Comments on: On control: Another very provisional post http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/ a blog about information Fri, 19 Mar 2010 09:20:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Confused Of Calcutta » Blog Archive » Counting what counts: Musing about Wikipedia and Drosophila http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-6648 Confused Of Calcutta » Blog Archive » Counting what counts: Musing about Wikipedia and Drosophila Mon, 04 Sep 2006 21:21:28 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-6648 [...] I feel at ease. For once I am not confused. At least I am less confused than I was earlier. You remember the sequence of posts I wrote about opensource and gatekeepers? [Those new to the conversation can find them here, here, here, here and here, in chronological order. Alternatively you can enter “gatekeeper” into the search box in the sidebar and get the same results. But it’s not important.] [...] [...] I feel at ease. For once I am not confused. At least I am less confused than I was earlier. You remember the sequence of posts I wrote about opensource and gatekeepers? [Those new to the conversation can find them here, here, here, here and here, in chronological order. Alternatively you can enter “gatekeeper” into the search box in the sidebar and get the same results. But it’s not important.] [...]

]]> By: Confused Of Calcutta » Blog Archive » Truth and fiction and strangeness http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5423 Confused Of Calcutta » Blog Archive » Truth and fiction and strangeness Wed, 23 Aug 2006 20:05:52 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5423 [...] In a recent post titled On Control, I wrote about what happened to LIFE Magazine in 1972; in it I referred to a number of quotes from something called Dirck Halstead’s Platypus Papers. [...] [...] In a recent post titled On Control, I wrote about what happened to LIFE Magazine in 1972; in it I referred to a number of quotes from something called Dirck Halstead’s Platypus Papers. [...]

]]> By: JP http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5412 JP Wed, 23 Aug 2006 16:02:06 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5412 I've never been able to forget it. That picture said more than a thousand words to me in the thirty years since I first saw it, even though I didn't have it in front of me. Now I have the impetus and ability to get a large print for the library. I’ve never been able to forget it. That picture said more than a thousand words to me in the thirty years since I first saw it, even though I didn’t have it in front of me. Now I have the impetus and ability to get a large print for the library.

]]> By: Sean http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5410 Sean Wed, 23 Aug 2006 15:51:19 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5410 What an amazing photograph. What an amazing photograph.

]]> By: Confused Of Calcutta » Blog Archive » More on Control and Complexity and Big http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5302 Confused Of Calcutta » Blog Archive » More on Control and Complexity and Big Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:13:55 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5302 [...] Dennis Howlett commented on a recent post of mine, On Control, where I was musing over Big’s relationship to Control Failure, and arguing that we needed a Better But Not That Big approach. One of the things Dennis said was [...] [...] Dennis Howlett commented on a recent post of mine, On Control, where I was musing over Big’s relationship to Control Failure, and arguing that we needed a Better But Not That Big approach. One of the things Dennis said was [...]

]]> By: Hugh MacLeod http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5286 Hugh MacLeod Mon, 21 Aug 2006 17:04:27 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5286 I like the old saw, "A company is either growing or it's dying". I suspect the latter is what happened to LIFE. Or what will happen to Microsoft. Or SAP ;-) I like the old saw, “A company is either growing or it’s dying”.

I suspect the latter is what happened to LIFE. Or what will happen to Microsoft. Or SAP ;-)

]]> By: Kristine http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5284 Kristine Mon, 21 Aug 2006 16:20:16 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5284 Calling Doc Searls a gatekeeper is just 'old world thinking', or trying to use an outdated map of the world to describe the world we're living in now. It's the same sort of thinking that goes into describing the blogosphere as some sort of right wing conspiracy, email groups as 'virtual freemasonry', and, to take a more mundane example, makes the Norwegian government focus on helping big industrial scale farming while the smartest farmers have all shifted to smaller, more specialised 'niche' products. It's the worldmap of the Cold War and the industrial society applied to the open, knowledge-based society. Calling Doc Searls a gatekeeper is just ‘old world thinking’, or trying to use an outdated map of the world to describe the world we’re living in now. It’s the same sort of thinking that goes into describing the blogosphere as some sort of right wing conspiracy, email groups as ‘virtual freemasonry’, and, to take a more mundane example, makes the Norwegian government focus on helping big industrial scale farming while the smartest farmers have all shifted to smaller, more specialised ‘niche’ products. It’s the worldmap of the
Cold War and the industrial society applied to the open, knowledge-based society.

