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Steve MannThe main difference between weBLOGS and cyborGLOGS is that blogs often originate from a desktop computer, wheras glogs can originate while walking around, often without any conscious thought and effort, as stream-of-(de)consciousness glogging
Further to the concept of cyborg logs, another
related concept I have writen about is that of
attribution-free cyborg communities.
Here is an excerpt from an article, on
http://eyetap.org/ouiki/
that presents Cyborg Logs and collective stream of (de)consciousness
capture for producing attribution-free informatic content
such as cyborglogs.
ABSTRACT
Various forms of apparatus for a new kind of wiki or blog (weblog) are
described. In particular, ways of for bringing together a collective
deconsciousness are presented. The systems works with CyborgLogs
(cyborglogs or ``glogs'')
from a community of portable computer users, or it can also be used with
a mixture of portable (handheld or wearable), mobile (automotive,
boat, van, or utility vehicle), or base-station (home, office,
public space, etc.) systems.
The system enables a community
to exist without conscious thought or effort on the part of the
individual participants.
Because of the participants' ability to constantly experience the world through
the apparatus, the apparatus can behave as a true
extension of the participants' mind and body, giving rise to a new
kind of collective experience. In other embodiments, the system may
operate without the need for participants to bear any kind of
technological prosthesis.
Introduction:
This article pertains to
a collaborative communications system that may have components
installed on or within a user's body (portable), on or in a
vehicle (mobile), or on or in an environment (building or fixed
structure) where users may exist.
Digital wireless communities have existed since the days of
amateur packet radio (ham radio), in three well-defined categories:
(also known as ``base stations''):
fixed devices on or in buildings, homes, offices,
or other ``fixtures'' such as a ham shack, post,
outpost, or attached to a tree, or other fixture;
wireless systems in trucks, vans, cars, boats, or
motorcycles. A wireless station on a bicycle such as
N4RVE's ``behemoth'' would also be categorized as ``Mobile''.
People who use mobiles are often called
mobileers;
Systems borne by (e.g. worn or carried upon) the human body.
An implantable system such as a wirless communicator injected
beneath the skin would also fall under the
``Portable'' category. Most of N1NLF's systems (N1NLF is the
author of this article, who also uses the Canadian Callsign
VA3NLF) fall under this ``Portable'' category.
Chronologically, these happened in the order presented: first there were
the fixed ham shacks, then the mobileers, and finally the cyborgs
(portables, wearables, implantables, etc.).
These three categories are well established, and well known in the
ham radio (amateur radio) digital wireless communities.
Of particular interest are the latter two
categories (Mobile and Portable) because they have been made possible
by miniaturization of components.
Category 2 (Mobile) is described in
KA6WKE's web site
which describes how to deal with the less than optimal antennas
and grounding systems of mobile units
(within a 1992 Ford Escort station wagon, being a small car, that
presents many such challenges).
Good examples of mobile wireless digital radios include
the
HF Mobile Rig - FT-100
and various two meter mobile rigs.
Portable (worn or carried) rigs are described in N1NLF's sites,
http://wearcam.org and
http://eyetap.org.
Portable rigs are often known as ``handie talkies'', and, together with
a Terminal Node Controller (TNC) provide portable wireless data connectivity.
More recently, various other devices provide similar connectivity, without
the need for a radio license. Such systems include cellular phones,
pagers, and digital cameras with wireless communications. These systems
fall under category 3 (Portable), thanks to modern miniaturization.
With a 12 volt cigarrette lighter adapter, they may be operated in
Category 2 (Mobile), and often come with a wall plug adapter for
operation in Categoery 1 (Fixed). Most digital cameras have a standard
``1/4, 20'' threaded hole, to accept a tripod mount, so that they can
operate in Category 1 (Fixed) mode.
The recent explosion of license-free low power radio systems makes possible
a new form of community across all three categories. Fixed
or Mobile ports on homes, and cars, can also serve as gateways for
a community of portable logging systems. With no central authority
able to ``pull the plug'', such systems may give us that which the
Internet promised but failed to deliver: truly decentralized communities.
With small portable devices that function as if they were a true extension
of our minds and bodies, we all become cyborgs.
Portable devices make possible Cyborg Logs, such as illustratred in:
- excerpts from
;a continuous two-year long live webcast during every waking
moment of the author's life, 1994-1996;
cyborglogs for electronic newsgathering (roving reporter), 1995;
New Year's Eve Glog, 1995
2002;
glog, started when she was less than one minute old;
(Japan's Digital Renaissance Man) continuously sends pictures to
his website from a portable phone.
... Other hopeful developments include the wikipedia (wikipedia.com) and Nupedia (the world's largest international, peer-reviewed encyclopedia). Both of these are also free.
But they are still written, in their individual parts, by individual people. Thus attribution (and thus blame) can still be assigned to individuals for various parts of the publication.
Summary of attribution-free communities The system facilitates a new form of symbiosis between multiple users, and allows the users, in some sense, to become a collective, at the atomic level.
An example of an atomic interaction is a mouse click. Of course some atoms are more significant, in their humanistic significance, than others. An atom that carries significant humanistic meaning is a mouse click on the word ``Agree''.
An example of such an atom is the ``Agree'' to very unreasonable ``Terms and Conditions'' that we so commonly see. As individuals, we have very little say in such matters, and very little, if any, negotiating power over such ``Terms and Conditions'' that often contain questionable or unethical elements.
If a number of persons are present in the same space, they can apply a Ouija board metaphor to the atomic mouse click, involved in the ``Agree''. Using a planchette metaphor for the mouse, the participants sit around a table, and each place one hand on the mouse, and each place one finger on the mouse button, and then create an atom (such as a mouse click on ``Agree'') that is not attributable to any one of the participants.
However, it is also desirable that a collective atom can be created by participants who are not all physically located in the same space. This is done using the similar ``ouijagree'' ouijaboard metaphor, but using remote network connections. For example, a program may be run over a distributed Xwindows server, so that people at various locations can affects Xevents, mutually. An atom may consist of various Xevents from various individuals, acting in a feedback loop of the shared space. The constituent Xevents of, for example, slight mouse movements of each of the participants, are irrelevant to the overall atom, e.g. these subatomic contributants have no particular humanistic significance, but for the fact that they contribute toward the evolution of the atom, in a way that is only meaningful in the context of the feedback loop in which the participants are immersed.