29 September 2018 | Uncompleted work in progress
Communication Constraints and Possibilities in a Global Context
Towards a pattern language to defer global collapse of communication
-- / --
Annex of Collapse and Renaissance of Civilization: dilemma of communication and engagement understood otherwise
Introduction
Much is currently made of an impending collapse, whether the focus is on that of the economic system (as some kind of replica of 1929 or 2008), of the ecosystem (notably as a consequence of climate change), or of overpopulation and other post-peak implications (notably the exhaustion of non-renewable energy resources), as can be variously recognized (Checklist of Peak Experiences Challenging Humanity, 2008). Dystopian fiction has extensively explored the process. Possibilities envisagd include extinction of the human race (**)
The process of collapse has been studied by Jared Diamond (Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, 2005). Through a study of the decline of the Roman Empire, the focus has been placed on energy by Thomas Homer-Dixon (The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity, and the Renewal of Civilization, 2006). Civilizational collapse is potentially implied by the many current warnings of imminent collapse of the global financial system -- most recently that of Gordon Brown (Gordon Brown in dire warning about the next financial crisis, BBC News, 13 September 2009). He argues that the breakdown in international co-operation means nations would be unable to act in a concerted way to tackle the many future threats:
This is a leaderless world and I think when the next crisis comes, and there will be a future crisis, we'll find that we neither have the fiscal or monetary room for manoeuvre or the willingness to take that action. But perhaps most worrying of all, we will not have the international co-operation necessary to get us out of a worldwide crisis.
Rather than the conventioal understanding of "energy", the focus here is on "information" as it might be understood by physics as being more fundamental than "energy". *** not overopulation, nor envirmental degradtion in any tangible sense -- rather information analogues of these -- a Pacific waste gyre
The irony of this focus is that, if anything, considerable pride is cultivated in the emergence of a knowledge-based civilization -- variously enhanced and supported by the development of information and communication systems. These are shortly to be further enhanced by widespread deployment artificial intelligence systems. However the argument here is that there are non-technical aspects of the implied communication facilities which are widely neglected, although readily evident. It is the ever increasing influence of these which is seen as undermining the uncritical promotion of techno-optimism.
*** Global civilization, now proudly acclaimed as knowledge-based, is characterized by specialization of every kind. At the same time much is made of the purported "equality" of human beings, as solemnly enshrined in various declarations and religious principles. The conversion between one system of belief and another, whether religious or ideological, confirms the perception of inequality in practice. It is of course the case that an extraordinary "inequality" is acknowleged with respect to income and control of resources -- whether or not this is deplored. As currently framed there is little likelihood that these understandings will be modified to any degree (Cultivating the Myth of Human Equality: ignoring complicity in the contradictions thereby engendered, 2016).
Such factors are evident in loss of confidence in communication systems, exemplified by the increasing levels of insecurity created by invasive surveillance and misleading information (possibly framed as fake news, but as readily recognized in the questionable claims of advertising, and the promotion of competing ideologies). This dimensions is notably deplored in terms of loss of trust in conventional authorities, whether political, religious, or scientific. *** loss of coherence/confidence (papers)
This loss of confidence is accompanied by an ever greater focus on the shortest-term -- to the exclusion of long-term considerations within which the trends towards collpase are more readily recognized. It could be described as a systematic blinkering seen as necessary to handle information overload ***-- "sunglasses" (rose-tinted), face-covering
As a total loss of civilizational "oomph", the collapase might then be compared to the much-studied gravitational collapse of stars. Other analogues of interest are the understandings of brain death (as might apply to any notion of the global brain) or cessation of the heart beat (as might apply to the economic heart).
The collapse can be explored more specifically in terms of individual and collective attention and the many competing efforts to attract and exploit that resource. However it may be argued that increasingly attention will be withdrawn from the processes which depend on it and on the confidence with which it may be associated.
