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Category Archives: economics
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Bean Counters and Ecologists
March 14, 2013 alex	1 Comment
[So many things in my drafts, but this one should be quick.]
Recently met someone who started describing their restaurant after calling it a "café". The "pitch" revolved around ethical practices, using local products, etc. As both a coffee geek and ethnographer, my simple question was: "Which coffee do you use?" Turns out, they're importing coffee from a multinational corporation. "Oh, but, they're lending us an expensive espresso machine for free! And they have fair-trade coffee!"
Luckily, we didn't start talking about "fair trade". And this person was willing to reflect upon the practices involved, including about the analogy with Anheuser-Busch or Coca-Cola. We didn't get further into the deeper consequences of the resto's actions, but the "seed" has been planted.
Sure, it's important to focus on your financials and there's nothing preventing a business from being both socially responsible and profitable. It just requires a shift in mindset. Small, lean, nimble businesses are more likely to do it than big, multinational corporate empires…
…which leads me to Google.
Over the years since its IPO, Google has attracted its share of praise and criticism. Like any big, multinational corporate empire. In any sector.
Within the tech sector, the Goog' is often compared with Microsoft, Facebook, Twitter, and Apple. All of these corporate entities have been associated in some people's minds with some specific issue, from child labour and failure to protect users' privacy to anticompetitive practices (the tech equivalent of free fridges and espresso machines). The issues are distinct and tech enthusiast spend a large amount of time discussing which one is worse. Meanwhile, we're forgetting a number of larger issues.
Twitter is an interesting example, here. The service took its value from being at the centre of an ecosystem. As with any ecosystem, numerous interactions among many different members produce unexpected and often remarkable results. As the story goes, elements like hashtags and "@-replies" were invented by users and became an important part of the system. Third-party developers were instrumental in Twitter's reach outside of its original confines. Though most of the original actors have since left the company, the ecosystem has maintained itself over the years.
When Twitter started changing the rules concerning its API, it shook the ecosystem. Sure, the ecosystem will maintain itself, in the end. But it's nearly impossible to predict how it will change. For people at Twitter, it must have been obvious that the first changes was a warning shot to scare away those they didn't want in their ecosystem. But, to this day, there are people who depend on Twitter, one way or another.
Google Reader offers an interesting case. The decision to kill it might have been myopic and its death might have a domino effect.
The warning shot was ambiguous, but the "writing was on the wall". Among potential consequences of the move, the death of RSS readers was to be expected. One might also expect users of feedreaders to be displeased. In the end, the ecosystem will maintain itself.
Chances are, feedreading will be even more marginalized than it's been and something else might replace it. Already, many people have been switching from feedreading to using Twitter as a way to gather news items.
What's not so well-understood is the set of indirect consequences, further down the line. Again, domino effect. Some dominoes are falling in the direction of news outlets which have been slow to adapt to the ways people create and "consume" news items. Though their ad-driven models may sound similar to Google's, and though feedreading might not be a significant source of direct revenue, the death of feedreaders may give way to the birth of new models for news production and "consumption" which might destabilize them even further. Among the things I tag as #FoJ ("Future of Journalism") are several pieces of a big puzzle which seems misunderstood by news organizations.
There are other big dominoes which might fall from the death of Google Reader. Partly because RSS itself is part of a whole ecosystem. Dave Winer and Aaron Swartz have been major actors in the technical specifications of RSS. But Chris Lydon and people building on calendar syndication are also part of the ecosystem. In business-speak, you might call them "stakeholders". But thinking about the ecosystem itself leads to a deeper set of thoughts, beyond the individuals involved. In the aftermath of Aaron Swartz's premature death, it may be appropriate to point out that the ecosystem is more than the sum of its parts.
As I said on a service owned by another widely-criticized corporate empire:
Many of us keep saying that Google needs to listen to its social scientists. It also needs to understand ecology.
Aaron SwartzAPIscalendar syndicationChris LydonComplex Systemscorporate responsibilityCorporate Social ResponsibilityDave Winerdigital ecosystemdomino effectsecologyethicsGoogle Readermyopic accountingRSSsocial responsibility
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Beer Eye for the Coffee Guy (or Gal)
August 25, 2009 dispar	5 Comments
Judged twelve (12) espresso drinks as part of the Eastern Regional Canadian Barista Championship (UStream).
[Never watched Queer Eye. Thought the title would make sense, given both the "taste" and even gender dimensions.]
Had quite a bit of fun.
The experience was quite similar to the one I had last year. There were fewer competitors, this year. But I also think that there were more people in the audience, at least in the morning. One possible reason is that ads about the competition were much more visible this year than last (based on my own experience and on several comments made during the day). Also, I noticed a stronger sense of collegiality among competitors, as several of them have been different things together in the past year.
More specifically, people from Ottawa's Bridgehead and people from Montreal's Café Myriade have developed something which, at least from the outside, look like comradery. At the Canadian National Barista Championship, last year, Myriade's Anthony Benda won the "congeniality" prize. This year, Benda got first place in the ERCBC. Second place went to Bridgehead's Cliff Hansen, and third place went to Myriade's Alex Scott.
Bill Herne served as head judge for most of the event. He made it a very pleasant experience for me personally and, I hope, for other judges. His insight on the championship is especially valuable given the fact that he can maintain a certain distance from the specifics.
The event was organized in part by Vida Radovanovic, founder of the Canadian Coffee & Tea Show. Though she's quick to point to differences between Toronto and Montreal, in terms of these regional competitions, she also seemed pleased with several aspects of this year's ERCBC.
To me, the championship was mostly an opportunity for thinking and talking about the coffee world.
Met and interacted with diverse people during the day. Some of them were already part of my circle of coffee-loving friends and acquaintances. Some who came to me to talk about coffee after noticing some sign of my connection to the championship. The fact that I was introduced to the audience as a blogger and homeroaster seems to have been relatively significant. And there were several people who were second-degree contacts in my coffee-related social network, making for easy introductions.
A tiny part of the day's interactions was captured in interviews for CBC Montreal's Daybreak (unfortunately, the recording is in RealAudio format).
"Coffee as a social phenomenon" was at the centre of several of my own interactions with diverse people. Clearly, some of it has to do with my own interests, especially with "Montreal's coffee renaissance." But there were also a clear interest in such things as the marketshare of quality coffee, the expansion of some coffee scenes, and the notion of building a sense of community through coffee. That last part is what motivated me to write this post.
After the event, a member of my coffee-centric social network has started a discussion about community-building in the coffee world and I found myself dumping diverse ideas on him. Several of my ideas have to do with my experience with craft beer in North America. In a way, I've been doing informal ethnography of craft beer. Beer has become an area of expertise, for me, and I'd like to pursue more formal projects on it. So beer is on my mind when I think about coffee. And vice-versa. I was probably a coffee geek before I started homebrewing beer but I started brewing beer at home before I took my coffee-related activities to new levels.
So, in my reply on a coffee community, I was mostly thinking about beer-related communities.
Comparing coffee and beer is nothing new, for me. In fact, a colleague has blogged about some of my comments, both formal and informal, about some of those connections.
Differences between beer and coffee are significant. Some may appear trivial but they can all have some impact on the way we talk about cultural and social phenomena surrounding these beverages.
