Well, it will not be perfect, because there is not enough time to fully develop the app in the time frame of the course, especially getting off to the slow start that I have had. So how about a solid iPhone App. A solid app is quite possible, learn the fundamentals, piece together the code, work on the interface, tweak it a little and voila, a solid app that is useful to me and hopefully a few others.
So let’s start with inspiration – what would make a good application… I listed some of my needs through the course of a day. I drive multiple vehicles, work a full time job and am self employed, so tracking business mileage is a concern. I still use the old pen and Adams brand Vehicle Mileage Logs. An app that is with me each time I fuel, drive, park that is easily downloaded to Quickbooks/Turbotax instead of transferring my chicken scratches to an Excel table would be helpful… but if I would spend a few dollars there are already several available with pretty high reviews.
Next thought, I am at TTUHSC and helping someone track a PO and its myriad of payments over the last year, I refer them to the Weblink Document Imaging server, they download exactly what they need to resolve the question. An interface to hit those millions of images would be relatively easy to coordinate with the existing API calls … but then there is the secondary level of security to get past, the good old eRaider log in. Okay, I already have shim worked out that we can bypass that security, always logging in using my username and password regardless of what computer I am starting from, just by using a special access… but I don’t think audit services would be too thrilled with that kind of backdoor access being used by even one or two people, much less the many that might try out this application… I check the active connections and there are currently 323 people logged into TTUHSC document Imaging, only 24 of them from desktop connections, and the remaining 299 from the web service. Of those, how many would actually want to work while walking down the hallway to their next stop… okay there may only be about 10 people who would really appreciate this application, but it would still be a good one to work up at a later time. Information Technology tells me that an iPhone compatible eRaider protocol is just a few months away from reality. Until then I will continue to use the iPhone Remote Desktop and hit that way.
Thought number three – hopefully all the Mac Users (PC version also recently released) out there are familiar with a great application from Objective Development called Little Snitch, the reverse firewall program. This monitors exactly what information is being broadcast from your computer. A firewall regulates what comes in, this regulates what goes out. Much more information is being sent than most people realize – so wouldn’t a Little Snitch for the iPhone be a great idea? I could see whether any of these apps had initiated tracking features, who was watching my Safari searches, whether any of the networks I attached to were logging data, etc. I started talking to one of my employees, who has already coded several iPhone apps and asked about feasibility of such a program. He offered to write it for me, anticipated several months with cooperation from Objective Development and at least a year without cooperation (working on it sporadically). If it would take him that long, the possibility of me completing the task is minuscule.
Back to the drawing board – I’m talking with my son at lunch last Saturday and I mention this project. How about something to accompany what Rich Rice was talking about in working with dissertations; tracking reading lists, due dates, project milestones, things like that? What would be a logical ancillary application for pedagogy of some sort in the general field of English? The sage advice of the youngster echoed through the nearly empty upstairs dining room at Spanky’s, “Think simpler, think student apps.” Makes sense, how specific do I want to be?
Parts of speech identifier, sample sentence, highlight each word, select part of speech from dropdown menu… can’t be too tough. Eventually expand so that they can copy/paste in their own more complex sentences, how do you tell if they selected the correct element? What kind of matrix would be required to do that… h’mmm still doable, but how interesting would that be? Gears spinning a little faster, thinking within a more doable scope. I’m no longer planning on being featured app on Lifehack, just something that a teacher would say, ‘This might help’ to a student. What about just a simple algebraic grade calculator? I have x assignments at even weight, already completed four of them, what’s my average? Let’s change the weighting… include due dates and nice descriptions and maybe room for relevant notes regarding each assignment. This could be a good application. Started doing a little research – did not want to look at what was already out there because I assume it already exists, but until I work out some of my basic elements, I don’t want to be influenced by somebody else’s product.
More later … but at least I think I have a project that I can build by myself! I may sound like a third grader – but I know some of my limitations. Bigger and better things will come in the future, but for now I just need to get one app under my belt, figure out how things work, become registered and devote enough time to this project to complete it to my expectations.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
The Rhodesian Stranger, Sections and Reprise
The final chapter is an obviously humorous rendition (parody?) on Plato's Phaedrus, where Socrates demonstrates the superiority of rhetorical thinking/speaking skills over the written speech.