- (death cafes)
- mind map of civ collapse
- all about attention
- beginner's mind / simple mind
- enjoining others / Pied Piper
- achieving innocence by blaming others -- unquestionably
- evil groups
- elaboration is the process
- each mirroring the other
- upside of Down -- but communication/info not energy
- bunker construction -- cocoon escape
- confsion of business and busyness
- requisite binary approach to binary thinking
- Millennium Mobius Jerry
- mind maps of collapse -- paper
- flowering / deflowering
- OTHER PAPER -- messed up/missing psych sust
Evident collective communication challenges **************
Pattern language of communication ****
as with the Public Sphere Project (Douglas Schuler, Liberating Voices! A Pattern Language for Communication Revolution, 2008; A Pattern Language for Living Communication: a global participatory project, 2002; A Pattern Language for Living Communication). The latter might be supported by some form of Wiki to facilitate shifts between overview and detail. The sense however is that no one structure might be universally appropriate and that any organization might evolve over time in response to preferences -- to whatever degree it can be encompassed appropriately. This could imply reconfiguration of categories over time as a result of experience, learnings, feedback.
A variety of initiatives have been undertaken to articulate pattern languages relating to communication. The concern here is with the nature of a more fundamental "language", which is a readily recognized feature of daily communication experience. An early effort in this respect distinguished 114 disruptive patterns (Wrecking an International Project Notes: notes from a saboteur's vade mecum, 1972). A second effort used the original articulation of Christopher Alexander as a template (5-fold Pattern Language, 1984). A third experiment used the 64 patterns of the I Ching as a template for distinguishing patterns of dialogue (Transformation Metaphors, 1997). As with subsequent exploitation of that template to structure the language, the latter moved beyond the pattern of experiences explored in what follows.
- *** Larry ?
- complexity
- failures
- rediscovery of wheel
- upgrades conflated with promotion -- promoional / proposals
Given the argument above, there is an obvious degree of irony to any effort to articulate commnication constraints in detail, given that any effort to do so is subject to those same constraints.
Clarification of assumptions
Content-related constraints and possibilities
Medium-related constraints and possibilities
Mode-related constraints and possibilities
Engagement-related constraints and possibilities
Expected outcome constraints and possibilities
External constraints and opportunities
Time constraints and possibilities
Recul / Meta / Perspective (Projections?)
Content-related constraints (and possibilities)
These notably apply to text (including poetry and drama), slide shows (and photo presentations), music, video (including movies):
- Length:
Excessive length is a common strain on attention impatiently seeking rapid closure where the succinct is preferable. Hence a focus on summaries, abstracts and imagery -- and the success of Twitter. On the other hand excessive brevity may frustrate those in quest of adequate articulation. Preferences may vary according to mode with patience especially evident with respect to music and video and impatience exceptionally evident with respect to text.
- External references: In providing context and/or background, these may be significant to eliciting meaning from the information. Absence of context may render the information meaningless. Too many calls to external points of reference may be experienced as irritating. Whilst links to other contexts may indeed enrich the experience (offering depth otherwise lacking), as well as opening other pathways for exploration (for the curious and the adventurous), such enhancement may easily be experienced as clutter obscuring the central message supposedly constituting a nexus. (*** hair ball linkages / bird song)
External references may of course offer a degree of credibility to novel information -- perhaps to sources with many are unfamiliar and which merit wider exposure. More problematic is when this is perceived as questionable name dropping.
- Active pathways: A distinction can be made between active pathways to complementary sources (as with web links embedded in a text) and pathways requiring physical and/or finanical effort (and time) to achieve such access. Some modes, as with hardcopy text (or even journal pages) may render instant access impossible.
- Animation vs. Static: This is clearly an important constraint on text in contrast to use of other modes -- as is increasingly evident by embedding animations in text. The quality of the animations (and special effects) may however be seen as serving primarily to disguise the superficial nature of an argument which does not lend itself to articulation in text.
- Exclusion vs. Inclusion:
- how much to drag in /exclude / embody / separate
- web links / or none
- recent (topical) news vs historic olds
- how many clicks / footnotes
- need a simple short comprehensible relevant communication -- what has been spiked?
