Information Please

In a so-called "Age of Information" we are not doing a very good job of it. We have a glut and we are expanding upon that as fast as we can. Is this a version of a world in which expansion for its' own sake is considered the key to well being and prosperity? What about improving on what we have with the maximum humaness we can apply? While teaching library education in N.Y many years ago, a genius named Richard Saul Wurman came out with what was known as the "Smart Yellow Pages." I acquired an example of this from one of the cities nor far away (I think Bell Telephone was involved); paradoxically it was not employed in Buffalo, N.Y. where the University was, and thus I could not just send the students to the local phone booth or the phone books at the library reference desk.

We examined this book for the differences (between the stupid yellow pages which was and still is available from coast to coast), and I was reminded of how many times I had been utterly frustrated as a librarian, but also in my home use of phone books. What was the difference? Mr. Wurman had applied not only his considerable intelligence and imagination to the project, but his deeper human inclinations as well. So that what might be considered an obvious cross reference to find something was given, not assumed. Instructions on the use of the smarter Yellow Pages were given, not assumed. In other words, the Yellow Pages became a legitimate reference book to find valuable resources. How amazing, how simple in a sense.

I challenge you to go to you local Yellow Pages and see if it is smart or dumb (or somewhere in between). Does it make the kind of connexions you need to find resources there? Or is it just one more avenue to sell advertising? Does it display human concern in its' design and execution? Does it ask for user feedback for improvement? In other words, is it an interactive resource in your community/region?

Extrapolation

There are certain critical elements today which are not focused upon, and in my estimation need to be. The first definition in the dictionary I found of "extrapolation" is mathematical, I'm focused on the second: "To infer or estimate (unknown information) by extending or projecting known information."* I can't remember whether my Father actually used the word or not, but in teaching me to work it was a basic template to learn from the present task and apply that learning (if appropriate) to another. Otherwise I/we would be "re-inventing the wheel," wasting everyone's time, and just plain being stupid.

I don't mean to limit the use of this powerful word/concept to work, but that is where I know it first and foremost; and I remember my Father giving me a cuff on the ear for having missed an obviously extrapolation in a work process. I had accomplished such and such a job earlier on, here was a job that was obviously parallel in processes to get done. Why on earth was I asking for instructions, reinvent the wheel here, I don't think so (?). Years ago I tried to describe the implications of not finishing a job to a teenager, thus the importance of a completed piece of work, not only in terms of personal satisfaction, but of client or boss satisfaction as well. Didn't work, he had not been taught about extrapolation and couldn't make what to me were obvious connexions on his own. From then on I let him work things out for himself. In other words, I gave up on him, which was a mistake.

Now, let's go away from work for a moment, and talk about "diplomacy" or political actions. It seems to me that from Ronald Reagan on (through both Bush I, Bill Clinton & Bush/Cheney) there has been a blindness to the importance of extrapolation, not only in politics & diplomacy, but in terms of the practical implications of our so-called capitalist/imperialist stance in the world. Carter may not have been much better, but it seems he took more risks in extrapolation than other presidents/ administrations. I think the results of Obama and his people are still out, a mixed bag of rhetoric, and questionable results, Eg. Wall Street and the Banks ... especially in terms of our post petroleum/post financial crisis (& within both, of course, worlds).

* "The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language; New College Edition"

Non-Communication

My personal observation is that the amount of information being exchanged and responded to is going down. Fewer messages left on telephone answering devices and on the Internet are answered. Why? It is obvious that too much is on the plate, there is what used to be called "information overload" in an extreme sense. Part of the problem is that information specialists and the like are trying to promulgate and then organize information rather than reining it in in terms of use & practicality. Wes Jackson, a savvy plant geneticist in Kansas has suggested that a basic human condition --"our basic ignorance," must be met, and that we adopt "an ignorance-based worldview" that could help us understand these limits. This is not to suggest that we revel in human stupidity, but that we have "an obligation to act as intelligently as possible, keeping in mind not only what we know but also how much we don't know."*

Multitasking is not something that everyone can do well, and its demands are undoubtedly taking a toll on the way many people do and do not communicate. Choices, it is instructive what people can and can't respond to. I know that many things that come through the e-mail simple have to be erased immediately, I haven't time to even give them a chance. There is a sense of frustration and anxiety in the way messaging is going on, somewhat like advertising and fund raising, politics via media. How many of these things would be useful if I had the time for them? The same thing goes for the telephone answering device, and cell phones have certainly accelerated the amount of traffic here. News reports of people having car accidents because they are trying to text message, talk on the phone and pay attention to e-mails while on the road have sky rocketed, now causing some legislatures to take action, and insurance companies to be concerned.


