Continuous Partial Attention? Hey you, listen!!!

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I was blown away by the ideas in Linda Stone’s talk at O’Reilly’s e-tech conference, summarized on Radar.  In a nutshell, she talks about the limits of "continuous partial attention" and urges that we use employ "quality of life" as the benchmark for adopting new technologies.  It reminded me of an idea expounded by Frank Moretti at the Columbia Center for New Media Teaching and Learning in his History of Communications class.   In sum, modern, web connected society may herald a return to pre-literate, oral cultures–where the notion of the self was something that existed outside of us–where we responded like a chorus and pinned our actions on the furies.  Does continuous partial attention really mean that we’re not paying attention to what’s important to us?  Or is it just adaptatation to new tools?  Like Stone, I’m inclined to agree about smarter technologies really being able to help us manage what’s important and what’s not.  Just being able to create a master feed on Bloglines is a massive improvement on surfing from one site to another–of course, it means that one can consume even more, which brings me back to her question:  how is this technology improving my quality of life?

Transit Strike Day 2

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While the ride in was peaceful and quiet, last night on the way home I had a minor accident–I, and the person I hit are OK, but here’s what happened: a pedestrian decided he was going to jaywalk through the cars on Canal street.  He cut from in front of an SUV and jumped right in front of your humble cyclist who was moving at a decent clip through traffic. I managed to scream "HEH, WATCHOUT!!!" and  I was able to slow down, but my shoulder slammed into his torso.  He said "sorry," and hobbled along.  Other than mashing my ankle into the crank, and a bruise, I’m none the worse for the wear.  Day one was fun, and I started to think that heh, I could be commuting by bike all through the winter, but the real reason I ride indoors is not the temperature–sure it’s cold, but I’m not outside that long and get pretty warm once moving–the reason not to ride is that it gets dark early and it’s harder to see and be seen.  I am having second thoughts about riding in today–both the pedestrian and I got pretty lucky.  I understand that folks get impatient but, we would all do well to allow a little extra time and slow down.  I am saying that for me as much as my fellow New Yorkers.  Be safe out there.

Biking Through the Strike

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Rode my bike in this AM to avery the chaos of the NYC transit strike.  Wore extra layers and lobster claw gloves to cope with the cold.  Here are a few observations:

* Lots of traffic over Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges–especially pedestrian foot traffic.
* Lower manhattan was eerily quiet–like an early Sunday morning.
* Serious congestion around New York Penn Station. 
* Cabbies are picking up multiple fares–be careful of pedestrians!
* Bike lanes were well marked.
* There were lots of fellow cyclists out there, skateboarders, and folks on scooters.
* Serious traffic coming down broadway–seemed like gridlock. 

Commute photos

The Real Glass Ceiling is at Home

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It’s worth reading Linda Hirschman’s article "Homeward Bound."  She argues that the real glass ceiling isn’t in the executive suite, but the home.  Hirschman surveyed high-powered brides and grooms from the New York Times wedding section and tracked their career choices over time.  Almost all chose to stay home.  She argues that these well-educated, high powered women would lead richer lives if couples made choices that enabled women to stay in the workplace full time to pursue careers and if society were better at supporting those choices by providing child care.  Hirschman offers different provocative yet constructive take that what Maureen Dowd’s been writing about in the Times and in her new book.

Nanny Knows Flow

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Flow is a state of concentration so focused that it amounts to absolute absorption in an activity.   My grandmother, Anna Bongiovanni, who just turned 95, is a master of entering the state without ever having read Mihaly Csikzenthmihaly’s "Flow:  The Psychology of Optimal Experience."  Along with having a flair for completing crossword puzzles, my grandmother is a knitter.   She makes afghans for her grandchildren, and clothes for her great grandchildren, but what impresses me is that she’s always creating new challenges for herself–which is a condition for flow.   The idea is that you want to set out a task for yourself that is not too easy–which would lead to boredom, or too difficult, which would promote anxiety but one that is just the right level of challenge.  For this particular afghan, my grandmother started out with a swath of wallpaper to match the color of my cousin Noelle’s room, used wool yarns instead of acrylic, and then incorporated a popcorn stitch instead of a regular one.  So sure, it’s another afghan, another stitch, but what she’s really doing is finding new ways to transform herself at the young age of 95.  I should be so lucky.


Nanny Knitting
Posted by teddyb.

Starting to think like a Computer Scientist

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I am in day 2 of programming school and am working my way through "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist" (python edition) by Downey, Elkner and Meyers.  This book’s available for *free* as in free beer.  It’s well written and fun to read.

Learning to think like a computer scientist is practical.  In the author’s words: "The single most important skill for a computer scientist is problem solving. Problem solving means the ability to formulate problems, think creatively about solutions, and express a solution clearly and accurately."

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Learning to Program

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At work, I am a manager, and the truth is that I’ve always been a little bit embarrased that I don’t really know how to do so many of the things that the people for whom I work do–especially, program.  I’ve been working with computers since my Dad got me my first Zenith Z-148 (an IBM XT Clone)  The catch is that I’ve always been content to be a user–working with the programs that others created–learning them, getting a sense of what’s possible.  And even many programs are worlds onto themselves–feature upon feature–tapped and untapped potential.  But somehow I think I am capable of being more than a user–I think I can learn how to program.  I don’t expect it to be an easy road, but I’ve taken the first step of asking for help and my friends Anders, Eric, and Jonah have all responded enthusiastically.  Why am I undertaking this project?

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High Quality Spam

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Spam1This morning I got a notice from Chase Bank that my account had been accessed from a different location.  Could I please go to their website and verify my identity?  Considering I that I haven’t banked at Chase in at least 5 years it seemed a wee bit suspicious.  My gut told me it was spam, but what did the message itself tell me?
The source code concealed as much as it revealed, but my inquiry showed me how these new fangled criminals cover their tracks.

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Race Day Checklist

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What are your pre-race rituals?  1-2 weeks before a major race I take my bike to the shop for adjustments and make sure its working flawlessly.  Tires are re-inspected the day before and with enough time to allow a visit to shop in case I need a spare tube or inflation cartridge.  I lay out all gear so that I can check it against the list before packing it away.  I also mix up my water bottles with energy drink the night before.  I set the coffee maker and microwave my favorite breakfast–McCann’s Steel Cut Oats with a little maple syrup and almonds.  The checklist and other tips are below.  I’ve also posted the the checklist as a text file for easy printing.  Happy racing!

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How Good Is Your Backup?

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DrescueImagine you wake up one day and all of your data is gone.  The last 5 years of digital pictures, the spreadsheet your worked on yesterday, and the diary you’ve been keeping for the last 10 years.  Sounds like a nightmare, doesn’t it?  But surely, you backup your data, don’t you?
The problem with my backup plan was that I didn’t realize how effective the plan was until it was too late.  On Saturday, I woke up, went to check the news and my trusty old blue and white G3 crashed.  I restarted.  Instead of the normal startup screens, I got a question mark.  I’m enough of a geek to know how to bring a Mac back to life if it misplaces its system folder, but this time, my bag of tricks did nothing.  I determined that the hard drive failed.  So how was my backup strategy?

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