JAN 08
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The Tinkerbell Solution
Really Magazine's exclusive interview with Stuart
Macdonald , Professor of Information and Organisation at
the University of Sheffield.
" Consider what might be the public benefit
of radical, critical thinking in Management Studies. How would management
gurus earn a crust ? What would airport bookshops sell ? How would fat cat
managers justify their bonuses ? . . . "
Read the full interview here :
18 JAN 08
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The future of P03Ms
The current issue of The Futurist ( a magazine of forecasts, trends,
and ideas about the future ) looks at the possible future involvements of
poets
with computers – and asks ‘ Can
electronics charm the elusive muse of poetry ? ‘
“ The computer enables the artist (poet) to communicate with more
than text, adding images, movement, and sound “
And consequently :
" Reading becomes one way to use the poem . . . and the reader becomes
an active do-player. But the poems can also eliminate that possibility, leaving
the reader to be a viewer looking at the digital poem."
As an example, the piece links to this html-based ' interactive poem ' ‘ City
of Bits ‘ by Thomas Swiss, professor of English and
Rhetoric of Inquiry at the University of Iowa.
؟ ؟ ؟
Also see : RoboPoem
17 JAN 08
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Competititions #6 & #7. . .
No one guessed it. It was of course Risset's Continuous Scale (
link here courtsey
of the Acoustical Society of America )
We've posted a new sample . . . Sweet Fat Links
“ Rats and humans avidly consume flavored foods
that contain sucrose and fat, presumably due to their rewarding qualities. “
But why exactly ? Research just published in the journal Appetite provides
an answer.
“
These data suggest that, calorie-for-calorie, sucrose is the dominant reinforcing
component of novel foods that contain a mixture of fat, sucrose, and flavor. “ [
our emphasis ]
By coincidence, another current research article, this time from Obesity journal,
has investigated the possible benefits of avoiding Sweetened Caloric
Beverages (SCBs) altogether.
“ . . . replacing SCBs with drinking water was associated
with significant decreases in total energy intake that were sustained over
time. “
16 JAN 08
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Searching for the Frisson centre
Could it be that consumers ( sometimes mistakenly ) up-rate their perceptions
of products simply because the price is higher ? Oddly, until now there have
not been any scientific studies which have directly looked for the neurological
proof.
Experimenters at Caltech hypothised that the larger the Experienced
Pleasantness ( EP ) induced by a product, the more neurological activity could be detected
in the medial OrbitoFrontal Cortex (mOFC) [ a brain area ‘ widely thought
to encode for experienced pleasantness during experiential tasks. ‘ ]
In a series of complex experiments, 21 volunteers ( students ? ) were offered
glasses of Cabernet Sauvignon, which ranged in price from $5 to $90 a bottle – except
they weren’t
told which was which – only the ‘ price ‘ ( which was sometimes
correct, sometimes fake ).
As expected, during fMRI brain-scans, the subjects consistently
showed greater mOFC brain-activity when tasting ( what they thought to be
) the most expensive
wines.
The team draw various conclusions from the research. For example :
“ . . . EP depends on nonintrinsic properties of products, such as
the price at which they are sold. “
[ But that's something wine / perfume / fashion / art
dealers have exploited for quite some time surely ? Ed. ] The paper was published yesterday in PNAS. Read
it here ( click the 'full text' link for a .pdf ) 15 JAN 08
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Position, position, position.
As we all know, a few words can sometimes communicate more than that which
is explicitly stated – the scientific examination of this phenomenon
is called
Linguistic Pragmatics – and the study-area even has its own
specialist publication, the Journal
of Pragmatics
As an example of the kind of item which might come under scientific scrutiny,
turn to an article in
the latest issue.
Where the School of Language Studies at Massey University,
N.Z.
examines the word ' please ' - and points out that its meaning can
differ considerably depending on its position in a sentence.
The study examined three positions of ' please ' – the
beginning, the middle, and at the end of sentences – and found significant
differences in politeness levels.
' Please ' at the beginning tended to be associated with requests – or
even demands.
In the middle,' Please ' was associated with ‘ conventional
polite requests ‘ as
well as with commands.
And the “ Final position is reserved for
task-based requests in which the speaker's restricted behaviour as a social
individual
is exhibited. “ *
؟ ؟ ؟ Of course there are exceptions to these rules. And Really Magazine has
identified a number of sentences where the logic seems to be less firm.
