seeds

Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

June

Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

Aviation disruptions

"British Airways: Thousands disrupted as flights axed amid IT crash" in BBC news

"With a lack of technology, staff were using whiteboards in Heathrow" in BBC news

Ginko

Ginko Tree, the 'bearer of hope'. Amsterdam canals, June 2016. Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

(im)mobility systems

"(...) interdependent systems of 'immobile' material worlds, and especially exceptionally immobile platforms (transmitters, roads, garages, stations, aerials, airports, docks) structure mobility experiences. The complex character of such systems stems from their multiple fixities or moorings, often on a substantial physical scale. Thus 'mobile machines', such as mobile phones, cars, boats, aircraft, trains and computer connections, all presume overlapping and varied time-space immobilities. There is no linear increase in fluidity without extensive systems of immobility."Anthony Elliott & John Urry (2010). Mobile Lives. Routledge, p. 20.

October 16, 2009
Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

Human-Built World

"Technology is messy and complex. It is difficult to define and to understand. In its variety, it is full of contradictions, laden with human folly, saved by occasional benign deeds, and rich with unintended consequences." Hughes, T. P. (2004). Human-Built World: How to Think about Technology and Culture. University Of Chicago Press.

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC), November 17, 2009

Paths

What if success was measured by the number of beings living better? What if the purpose of life was making meaningful things like taking care of the world that sustains our lives? What if we defined impact indicators that measured the number of people that can access technology? What if our paths could lead to a better world instead of leading to more technology for the few? What if our policies could lay the foundations for more organic infrastructures that require less energy? What if our time was spent in meaningful activities? What if public service meant working for the betterment of the vast population? What if government listened to the majority of workers and what they say about the individuals that are nominated to run public organisms? What if ... Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

January

Oh but my Darling, what if you fly?"

 

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

Carry on

"Remember that your strength is also built on what you lost." Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

sketch

"Instead of generic perfection all at once you would want to make a particular structure that started as a sketch, capable of evolving." Richard Sennette, 2009. The Craftsman.

Sketch, September 2016. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

Visualizing energy data

 Chart from USA energy data ( http://energyliteracy.com ):

onsite interactive map shows energy wasted in different sectors

"By clicking through the chart, you can see exactly how much energy is used for every activity. (...) Almost 1% is used just to pump natural gas around pipelines; 2% goes to making cardboard and other paper products. Around 16% is used to grow, distribute, and cook food. Looking at the total picture helps make the point that some of the ways that we think about energy aren't quite right. Refining petroleum uses about 6% of total energy in the country, but isn't considered when we think about fuel economy in cars. (...) Mining oil and gas uses even more energy." (in link)

Green season

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

electricity

Boyer, Dominic. "Anthropology Electric." Cultural Anthropology 30, no. 4 (2015) 531–539:

"These days, beyond spectacular weather events or spectacular failures like blackouts, electricity hides in plain sight, whether stored in batteries or flowing in the electrical wires that festoon our social landscapes. We conveniently ignore whole electroscapes until something goes awry."

technology non-use

Eric P.S. Baumer, Morgan G. Ames, Jenna Burrell, Jed R. Brubaker, and Paul Dourish (2015). Why study technology non-use? First Monday, Volume 20 (11), November 2nd:

"Technology non-use offers a fascinating sociotechnical phenomenon worthy of study per se. However, it also provides an opportunity to rethink how we approach, study, and conceptualize human relationships with, and through, technology."

October

Arthur. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

information fragmentation

M. Kljun, “The information fragmentation problem through dimensions of software, time and personal projects,” Ph.D. dissertation, Lancaster University, 2013.

