Foundations of Information Science
Cybernetics - a step back in time, or is it?
The Australian National University in Canberra has created a new School of Cybernetics with a specific mission:
... to build a new branch of engineering to take AI-enabled cyber-physical systems to scale and to create a new generation of practitioners with the skills and knowledge we need to help shape this future safely, sustainably and responsibly.
How do they describe "Cybernetics"?
We may compare this idea with the new UNC School of Data Science and Society.
But to have more of a background, read this.
Gleick, J. (2011).
The information: A history, a theory, a flood.
New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
read chapter chapter 8, The informational turn. As you read it, think about:
- p. 242 - Is information about communication
- p. 263 - or is it a hard core branch of mathematics
- pp. 260-261 - what is the connection between "the magical number seven" and "bits"?
We might want to read the original thinking behind the concept, but it is dense.
Glance over the discussion from the middle of page 10 through the end of page 29.
Wiener, N. (1961). Cybernetics: Or, Control and communication in the animal and the machine. New York: M.I.T. Press.
Eliane Elias
Eliane Elias was born in São Paulo, Brazil, and grew up in a musical household. By the time she was 10 she was already a huge jazz fan. ...
Elias and her band brought a little bit of Brazil with this commanding performance of the best of the Brazilian jazz genre. Watch how the piano keys sit comfortably under Elias' hands, and how the dynamic syncopation in her percussive left hand complements the beautiful melodic lines of her right, both blending perfectly with the musicianship of her talented band. This superb combination of Afro-Latin rhythms, like samba and bossa nova, with straight-ahead styles make for really infectious music. (NPR)