Alex Soojung-Kim Pang, Ph.D.

I study people, technology, and the worlds they make

Month: November 2006 (page 1 of 7)

Things I miss, and don’t miss, about academia

November 30, 2006 / / Comments Off on Things I miss, and don’t miss, about academia

First, what I miss: the kinds of conversational bits relayed by Dean Dad and his readers (the comments are amazingly funny). A sample:

Male student #1 - “I’m not going in there today, that A.H. expects you to read the assignment before class.”

Female student #1 -“Yeah, he’s such a sh*%, told me to stop talking on my cellphone during class because it distracts everyone else - screw them I paid my tuition.”

Male student #2 - “Hey, just go to ratemprofessors.com and give he a bad rating - that will even things up.”

And what I don’t miss: the kerfluffle over Reading Lolita in Tehran, started by Columbia professor Hamid Dabashi’s attacks on author Azar Nafisi.

Essentially, Dabashi is playing Edward Said to Nafisi’s V. S. Naipaul, accusing her of advancing the Orientalist Project (TM) and producing a book in the service of “the most deranged Oriental fantasies of a nation already petrified out of its wits by a ferocious war waged against the phantasmagoric Arab/Muslim male potency that has just castrated the two totem poles of U.S. empire in New York.” (Ah, the stringent clarity of academic prose.) But Slate’s Gideon Lewis-Krauss contends:

The truth is that Dabashi’s skepticism about the merit of Nafisi’s much-admired book isn’t entirely off the mark. The book’s failure, however, is not political—as Dabashi insists—but literary….

Rather than reading Nafisi’s well-intentioned book, however, as a mostly inoffensive and well-marketed literary trifle—he is, after all, a professor of literature—Dabashi insists on seeing it as political perfidy….

In the end, Dabashi must conspire with Nafisi to make the book more important that it is: The besieged Nafisi gets to preserve her fantasy that removing her veil to read Austen in her home was not only therapeutically powerful but politically noble, and Dabashi gets to preserve his fantasy that criticizing Nafisi makes him a usefully engaged intellectual.

Ah, the examined life….

Second thoughts about Ms. Dewey

November 30, 2006 / / 1 Comment

Maybe I was a little too hard on Ms. Dewey.

As a search engine, it’s abysmal; but it may be breaking new ground by turning what had been a purely utilitarian activity- looking for information on the Web- into a form of entertainment. Microsoft has proved with Zune that it can take a simple device (the MP3 player) and turn it into something that’s about as easy to use as an Altair 4000. Perhaps Ms. Dewey is subtly demonstrating that in today’s data-saturated world, my friend Jerry’s claim is exactly right: in a Web 2.0 world, other people really are the killer app.

If the purpose of the site is to turn search into a form of entertainment, it’s brilliant: it’s like trying to turn accounting into opera. Whatever else, you have to admire the ambition of the attempt.

I’d be fascinated to know how many people who visit the site ever click on any search result, and how many are just there to interact with the system; I suspect that something like .00001% of users are actually looking for information.

[To the tune of The Police, “Message In A Bottle,” from the album “Message In A Box: The Complete Recordings (Disc 1)”.]

Technorati Tags: search

New law and technology blog

November 29, 2006 / / Comments Off on New law and technology blog

In the course of my attempts to reconstruct the history of cyberspace, I've spent a certain amount of time reading legal writing on cyberlaw— the application of copyright and property law on the Internet. I hadn't expected it, but the law is arguably the field in which the metaphor of cyberspace has been most influential. The metaphor of the Internet as place, and the way you conceptualize the relationship between real physical places (which have jurisdictions and laws) and digital places (which might or might not be terra nova) has serious consequences.

So I was interested to come across the new Law and Technology Theory blog. As today's post explained, it's interested in two big questions: "First, should we have a general theory of law and technology? Second, what form should such a theory take?"

