1. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Ted Nelson: Computer Lib / Dream Machines LCC 2700: Intro to Computational Media

2. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium What are computers for? Controlled systems Impersonal tools for functionality Machines to perform work Centrally controlled A personal device A medium for expression Vessels for experience Independent and Interconnected vs.

3. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Computation as a Medium (echoes of McLuhan) Continues the tradition of literature, scholarship, and freedom We live in media, as fish live in water But… All electronic media are not alike (p. 306) Computers will be embraced everywhere Emotional expression

4. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Computation as a Medium “…big pictures can be conveyed in more powerful ways than they know. The reason they don’t know it is that they see the content in the media, and not how the content is being gotten across to them…”

5. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Computation as a Medium The use of computers to help people write, think and show. But I think presentation by computer is a branch of show biz and writing, not of psychology, engineering, or pedagogy

6. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium The Personal Computer Before the first personal computer kit, Nelson predicts the importance of the PC in the future of computation as an expressive medium. Previously, the mainframe and client-server model dominated computation. Individual expression over centralized control

7. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Computers can change our understanding of the world Critique of formal education Items, sequences, dialog Teaching means anticipating and structure responses to common misunderstandings Teaching means maintaining the order of the educational system

8. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Computers can change our understanding of the world Computers offer “the first real chance to let the human mind grow to its full potential” Give the student control over knowledge Teach orientation and self-discovery Involvement over validation Optimism or na ï vet é ?

9. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Fantics “ The artful design of control systems is a deeply misunderstood area, in no way deconfused by calling it ‘human factors’ … the problem is having it be a comprehensible whole.”

10. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Fantics The art and science of getting ideas across The importance of PRESENTATION The artful design of control systems Computers should be subservient to human needs, not structure them Prefigures HCI

11. Intro to Computational Media W eek 2: Properties of the Medium Nelson the Visionary Hypermedia - responsive computer-based materials Hypertext - writing that branches or performs on request Stretchtext - zooming in or out in detail in text Thinkertoys - using simulations for learning & modeling Xanadu - an open publishing system