MT: Seems like Blanchette is particularly looking at agency and how the audience can perhaps shape the definition of
By removing agency from the players in the book, might be removing agency by the audience
Exposure that’s what Gleick is doing, just like
MT: Academic writing is expected so ppl can skim!
291B Week 10 Class Notes
what phenomena are drawn out in the text
“transversal approach to idea evolution”
tracing the idea, rather than
information as historical phenomenon
pre- and post-Shannon split
subjective to measurable
nature of information linked to code and meaning
Bateson – double binds; conflicting; schizophrenia is the appropriate response to this; damned if you do, damned if you don’t
Structural contradictions in MP3? Commercial versus engineering concerns
(i.e., inside Sony)
MT: these are the tensions I identified
User tension
Standardization
Legal (piracy)
Why did sterne highlight
MT:
Because he’s showing how the format evolved – why it ended up one way or another
Different conceptions of the ideal – like the atlases
Just like objectivity
Mechanical versus natural
Ideal versus variability and realistic
Empirical observations in the self schizophrenic tension because have to deny your subjectivity
Embedded in structures that are not necessarily in line with each other
Levels of complexity in individual agency
Action nis always compromised
Speech is always compromised (in psych)
Double binds are contradictions in agency
Point is to elevate a certain kind of complexity
Humanities participatory observation, grounded theory, ethnography
Comment of the methodology
MT: collectively embedded in a way of thinking about information
Cybernetics: cognitive tension provided an analytical frame for dealing with the mind
Shannon’s work at Bell Labs versus his classified work for the government
Culture of Bell Labs should be a model for how all research should be done: private, but no sense of practical application
Shannon warned against extrapolation of information theory beyond his very specific meaning
Different approaches to African drums and Ada Lovelace – identifying moments of exposure to see systems and structures in a way you wouldn’t normally
What kind of theoretical idea of agency is drawn out by elevating the complexity of technology?
The other side is how structural contradictions lead to different technologies
Why does it matter? Why does is matter that it’s weakly drawn out in this book?
In popular audience, you’re not defending against critical positions
How can it circulate?
Who is the text written for? How are arguments and evident in the text shaped to address particular audiences?
The text is written for the general public, as well as academics. There are very relatable examples of experiences that cut through a lot of technical detail to drive points home. However, the details are available for the scholar who wishes to delve deeper.
Examples such as this make the content particularly digestible, as most readers 1) know what communication, skyscrapers, telegraphs, and couriers are, and 2) have never thought about a correlation between communication and skyscrapers. It is an example that demonstrates the physical consequences of communications technology—today and from the beginning of time—in an extremely memorable and relatable way.
What all audiences can you imagine for the text, given its empirical and conceptual scope?
Barnes & Noble sales rank: Sales Rank: 129,478
What does this mean? Barnes & Noble.com ranks books daily based on rolling six months of sales data. Sales ranking will change as new books are added to the database. If there are no sales during a particular amount of time, or if other titles have more sales, a title can lose its ranking.
Amazon sales rank: Amazon.com Sales Rank: 11,418
While the Amazon Best Sellers list is a good indicator of how well a product is selling overall, it doesn't always indicate how well an item is selling among other similar items. Category and subcategory best seller lists were created to highlight an item's rank in the categories or subcategories where it really stands out.
We choose a few of the most popular subcategories in which the item has a high ranking in relation to other items in that subcategory, and showcase the item's rank on the product page. As with the main Amazon Best Sellers list, these category rankings are based on Amazon.com sales and are updated hourly.
#1 bestseller in LIS (before Chicago manual of style)
Top 100 in Books
Hardcover: Amazon Best Books of the Month, March 2011:
- · #10 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Social Sciences > Library & Information Science
- #24 in Books > Computers & Technology > Business & Management > History
Why will this book be recommend or taught? What kinds of courses, and at what level, would it be an appropriate text?
Yes, the book is being taught, particularly as an overview or background text. I would be interested to know how it is being used in other departments. It’s being taught in the following departments:
- Information studies
- Information science
- english
- education
- media studiers
- media arts
- digital humanities
- history
- library science
10. information technology
11. STS
12. Computers and computing/computer applications
13. Architecture/Architecture, Design, and Planning
14. History
15. Journalism
16. Communication theory
17. Economics
18. Feminist, Gender, and Queer Theory
19. Photo Communications and Art
20. Sociology
Academic criteria for distinguishing whether something is academic
Would you cite it as an authoritative source?
Publisher/peer review?
Credentials of the author
Situating the book within a discipline
Is it taught?
Assigned in academic curricula
Based on academic conventions
Explicit framework for the text
Methodology, theory, reflexivity
Academic language; can storytelling be academic? MT: yes! I don’t think these things are “extraneous to the argument”
Expectation of precision
Manner of marketing
Original contribution to knowledge means must be situated in a discipline
MT: one reasons why academics are writing books that seem to hover on the border of popular is that information access has increased for the public audience
JFB: I;m wonderin gif this is a productive discussion in the first place
Javier: Why did you choose this book for the class?
JFB: Because he hates the book
MT: because he is only capable of reading explicit research style
MT: the fact that information theory is highlighted in popular culture becaome part of the history and artifacts of information theory!
JFB: every fiber of my being is “revulted”
The theoretical background of the book is vile and makes a great disservice to everyone
Presents a story of scientific development that goes against everything I know
Not something that I actually believe in
What I’m highlighting here is that I’m not trying to discount the book because it is popular
MT: this is a failure to evolve based on the changing world
JFB: mastering the form has it’s bad pathologies
Morgan: did you find inaccuracies in the text?
JFB: these things become origin stories; I can show you tons of histories of information that are more illuminating
MT: if it must be restricted to the language of a discipline, then it can’t be transdisciplinary
JFB: not taking care to account a lot of material we’ve read
MT: could a prologue simply for academics solve some of these problems?
JFB: I have a series of answers, but I’d like to hear from you
Stacey: objectivity dictates possibilities – what is isn’t truth, valuable knowledge, foundations for action. Creates boundaries around what is possible for ppl to do and think given contingencies, power, social relationships
Objectivity points to actual shift in images, argues that the framework in the book can help scientists currently make changes, organize socially blueprint for scientists to understand their discipline right now
Engineers being involved in the production
Making a claim tht it matters for scientists fro how they think about their own practice
Choices that
Epistemology within the scientific community
What does that do in terms of information
Javier: information Makes u want to read the sources
Roderic: Information doesn’t allow us to critique, whereas objectivity provides an ingress
JFB: “Learning to discuss these concepts – learning how to disagree, how to have discussions” (but he is completely closed to other opinions)
What will be your sts theoretical framework
Pull out the important elements from the books and then use it as applied to your process
Anything you write has to have an argument
Has to be sthg you’re arguing—make a pointintro, evidence, conclude
Follow the convention of academia
Doesn’t care abt citation style as long as you cite
Avoid formulation like I think I feel
Want to see evidence that you can use it
Like a suit and tie
Expectation of form
Synthetic – shorter is harder
3000-5000 words
aim for 15 pages
30 pages will annoy me
synthesize the material into the specific question
where does sci and technology play a role
identify
demonstrate that you’ve mastered some of the theories, that you can apply them, and how you would leverage them into your topic
expectation of substance and form
spell check
make extra effort to make it pleasant to read
use a hook
MT: why simply don’t agree on the validity of different types of books to inform
What new knowledge does this text put into circulation? What does this text have to say that otherwise is not obvious?
How generalizable is the main argument? How does this text lay the groundwork for further research?
What kind of “action” is suggested by the main argument of the text imply?