The stranger makes use of yet another meaning of the pod - in this case the seed pod - for planting, harvesting and consuming these pods which represented speech.
I am not in full agreement with the Stranger's inference that everything written is diluted to the general public and was therefore trivial and unimportant (although I would use the same argument when discussing political correctness in writing), while the spoken word was directed to the immediate audience and therefore more specific, meaningful and important. This was an enjoyable dialogue and an ideal way for a philosopher to interject a myriad of questions in his reader's minds.
Regarding the sections of the book, iPod and Philosophy; iCon of an ePoch, Object, Thought, Image, Community and Action - it was only after I had begun reading the book that I realized how well thought out these divisions were. The iPod is multifaceted and thoughts about it, philosophy regarding it, action possible with it and results expected of it cover a broad spectrum and generate additional questions in retrospect.
Object began with the familiar archival device, its appearance and obvious use. Thought progressed to ancillary uses, creative approaches, and reasoning and objectivity towards the users of the device which led to Image with the whiteness article and Hickey's article which relates well with the Born Digital book (with the exception that Born Digital differentiates between the generation and the population specifically because of the worldwide differences and inequities of opportunity).
Community and Action dealt with larger realms of expression, interactivity and purpose, each section builds on the other and presents some unique views concerning the iPod specifically and technology in general.
The stranger makes use of yet another meaning of the pod - in this case the seed pod - for planting, harvesting and consuming these pods which represented speech.
I am not in full agreement with the Stranger's inference that everything written is diluted to the general public and was therefore trivial and unimportant (although I would use the same argument when discussing political correctness in writing), while the spoken word was directed to the immediate audience and therefore more specific, meaningful and important. This was an enjoyable dialogue and an ideal way for a philosopher to interject a myriad of questions in his reader's minds.
Regarding the sections of the book, iPod and Philosophy; iCon of an ePoch, Object, Thought, Image, Community and Action - it was only after I had begun reading the book that I realized how well thought out these divisions were. The iPod is multifaceted and thoughts about it, philosophy regarding it, action possible with it and results expected of it cover a broad spectrum and generate additional questions in retrospect.
Object began with the familiar archival device, its appearance and obvious use. Thought progressed to ancillary uses, creative approaches, and reasoning and objectivity towards the users of the device which led to Image with the whiteness article and Hickey's article which relates well with the Born Digital book (with the exception that Born Digital differentiates between the generation and the population specifically because of the worldwide differences and inequities of opportunity).
Community and Action dealt with larger realms of expression, interactivity and purpose, each section builds on the other and presents some unique views concerning the iPod specifically and technology in general.
Monday, June 22, 2009
Eighteenth Chapter … Marc Lombardo, "Is the Podcast a Public Sphere Institution?"
This chapter ends with "If the podcast can limit its fragmentary and isolative aspects and continue to resist its integration into the corporate media structure, it may provide a valuable resource for the creation of a socially-transformative public sphere" (page 228).
This seems counter intuitive to the reason I see podcasts as being successful. Poscasts must remain fragmentary and isolative to avoid being too broad based and too corporate/advertising media controlled to be effective.
Another point (page 223), "While the increased connectivity of these devices seems a logical next step, it may well compromise the personal aspect of the iPod that attracted people in the first place and that served as the basis for the podcast's mode of reception." Wow - caught me off balance there - I really had assumed throughout the whole book that the increased connectivity of the iPhone was just a natural extension of the iPod and everyone appreciated it. Lombardo actually lays the foundations for a good point here however, in that the untraceable, disconnectedness of listening/viewing a podcast may be one of its most important characteristics. Maybe not in the USA today, but possibly in China, Iran or even the Philippines this may matter much more than I would have presumed before reading this chapter.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Seventeenth Chapter … Regina Arnold, “Podcrastination”
Hey – I liked this one. Not only was the title unique and appropriate, but the article had citations and structure and the uninhibited nature of Regina Arnold’s writing was refreshing. She called Neil Postman a grumpy man and Theodor Adorno a known sourpuss (she would probably be equally unflattering in her analysis of some of my cynical postings).