Coffee contains caffeine, beer contains alcohol. (Non-alcoholic beers, decaf coffee, and beer with coffee are interesting but they don't dominate.) Yes: "duh." But the difference is significant. Alcohol and caffeine not only have different effects but they fit in different parts of our lives.
Coffee is often part of a morning ritual, frequently perceived as part of preparation for work. Beer is often perceived as a signal for leisure time, once you can "wind down." Of course, there are people (including yours truly) who drink coffee at night and people (especially in Europe) who drink alcohol during a workday. But the differences in the "schedules" for beer and coffee have important consequences on the ways these drinks are integrated in social life.
Coffee tends to be much less expensive than beer. Someone's coffee expenses may easily be much higher than her or his "beer budget," but the cost of a single serving of coffee is usually significantly lower than a single serving of beer.
While it's possible to drink a few coffees in a row, people usually don't drink more than two coffees in a single sitting. With beer, it's not rare that people would drink quite a few pints in the same night. The UK concept of a "session beer" goes well with this fact.
Brewing coffee takes a few minutes, brewing beer takes a while (hours for the brewing process, days or even weeks for fermentation).
At a "bar," coffee is usually brewed in front of those who will drink it while beer has been prepared in advance.
Brewing coffee at home has been mainstream for quite a while. Beer homebrewing is considered a hobby.
Historically, coffee is a recent phenomenon. Beer is among the most ancient human-made beverages in the world.
Despite these significant differences, coffee and beer also have a lot in common. The fact that the term "brew" is used for beer and coffee (along with tea) may be a coincidence, but there are remarkable similarities between the extraction of diverse compounds from grain and from coffee beans. In terms of process, I would argue that beer and coffee are more similar than are, say, coffee and tea or beer and wine.
But the most important similarity, in my mind, is social: beer and coffee are, indeed, central to some communities. So are other drinks, but I'm more involved in groups having to do with coffee or beer than in those having to do with other beverages.
One way to put it, at least in my mind, is that coffee and beer are both connected to revolutions.
Coffee is community-oriented from the very start as coffee beans often come from farming communities and cooperatives. The notion, then, is that there are local communities which derive a significant portion of their income from the global and very unequal coffee trade. Community-oriented people often find coffee-growing to be a useful focus of attention and given the place of coffee in the global economy, it's unsurprising to see a lot of interest in the concept (if not the detailed principles) of "fair trade" in relation to coffee. For several reasons (including the fact that they're often produced in what Wallerstein would call "core" countries), the main ingredients in beer (malted barley and hops) don't bring to mind the same conception of local communities. Still, coffee and beer are important to some local agricultural communities.
For several reasons, I'm much more directly involved with communities which have to do with the creation and consumption of beverages made with coffee beans or with grain.
In my private reply about building a community around coffee, I was mostly thinking about what can be done to bring attention to those who actually drink coffee. Thinking about the role of enthusiasts is an efficient way to think about the craft beer revolution and about geeks in general. After all, would the computer world be the same without the "homebrew computer club?"
My impression is that when coffee professionals think about community, they mostly think about creating better relationships within the coffee business. It may sound like a criticism, but it has more to do with the notion that the trade of coffee has been quite competitive. Building a community could be a very significant change. In a way, that might be a basis for the notion of a "Third Wave" in coffee.
So, using my beer homebrewer's perspective: what about a community of coffee enthusiasts? Wouldn't that help?
And I don't mean "a website devoted to coffee enthusiasts." There's a lot of that, already. A lot of people on the Coffee Geek Forums are outsiders to the coffee industry and Home Barista is specifically geared toward the home enthusiasts' market.
I'm really thinking about fostering a sense of community. In the beer world, this frequently happens in brewclubs or through the Beer Judge Certification Program, which is much stricter than barista championships. Could the same concepts apply to the coffee world? Probably not. But there may still be "lessons to be learnt" from the beer world.
In terms of craft beer in North America, there's a consensus around the role of beer enthusiasts. A very significant number of craft brewers were homebrewers before "going pro." One of the main reasons craft beer has become so important is because people wanted to drink it. Craft breweries often do rather well with very small advertising budgets because they attract something akin to cult followings. The practise of writing elaborate comments and reviews has had a significant impact on a good number of craft breweries. And some of the most creative things which happen in beer these days come from informal experiments carried out by homebrewers.
As funny as it may sound (or look), people get beer-related jobs because they really like beer.
The same happens with coffee. On occasion. An enthusiastic coffee lover will either start working at a café or, somewhat more likely, will "drop everything" and open her/his own café out of a passion for coffee. I know several people like this and I know the story is quite telling for many people. But it's not the dominant narrative in the coffee world where "rags to riches" stories have less to do with a passion for coffee than with business acumen. Things may be changing, though, as coffee becomes more… passion-driven.
To be clear: I'm not saying that serious beer enthusiasts make the bulk of the market for craft beer or that coffee shop owners should cater to the most sophisticated coffee geeks out there. Beer and coffee are both too cheap to warrant this kind of a business strategy. But there's a lot to be said about involving enthusiasts in the community.
For one thing, coffee and beer can both get viral rather quickly. Because most people in North America can afford beer or coffee, it's often easy to convince a friend to grab a cup or pint. Coffee enthusiasts who bring friends to a café do more than sell a cup. They help build up a place. And because some people are into the habit of regularly going to the same bar or coffee shop, the effects can be lasting.
Beer enthusiasts often complain about the inadequate beer selection at bars and restaurants. To this day, there are places where I end up not drinking anything besides water after hearing what the beerlist contains. In the coffee world, it seems that the main target these days is the restaurant business. The current state of affairs with coffee at restaurants is often discussed with heavy sighs of disappointment. What I"ve heard from several people in the coffee business is that, too frequently, restaurant owners give so little attention to coffee that they end up destroying the dining experience of anyone who orders coffee after a meal. Even in my own case, I've had enough bad experiences with restaurant coffee (including, or even especially, at higher-end places) that I'm usually reluctant to have coffee at a restaurant. It seems quite absurd, as a quality experience with coffee at the end of a meal can do a lot to a restaurant's bottom line. But I can't say that it's my main concern because I end up having coffee elsewhere, anyway. While restaurants can be the object of a community's attention and there's a lot to be said about what restaurants do to a region or neighbourhood, the community dimensions of coffee have less to do with what is sold where than with what people do around coffee.
Which brings me to the issue of education. It's clearly a focus in the coffee world. In fact, most coffee-related events have some "training" dimension. But this type of education isn't community-oriented. It's a service-based approach, such as the one which is increasingly common in academic institutions. While I dislike customer-based learning in universities, I do understand the need for training services in the coffee world. What I perceive insight from the beer world can do is complement these training services instead of replacing them.
An impressive set of learning experiences can be seen among homebrewers. From the most practical of "hands-on training" to some very conceptual/theoretical knowledge exchanges. And much of the learning which occurs is informal, seamless, "organic." It's possible to get very solid courses in beer and brewing, but the way most people learn is casual and free. Because homebrewers are organized in relatively tight groups and because the sense of community among homebrewers is also a matter of solidarity. Or, more simply, because "it's just a hobby anyway."