So, for example ' A kilo of bananas ' sits well with ' please ' at
the end, could be used with ' please ' in the middle, but struggles
considerably with ' please ' at the front.
' Stop smoking that pipe ' has very similar meanings with ' please ' at
the beginning or the end, but despite our best efforts, we have failed to
find any other position where the ' please ' would comfortably
fit.
Lastly, the rules seem to break down entirely when ' please ' is
inserted anywhere into the ‘ The crowd ‘
؟ ؟ ؟
[ * Could I suggest another possible linguistic study-area
? ‘ Inverse
Pragmatics ’ (IP) – where
a lot of words can sometimes seem to communicate less than that
which is explicitly stated. Ed. ]
14 JAN 08
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Illuminating* the Blind Spot ( of Leadership )
A casual-glance-around at society-as-a-whole starkly illustrates the way
reliance on conventional ' leadership ' has led us into “ mass
institutional failure “ .
According to a new
research article from MIT that is only to be expected
- because business leaders, political leaders and academic leaders all
tend to suffer
from
a leadership ‘ blind spot ‘.
To be specific :
“ They are blind to the source dimension from
which effective leadership and social action come into being. “
But, there may be a way out of the quagmire.
“ When leaders develop the capacity to come near to
that source, they experience the future as if it were 'wanting to be born'
- an experience called ‘presencing' .“
• Theory-U - developed over the past ten
years or so at MIT’s
Sloan Leadership
Center shows how to develop Presencing ( “ the
capacity to connect to the deepest source of self and will allows the
future to
emerge from the whole rather than
from a smaller part or special interest group “.) – in journey
of five movements.
These five steps – the journey through the U – in turn develop
Seven Essential Leadership Capacities.
As author prof. Otto Scharmer explains in his book ‘ Theory
- U ‘
“ The U process can be thought of as a social breathing process.
The left-hand side of the U is the inhaling part of the cycle: total immersion
in the current
field, taking everything in. The right-hand side of the U is the exhaling
part of the cycle: bringing the field of the future into reality as it desires.
Between these two movements, breathing in and breathing out, there is a small
crack of nothingness. That silent pause is the mystery or source at the bottom
of the U. “
• For more details on ‘ Learning from the future '‘ start here
• An interview with the author.
• Book extracts here
[ * shouldn’t that be, say, ‘outlining ‘ ? Ed. ]
11 JAN 08
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Mysteries of the Organization
The Journal of Organization Studies
‘ . . . aims to promote the understanding of organizations, organizing,
and the organized in and between societies . . . ‘
To this end, the latest issue, just published, carries an
article exploring
the boundaries of organizational ' know-ability '.
To do so, it calls on
“ metaphoric
understanding of methodological differences in organizational and other social
science
scholarship “ – by
comparing organizations to paintings.
Specifically Rembrandts and Pollocks.
“ Much as artists look at the world around them and render things
on canvas using a range of techniques, so researchers use methods reflecting
ontological and epistemological presuppositions about their research worlds. “
Also see : an earlier
paper, from
the same author, which used another metaphoric
vehicle to
investigate the enigmatic " Empty Spaces of Organizing
"
This time using jazz.
10 JAN 08
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Soft targets
If you’re after inflatable T-80 tanks,
F-16 fighters,
or even SA-8 missile
launchers,
Shape is the place to shop. They’ve been making blow-up military
equipment since 1992.
Bear in mind though :
" Our inflatable dummy decoys are light and requires much small space to
store. " 08 JAN 08
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Lifting the Singing LID
As anyone who has tried to memorize a long list of sixteen digit binary
numbers will know, even the humblest of computer systems definitely has the
edge on us for some tasks - in others though, humans are still streets ahead.
Imagine, for example, trying to devise a software suite which would be able
to accurately determine whether a pop-song was being sung in English or Mandarin
Chinese . . . A native-speaker of either language - with no previous training
- would be able to tell which was which in a matter of seconds ( or less
).
For a computer though ( or rather for the human-designed software which
runs on it ) that would be a far from trivial task.
In a bold step towards redressing the balance, the Department of Electronic
Engineering & Graduate Institute of Computer and Communication Engineering, at National
Taipei University of Technology, Taipei, Taiwan, has been developing
software - which they're calling Singing Language IDentification (
singing-LID ) - to do just that.
And results to date have just been published in the Journal
of New Music Research.