We are enslaved, “we are tools of our tools,” and there is a depersonalization that has become evident through use of mobile devices. Arnold defines Podcrastination as “the voluntary suspension of one’s engagement with reality.” Even though we reason that by time shifting tasks by using automated processes, we have attained a certain degree of freedom, we are actually ever more enslaved because we have become dependent upon that time shifting to make it through the day.
I had not considered the etymology of the term ‘podcast’ as she describes it, to a specific group, like a pod of whales, rather than to the world at large, a broadcast. I would really enjoy the opportunity to discuss her vision of the podcast that can provide a platform for a more participatory culture. She discusses text messaging and smart mobs but is convinced that the automatically downloadable aspect of the podcast is superior. Apparently this was written before the real emergence of Twitter, which takes the convenience and accessibility of a simple text message and combines it with the directed auto-downloading features touted by Arnold.
Arnold saw iTunesU as a potential overthrower of the social order, but it has had less of an impact than was predicted and she says that there is evidence that we will never use the “conventional consciousness industry” for any enlightening purpose but I think that is starting to emerge. A follow up article or interview would be interesting.
We are enslaved, “we are tools of our tools,” and there is a depersonalization that has become evident through use of mobile devices. Arnold defines Podcrastination as “the voluntary suspension of one’s engagement with reality.” Even though we reason that by time shifting tasks by using automated processes, we have attained a certain degree of freedom, we are actually ever more enslaved because we have become dependent upon that time shifting to make it through the day.
I had not considered the etymology of the term ‘podcast’ as she describes it, to a specific group, like a pod of whales, rather than to the world at large, a broadcast. I would really enjoy the opportunity to discuss her vision of the podcast that can provide a platform for a more participatory culture. She discusses text messaging and smart mobs but is convinced that the automatically downloadable aspect of the podcast is superior. Apparently this was written before the real emergence of Twitter, which takes the convenience and accessibility of a simple text message and combines it with the directed auto-downloading features touted by Arnold.
Arnold saw iTunesU as a potential overthrower of the social order, but it has had less of an impact than was predicted and she says that there is evidence that we will never use the “conventional consciousness industry” for any enlightening purpose but I think that is starting to emerge. A follow up article or interview would be interesting.
Sixteenth Chapter … Librivox Volunteers, “Quantitative and Qualitative Change”
Very interesting transcript of an on-air interview, beginning with the “free-as-in-speech” metaphor verses the “free-as-in-beer” concept. I have an interest in the intellectual property debate and Wittkower’s position that copyright rules create an artificial monopoly and are based upon outdated technology makes sense.
Competition has improved technology and the method of communication and publishing is so different today from what it was say two hundred years ago that the same rules no longer apply. It no longer takes a massive amount of labor and substantial capital to produce mass quantities of printed material. The average Westerner (nice that Wittkower differentiates from the average worker) can publish an original work in a matter of seconds and mass distribute around the globe equally fast with no significant additional capital for each subsequent transmission. Once she has purchased the original communications device and connected to a transmission protocol service purchasing dies, paper, typesetting, ink, transportation and related printing costs are optional.
The question seems to be that since her losses are smaller than they would have been had she spent a year’s productivity preparing the document for print only to have the market seized by larger printer who could undercut the price and duplicate the content without paying her anything, have her rights been infringed upon less?
Regarding the “semi-commitment” attitude that lowers the bar for entry into things that interest you, it has positive and negative points. I assume everybody has heard the one about the chicken and the hog who were discussing honoring the farmer with a quality breakfast … the chicken thought she was making a major contribution by providing the eggs until she realized what the hog had to do to provide bacon. There is a place for both ham and eggs. This article is a few minutes and ding, it is off and published. The author who dedicates years of extensive research and hones each and every phrase to perfection should be awarded more substantial rights -but how can the works be differentiated and is it ever "right" to have a sliding scale of justice? Who decides using what criteria?
The conversation shifts to Robert D. Putnam’s “Bowling Alone” book and the decrease in involvement with social and non-political organizations and its effect upon neighborhoods. Technology has provided a personal isolationism and a general movement away from a dictated culture. The ensuing discussion of consumerism, illegal art, commercial gain, ownership and public domain was interesting but non-conclusive. Ownership, privacy, community, action and justice ask complex questions and there are no simple answers, especially in a capitalistic based society that values individual thought, labor and at least pays lip service to protecting individual rights.