It seems inevitable that there will be "courses" offered by schools and various organizations to deal with these problems, probably already are. And there will be more sophisticated devices put in place to help people screen incoming calls and messages of all kinds. These probably already exist for those who desperately need them and can afford to have them in place. For now interpersonal communication is especially taking a beating at a time when it is needed the most. There must be more attention given to this problem, and fast; and Wes Jackson's advice would be well heeded in the mix.

* Paraphrased and quoted from Robert Jensen's "All My Bones Shake," page 51

"Song for My Father"

Many years ago I purchased the great Horace Silver album dedicated to his Father, with the amazing title track. Not long after that it was ripped off in a robbery of my house by a junkie looking for some quick cash. It was decades later when I discovered the CD version in a used record store bin, with the same picture of Horace's Father on the cover. The liner notes are brilliant but leave undescribed the relationship between Father and Son, and only a very brief description of John Tavares Silver. The glorious track has to say it all, and I guess it does.

I was at sea for four years and received only one letter from my Father, and it kind scared me. Before I opened it I had to ask myself what has happened at home, something wrong, something happen to Mother (because she was the correspondent in the family)? Well, Dad didn't write very good grammatical English, and so he was hesitant to write. When I wrote home I usually wrote to both of them, referencing my Mother's letters. Now decades later I'm unhappy with myself with not having pursued more communication with him. Why didn't I? It is sad in a way.

Now I find myself writing what I call a "Last Exit" letter to my sons, Aaron & Alexander, and my partner, Joni Cash. At 79 this letter is to provide instructions to them for what is to happen when I pass. And in writing it I have been encouraged to look back at my communications (& failure of them) with my sons. At times I have worked hard at it, and at times this has backfired. When I have described loneliness or the like, I have been met with derision by one son, and silence by the other. Truth be told they are both extremely busy, and I understand that. But that doesn't keep me from trying.

They have both been great sons, extremely generous and kind. I am deeply indebted to them for staying with me, even living in the same region (which is often unusual these days). It has been a huge gift to work with Alexander in providing his restaurants with produce, for example; and he has gone way beyond "the call of duty" to help us with everything from a walk-in cooler to a computer. Aaron has given of his talents and expertise in helping with buildings, grading the land, and much help with firewood and kindling. But mostly it is being there for me, for us. You have provided many "songs," both of you, and I look forward to our exchanges.

Bully Pulpit

Soapboxes and pulpits are the stuff of frustrated minds. I hope my blog won't indulge in those venues, although I suspect that some of that will occur. In times as frustrating as these, with all the stuff to react to, it is difficult to imagine not complaining about things, and trying to solve them. Well, I hope that if and when I indulge myself it will be more in the solution columns. I have already had a couple of comments about this dilemma.

I have an acquaintance who has been a kind of counselor for me at times, with some astrology in the mix. He is a psychic, a word I do not use loosely, and his mind is much to be admired. He puts out a newsletter, and it is often dominated by the kind of verbiage that I have warned about above. With a difference, and that is that his vision (some dark) is very much based upon his d e e p concern for the outrageous things going on in our Nation and throughout the world. So in slightly different (shoes) he could be considered a muckraker, win the Sinclair Lewis award, etc.

The other aspect I want to mention is what might be called (in John Steinbeck's language, a book title) "the winter of our discontent".... It is so hard to live so long, to have gone up and down with optimism and cynicism, to be all but worn out by "hope" and despair, and then landed again on a rocky beach by the latest wave of w h a t e v e r. Part of it is undoubtedly the sheer amount of news coming at us, eg. with Amy Goodman's "Democracy Now" ("bad news Amy"), and the bits and scraps of jetsam and flotsam coming from across the beleaguered planet. It may be a bit of news from an e-mail sent by a parent whose child serves in Iraq and Afghanistan, or the latest story of non-action in the long battle to change the problems in our watershed. Forgive me, people, if sometimes I indulge in the verbiage.