Data Objectification

Throughout our day we interact with tons of data. Prior to writing the symbolism and representation of data happened though abstraction (I would imagine). Now we interact with data in so many ways beyond the abstract.

I’ve been thinking about Information Visualization and that we interact with data in more and more of an object fashion. In the age of the computers and the internet I believe that we will see a blurring of the virtual and the actual. I don’t mean the matrix, but like with the advent of writing, data will take a further step towards objectification and physicality. If you take Mp3s as an example, prior to digital music we were all carrying around CDs and cassettes. Now we carry abstract data that creates the “physical” experience of music.

I believe that there is interesting room for development here when you think about how interacting with data that holds more objectification might be different than current forms of data. Meta-Data is a big thing on the web right now. Meta-Data is data about the data, seems kinda weird at first, but put in the perspective of data objectification it makes sense. Right now files (more so the instance of a file, meaning YOUR copy of word) exist for the most part abstractly only. They are symbolic representations of that bunch of code you call a file. They do not hold much quality of their own. Once you start describing the data, the file becomes a container with its own qualities. Now each instance of that file has an existence of its own, thus it becomes an individual object.

With a higher level of objectivity, what types of manipulations and qualities of data can change and expand. Into what? I dunno, but that’s what’s interesting to think about with a new perspective.

The Structure of Complex Systems (Your Brain)

One thing that I have been thinking about while in school is “complex systems” and their application to psychology (and really to everything). While thinking I have decided that it is important to come up with a language for describing these systems in order to explore them. It’s extremely challenging and has been a very slow process. I’m constantly searching for the next piece of the puzzle. The difficulty lies in that with any language the components of the language need to be defined and the relationships of those components need to be illustrated (grammar and so on).

One piece that I’ve been thinking of is that a system consists of a beginning point and an end point. In reality I believe these two points to be intimately tied, possible even the same. With the activation of these points the system takes place. However it is necessary to have both a beginning and an ending in order for a system to form. To initiate any action a goal must be present. I have come to call these two points of activation the emergent point, and the priming point. The emergent point is the beginning where input or stimuli enter the system. At the same time the priming point, goal, or end is activated. This priming point is important because it helps dictate the set of possible actions to create an outcome. Without it the emergent point would activate all possible actions. Unadulterated emergence is not a bad thing per se, however in a purely bottom-up emergent system it is extremely difficult to control the outcome of the system. Therefore a top-down system is needed to superimpose control over the emergent system.

This lead me to a thought today in that “priming” in psychology is when you bias an experiment participant by exposing them to stimuli before exposing them to a different set of stimuli. This correlates to my theory about the end point in that at the beginning of system activation an end point is also activated thus the priming effect.

Also in Developmental psychology a famous stage theorist argued that in the process of learning to systems occur, accommodation and assimilation. This interesting fits in nice with my current theory. Assimilation is when data (stimuli) reinforces an already existing system, which further reinforces that system, increasing the speed and efficiency. Accommodation is when data is different than what the system expects which causes the individual to change the system in order to accommodate this new data. Accommodation of course is a slower process than Assimilation and I would further argue that Assimilation is “vertical thinking” (speed, efficiency, detail), where as Accommodation is “horizontal thinking” (broadening, adaptive). In terms of my system theory that would mean that as the priming point is reinforced by the stimuli, the goal state is more definitive and therefore achieved faster, more efficiently and so on. When a stimulus does not cause sufficient reinforcement to the priming point, cognitive dissonance (slow down in the system) occurs. In order to adapt to the new parameters of the situation (stimuli), then a broadening of the system needs to occur so that an appropriate end point can be found in order for action to take place.

Cool.

Breaks over, time for school/work

Well I'm back in B'Lo, after my two week excursion to New Mexico (Albuquerque) and NYC. Trip was good over-all. Unfortunately I got delayed in Atlanta on the way to NM for 4 hours and almost got stuck, then got snowed in at NM for 4 days and missed New Years in NYC. I spent Christmas in NM with my folks and one of my brothers which was good. We went hiking and to some galleries/museums. Stayed at Dave and Sarah's new place (new to me) on the west side of Manhattan when I was in NYC. It was great to hang out with my friends there but of course I didn't have enough time to see everyone I would have liked. I needed to get back to Buffalo to deal with everything I had put off. There's only so long I can go without working.

The bills are piling up in the background and I need to get more income. $8.00 bucks an hour just doesn't cut it, though my freedom/flexibility and perks are awesome.

I'm finishing up my Psychology BA this semester with Social Cognition, Mood Disorders, Anxiety Disorders, Small Group Processes, and Advanced 3D Modeling (can't stay away from the design). All my classes are on a night schedule this time which I'm curious to see how it will feel. I really needed to open up my schedule to make more time for an income.

I have to do some legwork figuring out whats going to happen with my third degree (informatics, not torture) as I plan on starting it next semester, not to mention I need to start preparing for the GREs. Hopefully Ill get that out of the way this summer so I have time to take it again before I graduate if I need to.

My Girlfriend (see picture below) and I are thinking about moving to downtown Buffalo to be in a more active area. I never go out here. Well that is the gist of things at the moment. Laters.

Band Heroes

While in NYC my friend introduced me to Guitar Hero. Its not the kind of game I'm into but it's very popular and when watching people play it it's clear that they are enjoying themselves. This leads me to the idea that Expansions should/could be made for different aspects of a Band. You could have a guitarist, vocalist, drummer, so on and give people the ability to form a band online. Furthermore if the developers created a music importing algorithm that could translate songs into a game play format, any song could be incorporated into the game or songs written by the players could be used. Of course there are some legal issues about this. An alternative could just be a large music collection, I'm sure existing bands would see it as a great advertising opportunity.

Dynamic Digital Music

I've been playing some old school games on emulators over the last couple of days and in one of the emulators I noticed a sound filter option. When pressed this filter took the old school beeping midi music and updated it with high quality digital instruments. I was blown away. What if all music could be so dynamic. Music written in a digital format could provide a new musical experience and creation environment that could unfold dynamically to the listener.