The "education" theme also has to do with "educating the public" into getting more sophisticated about what to order. This does happen in the beer world, but can only be pulled off when people are already interested in knowing more about beer. In relation with the coffee industry, it sometimes seems that "coffee education" is imposed on people from the top-down. And it's sometimes quite arbitrary. Again, room for the coffee business to read the Cluetrain Manifesto and to learn from communities.
And speaking of Starbucks… One draft blogpost which has been nagging me is about the perception that, somehow, Starbucks has had a positive impact in terms of coffee quality. One important point is that Starbucks took the place of an actual coffee community. Even if it can be proven that coffee quality wouldn't have been improved in North America if it hadn't been for Starbucks (a tall order, if you ask me), the issue remains that Starbucks has only paid attention to the real estate dimension of the concept of community. The mermaid corporation has also not doing so well, recently, so we may finally get beyond the financial success story and get into the nitty-gritty of what makes people connect through coffee. The world needs more from coffee than chains selling coffee-flavoured milk.
One notion I wanted to write about is the importance of "national" traditions in both coffee and beer in relation to what is happening in North America, these days. Part of the situation is enough to make me very enthusiastic to be in North America, since it's increasingly possible to not only get quality beer and coffee but there are many opportunities for brewing coffee and beer in new ways. But that'll have to wait for another post.
In Western Europe at least, coffee is often associated with the home. The smell of coffee has often been described in novels and it can run deep in social life. There's no reason homemade coffee can't be the basis for a sense of community in North America.
Now, if people in the coffee industry would wake up and… think about actual human beings, for a change…
Alex ScottAnthony BendabaristasBeerbeer geeksbeer historyBill HernebrewclubsBridgeheadCBCCliff Hansencoffee communitycommoditiescommunitasdrinksEastern Regional Canadian Barista Championshipfoodieslearn by doinglinkfestrestaurantsStarbuckstrainingVida Radovanovic
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The Issue Is Respect
August 8, 2008 dispar	Leave a comment
As a creative generalist, I don't tend to emphasize expert status too much, but I do see advantages in complementarity between people who act in different spheres of social life. As we say in French, «à chacun son métier et les vaches seront bien gardées» ("to each their own profession and cows will be well-kept").
The diversity of skills, expertise, and interest is especially useful when people of different "walks of life" can collaborate with one another. Tolerance, collegiality, dialogue. When people share ideas, the potential is much greater if their ideas are in fact different. Very simple principle, which runs through anthropology as the study of human diversity (through language, time, biology, and culture).
The problem, though, is that people from different "fields" tend not to respect one another's work. For instance, a life scientist and a social scientist often have a hard time understanding one another because they simply don't respect their interlocutor's discipline. They may respect each other as human beings but they share a distrust as to the very usefulness of the other person's field.
Case in point: entomologist Paul R. Ehrlich, who spoke at the Seminar About Long Term Thinking (SALT) a few weeks ago.
The Long Now Blog » Blog Archive » Paul Ehrlich, "The Dominant Animal: Human Evolution and the Environment"
Ehrlich seems to have a high degree of expertise in population studies and, in that SALT talk, was able to make fairly interesting (though rather commonplace) statements about human beings. For instance, he explicitly addressed the tendency, in mainstream media, to perceive genetic determinism where it has no place. Similarly, his discussion about the origins and significance of human language was thoughtful enough that it could lead other life scientists to at least take a look at language.
What's even more interesting is that Ehrlich realizes that social sciences can be extremely useful in solving the environmental issues which concern him the most. As we learn during the question period after this talk, Ehrlich is currently talking with some economists. And, contrary to business professors, economists participate very directly in the broad field of social sciences.
All of this shows quite a bit of promise, IMVHAWISHIMVVVHO. But the problem has to do with respect, it seems.
Now, it might well be that Ehrlich esteems and respects his economist colleagues. Their methods may be sufficiently compatible with his that he actually "hears what they're saying." But he doesn't seem to "extend this courtesy" to my own highly esteemed colleagues in ethnographic disciplines. Ehrlich simply doesn't grok the very studies which he states could be the most useful for him.
There's a very specific example during the talk but my point is broader. When that specific issue was revealed, I had already been noticing an interdisciplinary problem. And part of that problem was my own.
Ehrlich's talk was fairly entertaining, although rather unsurprising in the typical "doom and gloom" exposé to which science and tech shows have accustomed us. Of course, it was fairly superficial on even the points about which Ehrlich probably has the most expertise. But that's expected of this kind of popularizer talk. But I started reacting quite negatively to several of his points when he started to make the kinds of statements which make any warm-blooded ethnographer cringe. No, not the fact that his concept of "culture" is so unsophisticated that it could prevent a student of his from getting a passing grade in an introductory course in cultural anthropology. But all sorts of comments which clearly showed that his perspective on human diversity is severely restricted. Though he challenges some ideas about genetic determinism, Ehrlich still holds to a form of reductionism which social scientists would associate with scholars who died before Ehrlich was born.
So, my level of respect for Ehrlich started to fade, with each of those half-baked pronouncments about cultural diversity and change.
Sad, I know. Especially since I respect every human being equally. But it doesn't mean that I respect all statements equally. As is certainly the case for many other people, my respect for a person's pronouncements may diminish greatly if those words demonstrate a lack of understanding of something in which I have a relatively high degree of expertise. In other words, a heart surgeon could potentially listen to a journalist talk about "cultural evolution" without blinking an eye but would likely lose "intellectual patience" if, in the same piece, the journalist starts to talk about heart diseases. And this impatience may retroactively carry over to the discussion about "cultural evolution." As we tend to say in the ethnography of communication, context is the thing.
And this is where I have to catch myself. It's not because Ehrlich made statements about culture which made him appear clueless that what he said about the connections between population and environment is also clueless. I didn't, in fact, start perceiving his points about ecology as misled for the very simple reason that we have been saying the same things, in ethnographic disciplines. But that's dangerous: selectively accepting statements because they reinforce what you already know. Not what academic work is supposed to be about.
In fact, there was something endearing about Ehrlich. He may not understand the study of culture and he doesn't seem to have any training in the study of society, but at least he was trying to understand. There was even a point in his talk when he something which would be so obvious to any social scientist that I could have gained a new kind of personal respect for Ehrlich's openness, if it hadn't been for his inappropriate statements about culture.
The saddest part is about dialogue. If a social scientist is to work with Ehrlich and she reacts the same way I did, dialogue probably won't be established. And if Ehrlich's attitude toward epistemological approaches different from his own are represented by the statements he made about ethnography, chances are that he will only respect those of my social science colleagues who share his own reductionist perspective.
It should be obvious that there's an academic issue, here, in terms of inter-disciplinarity. But there's also a personal issue. In my own life, I don't want to restrict myself to conversations with people who think the same way I do.
amateursAnthcluelesscreative generalistscreative thinkingEhrlichenvironmentglobal heatingglobal warmingopen-mindednessPaul EhrlichPaul R. Ehrlichpollutionpopulation studiespositivismreductionismresearchersrespectscientific reductionismsocial sciencessocietyStewart Brand
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The Need for Social Science in Social Web/Marketing/Media (Draft)
June 11, 2008 dispar	5 Comments
[Been sitting on this one for a little while. Better RERO it, I guess.]