Competition has improved technology and the method of communication and publishing is so different today from what it was say two hundred years ago that the same rules no longer apply. It no longer takes a massive amount of labor and substantial capital to produce mass quantities of printed material. The average Westerner (nice that Wittkower differentiates from the average worker) can publish an original work in a matter of seconds and mass distribute around the globe equally fast with no significant additional capital for each subsequent transmission. Once she has purchased the original communications device and connected to a transmission protocol service purchasing dies, paper, typesetting, ink, transportation and related printing costs are optional.
The question seems to be that since her losses are smaller than they would have been had she spent a year’s productivity preparing the document for print only to have the market seized by larger printer who could undercut the price and duplicate the content without paying her anything, have her rights been infringed upon less?
Regarding the “semi-commitment” attitude that lowers the bar for entry into things that interest you, it has positive and negative points. I assume everybody has heard the one about the chicken and the hog who were discussing honoring the farmer with a quality breakfast … the chicken thought she was making a major contribution by providing the eggs until she realized what the hog had to do to provide bacon. There is a place for both ham and eggs. This article is a few minutes and ding, it is off and published. The author who dedicates years of extensive research and hones each and every phrase to perfection should be awarded more substantial rights -but how can the works be differentiated and is it ever "right" to have a sliding scale of justice? Who decides using what criteria?
The conversation shifts to Robert D. Putnam’s “Bowling Alone” book and the decrease in involvement with social and non-political organizations and its effect upon neighborhoods. Technology has provided a personal isolationism and a general movement away from a dictated culture. The ensuing discussion of consumerism, illegal art, commercial gain, ownership and public domain was interesting but non-conclusive. Ownership, privacy, community, action and justice ask complex questions and there are no simple answers, especially in a capitalistic based society that values individual thought, labor and at least pays lip service to protecting individual rights.
Fifteenth Chapter … Matthew Dewey, “The Shins Really Will Change Your Life”
This article is reminiscent of the Blobject article in Chapter Two in that it states that “in the iPod there has been a perfect mix or harmony of function and design” (page 181). The John Dewey quote under the iAsthetics heading was intriguing; the experiences which result in a “consummation and not a cessation” are so much more fulfilling and meaningful. They can produce new understanding and direction as Mathew Dewey mentions.
How this results in, or is opposed to John Dewey’s (confusing having an author quote someone more famous with same last name – makes you wonder if they are related?) Participatory Democracy is obtuse reasoning. Interesting points but the aesthetic experience, legal ramifications and “new” were somewhat convoluted and difficult for me to follow.
“The beauty of an iPhone is ….” Would make an interesting piece, similar to Preston Wilcox’s “White Is …” mentioned in Chapter Nine, how many possibilities could be envisioned (and how out of date would it be by the time it was printed?)
How this results in, or is opposed to John Dewey’s (confusing having an author quote someone more famous with same last name – makes you wonder if they are related?) Participatory Democracy is obtuse reasoning. Interesting points but the aesthetic experience, legal ramifications and “new” were somewhat convoluted and difficult for me to follow.
“The beauty of an iPhone is ….” Would make an interesting piece, similar to Preston Wilcox’s “White Is …” mentioned in Chapter Nine, how many possibilities could be envisioned (and how out of date would it be by the time it was printed?)
Fourteenth Chapter … Ruud Kaulingfreks and Samantha Warren, “Mobile Clubbing: iPod, Solitude, and Community”
This chapter reminded me of Richard Brautigan and his ‘there is nothing worse than being alone except wishing you were’ philosophy (may be too old for any of the readers of this blog) expanding to the “Being in common has nothing to do with communion” (page 176) and Jean-Luc Nancy’s inoperative communities where we combine solitude with some vague sense of passive community.
I have trouble associating with the “shared purpose” of the entertainment only/personal expression/rebellious nature form of expression mobile clubbing concept, but the flashmob and social justice gatherings are of more interest to me, but they go significantly beyond the iPod and into other personal communication devices.
I have trouble associating with the “shared purpose” of the entertainment only/personal expression/rebellious nature form of expression mobile clubbing concept, but the flashmob and social justice gatherings are of more interest to me, but they go significantly beyond the iPod and into other personal communication devices.
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