the tech view

The Poetics of "Smart"

2012-03-16T16:14:00.000-07:00

Poet J. Nicole submits to a conversation about the intersection of poetry and technology.

Mobile Thievery

2012-02-29T17:30:00.001-08:00

It is the mark of the mobile-enhanced urban commuter: Holding one’s smart-phone to check email, listen to music, play games, tweet or whatever else our electronic impulses desire.

We are especially vulnerable in this realm of mobility; this zone of ‘zoning out.’

Our use of gadgets takes its toll on our concentration; our focus wanes which is why, for example, the e-cocktail of driving while texting can be and is so deadly.

But there are moments of seeming ‘safety’ — Like in the case of being a passenger, in a car, bus, plane or train.

What is the harm, one may ask, in a bit of mobile-based immersion when the navigation systems are not yours to manage; when the wheel is not yours to turn? The risk of harm, it so happens is directly proportional to the perceived value of your mobile device.

I learned that lesson yesterday, while riding the train from Manhattan to Brooklyn.

The young woman: Absorbed in her iPhone.

The young man [standing by the train doors]: Attentive to the young woman’s iPhone. So attentive, he tried to grab it from her just before the doors closed @ a station stop.

The phone flew in my direction; hitting the floor @ my feet. Meanwhile, he ran like lightning.

Enter Emily Dickinson:

Within my reach!

I could have touched!

I might have chanced that way

. . . Too late for striving fingers

That passed, an hour ago!

Forward Lean

2012-02-20T16:45:00.000-08:00

A Fine Opportunity

2012-02-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

Sony Snooze

2012-02-01T15:47:00.000-08:00

Red-Head

2012-01-31T01:01:00.000-08:00

The couple [see right] walked into the train together; both looking content, pleased by the Other's company. I was drawn to the color-contrast of His hat/headphones]. We rode the train together for nearly 20 minutes --- with her head cradled by her hand [gizmo-free] while he sat absorbed by Audio/Visual in the palm of his hand.

Brown-bagging It.

2012-01-29T11:17:00.000-08:00

Paper Delivery

2012-01-29T07:30:00.000-08:00

There is a long-standing rift between Marxists and Capitalists. Most acute is the din on certain campuses where academic liberty/freedom breeds a germane latitudinal orientation most potent among and between students and faculty.

In Western Massachusetts --- in the Pioneer Valley [home to my undergraduate alma mater Mount Holyoke College][ and several other generators of intellect, thought and debate] a remnant known [in its day] as the Paper City --- Holyoke, Massachusetts invites such a debate/discussion while it awaits to be re-born.

Holyoke is an industrial archaeologist's delight. And time is @ a premium.

The industrial look-and-feel --- which i relish [in a strict architectural sense] reminds the casual observer of the workers who once labored and the wages earned.

Look hard. "Progress," "Innovation," "Technology" shall take hold and forever change Holyoke's vitality, flavor and spirit.

Holding Pattern

2012-01-27T05:03:00.001-08:00

Reversing Cursive Course

2012-01-23T19:21:00.000-08:00

there are those who worry

we will forget how to write with a pen/pencil/crayon [choose].

"Our future is mobile!" say the futurists; those in the now; those in the 'know'

but what is their knowing? Cannot we handle all of it? We'd best practice to not forget.

e-Reader Lunches

2012-01-20T18:35:00.000-08:00

Kindle on a bed-of-lettuce with Coke.

He "likes" it.

2012-01-19T15:16:00.000-08:00

e-Reader

2012-01-16T17:34:00.001-08:00

Private: Keep Confidential

2012-01-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

"Confidentiality is one of the core tenets of medical practice."

So asserts the University of Washington Medical School. "Yet daily, physicians face challenges to this long-standing obligation to keep all information between physician and patient private."

In my free-associative state --- when 'confidentiality' or 'confidential' is my linguistic launch pad; 'privacy' or what i hope to be 'private' is --- top of mind --- like a top-level-domain.

But my mind suffers from a kind of e-dissonance ---- locked and loaded --- Even stream-of-consciousness it turns out --- is a 21st Century art form complicated by desire, expectation, need, relevancy.

Can Kafka help me?