Sticking My Neck Out (Executive Summary)
I think that participants in many technology-enthusiastic movements which carry the term "social" would do well to learn some social science. Furthermore, my guess is that ethnographic disciplines are very well-suited to the task of teaching participants in these movements something about social groups.
Despite the potentially provocative title and my explicitly stating a position, I mostly wish to think out loud about different things which have been on my mind for a while.
I'm not an "expert" in this field. I'm just a social scientist and an ethnographer who has been observing a lot of things online. I do know that there are many experts who have written many great books about similar issues. What I'm saying here might not seem new. But I'm using my blog as a way to at least write down some of the things I have in mind and, hopefully, discuss these issues thoughtfully with people who care.
Also, this will not be a guide on "what to do to be social-savvy." Books, seminars, and workshops on this specific topic abound. But my attitude is that every situation needs to be treated in its own context, that cookie-cutter solutions often fail. So I would advise people interested in this set of issues to train themselves in at least a little bit of social science, even if much of the content of the training material seems irrelevant. Discuss things with a social scientist, hire a social scientist in your business, take a course in social science, and don't focus on advice but on the broad picture. Really.
Though they are all different, enthusiastic participants in "social web," "social marketing," "social media," and other "social things online" do have some commonalities. At the risk of angering some of them, I'm lumping them all together as "social * enthusiasts." One thing I like about the term "enthusiast" is that it can apply to both professional and amateurs, to geeks and dabblers, to full-timers and part-timers. My target isn't a specific group of people. I just observed different things in different contexts.
A few links from my own blog, for context (and for easier retrieval):
"Social Butterfly Effect": More Than a Silly Pun?
Swiss Made Smiling
Technology Adoption and Active Reading
Handhelds for the Rest of Us?
Shameless Cross-Promotion
A few links from other blogs, to hopefully expand context (and for easier retrieval):
the cluetrain manifesto
Raising standards — by lowering them
Web 2.0 != AJAX
Qu'est ce que l'autorité cognitive
Les 6 cultures d'Internet
Dare Obasanjo aka Carnage4Life – Note to Web 2.0 Companies: Early Adopters are not the Mass Market
Perspective 2.0: The emperor has designer clothes
Dissemination of Knowledge
Some raw notes
Cluefulness
Unintended uses
Technology adoption
Early adopters
Late adopters
Forced adoption
OLPC XO
OLPC XOXO
Attitudes to change
Windmills and shelters
Niche thinking
Idea horizon
Sphere of influence
Influence network
Social butterfly effect
Cog in a wheel
Acephalous groups
Ego-based groups
Non-hierarchical groups
Mutual influences
Network effects
Low-stakes
Trial-and-error
Epidemiology of ideas
Cognition and communication
Wilson and Sperber
Consensus culture
Organic relationships
Establishing rapport
Memetic marketplace
Let's Give This a Try
The Internet is, simply, a network. Sure, technically it's a meta-network, a network of networks. But that is pretty much irrelevant, in social terms, as most networks may be analyzed at different levels as containing smaller networks or being parts of larger networks. The fact remains that the 'Net is pretty easy to understand, sociologically. It's nothing new, it's just a textbook example of something social scientists have been looking at for a good long time.
Though the Internet mostly connects computers (in many shapes or forms, many of them being "devices" more than the typical "personal computer"), the impact of the Internet is through human actions, behaviours, thoughts, and feelings. Sure, we can talk ad nauseam about the technical aspects of the Internet, but these topics have been covered a lot in the last fifteen years of intense Internet growth and a lot of people seem to be ready to look at other dimensions.
The category of "people who are online" has expanded greatly, in different steps. Here, Martin Lessard's description of the Internet's Six Cultures (Les 6 cultures d'Internet) is really worth a read. Martin's post is in French but we also had a blog discussion in English, about it. Not only are there more people online but those "people who are online" have become much more diverse in several respects. At the same time, there are clear patterns on who "online people" are and there are clear differences in uses of the Internet.
Groups of human beings are the very basic object of social science. Diversity in human groups is the very basis for ethnography. Ethnography is simply the description of ("writing about") human groups conceived as diverse ("peoples"). As simple as ethnography can be, it leads to a very specific approach to society which is very compatible with all sorts of things relevant to "social * enthusiasts" on- and offline.
While there are many things online which may be described as "media," comparing the Internet to "The Mass Media" is often the best way to miss "what the Internet is all about." Sure, the Internet isn't about anything (about from connecting computers which, in turn, connect human beings). But to get actual insight into the 'Net, one probably needs to free herself/himself of notions relating to "The Mass Media." Put bluntly, McLuhan was probably a very interesting person and some of his ideas remain intriguing but fallacies abound in his work and the best thing to do with his ideas is to go beyond them.
One of my favourite examples of the overuse of "media"-based concepts is the issue of influence. In blogging, podcasting, or selling, the notion often is that, on the Internet as in offline life, "some key individuals or outlets are influential and these are the people by whom or channels through which ideas are disseminated." Hence all the Technorati rankings and other "viewer statistics." Old techniques and ideas from the times of radio and television expansion are used because it's easier to think through advertising models than through radically new models. This is, in fact, when I tend to bring back my explanation of the "social butterfly effect": quite frequently, "influence" online isn't through specific individuals or outlets but even when it is, those people are influential through virtue of connecting to diverse groups, not by the number of people they know. There are ways to analyze those connections but "measuring impact" is eventually missing the point.
Yes, there is an obvious "qual. vs. quant." angle, here. A major distinction between non-ethnographic and ethnographic disciplines in social sciences is that non-ethnographic disciplines tend to be overly constrained by "quantitative analysis." Ultimately, any analysis is "qualitative" but "quantitative methods" are a very small and often limiting subset of the possible research and analysis methods available. Hence the constriction and what some ethnographers may describe as "myopia" on the part of non-ethnographers.
Gone Viral
The term "viral" is used rather frequently by "social * enthusiasts" online. I happen to think that it's a fairly fitting term, even though it's used more by extension than by literal meaning. To me, it relates rather directly to Dan Sperber's "epidemiological" treatment of culture (see Explaining Culture) which may itself be perceived as resembling Dawkins's well-known "selfish gene" ideas made popular by different online observers, but with something which I perceive to be (to use simple semiotic/semiological concepts) more "motivated" than the more "arbitrary" connections between genetics and ideas. While Sperber could hardly be described as an ethnographer, his anthropological connections still make some of his work compatible with ethnographic perspectives.
Analysis of the spread of ideas does correspond fairly closely with the spread of viruses, especially given the nature of contacts which make transmission possible. One needs not do much to spread a virus or an idea. This virus or idea may find "fertile soil" in a given social context, depending on a number of factors. Despite the disadvantages of extending analogies and core metaphors too far, the type of ecosystem/epidemiology analysis of social systems embedded in uses of the term "viral" do seem to help some specific people make sense of different things which happen online. In "viral marketing," the type of informal, invisible, unexpected spread of recognition through word of mouth does relate somewhat to the spread of a virus. Moreover, the metaphor of "viral marketing" is useful in thinking about the lack of control the professional marketer may have on how her/his product is perceived. In this context, the term "viral" seems useful.
While "viral" seems appropriate, the even more simple "social" often seems inappropriately used. It's not a ranty attitude which makes me comment negatively on the use of the term "social." In fact, I don't really care about the use of the term itself. But I do notice that use of the term often obfuscates what is the obvious social character of the Internet.
