Comments for The Politics of Systems

Comment on Google does not want you to kill yourself… by Peter

Peter — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 16:48:54 +0000

Nice Observation. But of you are desperate for some hints call me
Hope you are doing fine, anyway.

Comment on counting or weighing and Tarde again by bernhard

bernhard — Sat, 10 Jul 2010 08:21:25 +0000

Hi Ulises !

Hope everything is well! Concerning your comment, I believe that
1) Tarde’s conception of “public opinion” is actually very different of Kierkegaard’s – mostly because his ontological baseline is microsociological rather that philosophical and his theory of imitation is probably closer to 20th century diffusion theory (what is now called memetics is – in a sense – a biologically framed rehashing of Les Lois de l’Imitation) than 19th century moral philosophy. The basic building block of the formation of “opinion” in Tarde is interpersonal communication and the “second order aggregate” perhaps more of an agenda transmission structure than a something that would produce a common spirit. Tarde was a strong advocate of a “public sphere democracy” and had a rather positive view of the back-and-forth of public opinion – a liberal (in the European meaning of the term, opposed to both conservatism and socialism).
2) This is spot on and I think that Latour draws so heavily on both Tarde and ethnomethodology is an indicator for a certain compatibility…

Comment on counting or weighing and Tarde again by Ulises

Ulises — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 14:20:16 +0000

Interesting stuff, Bernhard. Makes me think of two things:
1) I wonder how much Tarde was influenced by Kierkegaard’s views on the press, since he pretty much arrived at the same conclusions (ie, public opinion as the lowest common denominator).
2) The distinction Schutz would later make between consociates (the people you experience in social simultaneity) and contemporaries (the individuals whose social existence you can only infer through indirect evidence–such as their tweets).

Comment on Shannon, measurement and a classic textbook by Ryan Shaw

Ryan Shaw — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 03:58:03 +0000

Thanks for the additional pointers. My advisor edited that 2nd ASIS&T anthology! Incidentally, he is also chair of the ASIST SIGHFIS, which might be a venue for you to get some feedback on your historical/conceptual work… Cheers, Ryan

Comment on Shannon, measurement and a classic textbook by bernhard

bernhard — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 17:30:48 +0000

Hi Ryan, Thanks a lot for the references! I've stumbled across Wilson's Two Kinds of Power but I haven't been able to get my hands on it. I'll try to check out Second-hand Knowledge! Concerning my reading I've been on the lookout for canonical materials, trying to get into the "mind" of Information Science. I've found the Key Papers in Information Science series very useful - got the 1980 book (edited by Belver Griffith) for a cool $2.50. ASIS&T has several really great anthologies on the history of IS, here and here (lucky is she who knows how to rip GB ,-). Also, some of the early papers on information retrieval by Luhn, Ohlman, Salton, Codd, and others float around the Web... I'm mostly interested in primary sources on information processing, trying to do some historical/conceptual work... best, B. PS: William Petty! Incredible stuff!

Comment on Shannon, measurement and a classic textbook by Ryan Shaw

Ryan Shaw — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:46:10 +0000

Thank you for this post; I knew of Machlup's Production and Distribution of Knowledge but wasn't aware of this anthology. Any other recommendations from your "loads of books in and on Information Science"? By the way, if you haven't read them yet you really ought to read Patrick Wilson's Two Kinds of Power and Second-hand Knowledge.

Comment on netvizz – facebook to gephi by Jar

Jar — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 05:56:45 +0000

Awesome tool buy, could you please make it let you download the work its done if it fails (session or max execution time) or release source please?
I got up to 2k users and NOOOO!!!!!!!! a few times now

Comment on About by Emmanuel URBIN

Emmanuel URBIN — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 18:05:25 +0000

Salut Berno,

un petit passage par ce site pour te passer le bonjour d’un des membres de la promo 2006 Hypermédia !

Comment on netvizz – facebook to gephi by The Politics of Systems » netvizz – facebook to gephi | Think Networks

The Politics of Systems » netvizz – facebook to gephi | Think Networks — Thu, 27 May 2010 14:09:21 +0000

[...] The Politics of Systems » netvizz – facebook to gephi. Posted by Noshir Contractor / Filed under:Uncategorized [...]

Comment on Bibliography by Andrea Naranjo

Andrea Naranjo — Thu, 27 May 2010 00:09:55 +0000

thanks for sharing