Is it a good idea to have a general theory of law and technology? Should we try to generate principles that will provide us with advance guidance for approaching a new technology? For example, we are currently trying to decide how to deal with privacy threats imposed by RFID tags that are incorporated into passports. Should we generalize from previous efforts to regulate technologies that threatened privacy to formulate principles that will guide us in the case of RFID tags? Alternatively, should we formulate principles that will serve as common guidelines for regulating the adoption of technologies that produce similar social tensions, but at first blush appear quite different? For example, genetic testing and the Internet, two technologies, which were recently diffused, produce similar social tensions. Should they be governed by common principles?

Two primary objections are likely to be brought forward. First, such an endeavor is antithetical to the very essence of technological change. The application of general principles will suffocate human creativity. We are likely to make decisions that will inhibit new opportunities at the expense of stability and social order. Second, the articulation of general principles would be impractical and doomed to failure. Nobody could have predicted the way the Internet has changed our lives. Technology advances beyond our wildest imagination - any principles we formulate today will become very quickly extinct and unworkable.

Of course, in my view the obvious first thing to do is ask, what "theory" of technology should you use? The definition of technology one begins with will have a serious effect on the project.

Technorati Tags: end of cyberspace, law, technology

Getting my camera back

November 29, 2006 / / Comments Off on Getting my camera back

My beloved camera, a Canon SD-630, broke the morning I left London. Given that I really do love this camera, and carry it with me everywhere, not getting it fixed was not an option.

So when I got home, I started checking into repairs. Turns out most camera stores don’t actually repair digital cameras: rather, they send them on to the company repair center. But Canon has a reasonably easy-to-navigate repair site, so I walked through it, set up a repair request, and mailed the camera to them (in Elk Grove Village, outside Chicago).

I was a bit hesitant about it, since essentially I was putting my camera in the mail, with no real ability to deal with it not arriving or meeting with some other mishap; and I also still have bad memories of my attempts to get my cell phone fixed.

But it turns out, the system works. Between the Post Office Web and Canon Web sites, I had a good sense of where the camera was, so I could tell when it finally got delivered.

And the good news is, the camera’s still under warranty, so they’ve fixed it for free. Now it looks like it’ll come back some time next week. Not a moment too soon.

This is good, because the old Samsung I’ve been using feels huge (even though I remember marveling at how tiny it was when I bought it), while the screen (which at the time was a miracle) seems really small.

It’s a reminder of how with intimate electronics- not just “personal” electronics, but things that you carry around or wear, like iPods or cell phones or digital cameras- a few tenths of an ounce, a little difference in size, or a small increase in screen size or brightness can make a huge difference in the user experience.

Technorati Tags: camera

Post 2501

November 29, 2006 / / Comments Off on Post 2501

This is my 2501st post on this blog. Wow.

I’ve been writing a bit less because I’ve got what my doctor calls a textbook case of carpel tunnel, and a replacement computer that’s been a bit weird to work with. The machine was a 15″ Mac, and I found using it strangely disconcerting: I’ve gotten so used to the extreme mobility of the 12″ the larger computer felt just a bit too big to carry without thinking about it.

As for the carpel tunnel, 20 years of typing, slouching, and video games seem to have finally caught up with me. I’ve got the brace now, have cut down on the Lego Star Wars, and am starting to try to figure out other things I can do. Though if I could just get a wrist brace that did something cool, like shoot Spiderman webs or give me incredible strength, I’d be okay with it.

[To the tune of The Beatles, “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” from the album “Anthology 1 (Disc 2)”.]

Ms. Dewey: Scariest, and Dullest, Software Agent in the Universe

November 27, 2006 / / 2 Comments

Via the excellent and very promising Law and Technology Theory blog, I paid a visit to a new Microsoft search site, Ms. Dewey. LTT thought it sucked; I think they were being too kind. It’s like watching a train wreck made entirely of zeroes and ones.

First, the front end is some awesomely bloated piece of Flash. Vista took less time to develop than this thing takes to load. (Thanks folks, I’ll be playing the Green Room all week.) As it loads up, you see a picture of the actress, Janina Gavankar, looking arch and bored, like a multiethnic Camille Paglia or Ann Robinson.