To a social scientist, anything which involves groups is by definition "social." Of course, some groups and individuals are more gregarious than others, some people are taken to be very sociable, and some contexts are more conducive to heightened social interactions. But social interactions happen in any context.
As an example I used (in French) in reply to this blog post, something as common as standing in line at a grocery store is representative of social behaviour and can be analyzed in social terms. Any Web page which is accessed by anyone is "social" in the sense that it establishes some link, however tenuous and asymmetric, between at least two individuals (someone who created the page and the person who accessed that page). Sure, it sounds like the minimal definition of communication (sender, medium/message, receiver). But what most people who talk about communication seem to forget (unlike Jakobson), is that all communication is social.
Sure, putting a comment form on a Web page facilitates a basic social interaction, making the page "more social" in the sense of "making that page easier to use explicit social interaction." And, of course, adding some features which facilitate the act of sharing data with one's personal contacts is a step above the contact form in terms of making certain type of social interaction straightforward and easy. But, contrary to what Google Friend Connect implies, adding those features doesn't suddenly make the site social. The site itself isn't really social and, assuming some people visited it, there was already a social dimension to it. I'm not nitpicking on word use. I'm saying that using "social" in this way may blind some people to social dimensions of the Internet. And the consequences can be pretty harsh, in some cases, for overlooking how social the 'Net is.
Something similar may be said about the "Social Web," one of the many definitions of "Web 2.0" which is used in some contexts (mostly, the cynic would say, "to make some tool appear 'new and improved'"). The Web as a whole was "social" by definition. Granted, it lacked the ease of social interaction afforded such venerable Internet classics as Usenet and email. But it was already making some modes of social interaction easier to perceive. No, this isn't about "it's all been done." It's about being oblivious to the social potential of tools which already existed. True, the period in Internet history known as "Web 2.0" (and the onset of the Internet's sixth culture) may be associated with new social phenomena. But there is little evidence that the association is causal, that new online tools and services created a new reality which suddenly made it possible for people to become social online. This is one reason I like Martin Lessard's post so much. Instead of postulating the existence of a brand new phenomenon, he talks about the conditions for some changes in both Internet use and the form the Web has taken.
Again, this isn't about terminology per se. Substitute "friendly" for "social" and similar issues might come up (friendship and friendliness being disconnected from the social processes which underline them).
Adoptive Parents
Many "social * enthusiasts" are interested in "adoption." They want their "things" to be adopted. This is especially visible among marketers but even in social media there's an issue of "getting people on board." And some people, especially those without social science training, seem to be looking for a recipe.
Problem is, there probably is no such thing as a recipe for technology adoption.
Sure, some marketing practises from the offline world may work online. Sometimes, adapting a strategy from the material world to the Internet is very simple and the Internet version may be more effective than the offline version. But it doesn't mean that there is such a thing as a recipe. It's a matter of either having some people who "have a knack for this sort of things" (say, based on sensitivity to what goes on online) or based on pure luck. Or it's a matter of measuring success in different ways. But it isn't based on a recipe. Especially not in the Internet sphere which is changing so rapidly (despite some remarkably stable features).
Again, I'm partial to contextual approaches ("fully-customized solutions," if you really must). Not just because I think there are people who can do this work very efficiently. But because I observe that "recipes" do little more than sell "best-selling books" and other items.
So, what can we, as social scientists, say about "adoption?" That technology is adopted based on the perceived fit between the tools and people's needs/wants/goals/preferences. Not the simple "the tool will be adopted if there's a need." But a perception that there might be a fit between an amorphous set of social actors (people) and some well-defined tools ("technologies"). Recognizing this fit is extremely difficult and forcing it is extremely expensive (not to mention completely unsustainable). But social scientists do help in finding ways to adapt tools to different social situations.
Especially ethnographers. Because instead of surveys and focus groups, we challenge assumptions about what "must" fit. Our heads and books are full of examples which sound, in retrospect, as common sense but which had stumped major corporations with huge budgets. (Ask me about McDonald's in Brazil or browse a cultural anthropology textbook, for more information.)
Recently, while reading about issues surrounding the OLPC's original XO computer, I was glad to read the following:
John Heskett once said that the critical difference between invention and innovation was its mass adoption by users. (Niti Bhan The emperor has designer clothes)
Not that this is a new idea, for social scientists. But I was glad that the social dimension of technology adoption was recognized.
In marketing and design spheres especially, people often think of innovation as individualized. While some individuals are particularly adept at leading inventions to mass adoption (Steve Jobs being a textbook example), "adoption comes from the people." Yes, groups of people may be manipulated to adopt something "despite themselves." But that kind of forced adoption is still dependent on a broad acceptance, by "the people," of even the basic forms of marketing. This is very similar to the simplified version of the concept of "hegemony," so common in both social sciences and humanities. In a hegemony (as opposed to a totalitarian regime), no coercion is necessary because the logic of the system has been internalized by people who are affected by it. Simple, but effective.
In online culture, adept marketers are highly valued. But I'm quite convinced that pre-online marketers already knew that they had to "learn society first." One thing with almost anything happening online is that "the society" is boundless. Country boundaries usually make very little sense and the social rules of every local group will leak into even the simplest occasion. Some people seem to assume that the end result is a cultural homogenization, thereby not necessitating any adaptation besides the move from "brick and mortar" to online. Others (or the same people, actually) want to protect their "business models" by restricting tools or services based on country boundaries. In my mind, both attitudes are ineffective and misleading.
Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child
I think the Cluetrain Manifesto can somehow be summarized through concepts of freedom, openness, and transparency. These are all very obvious (in French, the book title is something close to "the evident truths manifesto"). They're also all very social.
Social scientists often become activists based on these concepts. And among social scientists, many of us are enthusiastic about the social changes which are happening in parallel with Internet growth. Not because of technology. But because of empowerment. People are using the Internet in their own ways, the one key feature of the Internet being its lack of centralization. While the lack of centralized control may be perceived as a "bad thing" by some (social scientists or not), there's little argument that the 'Net as a whole is out of the control of specific corporations or governments (despite the large degree of consolidation which has happened offline and online).
Especially in the United States, "freedom" is conceived as a basic right. But it's also a basic concept in social analysis. As some put it: "somebody's rights end where another's begin." But social scientists have a whole apparatus to deal with all the nuances and subtleties which are bound to come from any situation where people's rights (freedom) may clash or even simply be interpreted differently. Again, not that social scientists have easy, ready-made answers on these issues. But we're used to dealing with them. We don't interpret freedom as a given.
Transparency is fairly simple and relates directly to how people manage information itself (instead of knowledge or insight). Radical transparency is giving as much information as possible to those who may need it. Everybody has a "right to learn" a lot of things about a given institution (instead of "right to know"), when that institution has a social impact. Canada's Access to Information Act is quite representative of the move to transparency and use of this act has accompanied changes in the ways government officials need to behave to adapt to a relatively new reality.
Openness is an interesting topic, especially in the context of the so-called "Open Source" movement. Radical openness implies participation by outsiders, at least in the form of verbal feedback. The cluefulness of "opening yourself to your users" is made obvious in the context of successes by institutions which have at least portrayed themselves as open. What's in my mind unfortunate is that many institutions now attempt to position themselves on the openness end of the "closed/proprietary to open/responsive" scale without much work done to really open themselves up.