- "Unsaid" blindspots -- lipo deception / blindspot / lipoproblems / big lie / unasked questions / cover-up
- put off
- avoidance
- review
| Comprehension constraints | |
| Logical constraints | Fallacies / Contradictions and paradoxes / Fake news and "post-truth" / Deception and misdirection: bluff |
| Stylistic constraints | Presentation (too perfect, too many imperfections, leave errors for the picky -- gods jealous) / Style (for whom, acceptability vs alienating) / Indirection / Mode (soft / hard, hot / cool) / Style (list / anecdote / map / effect / teaching story / teaching / inspirational) |
| Motivation constraints | Motivation (oomph / energy) / Purpose / Why bother (step back / let it be / self-correcting) / Change agenda / Pleasure / Info (curiosity) / Boredom relief / Loneliness / Complex of objectives (fun / profit / political agenda, etc / profiling / marketing / security) / Need (as a legacy to communicate my/our: insight, plan, discovery, revelation, belief, method, technology, product, panacea) |
| Comprehension-related constraints | Complexity / Simplicity (entangled, detached, avoid connection, transcend / transform / reframe, disparate/disconnected (organic, soil, water, air) vs structured (inorganic, crystal), sets of depth? misunderstanding / disinformation / vulnerability of an argument / logic fallacies / number constraints (categories, sets distinguished) / coherence / pattern, grokking / memorability / forgettability / shock / undistinguishable / comprehensibility / convergence (negentropy) / divergence (entropy) / losing track / rambling / mssing the point / simple/complex (Gettysburg test) / complexity (too simple, too complex) |
| Scope-related constraints |
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Mode and Medium-related constraints (and possibilities)
medium is the message
| Medium constraints | |
| Medium-related constraints |
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| Mode-related constraints |
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Engagement-related constraints (and possibilities)
| Engagement-related constraints | |
| Openness-related constraints |
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| Closure-related constraints |
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| Dissemination constraints |
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| Strategic constraints of discourse |
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| Destination constraints of intercourse |
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| Response pattern / attitude |
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| Interlocutor-related constraints |
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Expected outcome constraints (and possibilities)
communication with bureaucracies and officialdom
| Expected outcome constraints | |
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External constraints (and possibilities)
| External constraints | |
| Language constraints |
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| Commercial constraints |
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| Social constraints |
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| Political constraints |
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| Credibility constraints |
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Novelty / interest constraints |
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| Crafting constraints |
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| Security constraints |
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| Creativity constraints |
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| Info processing constraints |
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| Technical constraints |
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Time constraints and opportunities
| Time constraints | |
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Encoding modes
- A1B4C9 of communication
- switching patterns -- between how many / how frequently
- info diseases / WHO
- clustering: sins apply to communication
Other
- sources:
- etiquette
- protocol / precedence
- cultural profiles (BYU) Hall
- quote about communication / dialogue
- proprioceptive dialogue
- brush off / brush by ?
- post-truth
- my truth
- what is this before me?
- diplomatic lying
- cognitive b/o
- mapping of modes
- eliciting meaning for whom? minimalist / moves / conversation
- Relative indifference to insights emerging worldwide
- micro-patterns / portals
- oversight as the art of social transformation (non-decision)
- complicity in implicit governance thru what we can do is a metaphor of what we can think
- to read / library / bookshop ****
- ought to read
- readable
- human sacrifice religions
- legislation and number of deaths
- non-decision making
- flowering of civilization -- deflowering
- line / trajectory -- "right" -- successive approximation to a curve
- 5-fold revisting >>> knowing for the first time -- great circle?
- social change through death of opinion holders
- ouroboros / helical
- screw your way through life
- adaptive cycle
- acquisitions
- mirage / illusion
- info gestures of awareness New Sci
- complicity / confirmation bias
- post-truth table / feedback -- other
- cycle -- lst impressions -- 8 secs
- protection / flares -- decoy
- projections / assumptions -- accept / work with
- masks
- values
- multi-tasking
- ignoring
- listening with one ear -- not hearing / talking past
- smartphone absenteeism / cyberspace
- Peter Principle / stretching: recognized capacity to produce insight creatively is promoted to the point at which incompetence becomes apparent
sense / commodification / hot vs cool (McLuhan)
- smell (perfumes)
- taste (brands, tasteless, additives)
- sight (special effects) -- shades of grey
- sound (music, constant sound) nature
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