Information on the Internet

"Connect it to google, khan academy, kickstarter, the ent[r]enched and the emerging. Access to find what you need to know over pooling it in one place. Contextual, decided by the individual. Appropriate for the individual." - Andrey

I suppose it was only a matter of time before I foisted my ideas upon this space without pretext. Many of these threads have already been mentioned on this blog, and they will definitely be alluded to in later posts. I see this site as a body of work, so forgive me if you find the interlinking a bit conservative.

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Information on the net is organized along the lines of early analytic semantics: there exist objects linked by relations. The objects are atomic pieces of information, specific and isolated; a definition, for instance. Relations are the thoughts that link objects. Objects exist in the analog world, and there is no way to digitally reduce the irreducible. But, relations will be handled differently in the future.

Consider the best source of information on the internet, Wikipedia. Each page is an explication of a noun phrase, such as Abraham Lincoln or Galois theory. But, the page's prose also hyperlinks the reader to related subjects. This allows the ultimate create-your-own-story experience. For instance, an inquiry into postmodernism may read like this:

Jean-François Lyotard (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ fʁɑ̃swa ljɔˈtaʁ]; 10 August 1924– 21 April 1998) was a French philosopher and literary theorist. He is well known for his articulation of postmodernism after the late 1970s and the analysis of the impact of postmodernity

Postmodernity (also spelled post-modernity or termed the postmodern condition) is generally used to describe the economic or cultural state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity. Some schools of thought hold that modernity ended in the late 20th century, in the 1980s or early 1990s^[1] replaced by postmodernity, while others would extend modernity to cover the developments denoted by postmodernity.
Postmodernity can mean a personal response to a postmodern society, the conditions in a society which make it postmodern or the state of being that is associated with a postmodern society. In most contexts it should be distinguished from postmodernism, the conscious adoption of postmodern philosophies or traits in art, literature and society. 

 Postmodernity is the state or condition of being postmodern – after or in reaction to that which is modern, as in postmodern art (see postmodernism).Modernity is defined^[who?] as a period or condition loosely identified with the Progressive Era, the Industrial Revolution, or the Enlightenment. In philosophyand critical theory postmodernity refers to the state or condition of society which is said to exist after modernity, a historical condition that marks the reasons for the end of modernity. This usage is ascribed to the philosophers Jean-François Lyotard and Jean Baudrillard.

Jean Baudrillard (27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) (French pronunciation: [ʒɑ̃ bodʁijaʁ])^[2] was a French sociologist, philosopher, cultural theorist, political commentator, and photographer. His work is frequently associated with postmodernism and specifically post-structuralism. (All from Wikipedia.org. Thank God for the creative commons. Retrieved 3/21/12.)

...and so on. The difference between hypertext and old text is obvious when we compare the above text to the Britannica entry on postmodernism.

Postmodernism as a philosophical movement is largely a reaction against the philosophical assumptions, values, and intellectual worldview of the modern period of Western (specifically European) history—i.e., the period from about the time of the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries to the mid-20th century. Indeed, many of the doctrines characteristically associated with postmodernism can fairly be described as the straightforward denial of the general philosophical viewpoints that were taken for granted during the 18th-century Enlightenment, though they were not unique to that period. The most important of these viewpoints are the following.
1. There is an objective natural reality, a reality whose existence and properties are logically independent of human beings—of their minds, their societies, their social practices, or their investigative techniques. Postmodernists dismiss this idea as a kind of naive realism. Such reality as there is, according to postmodernists, is a conceptual construct, an artifact of scientific practice and language. This point also applies to the investigation of past events by historians and to the description of social institutions, structures, or practices by social scientists.
2. The descriptive and explanatory statements of scientists and historians can, in principle, be objectively true or false. The postmodern denial of this viewpoint—which follows from the rejection of an objective natural reality—is sometimes expressed by saying that there is no such thing as Truth. (From the Encyclopedia Britannica website. Hyperlinks removed to resemble print edition. Retrieved 3/21/12.)

The hypertextual exploration is more concerned with relations than the object we were initially curious about. Of course, more informative routes may be taken on a Wikipedia search. Suppose, instead of Lyotard -> Postmodernity -> Baudrillard, we started with Postmoderism and only linked away for information relevant to the philosophical tenants of postmodernism. Our map might be something like Postmodernism -> Post-structuralism -> Deluze, or Postmodernism -> Positivism -> Logical positivism. Or, if we allow for tabs:

Please excuse my lack of Adobe ability. The idea is not that one person would read all of these pages, but that different intentions may trace any of these hypothetical paths, customizing the reading experience even further.

Our options are many. The reader of a hypertext can approach it with specific goals and navigate to a conclusion faster and more completely than the reader of a general text. The reader personalizes his experience, thereby increasing the efficiency of his learning.


This efficiency can be used to link other learning tools, like games and video, into an inviting web of knowledge. That is the mission of Kahn Academy, a website for learners. And with MIT beginning to offer certificates for OCW courses, this method is certain to become the standard. A child will sit down at the computer and complete his learning in a system that values comprehension, moving at his own pace. His activities will be collaborative, and his learning will help other students. He will develop an academic reputation based on his comments, contributions, and achievements. The self-motivated learner will prosper.


But these implementations of the new information system are already here. The horizon holds more. Interactivity is an aspect of design, but not the only aspect of design. Efficiency of communication can continue to increase if communicators focus on design.


Infographics are on the rise, and user-friendly tools will democratize their crafting. These images show relations between objects in an engaging way. The simplest graphics are statistical, but some are qualitative, and the incorporation of interactivity will make qualitative aspects more engaging.


I think infographics will prove the most intuitive summary of the relationships currently cataloged in prose works. I think infographics will be interlinked. Imagine this learning experience:


You see a timeline titled The American Literary Canon. You're interested in the Lost Generation, so you zoom in on the appropriate area of the timeline, like a Prezi. More detailed information is shown at this level. You see a link to the World War One portion of a world history timeline. You click an icon that directs you to a new graphic about the Lost Generation, part of a series on writers in exile. You zoom in on France. You see arrows emanating from Gertrude Stein, showing her influence. She seems important. You click her icon. You can see a map of her influence, a timeline of her notable ideas, annotated samples of her writing. You select the idea timeline, then select "A rose is a rose is a rose ...." Finally, you arrive at an atomic page explaining the significance of the line with a hypertext.


That's where I see learning going. Design is efficiency. Design is convenience. The relations between objects will be designed in a future that values efficiency and convenience.