Mottoes, slogans, and maxims like "build it and they will come," "there's a sucker born every minute," "let them have cake," and "give them what they want" all fail to grasp the basic reality of social life: "they" and "we" are linked. We're all different and we're all connected. We all take parts in groups. These groups are all associated with one another. We can't simply behave the same way with everyone. Identity has two parts: sense of belonging (to an "in-group") and sense of distinction (from an "out-group"). "Us/Them."
Within the "in-group," if there isn't any obvious hierarchy, the sense of belonging can take the form that Victor Turner called "communitas" and which happens in situations giving real meaning to the notion of "community." "Community of experience," "community of practise." Eckert and Wittgenstein brought to online networks. In a community, contacts aren't always harmonious. But people feel they fully belong. A network isn't the same thing as a community.
Despite the so-called "Digital Divide" (or, more precisely, the maintenance online of global inequalities), the 'Net is truly "Global." So is the phone, now that cellphones are accomplishing the "leapfrog effect." But this one Internet we have (i.e., not Internet2 or other such specialized meta-network) is reaching everywhere through a single set of compatible connections. The need for cultural awareness is increased, not alleviated by online activities.
Release Early, Release Often
Among friends, we call it RERO.
The RERO principle is a multiple-pass system. Instead of waiting for the right moment to release a "perfect product" (say, a blogpost!), the "work in progress" is provided widely, garnering feedback which will be integrated in future "product versions." The RERO approach can be unnerving to "product developers," but it has proved its value in online-savvy contexts.
I use "product" in a broad sense because the principle applies to diverse contexts. Furthermore, the RERO principle helps shift the focus from "product," back into "process."
The RERO principle may imply some "emotional" or "psychological" dimensions, such as humility and the acceptance of failure. At some level, differences between RERO and "trial-and-error" methods of development appear insignificant. Those who create something should not expect the first try to be successful and should recognize mistakes to improve on the creative process and product. This is similar to the difference between "rehearsal" (low-stakes experimentation with a process) and "performance" (with responsibility, by the performer, for evaluation by an audience).
Though applications of the early/often concept to social domains are mostly satirical, there is a social dimension to the RERO principle. Releasing a "product" implies a group, a social context.
The partial and frequent "release" of work to "the public" relates directly to openness and transparency. Frequent releases create a "relationship" with human beings. Sure, many of these are "Early Adopters" who are already overrepresented. But the rapport established between an institution and people (users/clients/customers/patrons…) can be transfered more broadly.
Releasing early seems to shift the limit between rehearsal and performance. Instead of being able to do mistakes on your own, your mistakes are shown publicly and your success is directly evaluated. Yet a somewhat reverse effect can occur: evaluation of the end-result becomes a lower-stake rating at different parts of the project because expectations have shifted to the "lower" end. This is probably the logic behind Google's much discussed propensity to call all its products "beta."
While the RERO principle does imply a certain openness, the expectation that each release might integrate all the feedback "users" have given is not fundamental to releasing early and frequently. The expectation is set by a specific social relationship between "developers" and "users." In geek culture, especially when users are knowledgeable enough about technology to make elaborate wishlists, the expectation to respond to user demand can be quite strong, so much so that developers may perceive a sense of entitlement on the part of "users" and grow some resentment out of the situation. "If you don't like it, make it yourself." Such a situation is rather common in FLOSS development: since "users" have access to the source code, they may be expected to contribute to the development project. When "users" not only fail to fulfil expectations set by open development but even have the gumption to ask developers to respond to demands, conflicts may easily occur. And conflicts are among the things which social scientists study most frequently.
Putting the "Capital" Back into "Social Capital"
In the past several years, "monetization" (transforming ideas into currency) has become one of the major foci of anything happening online. Anything which can be a source of profit generates an immediate (and temporary) "buzz." The value of anything online is measured through typical currency-based economics. The relatively recent movement toward "social" whatever is not only representative of this tendency, but might be seen as its climax: nowadays, even social ties can be sold directly, instead of being part of a secondary transaction. As some people say "The relationship is the currency" (or "the commodity," or "the means to an end"). Fair enough, especially if these people understand what social relationships entail. But still strange, in context, to see people "selling their friends," sometimes in a rather literal sense, when social relationships are conceived as valuable. After all, "selling the friend" transforms that relationship, diminishes its value. Ah, well, maybe everyone involved is just cynical. Still, even their cynicism contributes to the system. But I'm not judging. Really, I'm not. I'm just wondering
Anyhoo, the "What are you selling anyway" question makes as much sense online as it does with telemarketers and other greed-focused strangers (maybe "calls" are always "cold," online). It's just that the answer isn't always so clear when the "business model" revolves around creating, then breaking a set of social expectations.
Me? I don't sell anything. Really, not even my ideas or my sense of self. I'm just not good at selling. Oh, I do promote myself and I do accumulate social capital. As social butterflies are wont to do. The difference is, in the case of social butterflies such as myself, no money is exchanged and the social relationships are, hopefully, intact. This is not to say that friends never help me or never receive my help in a currency-friendly context. It mostly means that, in our cases, the relationships are conceived as their own rewards.
I'm consciously not taking the moral high ground, here, though some people may easily perceive this position as the morally superior one. I'm not even talking about a position. Just about an attitude to society and to social relationships. If you will, it's a type of ethnographic observation from an insider's perspective.
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alter-globalization, Anthropology, applied anthropology, cellphones, cult of personality, cultural awareness, economics, Education, education systems, enthusiasm, Ethnography, globalization, groupthink, hegemony, iPhone, naïve, naïveté, Nation-States, OLPC, One Laptop Per Child, optimism, technology, troubleshooting approach, United States
Optimism From OLPC
January 12, 2008 dispar	3 Comments
To say the least, I've been ambivalent about the One Laptop Per Child project. And I was not alone in my OLPC discomfort.
But now, I feel optimistic. Not about the OLPC project. But because that project is enabling something important.
Continue reading Optimism From OLPC →
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Individualism, Freedom, and Food
October 10, 2006 dispar	5 Comments
A surprisingly superficial podcast episode on what could have been a very deep subject.
Open Source » Blog Archive » The End of Free Will?
start a conversation about manipulation, persuasion and freedom from choice
To summarize the main issue of that episode: is marketing and "upselling" by restaurant chains undermining the individual freedom to choose quality food? Apparently simple a question, but billed as much more than that.
Maybe they refrained from delving deeper into any of those issues because philosophical discussions, perhaps aesthetic ones especially, are off limits in "polite company" in U.S. media. Too bad.
Actually, I'm genuinely disappointed. Not necessarily because restaurant chains are very important an issue for me (in Montreal, they don't seem to have the exact same type of impact and I love to cook). But because the show's participants all came very close to saying very important things about individualism, food, and freedom. The first two are too rarely discussed, IMHO, and the third could have been the "hook" to discuss the other two.