Ms. Dewey



Camille Paglia

This is a bad sign. Not the multiethnic part; that’s almost a default in advertising these days. (And I want to give Gavankar the benefit of the doubt. To judge by flickr, she’s already got a cult following, and apparently she was outstanding in Cup of My Blood, whose IMBD plot summary is “A seemingly random acccident leaves porn photographer Jack Fender in possesion of Christianity’s most Holy Relics.” Ummm… Back. Away. Slowly.) But in my limited experience, you want software agents to be friendly, not to remind you of scary managers of New York boutiques. Technology is unfriendly enough as it is. It doesn’t also need attitude.

You then get down to business: you type stuff in a search box. Ms. Dewey then gets to work. Or not: every search I did pointed me to Wikipedia.



The search results are hard to read. Thank goodness most of them aren’t worth reading!

To make matters worse, when she returns search results, she says cute things. (A Microsoft PM has some suggestions for search terms that prompt interesting responses.) Sometimes they’re related in a vague way to the subject of your search:

Dewey says, never use pirated software. Unless it’s mapping software. I figure pirates know something about that. [Search: Social Software]

You come on like you’re some prime time special. But I smell “rerun!” [Search: “The Weakest Link”]

So, they’re coming out with more and more megaplexes to show more and more bad movies. Here’s a concept: Quality. Not quantity. [Search: Akira Kurosawa]

Something I’ve noticed about artists. They always drink too much and can act irrationally….. Oh, I love the arts! [Postmodernism]

It’s amazing how much people get paid to do stupid things. You should see my talent residuals. Ka-ching! [Steve Jobs]

Somebody tell me please- when does the reality begin to kick in? [Virtual Reality]

Ones and zeroes, ones and zeroes, all the useless coding, underwear on your head, and still you couldn’t create the woman of your dreams. Poor you. [Microsoft]

Then at other times, it’s just weird or insulting.

Are you as confused as I am? Actually, I’m never confused. But you seem downright flummoxed. [Search: Bollywood]

Well played. Indeed, you do give good search. [Search: Blogging]

Somebody needs to get a hobby. Like, say, something interesting. [CGI actress]

Sorry, I can’t talk about that. My hands are tied [turns around to show her hands tied- it’s a weirdly erotic S&M moment. Maybe I should Netflix Cup of My Blood after all!]. [Architecture]

Now that is a fascinating topic. Frankly, I don’t think people spend enough time thinking about it. [Copenhagen]

When it comes to art, I like to get a little… deviant. [Definitely going to Netflix Cup of My Blood!] [Robert Venturi]

i can’t understand a word you just said. And if you’re taking the time to decipher this, all I can say is [something taped and played backwards] [Transhumanism]

I’m writing a book, you know: I Kiss, Therefore I Tell. [Hell, I’m putting Cup of My Blood on my Amazon wish list!] [Prisoner’s Dilemma]

Of all the searches in the Universe, that was definitely… one of them. [Holocaust]

This last search reveals a big limitation of this snarky, knowing personality: it can go from irritating to incredibly inappropriate in a heartbeat. Does someone searching “lung cancer” or “acquaintance rape” or “pediatric oncology” need this? Giving a program “personality” might at first glance seem like a way to make it seem more human. But if you give it the wrong personality, or a personality that is appropriate in some contexts but wildly inappropriate in others, it’ll seem inhumane in a calculated, as opposed to merely mechanical, way. A program that says sarcastic things when you’re looking for information about personal bankruptcy or workers’ comp won’t seem just irritating. It’ll seem cruel.

Since the search results absolutely suck, the only true entertainment value comes in watching what the system does when you don’t do anything. First, she does this weird thing where it’s like she’s fishing (complete with sound effects)- or maybe lassoing you.

Hello? Hello?

[Knocks on the screen] Anyone there?

Hello-o-o? [Points to search box] Type something here! [She sounds like my 7 year-old daughter when she’s impatient.]