"The findings show (i) the extensive information fragmentation in each individual PIM tool besides cross-tool fragmentation, (ii) the information overload preventing focusing on the subset of fragmented project related information and changing focus over time, and (iii) the importance of support information (information scraps) and its integration into project flow." [pdf]

by Jimmy Lawlor

ICT2015 conference

ICT 2015 - Innovate, Connect, Transform, on 20-22 October 2015 in Lisbon, Portugal, parallel activities: 

• A policy conference presenting the new Commission's policies and initiatives on Research & Innovation in ICT (Horizon 2020 Programme); 
• An interactive exhibition showcasing the best results and impact of most recent EU ICT Research & Innovation; 
• Many networking opportunities to enhance quality partnerships, help participants find partners, connect Research and Innovation and trigger collaboration; 
• Funding opportunities: ICT 2015 will also be the place to gather information on the 2016-17 Work Programme of Horizon 2020; 
• The Startup Europe Forum, offering a set of activities profiling EU policy actions for startups and SMEs, innovators, private and public investors.

Open Science, concept paper (pdf):

Paper selling (still) growing in digital era

«Ainda é possível vender mais papel na era do digital»: «Não deixa de ser curioso que uma empresa que vende papel esteja a crescer em paralelo com o avanço da digitalização. Ou seja, a Portucel está a vender mais folhas de papel mesmo com a desmaterialização de ficheiros e documentos. “No ano passado até na Europa conseguimos crescer”, nota Diogo da Silveira, “mas é óbvio para nós a grande importância que tem (e vai continuar a ter) o mercado asiático, com especial destaque para a China”» in http://expresso.sapo.pt/economia/2015-07-19-Portucel-quer-quinta-fabrica-em-Portugal

July in the garden

Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

interpreting, changing

7 e 8 de Maio de 2015 | Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian

Interpreting the World, Changing the World | Noam Chomsky
Can experiencing art lead to better scientists? Reflections and discussions | Samuel Meyler

Image as Method

From the Heyman Center:

"Image as Method: Ethnography – Photography – Film – Sensation – Perception" is a two-day symposium presented by the Society of Fellows in the Humanities. The symposium is organized by Fellow Brian Goldstone, Lecturer in Anthropology.

Aviation security issues with paperless option

Travelers scramble after iPad issues delay American Airlines flights, in USA Today:

Paper does not need an occasional reboot, however. (...) "He said, 'My copilot's iPad went black. Exactly 24 minutes after that, mine went black. We were informed it looks like a problem with all the iPads on 737s,' " Jacaruso, 54, recalled. (...) The crew explained that flight plans are transmitted on the iPads, which make them crucial to navigation, said McRell, 43. (...) The glitch came two weeks after the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned that i on-board wifi conceivably could be used to bring down a plane. "Modern aircraft are increasingly connected to the internet. This interconnectedness can potentially provide unauthorized remote access to aircraft avionics systems."

Dezenas de voos da American Airlines em terra devido a falha nos iPad, in jornal Expresso: 

Uma falha numa aplicação de iPad usada pelos pilotos da American Airlines levou a que cerca de duas dezenas de aviões da empresa não descolassem terça-feira à noite. (...) A responsável de comunicações da companhia, Andrea Huguely, indicou ao "USA Today" que, "em alguns casos, os aparelhos tiveram de regressar até à zona de entrada para acederem a uma rede de wi-fi e resolverem o incidente". "Nós pedimos desculpa aos nossos clientes pelos inconvenientes e nós conseguimos levá-los para os seus destinos passado pouco tempo", afirmou. (...) A American Airlines tornou-se em 2013 a primeira companhia a substituir os planos de voo em papel, de modo a evitar o peso extra que isso representava, passando a transmitir essa informação às tripulações através de iPad.

See discussion in LinkedIn about «qualitative vs quantitative» methods.

Every Age

"Every age has its turn

Every branch of the tree has to learn

Learn to grow find its way

Make the best of this short-lived stay

Take this seed, take this spade

Take this dream of a better day

Take your time, build a home

Build a place where we all can belong

Some things change, some remain

Some will pass us a notice by

What to focus on to improve upon

In the face of our ancient tribes

Feels so clear, feels so obvious

To each one of their own

But we all live together

Keeping what tide and what we have sown

We don't choose where we're born

We don't choose in what pocket or form

But we can learn to know

Ourselves on this glowing lil void

Take this mind, take this pen

Take this dream of a better land

Take your time, build a home

Build a place where we all

can belong."

