15 July 2002

Valdis Krebs: social network analysis Valdis' work on social networks is fascinating. His software tool, InFlow, allows a visualisation of the connections and influences in a network of people. (Related?: The Brain, which seems to have mutated into a knowledge management tool.) Rodcorp thinks InFlow might be ideal for tracking the relationships between artists or between other creative people in history, eg: artists who taught/influenced/broke away from/competed with other artists. In its simplest sense it could be a art historical genealogy of teacher/student relationships, analogous to a family history (a genealogy of genetics/marriage). In a broader sense, there would be a genealogy/network of ideas. However it's more a network than a strict genealogy because it's wider than merely X taught Y taught Z, and for this reason, using genealogical software seems a little limiting. InFlow's network metrics could be run on the map to see who was most influential in the network. 8:46:32 PM     comments

(Before and) After Raphael (Before and) After Raphael (1995- ) is a "genealogical" project that traces a history of teacher-student relationships (rather than father-son relationships) through art history. Probably electronic, possibly interactive. In sporadic development since 1995, and not yet online. Related: a database of art ideas, tracking the connections between them (how is this different to everything2?): keep all art/other ideas together in one place, updatable, portable, incremental in a form that allows the easy presentation of links between items (including the links that the "cultural detective" has forgotten!). I had a strict rule, which I think the secret services follow, too: No piece of information is superior to any other. Power lies in having them all on file and then finding the connections. There are always connections; you only have to want to find them. Umberto Eco, Foucault's Pendulum (1988), London, Picador, 1990, 225 8:43:24 PM     comments

24: it's all about Jack Bauer's phone Last week Bruce Sterling wrote about phones disrupting the plot of thrillers. Only now does it occur to us to mention 2002's hit FBI series, 24, in the mildest of rebuttals. 24 is all about communication (and failure of communication, mostly) on the phone: the many calls between Bauer and the CTU calls that interrupt meetings calls that interrupt other calls calls waiting the undesired call that reveal Jack Bauer is in a silent warehouse mobiles with no signals mobiles with no battery mobiles left on to eavesdrop on a conversation Rodcorp would recommend readers in the UK not to follow the link in the title until the series is finshed though, unless they're happy to learn who the mole is now etc. Bitter disappointment. Oh... and what about The Conversation (OK yes, it's more about listening than it is calls) and All the President's Men. 8:08:16 PM     comments

Some places to buy your art online BritArt.com: paintings, prints etc by the famous (the Peters Blake and Howson), people who should be (Lee, Patsourakis, Ramage) and unknowns. Recommended. Customer service is excellent; but let down by difficult navigation. Score: A- Eyestorm: expensive, glossy site (browser alert!), bankrupt?, with expensive, glossy prints and photos. Highlights: Francis, Sugimoto, Ed Ruscha prints and Michael Light NASA photos sadly sold out. Score: C+ Next Monet: mostly representational (pictures of things) by unknowns. Score: D Counter Editions: prints by biggish contemporary names. Score: A for content, C for breadth. Art 4 Sale: Very broad in scope, but a little messy. Score: none yet Axis Arts: multi-faceted search (nice), hidden behind a consumer data barrier (not so). Score: none yet and a place to look for nutty art things. 7:33:07 PM     comments

If Watson had been a cat what Alexander Bell might have said... 7:30:54 PM     comments

Museum of Online Museums "online collections and exhibits covering a vast array of interests and obsessions". However for transit maps, go here. 7:29:53 PM     comments

Swarming as anti-terrorist strategy via Valdis Krebs. 7:29:19 PM     comments

Non-directed interviewing: How to get more out of your research questions Did you find any of this article useful in planning your research? If so, how? [via Peterme] 7:26:22 PM     comments

Sing a song, and get a unique ringtone delivered to your handset Callers can "dictate" a ring-tone by singing it [via Cam]. Note that this is not the same as song recognition (eg Shazam). 7:25:51 PM     comments

Visions of the future, from the past What yesterday thought about today and tomorrow [via Sterling] 7:18:11 PM     comments