Alex, Thanks for the link to Ashby's work; I had forgotten that requisite variety was a cybernetic / psychological concept before it was biological.
So much to remember ... Neil Neil Olonoff [email protected] Lead, Federal Knowledge Management Initiative, Federal KM Working Group hosted at http://KM.gov Office: 703.614.5058 (US Army HQDA, G-4/Contracted by Innolog) Mobile: 703.283.4157 (Unavailable during working hours) Personal profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/olonoff Blogging at http://FedKM.org On Sat, Jan 30, 2010 at 3:48 AM, Alex Hough <[email protected]>wrote: > Neil, > > The variety balance is between number of tags, length of tiddler text, > links and the mind of the reader. > I find hypertexts with too many links and tags confusing. > > Many folk seem intent on linking and tagging to make things more easy to > understand, but they generate complexity beyond the requirement for > complexity by the reader. The text looses out as the reader meanders away > from the point > > I think Mark Bernstein makes the point elegantly in the hypertext garden > [1]. Looking at his tools, it is easy to conceptualize hypertext links as > loops. The reader revisits, and should enjoy revisiting parts of the text, > like walking though a good garden. > > Ross Ashby was a psychologist. Requisite Variety has transfered into > biology, but started as a concept to > analyse the mind. His archieves have been recently digitised by the British > Computer Society [2]. > > I am sure that linking Structural Coupling, hypertext links and Requisite > Variety is not my idea. Its become part of my model of the world. I've not > really questioned it before, but I have been thinking about the many web 2.0 > technologies as channels, and wondering how one would measure their variety. > > Alex > [1] http://www.eastgate.com/garden/ > [2] http://www.rossashby.info/ > > > > On 30 January 2010 08:04, Neil Olonoff <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Alex, >> >> You must be very tall, because that's quite a stretch! Linking "requisite >> variety" and "structural coupling" to ideas of tagging and the hyperlinked >> structure of a wiki (and by extension, conversations about how TW works) is >> a breathtaking leap. >> >> But the funny thing is, it's got some validity. For example: Requisite >> variety of course is an idea that derives from evolutionary biology; the >> idea that a population has to have enough variety in its genotype to >> withstand extremes of hardship in various forms. And that certainly is true >> of TiddlyWiki, in its extensibility and malleability. >> >> Enough for now! If we're going to engage in posts of this type here, I >> recommend we keep them short! >> >> Regards, >> >> Neil >> >> Neil Olonoff [email protected] >> Lead, Federal Knowledge Management Initiative, >> Federal KM Working Group hosted at http://KM.gov >> Office: 703.614.5058 (US Army HQDA, G-4/Contracted by Innolog) >> Mobile: 703.283.4157 (Disabled during working hours) >> Personal profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/olonoff >> Blogging at http://FedKM.org >> >> >> On Fri, Jan 29, 2010 at 5:57 PM, Alex Hough <[email protected]>wrote: >> >>> Iain and Neil, >>> >>> Please keep using this tread for deconstrucion and pomo epistemological >>> discussions. I think it is important that "Variety" in the sense that Ross >>> Ashby uses the term is not over 'attenuated' so that 'requite variety' is >>> disturbed. >>> >>> Stafford Beer, in Decision and Contol talks about a 'walk in the ramified >>> system'. In it he makes the case for allowing extra capacity in >>> communication and allocating resource for pursuing random variation. >>> >>> As TiddlyWiki's espoused purpose is as a 'personal non-linear notebook' >>> which I think that the organisation of the stuff - information and that goes >>> into and comes out of - the TW highly important. At a higher level of >>> 'recusrion, in the sense that Beer uses the term, Jerermy has named the >>> company responsible for TW 'Osmosoft' himting at osmosis and software. Its >>> not all about plugins and macros, CSS and jQuery; for me its about mind and >>> techogy in a 'structual coupling' is the Maturana sense. >>> >>> Apologies in advance for pretentious non-sense. >>> >>> I vote for the back channel to be a front channel >>> >>> Alex >>> >>> On 29 January 2010 07:57, Neil Olonoff <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Iain, >>>> >>>> In retrospect I felt my post was too abstruse as it was. To go into >>>> Foucault, Derrida, and the whole "postmodernist turn" felt way too >>>> off-topic >>>> for this forum. But if you want to correspond in the back channel I'd be >>>> happy to chat. >>>> >>>> Since my dissertation is about the "relational dimension" as concerns >>>> "knowledge management," I unfortunately must tackle the whole question of >>>> "what is knowledge?" This hasn't been settled in thousands of years and I >>>> doubt that I will come to a clear conclusion. >>>> >>>> Part of the problem is that deconstructionists come at the world as a >>>> "text" to be "deconstructed". The average business executive comes at the >>>> world with a largely objectivist, naive view of knowledge. Since knowledge >>>> management is supposed to be a practical discipline, we have to mediate >>>> between those extreme views, and I've chosen the word "relational" to >>>> provide a teeter-totter between them. >>>> >>>> I'm afraid that's as much as I can say without a cup of coffee! >>>> >>>> Regards, >>>> >>>> >>>> Neil >>>> >>>> Neil Olonoff [email protected] >>>> Lead, Federal Knowledge Management Initiative, >>>> Federal KM Working Group hosted at http://KM.gov >>>> Office: 703.614.5058 (US Army HQDA, G-4/Contracted by Innolog) >>>> Mobile: 703.283.4157 (Disabled during working hours) >>>> Personal profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/olonoff >>>> Blogging at http://FedKM.org >>>> >>>> >>>> On Thu, Jan 28, 2010 at 4:54 PM, iain <[email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Niel, >>>>> >>>>> I am surprised you didn't mention Foucault in your discussion as Kuhn >>>>> only scratched the surface, Foucault tried to upturn the whole field >>>>> of knowledge especially in the areas of medicine and psychology. >>>>> >>>>> Anyway in reply to Alex's comment I think the basic TW should be made >>>>> to work "seamlessly" with Firefox or some other browser - at least one >>>>> of them. It would seem an essential part of any software. >>>>> >>>>> Regards >>>>> >>>>> Iain >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>> Groups "TiddlyWiki" group. >>>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>>> [email protected]<tiddlywiki%[email protected]> >>>>> . >>>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>>> http://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki?hl=en. >>>>> >>>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>> Groups "TiddlyWiki" group. >>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>>> [email protected]<tiddlywiki%[email protected]> >>>> . >>>> For more options, visit this group at >>>> http://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki?hl=en. >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> -- >>> http://www.multiurl.com/g/64 >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "TiddlyWiki" group. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >>> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >>> [email protected]<tiddlywiki%[email protected]> >>> . >>> For more options, visit this group at >>> http://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki?hl=en. >>> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "TiddlyWiki" group. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. >> To unsubscribe from this group, send email to >> [email protected]<tiddlywiki%[email protected]> >> . >> For more options, visit this group at >> http://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki?hl=en. >> > > > > -- > http://www.multiurl.com/g/64 > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "TiddlyWiki" group. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]<tiddlywiki%[email protected]> > . > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/tiddlywiki?hl=en. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TiddlyWiki" group. 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