The Serendipity Machine David G. Green Information Technology, Monash University http://www.csse.monash.edu.au/~dgreen/books/serendipity/ serendipity_article.htm [excerpt] Predictions about the future of technology are notoriously risky. In the 1940s, Tom Watson, then chairman of IBM Corporation, made what must rank as one of the worst predictions of all time. "There is a need", he said, "for perhaps five computers in the world." By the year 2000, computers numbered in the hundreds of millions. In Watson's day, information was a rare and expensive commodity. Today it is abundant and cheap. That transition marks a revolution in the ways we do things, and even in the way we think and live. As anyone knows who has searched the Internet, abundant information means that we inevitably discover things that we never set out to look for. Serendipity, accidental discovery, is an everyday event. The importance of serendipity was driven home to me while building an environmental information system. The design focussed on crucial questions, such as "Where is species X found?" But as we gathered the necessary data, a curious phenomenon emerged. Data that we collected for one purpose yielded unexpected discoveries about other matters. For instance, data on species distributions, which we needed to describe different environments, could also help us interpret seasonal colour changes in satellite images. As the volume of data grew, the number of potential discoveries soon went off the scale. Since that time, new areas of computing, especially data mining, have arisen to exploit this "serendipity effect." ================================ The Serendipity Machine: Voyage of Discovery through Unexpected World of Computers (A Voyage of Discovery through the Unexpected World of Computers) The incredible advances in information technology during the second part of the 20th century have created a new form of complexity and have produced many surprising and totally unexpected consequences Table of Contents The information revolution The serendipity effect Divide and rule The platypus effect From the Net to the grid Nuggets of knowledge Talk to my agent Computing and nature Pandora's box The Internet turns green Virtual worlds The global village. Author : DAVID GREEN Format : Paperback ISBN : 186508655X Publisher : Allen & Unwin (Australia) Pty Ltd Publication Date (AUS) : January 2004 Pages : 216 Imprint : Allen & Unwin http://www.abbeys.com.au/items/25/65/26/ Abbey's Bookshops 131 York Street Sydney NSW 2000 Australia Phone: +61 2 9264 3111 or 1800 4 BOOKS (1800 426 657) Fax: +61 2 9264 8993 Book enquiries: books@abbeys.com.au ====================================================== The Serendipity Machine: A Voyage of Discovery Through the Unexpected World of Computers Paperback - ISBN: 186508655X - AU $22.95 http://www.publish.csiro.au/nid/18/pid/3882.htm Cover Image http://www.publish.csiro.au/covers/3882.jpg Description The incredible advances in information technology during the second part of the 20th century have created a new form of complexity and have produced many surprising and totally unexpected consequences. Computers, we love them and we curse them. No matter what we think about them, we know they have changed the world irrevocably. They have allowed us to make surprising, fantastic and unexpected discoveries. They are serendipity machines. However, computers have also made our world and our lives more complex. From mobile phones to the Internet, we use them to cope with rapid change and global crises. But what of their social impacts, especially when it comes to personal privacy and the role of the Internet in the globalisation of terror? The Serendipity Machine helps us make sense of recent developments in information technology. It explains how innovations such as data mining and evolutionary computing deal with the complexity by exploiting serendipity. It looks at possibilities raised by new technologies of personal agents and virtual communities. And it examines the growing influence of computers in new fields including biotechnology, environmental management and electronic commerce. It also reveals surprising connections between computing and everyday life. What do handbags, platypuses and traffic congestion have to do with computing? Why is computing becoming more and more like electricity supply? And why do computer scientists increasingly look to nature for inspiration? The Serendipity Machine is an engaging and insightful trek through the new worlds of information technology with plenty of chance discovery on the way. ================================= Components of Navigation http://www.izhd.uni-hamburg.de/paginae/Book/Ch2/Navigation.html [excerpt] ‘Lost in Hyperspace’ The topic of navigation is discussed by most hypermedia authors in close connection with the thesis formulated by Conklin (1987) that the user might »get lost« in the multitude of information contained in the interaction space, a risk that has been expressed in the catchphrase »lost in hyperspace« [Edwards/Hardman (1989)]. This thesis crops up in many studies, like a biblical quotation. Does it belong to the pedagogical myths that have grown around multimedia? Most authors conclude from this that it is necessary to develop transparent methods of navigation. I think that one can clearly see from the manner in which this argument is brought forward over and over again that the thesis of getting lost serves as a justification of introducing more strict forms of navigation for most authors. It seems to me that this topic therefore has a definite point of contact with the question of learner control, which I am going to discuss later. =============================