CS575 Spring 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 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? –

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 – the-webs-big-bang (16 min) Berners-Lee’s Lovelace award Lecture: 2007 – &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