Stanford University asserts: "The term “privacy” is used frequently in ordinary language as well as in philosophical, political and legal discussions, yet there is no single definition or analysis or meaning of the term. The concept of privacy has broad historical roots in sociological and anthropological discussions about how extensively it is valued and preserved in various cultures. Moreover, the concept has historical origins in well known philosophical discussions, most notably Aristotle's distinction between the public sphere of political activity and the private sphere associated with family and domestic life. Yet historical use of the term is not uniform, and there remains confusion over the meaning, value and scope of the concept of privacy."

"Does anyone really expect to have privacy anymore? Seriously?" says a Blackberry-toting West Coast source.

Assume a physician takes a call on her smart-phone. Assume she is riding the train when she takes that call.

How confident can she be of her ability to uphold her patient's privacy?

Seriously.

auld lang audio

2012-01-01T09:59:00.000-08:00

Should old tunes be forgot,

and never brought to ear?

Should old acquaintance be forgot,

and old lang syne?

For auld lang syne, my ear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup of audio yet,

for auld lang syne.

And surely you'll buy your ear bud!

And surely I'll buy mine!

And we'll take a cup o'Pandora yet,

for auld lang syne

See-Worthy

2011-12-26T23:28:00.000-08:00

Ten years ago, Irwin E. Meyer [pictured] stepped aboard the vessel he and I call Friendship. After listening to his Navy adventures; challenges and close-calls during World War 2; a mosaic emerged ---- one which did more than invite; but demand his personal narrative, on-camera:

Reading Styles

2011-12-18T14:51:00.000-08:00

This

That

Actions Speak Louder

2011-12-15T06:47:00.000-08:00

While the seasonal lights of New York City

framed a decorated tree;

inside New York University's Kimmel Center,
Personal Democracy Media [PDM][and assorted allies].

convened an amplified stage

with Micah Sifry

its Moderator.

Up front;

@ the Center

of the Agenda:

Clay Shirky spoke of Open Source
as a critical ingredient of the
Occupy Movements.

Mark Meckler [pictured right] invoked America's "First Families" crediting

them with standing up to a distant King

for the sake of a nascent Republic.

In the audience's lap?

Perspectives

poised for combustion

on their face:

Ori Brafman [pictured right] spoke of "leaderless" possibilities;

swimming in a spectrum [faith, labor, 'politics']

of those who organize by leading

and lead by organizing

But irony had its time to shine:

Zeynep Tufekci whose political roots derive from Turkey and could be mistaken for an "ivory tower-type" [despite her substantial field work] funneled some sobering reminders into the minds of those who may have been elevated by the energy of the speakers who preceded her :

Throughout history there have been "many worthy movements" but the truth is it isn't enough to be for something; one must Act.

Again and again.

Passageways

2011-12-11T17:40:00.001-08:00

@ the beginning of My story; I give in by breaking the spine of my first book.

I discover libraries; they move me from worlds --- consolatory rebuttals moving

parallax with time and space.

Click; clack; steel path.

I'm on my way.

The data points [see above] we must agree, are more than a twinkle in Our mind's eye:

Some prefer paper to the tablet tableau. This is a reality we resolve to agree.

But what

is Your

Plan C?

here's an opportunity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRfWl8RYtmk&feature=player_embedded#!

White Noise

2011-12-09T22:19:00.001-08:00

http://www.howstuffworks.com/question47.htm

Naming Names

2011-12-06T19:15:00.001-08:00

ever since

that

sun-drenched September day

the signs

have kept us

in the zone

of knowing

some, choose

to take a stand

others rise

with a gleaming might

We adjust; focus

while lives flow

Here,

there are no corners to cut

Yes,

We have come to remember;

but would we rather forget?

http://www.911memorial.org/

Identity [in a box]

2011-12-05T05:24:00.001-08:00

'tis the Season

deck the halls

with boughs of Holly

but

when, why, how

my letter/catalog-carrier

tells me

it is time

to give

to spend

to choose:

but once 'stolen'

Identity

is more than

a casual come-uppance

first reported

by a major credit card provider

which is why

all "identifying information"

will be

re-cycled:

Bundled Transport

2011-12-05T03:10:00.001-08:00

Superman's Refuge

2011-12-04T18:36:00.001-08:00

Framed by the constant revelations of analysis --- real, perceived, imagined; a phone booth survives.

Childhood memories tug @ my cape and I imagine one of my favorite Caped Crusaders: Superman.

He needed space to transform.

Don't we all?

Older Adopter

2011-12-01T18:46:00.001-08:00

So much of the messaging is for the youth share. What of the Older set, sitting easy; tablet-beaming?