CS575Spring 2010

Week 2

K.V. Bapa Rao

Outline

• Administrative• Review of previous class meeting• Memex discussion• Alan Kay’s Grand Challenges: Discussion• WWW, Tim Berners-Lee, and the Semantic

Web (video)• Discussion: A Framework for our Class• Agenda for next meeting

Administrative

• We need note-takers for this week• Presentations:– Be sure to get approval if you haven’t done so– Stay within the 30-40 min limit– Iterate at least twice when preparing– Be prepared to discuss relevance to course and connection

with instructor and classmate presentations (where it makes sense)• Stay up to date on student wiki pages and notes

• Notetakers:– Edit and upload before next class meeting

Review of previous class meeting

• The web and its humans: a brief history (W3C)• Vannevar Bush’s Memex video• Alan Kay’s Grand Challenges Video

Memex Discussion• What’s with the title?• What motivated Bush?• What was his goal?• What was his vision?• What was his “market segment?”• What was his big scientific insight?• Was it pragmatic? • Did he have a plan?• Was he an inspiration and if so, why?• Did he miss anything?• What, if anything did he call wrongly?• Is there anything new under the sun?

– http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victorian_Internet

Alan Kay’s Grand Challenges: Discussion

• From the Video:– Grand Challenges of the 60s– Glimpse of the Future in 1968– Xerox PARC in the 1970s– Last Few Years (late 1990s--)– New Challenges– Elegance and simplicity– Elements of a New Architecture

WWW, Tim Berners-Lee and the Semantic Web (Video)

• The Web’s Big Bang, 20 years ago: 2009– http://vodpod.com/watch/1428947-20-years-ago-

the-webs-big-bang (16 min)• Berners-Lee’s Lovelace award Lecture: 2007– http://video.google.com/videoplay?

docid=5333648384150664992&q=berners-lee#• Selling the Semantic Web

Berners-Lee’s view

• Social = Human• Concept augmentation is an emergent

phenomenon• Wikipedia DBPedia• “Raw Data NOW”• Data over presentation• Linked data Semantics!• Links / Relationships Emergence

A [flexible] structure for our study

• ‘Human issues’ is all-encompassing• Many interlocking dimensions• Human roles vis-à-vis the computer

– User– Inventor / researcher– Visionary– Content creator– Hacker– Criminal– Business person– Wealth generator– …

• Human-computer coupling– Symbiosis, tool, …

A [flexible] structure for our study (contd)

• Domains of human activity– Education, Entertainment, Play, Family, Reproduction, Art ,Wealth generation,

Government, consumption, religion, philosophy, …• Values

– Many values depend on role, domain, …– Absolute values?– Creativity, aesthetics, access, opportunity, freedom, spirituality, rationality,

peace, brotherhood, prosperity, …• Vision, potentials, realities

– Babbage’s Analytical Engine, Bush’s Memex, …• Pragmatics

– Is it possible? How to get there?– Techniques, Design, Technology,

• Scaling and emergent phenomena– Will a whole new thing emerge if huge numbers of humans interact with

computers in a certain way? How do we understand that ‘thing’?• Other aspects, dimensions?

A [flexible] structure for our study (contd)

• Use readings and videos of pioneering thinkers and inventors to elicit a concrete jumping-off point for discussion and analysis

• Use presentations and discussions to ‘tag’ current thoughts, activities, developments, .. along these dimensions

• Preparation– Review Resources and Additional Resources– Research and read pioneering articles (like the Memex article,

Berners-lee’s articles• What should emerge at the end?

– Open– Predictions, critiques, lessons, techniques, new visions, new ideas,

stimuli to thought, …

Summary

• Memex was a radical new concept in human-machine interaction

• Alan Kay was one of many radical innovators who developed that concept and realized it

• Web was an invention that explicitly sought to build social connections

• Semantic web: from hyperlink to semantic link• Realizing the memex vision in informational as

well as in social dimension

Agenda for next meeting

• Presentation Signups:– Programming Paradigms: Jigar Gaglani– Web Mining: Manthan Katharotiya

• Two slots open• Need 2 note-takers• If you haven’t sent me your outline and link to

source materials, please do so to make sure I approve the topic