Is WiFi / Bandwidth Property?

Mike Kuniavsky at Orange Cone has whipped up an interesting post on bandwidth, WiFi and the concepts of ownership and property.

People don't have a framework within which to evaluate the pros and cons of sharing bandwidth with strangers--what does it mean to me if someone uses some of the bits I'm paying for? So they retreat to a concept they understand, a mapping of their relationship to their property to their bandwidth. I'm not comfortable letting someone I don't know set up their lawn chair on my front lawn, even if it doesn't hurt me or my lawn, so why should I let them freeload on my bandwidth? Or, at least, that's how I feel the thinking goes.

Take a look, leave a comment -- I did.

Chomsky on Suburbanization

Chomsky usually is careful not to appeal to conspiracies since his detractors tend to describe many of his views as conspiracy theories and, thus, try to discredit the views. He usually replies that what he is describing is the cultural and institutional inertia of capitalist and governmental institutions. It is the ingrained culture and framework of presuppositions that lead to problematic behavior and not necessarily an agreed conspiracy among the powerful.

That said, it was with a bit of a disappointment that I read his views on suburbanization. He appeals to a conspiracy explicitly.

...take the fact that so many people live in the suburbs and everybody has to drive their own car everywhere. Was that the result of a "free market"? No, it was because the U.S. government carried out a massive social-engineering project in the 1950s to destroy the public transportation system in favor of expanding a highly inefficient system based on cars and airplanes -- because that's what benefits big industry. It started with corporate conspiracies to buy up and eliminate streetcar systems, and then continued with huge public subsidies to build the highway systems and encourage an extremely inefficient and environmentally destructive alternative. That's what led to the suburbanization of the country -- so you get huge shopping malls in the suburbs, and devastation in the inner cities.

Noam Chomsky; Understanding Power; p.256

Keep in mind that this is a transcript of an off-the-cuff talk he gave in the early 1990's and, as such, his simplification could, perhaps, be excused. The passage does have a footnote dedicated to justifying the accusation of "conspiracy".

I'm close to finishing the book, so I'll post a critical analysis sometime in the near future.

Fellow IAs

Here are some links to sites / blogs of other folks that practice information architecture.

Peter Merholz - information architect for Adaptive Path in San Francisco.

Orange Cone - blog kept by Mike Kuniavsky. He is also a member of Adaptive Path and author of Observing the User Experience.

InfoDesign: Understanding by Design - ''...is dedicated to the growth and improvement of the information and experience industries through the provision of a centralized online resource that serves all interested audiences. Launched in 2004, the site will continually evolve to meet the needs and desires of its participants. 'InfoDesign: Understanding by Design' is a non-profit informational resource." A site maintained by Peter J. Bogaards.

Noise Between Stations - Victor Lombardi's personal weblog. He is an information architect in NYC.

Bag Jones

I recently saw a beautifully designed briefcase from Nava Design at Fosters Urban Homeware down the street. I did a double-take, thought about getting it, and then simply moved on without it. Sure enough, it disappeared later that day and I cannot find a place on the Internet that has the exact model. Argh!

I can find the canvas versions, but not the brown "ecoleather" version that struck my fancy. Here are the blah midnight blue versions of the Cube Box and the Cube Brief -- not sure which one to get yet.

Here are some links to slake your thirst:

City Comforts Blog - A blog about "cities, architecture, the 'new urbanism,' real estate, historic preservation, urban design, land use law, landscape, transport etc etc from a mildly libertarian stance."

Zach Korb's "an affair with urban policy" - Excellent blog about urban affairs. Don't ignore the Photography section.

Walnut Street (between Front and 2nd St.) - A couple of developments are in the works in this block: the Bookbinders renovation and a residential condominium building at 101 Walnut.

1/4 Season Report on Sixers

OK,

Not to brag about my amazing knowledge of the NBA and the Sixers, but I'd like to point out that they are currently 12-12 and this fulfills an earlier prediction I made.

Glenn Robinson looked awful in the last two games after coming back from a high ankle sprain. Despite the fact that Allen Iverson did not play and that the Sixers are riddled with injuries, I think Robinson's sloppy play was a primary reason for the loss to Utah this past Sunday.

The Sixers have a long road trip playing Western Conference team between December 26 and January 3. Before that road trip, they play Miami, Cleveland, Boston and Orlando. It is crucial that they win, at least, 3 out of those 4 in order to amass some "padding" before hitting the West.

Predictions? I expect them to be 14-14 before heading out West and still hovering around the .500 mark after the Western swing. Sigh... thank goodness for a weak Atlantic Division this year.

Political Marketing

Reading Chomsky recently has solidifed some half-formed, dormant thoughts I've had about my experience with the political science curriculum during my college years. To give you some short-and-sweet background: I began as a pre-law / political science major (back in 1988), took a few Constitutional Law courses and realized that I was more interested in the philosophical underpinnings of laws. This led to some philosophy courses and onward to graduate school in philosophy.

In retrospect, it seems that what was stressed in many of my political science courses and readings was not a critical analysis of systems of governance but, rather, a pragmatic understanding of how to use the political systems in place in order to propel certain agendas. So, for example, instead of questioning the theoretical/philosophical underpinnings of certain Supreme Court decisions, we spent time understanding the backdoor maneuverings of interest groups, politicians and judges on the path toward a certain decision. We also spend time understanding (with an undercurrent of appreciation) how existing institutional structures were exploited and manipulated to shield public exposure of how decisions come to be made.