Keep asking questions. The more you ask, the more I know. And soon, I will rule the world! Mwahahahaha! [also on YouTube]

And my favorite:

One day, CGI will replace all live actors. Until then, I’m stuck on this godforsaken site. So type in something, for God’s sake!

Then a crew member rushes out with what looks like a Manhattan, which she downs. Unfortunately, I only saw this once. But it was a scream.

Alas, I never got to see her cursing. Nor did I see her do a shot.

Finally, when I tried to close the browser tab, it crashed Firefox. Serves me right for not using Explorer, I guess. (Remember Explorer? Doesn’t that take you back?)

Technorati Tags: AI, microsoft, search

links for 2006-11-28

November 27, 2006 / / Comments Off on links for 2006-11-28
  • Paul Adams, "Cyberspace and Virtual Places," Geographical Review 87:2 (1997) [PDF- subscription req]
    Computer networks are described using "three broad metaphorical themes: virtual architecture, electronic frontier, and cyberspace. These metaphors encourage control, surveillance, and capitalist expansion through computer technologies."
    (tags: endofcyberspace language cyberspace)
  • Ambient Intelligence in Everyday Life [sub req]
    (tags: ambient interface endofcyberspace design AI)

Playing with the layout

November 26, 2006 / / Comments Off on Playing with the layout

I’m starting to get tired of having to do a complicated little resizing/formatting dance when I want to post pictures from my Flickr account on the blog (which is very often), so I’m going to play with the layout of the blog. Though this might inspire me to turn Vox into my main travel blog site, as I keep threatening to do.

[To the tune of The Beatles, “Ticket To Ride,” from the album “1”.]

Beirut Express

November 26, 2006 / / Comments Off on Beirut Express

The last night I was in London I had dinner at Beirut Express, a Lebanese place (surprise) in South Kensington.

It’s not as fancy as Bacchus, my favorite Lebanese restaurant in the world, but it was quite good.

I sat at the bar and ate various combinations of Lamb And Things, wrapped in pita bread.

There were lots of cool desserts (none of which I tried), and endless bottles of some drink.

Technorati Tags: England, food, Kensington, London

Hotel Niki Paddington

November 26, 2006 / / Comments Off on Hotel Niki Paddington

So now that I’m safely back in the States, I can catch up on my London hotel reviews. I already wrote about easyHotel; I just alluded to the Niki Paddington, where I stayed the first two nights I was in London. Like easyHotel, the Niki Paddington was okay, but not great- cheap as London goes, but not a bargain, in that you got what you paid for, but nothing else.

The good part: the location. Half a block from Paddington Station is great if you expect to spend much time on the trains, and it puts you within easy walking distance of Hyde Park. If you’re ambitious, Notting Hill and Baker Street are also reachable.

The culturally curious stuff. As I mentioned, I was the only person there who wasn’t a native Russian speaker. This isn’t particularly a drawback, just something that adds yet another unexpected layer of strangeness atop the already dislocating experience of being in a foreign country, even one as appealing as England. Unless you’re Russian, of course. Then I’m sure it makes staying there easier. And it’s the only hotel I’ve ever stayed in whose name sounds like an English porn star.

The neutral. The room was small, but functional, and the bathroom was all right. Again, decent, but not a bargain.

The downside. No wifi, though there’s an Internet cafe just up the block; but for someone who doesn’t have a cell phone that works in the UK, and whose family is accustomed to being able to IM with him while on the road, having wifi in the room is now a must-have.

And the complimentary continental breakfast isn’t worth it. Rolls, weird sandwich meat, little hotel jars of jam, and pieces of cheese.



“Hotel breakfast” by askpang

There was the basic continental breakfast stuff, but compared to the breakfast at the Goodenough Club, it was uninspiring.



“Hotel breakfast” by askpang

So high points for location, low for the breakfast. But there are also tons of other hotels in that area, so if I’m back in the neighborhood, I’ll probably experiment with some others.

Technorati Tags: England, hotel, London, Niki Paddington

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