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September 17, 2017 at 9:54 pm #1086Justin AndersonParticipant
- In his article, Vannevar Bush details the struggle to keep up with and remain versed in the exponentially increasing library of data as time goes on. The memex, as theorized by Bush, would allow a user to interact with a system of tools and screens on a bench to create and manipulate metadata and organize library materials and articles. A challenge faced by Bush’s memex is organization of texts and the ability to note associations and connect said texts.
- Bush’s interface could theoretically have changed the way researchers view information and interact with each-other. The memex would essentially build threads, interconnecting articles and texts while allowing for researches to add comments and updates when needed. These threads would stand the test of time and provide an ever-evolving baseline for research. In my opinion the memex would eliminate redundancy in academia and encourage more original work.
September 15, 2017 at 8:23 am #1076Justin AndersonParticipant- Until recently, I have always thought of computers as mailboxes that send away requests for data then receive the results. Gleick’s chapter and my own personal studies on computers have shown me the sheer amount of processing that goes on within my devices. Additionally, I don’t always think of my phone as a computer. My current description of a computer would be a processor with a visual interface which can read and carry out commands and display a visual representation, or map, of the requested data.
- Before reading this chapter, I have never thought of information in terms of entropy. “Information” to me has always been a rigid set of facts and knowns, usually with a high level of organization. The level of perceived disorganization to data is deceiving to the average viewer of information. I still can’t fully understand how ten lines of seemingly random text could somehow contain more information than one hundred lines of text.
September 13, 2017 at 10:38 am #1064Justin AndersonParticipant- The fact in the chapter that surprised me most was the lack of alphabetization of words and texts up to a certain point in history. In modern times, it only seems logical that groups of information should be placed in alphabetical or numerical order by default. Organization of metadata has come a long way over the centuries and I can’t imagine browsing a library of the past with shelves strewn with unorganized texts.
- A connection that I noticed between chapter 3 of The Information and Metadata is the drive to deepen human understanding of information shared by Cawdrey as well as Tim Berners-Lee. Both men continually sought to develop resources which simplified life and studies for countless individuals throughout time.
- After reading “Two Wordbooks,” I find myself wondering about the future of the English language and the way humans communicate with each-other. Complex as it is in the current state, will our language one day devolve into the essentials needed to communicate in a shorthand-esque form? Will our language infinitely expand and eventually be replaced?
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