Yesterday, I gave a presentation on the Amazon Kindle to a small group. One of the things that delights with the device is the fun of moving from wanting a book to having it in about 2 minutes, without the use of a computer, wires, cellphone or other equipment. The Kindle is a kind of cellphone itself and uses a system ("Whispernet") to deliver books quickly to the Kindle. It is such a phenomenon to make this book delivery happen that it is very tempting to buy a book just to experience its almost immediate arrival.
Yesterday after Lynn's piano lesson, we listened to Bach's "Musette" played by her and by Bobby McFerrin and Yo-Yo Ma on the album "Hush". The tune was been going through our heads ever since. At my Kindle presentation, I succumbed to the download impulse and downloaded "This is Your Brain on Music" by the musician/scientist Daniel Levitin. You can hear it too, here, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-blTTYKSIzg&NR=1 The power of music is being explored by the Dept. of Homeland Security http://blog.wired.com/defense/2009/04/musical-mind-co.html
Friends told me about the article on Monday in the Wall Street Journal by the very readable science writer Steven Johnson. Johnson postulates the "infosphere" of information there is in the world, from videos to books. He equates books on paper to the black energy of the universe, existing but not connected. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123980920727621353.html
I was struck by the analogy. This morning, I see attempts to create maps or displays that show more details of a conversation amongst many contributors. This maps use the same analogy of the look of the heavens to depict a complex universe in the conversation. Work on visual displays has been proceeding vigorously for decades. See for instance, "Display of Quantitative Information" by Edward Tufte, which includes the most impressive map every drawn (in his opinion), showing the effect of the Russian army and Russian winter on the march and retreat of Napoleon's army. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://strangemaps.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/minardmap.jpg&imgrefurl=http://strangemaps.wordpress.com/2007/12/&usg=__EJVAnv1mFO9VlrRFOm2biOsxGHM=&h=951&w=2000&sz=223&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=ks-kdRsQu-2XRM:&tbnh=71&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dgreatest%2Bmap%2Btufte%26gbv%3D2%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
Any scheme of display that would show more details of a spirited conversation, not just who is in favor and who against, but more subtle information on position and tone might help democracy, teachers, organizational officers, etc. http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/04/new-tool-shows.html
