Perspectives on information, technology and people

23 August 2022  1230-1345

② watch presenter in Sakai calendar

Claude Shannon

If you are curious, and only if you are seriously curious, you might want to look at his original article. It has been cited over 64,000 times.

Shannon, C. E. (1948). A Mathematical Theory of Communication.
The Bell System Technical Journal, 27, 379-423, 623-656.

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③ read presenter in Sakai calendar

Read these two chapters in Gleick's book and be ready to discuss them in class

1. read chapter chapter 5, A nervous system for the Earth. As you read it, think about:
   p. 143 - the concept of creating meaning from nothing more than the position of a switch
   p. 148 - the concept of a common sense of time
   p. 152 - the concept of a common sense of encoding
2. read chapter chapter 6, New wires, new logic. As you read it, think about:
   p. 172 - Vannevar Bush's comment about the value not of being able to manipulate figures, but rather to be skilled in the use of symbolic logic
   pp. 177-178 - the idea that language is just the symbolic coding of meaning
   p. 185 - the concept that numbers may be used to encode all reasoning

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④ ponder presenter in Sakai calendar

Two optional for this segment.

1. If the item on the Napoleonic semaphore in chapter 5 piqued your interest ... Look at the video that precedes Hugh Schofield's 16 June 2013 article on BBC news, How Napoleon's semaphore telegraph changed the world.
2. If you want to know more about Grace Hopper, read
   Grudin, J., & Williams, G. (November 01, 2013).
   Two women who pioneered user-centered design.
   Interactions, 20, 6, 15-20.

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⑤ listen presenter in Sakai calendar

Sodade

Cesária Évora and a quote about her from Songbar

The song, meaning 'longing', is inspired by emigrant workers who leave Cape Verde to look back at their homeland with nostalgia, and with yearning for loved one, but as well as the melody, it is the perfect pace, and the, gradually falling, lilting beauty of Evora's voice that truly brings out such emotions.

Almost two-thirds of the million Cape Verdeans alive live abroad.

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⑥ an unanswered question

Finally, at least one time per session, you all are offered the opportunity to put me on the spot.

What is the "one big question" that the readings posed, but did not answer?

If I can't come up with an answer immediately, I will research it and have it for you at the subsequent session.

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