Ah, well…
If you want to know more about my thoughts on this podcast episode, check out some of the tags below.
agriculturealarmismartartisan beerartisticbastardizationBeerbeer diversitybeer in mediabeer politicsbinge drinkingChowhoundsChristopher Lydoncommoditiescorporatecraftcraft brewingcreationdefeatismÉtats-Unisfactoryflavorfoodiesfreshnessglobalgrassroots cliqueinexpensiveleapfrog effectnationalismnon-specialistsnourriture et cultureoligarchiespopularitypopularity contestproductionprotectionismresistanceresponsible drinkingself-determinationsnobberysocial strugglesommelierspecialty coffeestandardizationStarbuckssubsistence strategiessue-happytrendinessuniversalism
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Beer Stats in Canada
September 14, 2006 dispar	Leave a comment
This is interesting. Was just looking for the latest figures on sales of alcoholic beverages in Canada and it turns out they were published yesterday.
Unfortunately, this report doesn't break down the figures by beer types (regional, craft…). Another publication, including figures by domestic and import sales should come out shortly.
A couple of quotes:
As usual, beer was by far the most popular beverage. In terms of dollar value, beer captured 50.4% of sales. However, wine accounted for 25.2% of sales compared with 24.3% for spirits, the first time wine has jumped into second place.
From 1994/1995 to 2004/2005, sales of imported beer increased at an annual average rate of 18.6%, nearly six times the rate of growth of only 3.2% for sales of domestic brands.
Of all imported beer in Canada, 23.4% came from the United States, 20.5% from Mexico and 19.3% from the Netherlands.
(So, even import beer is mostly from large breweries…)
A few quick observations.
Quebec is the only province with a loss in "net income of provincial and territorial liquor authorities and revenue from the sale of alcoholic beverages" between 2k4 and 2k5. (Because of the SAQ strike.)
The only places where beer accounts for less than 50% of total sales of alcoholic beverages are Manitoba (46%), Alberta (47%), British Columbia (44%), and the Northwest Territories (49%).
Quebec is the province with the lowest percentage of spirits sales (11% of the total sales of alcoholic beverages).
These proportions are quite similar for 2k4.
Aren't beer statistics cool?
Tags: Canada, beer, alcohol, Statistics Canada, beer statistics, Quebec, StatCan, alcohol sales, wine, spirits, responsible drinking, alcoholic consumption
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African Ingenuity
Via BoingBoing.
Who says Africans lack business acumen?
(Actually, such methods of empowerment are quite common, throughout Africa. And many Africans are rightfully proud of being able to manage by themselves. When will people from OECD "nations" get this?)
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Grievances > Movies
Samuel James on March 5, 2018
On Friday I stuck up for the movie industry. Last night the Academy Awards made me regret it. I've defended both films and the Oscars from their conservative naysayers in the past (and for the record, I still think the Right tends to be obnoxious about pop culture), but the telecast last night was beyond…
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The Wrong Spite of History
Samuel James on February 23, 2018
Social media doesn't usually shock me, but it got me this week. I was genuinely taken aback by the bile and viciousness I saw toward Billy Graham and his family from progressives, especially LGBT progressives. What I saw in dozens of tweets from accounts with shiny blue checkmarks was hatred of the simplest and most…
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The Cynical J.K. Rowling
For the past decade, J.K. Rowling's relationship to her own work has been incredibly cynical and stunningly mercenary. As a serious fan of the Harry Potter books, I'm thankful for her obvious talents and the richness and beauty of the mythology she's made. Her mammoth wealth and fame is just. What is much harder to…
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Teaching As Doctrines the Amendments of Men
Thinking about gun control issues, one thing that's occurred to me is how I wish conservatives had the same kind of relationship with the Second Amendment as they do with the First. Here's what I mean. When it comes to pornography, card-carrying conservatives have found a free speech issue of which they are unafraid. Supreme…
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Millennials, Free Speech, and Analog Learning
Samuel James on January 29, 2018
I think it's past time to admit that the hostility we see from college students toward speech and ideas they dislike is a generational issue. I know this sounds like I'm encouraging stereotypes of millennials, and reasonable people are not supposed to talk about any group in that kind of systemic language (well, almost any…
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Poverty, Dreher, and Story
Rod Dreher, a writer for whom I have a lot of admiration and respect, nevertheless has a tendency to overstate things, especially when those things pertain to his lived experience. Likewise, he has an unfortunate tendency to assume the worst intentions of people who push back against the conclusions he draws from his experiences. Those…
Defining Pro-Life Down
Samuel James on January 8, 2018
I have only a brief thought on Matt Loftus's recent essay (and follow-up blog post) on whether we should use the term "pro-life" to refer to issues other than the traditional referents. It seems to me that you can't make the term "pro-life" do more by making it mean less. I think that's what Matt…
Should We Blame the Pro-Life Movement?
There is a strain of thinking among some evangelicals that I cannot get my head around. Here it is: The Republican Party's collapse of virtue and embrace of sub-moral strongmen can be attributed, at least in part, to the well-intentioned but naive single-mindedness of the pro-life movement. James K.A. Smith's brief Tweet thread seems to repeat…
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Evangelicals, Politics, and Church History
Have you ever wondered why our intense conversations within evangelicalism about politics, character, and voting almost never end up citing major figures in church history? These are pretty important debates, after all. Navigating the moral failures of elected officials and choosing some sinners rather than others to wield authority over the public square seems like…
Why Men Wound Women
Samuel James on November 27, 2017
The really startling thing about the tidal wave of sexual abuse and harassment floating to the top of our public consciousness is how much of it flies in the face of our common wisdom about morality. Harvey Weinstein and Charlie Rose are feminists; their rhetoric, their careers, and their campaign donations say so. Roy Moore…

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Students, faculty bringing passion to stage at Dance Gala 2014
In a showcase of work for the 2014 school year, the University of Iowa dance program struts its stuff in Space Place Theatre in the university's North Hall.
Students, faculty bringing passion to stage at Dance Gala 2014 In a showcase of work for the 2014 school year, the University of Iowa dance program struts its stuff in Space Place Theatre in the university's North Hall. Check out this story on press-citizen.com: http://icp-c.com/1sWWVS0
Stephen Schmidt, Iowa City Press-Citizen Published 7:25 a.m. CT Oct. 16, 2014 | Updated 8:29 a.m. CT Oct. 16, 2014
Photos: University of Iowa Dance Gala 2014
University of Iowa dancers perform in a dress rehearsal of a piece called "Riding Mad Horses" that explores the human struggle of living with passion without succumbing to it completely. The piece will be performed at the University of Iowa Gala 2014 starting Thursday, Oct. 16. Stephen Schmidt / Iowa City Press-Citizen
University of Iowa dancers perform in a dress rehearsal of a piece called "When Colour Aligns," choreographed by guest instructor Nicholas Leichter. The piece will be performed at the University of Iowa Gala 2014 starting Thursday, Oct. 16. Stephen Schmidt / Iowa City Press-Citizen
University of Iowa dancers perform in a dress rehearsal of a piece called "Five Rejections and a Funeral" that represents the frustations of the modern working world. The piece will be performed at the University of Iowa Gala 2014 starting Thursday, Oct. 16. Stephen Schmidt / Iowa City Press-Citizen
University of Iowa dancers perform in a dress rehearsal of a piece called "Five Rejections and a Funeral" that represents the frustations of the modern working world. The piece will be performed at the University of Iowa Gala 2014 starting Thursday, Oct. 16.(Photo: Stephen Schmidt / Iowa City Press-Citizen)Buy Photo
Dance Gala has returned.