]]> By: Amrit http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5267 Amrit Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:46:51 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5267 Hi JP. It's just recently I've started visiting your blog and this post will make me come back for more :-). We should learn from nature where, although things seem bigger, at all micro-levels they work independently assuring one thing: they deliver what they are meant to deliver. If I'm not confusing the expression, the word that comes to my mind is, microcosm. In programming terms, you can take an example from object oriented programming where smaller modules are created to manage the bigger modules. The bigger companies can too formulate smaller sections and increase efficiency, as you've rightly said with regards to the airports. Too much obsession with "big" leads to mismanagement, loss of grassroots level control and chaos. Hi JP.

It’s just recently I’ve started visiting your blog and this post will make me come back for more :-).

We should learn from nature where, although things seem bigger, at all micro-levels they work independently assuring one thing: they deliver what they are meant to deliver. If I’m not confusing the expression, the word that comes to my mind is, microcosm. In programming terms, you can take an example from object oriented programming where smaller modules are created to manage the bigger modules.

The bigger companies can too formulate smaller sections and increase efficiency, as you’ve rightly said with regards to the airports. Too much obsession with “big” leads to mismanagement, loss of grassroots level control and chaos.

]]> By: JP http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5260 JP Mon, 21 Aug 2006 08:43:19 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5260 Thanks for the comments everyone. Zigzackly, I'm very grateful for the Gerlad Wahler link, now I can do something about the photograph. Dennis, in a strange way you make my point via your question on the airport hub and spoke. Big often means complex. What I am asking myself is, if that is the case, why try and solve complex? Why not try and see if we can avoid big? Or at least ensure that we understand that big has a ceiling, and that the marginal utility of bigger is negatve after a particular point. Sometimes I think we're trying to solve a chess puzzle by putting more pieces on the board, and that we are now approaching 48 pieces. And the pawns are all still there as well. Gridlock. Simplification may require is to think a little smaller, see what optimal sizing means. More airports rather than bigger airports. More planes rather than bigger planes. More use of technology in managing aircraft-to-aircraft communications in a P2P model than bigger and more complex air traffic control systems. I guess it's a subject for a further post, and I'd be very interested in seeing your views and response. Thanks for the comments everyone. Zigzackly, I’m very grateful for the Gerlad Wahler link, now I can do something about the photograph.

Dennis, in a strange way you make my point via your question on the airport hub and spoke. Big often means complex. What I am asking myself is, if that is the case, why try and solve complex? Why not try and see if we can avoid big? Or at least ensure that we understand that big has a ceiling, and that the marginal utility of bigger is negatve after a particular point.

Sometimes I think we’re trying to solve a chess puzzle by putting more pieces on the board, and that we are now approaching 48 pieces. And the pawns are all still there as well. Gridlock.

Simplification may require is to think a little smaller, see what optimal sizing means. More airports rather than bigger airports. More planes rather than bigger planes. More use of technology in managing aircraft-to-aircraft communications in a P2P model than bigger and more complex air traffic control systems.

I guess it’s a subject for a further post, and I’d be very interested in seeing your views and response.

]]> By: rama http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/comment-page-1/#comment-5255 rama Mon, 21 Aug 2006 07:24:37 +0000 http://confusedofcalcutta.com/2006/08/20/on-control-another-very-provisional-post/#comment-5255 Hi JP! Many thanks for another memory-enlivening post! Life magazine: I remember the pictures from the Vietnam war. Your recollection of the 1977 election in India - this was in our first year in college! I remember the discussions with your father on the political situation in late 1979 and during the 1980 elections. I'm now in the thick of very challenging all-round renewal of the small manufacturing business my father started in 1967. Your reflections give me a lot of confidence! Best, chutki P.S.: Yesterday I began a foto-series on Calcutta on my blog. Hi JP! Many thanks for another memory-enlivening post! Life magazine: I remember the pictures from the Vietnam war. Your recollection of the 1977 election in India – this was in our first year in college! I remember the discussions with your father on the political situation in late 1979 and during the 1980 elections.
I’m now in the thick of very challenging all-round renewal of the small manufacturing business my father started in 1967. Your reflections give me a lot of confidence! Best, chutki
P.S.: Yesterday I began a foto-series on Calcutta on my blog.

]]>