In essence, we learned how to operate politically within frameworks rather than discussing the merits of pre-existing frameworks. If this trend is true across our educational institutions, it is no wonder, then, that discussions of "politics" in this country have focused primarily on the methods frameworks are used rather than a sustained, critical analysis of the frameworks.

I know this is a bit anecdotal, but I often see analysts on television networks or in print evaluate the merits of political figures based on how effective they are in using systems in place to get ahead. Discussion tends to focus on whether political figures are succesful at fundraising, at disseminating the correct spin on issues or at making tactical moves that will promote his/her political survival. In other words, appreciation and merit are often tied to their marketing choices. More time and resources are spent discussing whether political figures are effective marketers rather than discussing foundational questions about the U.S. political system.

I grew up in Mexico in the 70s and 80s. What I remember most vividly about the political environment in that country was the robust critical analysis of issues and the ever-present voice of a myriad of parties: socialist, communist, catholic, agrarian, etc. When issues were discussed, the philosophical merits of the matter at hand were of primary importance while political marketing techniques were exposed as warnings to the public. Each political party was given 30 minutes or an hour, on radio and television to broadcast freely. Things have changed since then, Mexican politics are approaching the United States model.

I suppose that teaching effective political marketing has become essential since anyone with political ambition needs to play the game to get their agenda in play. Those that may have an authentic interest in questioning existing frameworks may just have to play the game in order to get something done -- well, maybe not Nader.

| Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting |
| Univ. of Mich. Course: Politics and the Media -- see notes for Sept. 22, 2003 in particular (PDFs) |

What to do about links?

I've been debating what to do with the list of sites and blogs that I tend to visit often. Should I...

(a) add a sidebar element with a semi-permanent list that changes every so often, or
(b) post entries with links that I discover every so often?

Well, since none of you drop comments in here and offer your views, I have decided to opt for (b) and that's that. With that out of the way....

Gizmodo - Gizmodo is an online review dedicated to gadgets, gizmos, and cutting-edge consumer electronics.

purse lip square jaw - Blog written by a technology researcher, ethnographer & designer, inhabitant of Ottawa in the Land of Ice & Snow, lover of eggplant and asparagus, the music of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and Mogwai, strange places, brilliant & otherwise hardcore people.

IAMScruelty.com - Great. Now I have to wean Bogie and Squid to some other brand and once they get used to it and grow to tolerate it -- a new cruelty scandal will crop up with that brand...sigh.

Boxes and Arrows - Should give you a sense of the kinds of issues and projects I'm involved with as an Information Architect.

Until the next installment!

Chomsky on Sports

In fact, I have the habit when I'm driving of turning on these radio call-in programs, and it's striking when you hear the ones about sports. They have these groups of sports reporters, or some kind of experts on a panel, and people call in and have discussions with them. First of all, the audience obviously is devoting an enormous amount of time to it all. But the more striking fact is, the callers have a tremendous amount of expertise, they have detailed knowledge of all kinds of things, they carry on these extremely complex discussions...

...And when you look at the structure of them, they seem like a kind of mathematics. It's as though people want to work out mathematical problems, and it they don't have calculus and arithmetic, they work them out with other structures...And what all these things look like is that people just want to use their intelligence somehow...

Well, in our society we have things that you might use your intelligence on, like politics, but people really can't get involved in them in a very serious way -- so what they do is put their minds to other things, such as sports. You're trained to be obedient; you don't have an interesting job; there's no work around for you that's creative; in the cultural environment you're a passive observer of usually pretty tawdry stuff...So what's left?

...And I suppose that's also one of the basic functions it serves society in general: it occupies the populations, and it keeps them from trying to get involved with things that really matter. In fact, I presume that's part of the reason why spectator sports are supported to the degree they are by the dominant institutions.

Noam Chomsky; Understanding Power, p. 99-100

Guilty as charged -- well, I do not call in, but D.C. knows. Go Sixers!

Free Library of Philadelphia: Renovation and Expansion

As some of you know, the Free Library of Philadelphia recently selected Moshe Safdie and Associates Inc. to undertake an expansion of its Central Branch at Logan Circle. The Free Library is one of two buildings in Logan Circle that are replicas of those in the Place de la Concorde in Paris (the other being the Family Court building).

The current building was designed in the Beaux-Arts style by architects Horace Trumbauer and Julian Abele and it opened in June 1927.

You can take a look at the selected design and the other three finalists at the Free Library's site. I have not studied them too long but some initial observations:

The Safdie design looks pleasantly airy and light, but I am worried about the curvy, organic shapes becoming too much of a contrast with the neighboring Family Court and at odds with the staid character of Logan Square. Though some might say, "great -- about time."

Also, all designs seem to have the bulk of their construction and visual impact on the north side of the site. This would, in essence, tuck the design away from view. Anyone familiar with the north side of the library knows that this is a visual blind spot.

This said, I think the Safdie addition seems graceful and the least ponderous of the four. Pretty happy that the Ten Arquitectos proposal was not the winner.

| Philadelphia Inquirer article on Safdie and Free Library |
| Additional visuals at Safdie site |