==== complexity, metaphors and tools ====

preludes & summaries

  * a discussion of preludes and summaries
  * complexity often more easily understood in reverse
  * importance of metaphor, problems with binary 'is/not'
  * using 'is' to mean a metaphor -> rewording the 'is' of perception
  * technology is Promethian -> invokation of Epimetheus, brother of prometheus (hindsight, afterthought, foolishness)

summary
  * computers are performance machines built out of metaphor
  * metaphors direct our creative practice, (eg. git tree, file system, copy/paste, pipes)
  * document or application centric views may be problematic. suggestions; more metaphors, assemblages, components, autopoetic pseudo-objects
  * we can see the tools we use as extensions of ourselves (literally) as collaborators, contrarians, etc.  
  * complexity emerges out of interaction and assumptions 
  * importance of looking backward as well as forward
  * from mute systems -> conversational systems
  * find ways to make context more apparent. material, ephemera and objects.

3 stage exercise
  - image selection. "what tool is this?" and "how can this tool work with other tools?"
  - groups ~5. explain each tool in circle, explain how they can work together, single shared metaphor
  - group of representatives of each group. repeat with shared metaphors and feedback/iteration questions

introduction

questions?


misc.
  * embodied tools
  * tools as mechanisms for thought > process
  * tools as collaborator rather than instrument
  * reflexive use of tools
  * requirement / necesity for 'friction'

context
  * design as problems of collision (rather than problem solving or 'conflict resolution)
  * collision of source materials -> versioning & conflict resolution
  * collisoin "resolve" or "make interesting"
  * heterogeneous systems -> unix pipes metaphor
  * role of metaphor adoption from print -> computing, computing -> computing, etc
  * 'forgotten' or mistranslated metaphors
  * representation of 'the page' in software -> where else
  * ideology vs. pragmatism -> FLOSS positioning/purity/debate

   
questions / problems
  * context -> how to make more apparent/accesible
  * metaphors in use - print/design -> computing / unix -> design 
  * what new mataphors? 'forgotten' or lost in translation?
  * tangible systems -> (qfwfq/metaphor)
  * connecting incompatible or partially compatible parts -> friction
  * toola as collaborators -> conversational interaction models 
  * how to 'sketch' tools -> prototyping / accupuncture / pollination
  * document formats -> programmes -> VB Macro virus in Word -> 'generative' documents

frictions
  * e.g. pipes -> API -> ORB 
  * historic examples / other paths -> e.g. symbolics concordia, metafont, etc

refs and misdirdections
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenDoc
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pipeline_(Unix) 
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Object_Request_Broker_Architecture 
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orphaned_technology 
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compound_document
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Symbolics_Document_Examiner
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heinrich_Cornelius_Agrippa
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epimetheus_(mythology) 
  * http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_Lib
  * burroughs/gysin - 3rd mind
  * http://realitystudio.org/bibliographic-bunker/apo-33/
  * dream machines ("a minority report") - ted nelson
  * agrippa -> book