ECIS conference

Will still need a lot of time to digest everything i've experienced in this last week at the DC and the ECIS 2014 in Israel. The settings for the doctoral consortium, previous to the conference, couldn't have been more inspiring: Midreshet Sde Boker, a "place for research, education and inspiration. (…) a Kibbutz located in the Negev desert, south to Tel Aviv.” Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

 

 

Reconfiguring working spaces

Pinheiro, M., Barrulas, M. J., and Carvalho, J. A. (2013). Role of artifacts for reconfiguring working spaces and information systems. In Conferência Associação Portuguesa Sistemas de Informação. CAPSI:

"Individuals, like organizations, need to manage information for work (and non-work) related activities, on a daily basis. In order to extend their communication and fulfill information needs, people use artifacts (man made objects), that became increasingly technological, and in turn, these very technological artifacts are increasingly more dependent upon other supporting technologies, widely referred as infrastructures. In order to design information systems that support workers’needs, what do we know about their use of artifacts? Across time? Inside and outside their organizations? And on the move?"

Accepted

«We are pleased to inform you that your submission to the Internet Technologies & Society 2013 Conference (ITS 2013) has been accepted as a "Full Paper"»:

Pinheiro, M., Cardoso, M., Barrulas, M. J., and Carvalho, J. A. (2013). Some things I tend to overlap even if not necessary. A discussion on PIM artifacts between researcher and research agent. In International Conference on Internet Technologies & Society.

information overload ca. 1550-1700

Blair, Ann (2003). Reading Strategies for Coping with Information Overload ca. 1550-1700. Journal of the History of Ideas, vol. ?(?), pp. 11-28:

"The perception of an overabundance of books led to more books being used in a great variety ways. Alongside the well-established methods of thorough reading and note-taking, which engaged the personal judgment and effort of the reader, early modern scholars also relied on shortcuts to “process” books so as to retrieve items of use with less investment of time and self. (...) The proliferation of inventive methods of and aids to study, whether unique to individuals or spread more widely through official or unofficial teaching, can help us understand better not only the conditions of production of early modern scholarly and pedagogical works, but also the deep roots of the ways in which we, too, cope with what we now call information overload."

information artefacts on the move

The social life of information: displays of information artefacts in a small event. From personal workspace to event workspace and back. «Memory of the event» created and shared between participants: web object with embedded information used in the event, meta data about used information, summary of talk, and visual memory. Ciclo de Seminários sobre Estudos de Informação, June 14, 2009, Instituto Nacional de Engenharia, Tecnologia e Inovação, Lumiar, Portugal. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA (CC)

search for meaning

"If you don't recognize a young man's will to meaning, a men's search for meaning, you'll make him worse, you'll make him doll, you'll make him frustrated." (video below)

"Freedom, however, is not the last word. Freedom is only part of the story and half of the truth. Freedom is but the negative aspect of the whole phenomenon whose positive aspect is responsibleness. In fact, freedom is in danger of degenerating into mere arbitrariness unless it is lived in terms of responsibleness. That is why I recommend that the Statue of Liberty on the East Coast be supplemented by a Statue of Responsibility on the West Coast." (wishlist)

"Viktor Emil Frankl, M.D., PhD (26 March 1905, Leopoldstadt, Vienna – 2 September 1997, Vienna) was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist as well as a Holocaust survivor. Frankl was the founder of logotherapy, which is a form of existential Analysis, the "Third Viennese School of Psychotherapy". His best-selling book, Man's Search for Meaning (published under a different title in 1959: From Death-Camp to Existentialism, and originally published in 1946 as Trotzdem Ja Zum Leben Sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager), chronicles his experiences as a concentration camp inmate which led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most sordid ones, and thus a reason to continue living. Frankl became one of the key figures in existential therapy and a prominent source of inspiration for humanistic psychologists." (link)

plain paper artefact

Scrapings by a participant to register important temporary information as an auxiliary to perform a future task. Different types of registered information include: words, numbers, drawings, ideas, standards, to-buy-list and instruction details and measures for performing the future task.

