archiving

With all the time you spend watching TV," he tells me, "you could have written a novel by now." It's hard to disagree with the sentiment -- writing a novel is undoubtedly a better use of time than watching TV -- but what about the hidden assumption? Such comments imply that time is "fungible" -- that time spent watching TV can just as easily be spent writing a novel. And sadly, that's just not the case.

Time has various levels of quality.

I have to admit that when I first came to Duke I was a bit overwhelmed with the concept of "interface." It is very difficult to say precisely what "interface" is. Interface is always the Janus-faced border, yet at the same time enunciating the very division of the border, for at the interface that which was previously disparate mixes, combines, becomes one. How does one understand, much less visualize, such metaphysics? With video interviews with digital pioneers and 3-d patent visualizations, of course!

The first day of panels was quite fascinating. Educators had the stage for panels dealing with problems and technologies in higher education, students & children, and scholarly production and publishing. How is public life different now for teens? What do internet technologies mean for students today? Schools need to radically change in order to prepare kids for college and life. (Citizenship was not discussed nor was the commercial nature of many of these online social networks). While educators were on some of the panels, many of them were composed of consultants or company representatives.

Adults are always trying to understand kids, and yet the answer is always just around the corner. The panels all carried a similar theme in the belief that supporting thoughtful changes in our education and social systems (not just investing in teachers but also guidance counselors, social workers and the like) are more important than limiting technology access in addressing critical issues in our society.