Using a combination of spectral analysis, vector clustering and bigram language
models, the new software has been able to make considerable progress
- though it’s
still some way from competing with a human listener on sung-language tasks.
The full paper is ‘ subscribers only ', but lead researcher Dr.
Wei-Ho Tsai has kindly made available a previous paper on the same
subject.
See :
' Towards automatic identification
of singing language in popular music recordings ' in Proc.
International Conference on Music Information Retrieval, Barcelona, Spain, 2004.
Further research :
Test you own singing-LID skills here . . .
Which is Which these.
07 JAN 08
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You ate it here first
By an amazing co-incidence, both the EU and the US are expected to make
announcements next week on whether meat and milk from cloned animals should
be sold to the public.
Really Magazine’s money is on the bet they will both say ‘ yes ‘.
We can also confidently predict a flurry of media articles debating whether
food from cloned animals is a good idea or not. They will be missing the
point.
The farm industry is very unlikely be enthusiastic while the average cost
of a cloned cow is around $15K, and when majority of cloned offspring die
young from a raft of different systemic problems.
The pharma industry though will be keenly watching the results.
They already
manufacture nutraceuticals (
medicines with nutritional value ), and now opportunities are on the horizon
for the reverse concept - meat
and milk
with artificially introduced medicinal compounds ‘ naturally ‘ present.
A whole smorgasbord of opportunities to create and market new forms of '
medical-food ' - which can be sold at far higher prices than the ordinary
products.
PharmaMilk ?
Mediburgers ?
04 JAN 08
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" Hey ! You can't a fool
a me - there ain't no Sanity Clause ! . . . "
Our discovery yesterday, that the US government once
paid Groucho
Marx to inform the American public that :
“ . . . your chances of surviving an atom bomb attack
are excellent . . . “
has temporarily overwhelmed the Really Magazine Irony Detection Subroutine to such an extent that no posts were possible today.
Our apologies, and normal service will be resumed as
soon as possible.
In the meantime :
“ . . . be sure you have a good fire extinguisher
. . .“
03 JAN 08
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Be informed, very informed.
It’s more or less 5 years since the launch of Ready.gov – the
US taxpayer-funded website which provides guidance on “ things
you can do to prepare for the unexpected “ ( natural or man-made.
)
The site advises on such diverse threats as Tsunamis, Floods, Chemical attacks,
etc etc.
Oddly though, despite the site’s extensive revamp in 2006, there are
still one or two peculiarities bothering Really Magazine . . .
For example ; “ If you become aware of an unusual and suspicious substance
nearby: “ you should :
“ Cover your mouth and nose with layers of fabric that can filter
the air but still allow breathing. “
or, in the case of Winter Storms and Extreme Cold :
“ If you have a wood burning fire place, consider storing wood
to keep you warm if winter weather knocks out your heat. “
More puzzling still is the Nuclear Threat page - perhaps Really Mag has
got it wrong, but the header picture looks very much like . . . a
power station ?
Until things are fully cleared up, Really Mag is sticking
with this
advice, from the Nuclear
Energy Institute , and this .mp3 excerpt of the govt.
sponsored ' Excellent
Chances ' radio spot from
1953.
[ narrator : Groucho Marx ]
[ no, really, it is Groucho, Ed. ]
02 JAN 08
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2Xlation of the day
Here
Satisficing in
Palo Alto
Are www users ( perhaps unknowingly ) following ‘ Information Scent
Clues ‘ whilst browsing the internet ?
The world renowned Palo
Alto Research Center ( PARC ) believes that's a serious possibility,
and has taken a prominent part in developing :
SNIF-ACT ( Scent-based Navigation and Information Foraging in the
ACT cognitive architecture )
- a computational cognitive model developed to simulate web-users' Scent-based
Navigation behaviours.
SNIF-ACT ( which is now in version 2.0 ) combines Information
Foraging Theory ( IFT ) with the Bayesian
Satisficing Model ( BSM ) , and :
“ . . . could serve as the basis for helping people to learn how to
find, make sense of, and use information to improve solutions to significant
everyday problems involving health, finance, career, and so on. “
For more information, and perhaps even a flavour of the web-to-come, see
the SNIF-ACT homepage from
the User Interface
Research dept. at PARC.
( be sure to follow the Information
Scent via
the menus on the left hand side . . . )
01 JAN 08
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