Registering in plain paper artefact, June 2011

Beyond borders

European Conference on Information Systems (ECIS), ECIS 2013, June 5-8, Utrecht University, Utrecht Science Park 'de Uithof': 

"The transition to a more inter-dependent and connected world is ongoing, and offers up a range of new complex research challenges. A further challenge is that the way research is conducted is changing and requires greater collaboration between researchers, as well as between researchers and industry, to integrate capabilities to face today’s challenges.

(...)

 “Beyond Borders”. It suggests having an open mind towards new ways of doing research and establishing novel partnerships for conducting research. It also refers to the multi-disciplinary nature of the field of Information Systems where we often work outside IS and collaborate with researchers in diverse disciplines."

infrastructure of experience

"By 'the experience of infrastructure', we point to the ways in which infrastructure, rather than being hidden from view, becomes visible through our increasing dependence upon it for the practice of everyday life. By 'the infrastructure of experience', we want to draw attention to the ways in which, in turn, the embedding of a range of infrastructures into everyday space shapes our experience of that space and provides a framework through which our encounters with space take on meaning. (...) The first, and most fundamental, conclusion is that space is organized not just physically but culturally; cultural understandings provide a frame for encountering space as meaningful and coherent, and for relating it to human activities. (...) The second conclusion is that architecture is all about boundaries and transitions, and their intersection with human and social practice. (...) The third conclusion is that new technologies inherently cause people to reencounter spaces. This is not a question of mediation, but rather one of simultaneous layering. (...) Finally, there is already a complex interaction between space, infrastructure, culture, and experience. The spaces into which new technologies are deployed are not stable, not uniform, and not given." P. Dourish & G. Bell (2007). The infrastructure of experience and the experience of infrastructure: meaning and structure in everyday encounters with space. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, vol. 34(3), pp.414-430.

silence

"Experience doesn't come raw, but it comes in real time, in wildness, and not in anyone s direct control. Responding to experience means letting generalization and specificity be in dialectic in our writings and in our biographies. And this in turn means resistance – to pressures for conformity and towards the uniform voice (although there are sometimes ethical reasons for presenting a united front )." Star, S. L., Bowker, G., (2007). Enacting silence: Residual categories as a challenge for ethics, information systems, and communication. Ethics and Information Technology, vol.9, pp. 273-280. Image by Monica Pinheiro, license CC BY-NC-SA ( CC ).

Distance (still) matters! a)

Follow up on the related myth that «distance is dead», in a paper by Petra Sonderegger (2009) in R&D working context across disperse teams in project work. Creating Shared Understanding in Research Across Distance: Distance Collaboratiion across Cultures in R&D. In e-Research: Transformation in Scholarly Practice:

"In summary, shared understanding and the flow of tacit knowledge are key elements of innovative collaboration; and trust, shared context, and frequent interactions (both formal and informal) are central to establishing these elements. Despite proclamations of the “death of distance” (Cairncross, 1997), physical presence and shared space are still important in today’s world, especially for people who are highly interdependent and faced with ambiguous situations. This study was designed to explore the potential and the limitations of distance collaboration in R&D, given the communication tools available. (...) For the researchers in this study, in-person meetings led to a higher level of comfort in collaboration. They trusted their counterparts more and moved the relationship from a purely professional level to a more personal level; they made fewer negative attributions in situations of uncertainty. An increase in spontaneity and a decrease in formality helped overcome some difficulties in distance communication."

a) Note to self: see another post with same title, and follow tag «distance».