No one was in the cat tunnel this morning, or at least this cat tunnel. But I liked the light and the colors and now you can appreciate them, too.
We have two cat tunnels because we have two very jealous sibling cats. If we didn’t have to walk around on the floor of the house we’d probably have a lot more cat tunnels. They’re cheap and the cats like them, but I think if you buy them in bulk you get a call from your bank or credit card about suspicious purposes.
“Who needs to purchase 45 cat tunnels on a Wednesday, sir?”
Some questions need to be asked, but some questions shouldn’t be answered.
In class today I refreshed our memories about the difference between performing and exhibiting identities. This seemed important based on the eager, yet quizzical expressions I received when I asked the day’s question: why would social media companies try to convince users that we are performing, rather than exhibiting, identity. This all gets to our previous readings, of which we have so far had four in this class. It is a bit philosophical, but not without some important distinctions.
It also allowed us to talk about the sort of data we generate. I made two nice slides on this and one of them I’ll use several times in the coming weeks, I am sure. We discussed user generated data, metadata, where it all goes, the databases it lives in, and the algorithms that grow from it. Students love to mention the algorithms, and this class goes probably a bit deeper than they thought possible or necessary. It is not enough to say “the algo” because there is ordering, interfacing, filtering, and all sorts of curation (biased and otherwise) to get to. Today is the day when I put up a slide about how bias in programming works against some users — usually marginalized or minority users, of course. And I introduced the whole room to the classic expression: GIGO. Garbage In, Garbage Out, a programming term that is even more applicable today than it was when an IBM guy coined it in the 1950s.
Next week we’ll talk about surveillance. Who knows what they’ll all think after that.
We left campus at a reasonable time and the sun was already doing this before we got home.
It’s pretty. It’s beautiful. I hate it.
I’m going to retire as a sunbird, moving from place to place that maximizes the daylight. A better plan may come along before I get to that age, but I haven’t thought of a better one yet.
Here’s a scene from the airport. I’m not sure that’s meant to invoke confidence at an airport. It is a helicopter either on fire, going down, or in too-close proximity to another aircraft. Also the guy in the EVA suit. What are we saying with this art?
And then here, in Nashville, is a bit more art. It’s evocative of the Tennessee flag.
That flag has been around since 1905, with the stars representing the three regions of Tennessee — legally and geographically unique — east, middle, and west. It’s a simple, clean look. Some people see some similarities to Confederate symbols. That’s probably more likely than not in Tennessee. I haven’t spent a lot of time looking into that, either way, it inspires some other nice art around there.
Anyway, I’ve flown to Nashville to go to north Alabama for a long weekend. Spending a little family time. More from there … that is, here … tomorrow.