For about 50 students and a mix of staff and visiting choreographers, today marks the beginning of one of the biggest events of the year for the internationally respected University of Iowa Dance program.
What does it mean for students in the program?
Tyler Clark, a senior undergraduate dance major double majoring in journalism says it goes beyond the status of a major examination: it's more a labor of love.
"Dance Gala is by far the biggest dance performance of the year that is produced by the department of dance," Clark said in an email. "Students audition the first day of classes fall semester, and then rehearsals start the next day. It definitely wouldn't be considered equivalent to a major exam simply because I love Dance Gala and dislike taking exams.
"On a serious note, as a dance major, what I love to do is to perform and the Dance Gala offers me seven opportunities to dance on stage in front of a different audience every night."
Performances will be at 8 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday and Oct. 22-25 and a matinee performance at 2 p.m. Sunday. All of the performances will be at the Space Place Theatre in the UI's North Hall.
UI Dance professor Armando Duarte, a longtime UI faculty member, said that for more than three decades Dance Gala has been a showcase of the work of both students and faculty. He said it was formerly a major draw at Hancher Auditorium, bringing as many as 2,200 appreciators of dance to the area to view the work.
"It's a tradition among the arts in Iowa City, really among the arts in the Midwest for what the University of Iowa represents in the field of dance," Duarte said.
Duarte said while the dance department eagerly awaits the revival of Hancher in 2016, for time being this audience can be met with the 200 capacity Space Place Theatre by holding more performances.
Duarte said that along with an enthusiastic reaction from crowds, the gala is also known for its diversity of offerings, serving a mixture of different dance genres and traditions.
"That's a tradition we have in the Gala; it's very diverse," Duarte said. "I think there is something there from everybody."
From Duarte, there's "De Antônio, de Brincante e Vira mundo," a piece inspired but not derivative of the works of influential Brazilian composer and dancer Antônio Nóbrega, as well as Frevo, the artistic genre of music and dance associated with Carnival. From fellow faculty choreographer Charlotte Adams, there is "Five Rejections and a Funeral" a skewering via dance of the brutality and absurdity found in the modern workplace. In "Riding Mad Horses," faculty member Jennifer Kayle examines the danger of giving into passion in life while also concluding that a life without passion holds little meaning.
Kayle said that dance gala is a mixture of what audiences can expect from concert dance as well as dance theater. It also blends soundscapes, multimedia and different blends of movement to express a new language of dance to the audience.
"All of the elements are providing layered context to the whole," Kayle said. "In contemporary concert dance each dancer is trying to create a new language that is specific to that moment and to that dance."
Kayle said Dance Gala also is an opportunity for new and visiting choreographers to showcase their work. Nicholas Leichter, a guest artist at UI, combines contemporary dance and elements of street dance in his piece "When Colours Align."
Not to be outdone in the mixed-media department, in "hands up DIS/UNITY-make this not us against them," guest choreographer Esther Baker-Tarpaga combines an installation and the interdisciplinary elements of dance, intermedia, painting, printmaking and sculpture. Note: for the faint of heart or lungs, this piece will contain profanity, partial nudity and the use of haze.
All five performances, along with an intermission, are completed in less than two hours.
What can audiences expect in that time? Talia Skinner, a student working toward her masters in dance from UI, said they can expect a little bit of everything.
"I would say first to come with an open mind! Throw your expectations out the window, because dance Gala 2014 is full of surprises," Skinner said.
• What: University of Iowa Dance Gala.
• When: 8 p.m. today, Friday and Saturday and Oct. 22-25 and a matinee performance at 2 p.m. Sunday.
• Where: Space Place Theatre in the University of Iowa's North Hall.
• Cost: Tickets are $20;$15 for seniors 65 and older; $10 for college students and youth 17 and younger; $5 for UI students with valid ID. Available through the Hancher Box Office at 319-335-1160 or 800-HANCHER, or online by go to http://hancher.uiowa.edu. Patron tickets are available for $100; this includes an $80 contribution to the Department of Dance through the UI Foundation.
Read or Share this story: http://icp-c.com/1sWWVS0
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My latest film "Diary of a Badman", in which I played the leading role (Detective Simone William) and also one of the producer, landed a theatrical distribution in Jamaica & Grand Cayman Island and have be premiering in select cities throughout the US and London.
I filmed my first principal role on a television show, "A Crime To Remember." S4:Ep4 Gentlemen Killer, In which I played the role of Ms. Jones. It's an Emmy Award winning show directed by Christopher Dillon.
Nominated for Best Leading Actress at NAFCA "African Oscar".
Nominated for Best Leading Actress at the 2016 Philadelphia Independent Film Awards.
The feature film "Voiceless" in which I played a principal role was released in Oct 2016.
I will be touring select Caribbean Islands to present at their Film Festival Acting Workshops.
I am in Pre-Production for two films in which I am producing & playing the leading role. Stay tuned for more information..


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London Heathrow's new scanners keep liquids, laptops in your luggage
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by Brandon Loo | June 14, 2019
London's Heathrow Airport is splashing out on new computed tomography (CT) baggage scanners over the next three years, which could eventually eliminate the need to remove liquids and laptops from carry-on bags during security checks.
The CT scanners, similar to those used in radiology, enable security staff to produce more detailed 3D images of passengers' bags, which can be rotated on-screen and viewed at any angle.
In theory, it should lead to easier identification of explosives and other prohibited items hidden within cabin baggage, without the need to unpack items before bags are scanned.
After a successful trial, Heathrow is on-track to install the new equipment across all its terminals by 2022 with support of the UK Department for Transport.
Once fully implemented, it's expected the new technology will reduce the time required for security screening, and may eventually render plastic zip-lock bags redundant – as currently used for carrying liquids – if similar screening technology is rolled out at airports further afield.
Heathrow was the first airport in the United Kingdom to experiment with CT baggage scanners in 2017 and is currently assisting other UK airports in beginning trials of their own in the coming months.
CT cabin baggage scanners are already in use at a small number of airports within Europe and the USA, such as Amsterdam Schipol and New York JFK, but these are yet to become more widely adopted.
A CT Scanner at Terminal 8 of New York JFK Airport
Heathrow's Chief Operations Officer Chris Garton shares, "this cutting-edge kit will not only keep the airport safe with the latest technology but will mean that our future passengers can keep their focus on getting on with their journeys and less time preparing for security screening."
During the £50 million (A$92 million) roll-out, passengers directed to the new machines may be asked to leave all their belongings in their bags. Other passengers will continue security screening as normal, which means removing liquids and laptops from bags before traditional X-ray scanning.
This arrangement is expected to continue for several years, until the CT scanners are more widely available across all of Heathrow's terminals and security lanes.
A similar test with CT scanning was performed at Brisbane Airport in early 2019, which also included a new type of body scanner where passengers enter an open space – rather than an enclosed structure – and stand with their hands by their sides for easy screening.
Read: Brisbane Airport security trial keeps laptops, liquids in your bag
airport security london heathrow
Brandon Loo
Brandon divides his time between Perth and Launceston, with ample hours spent in airport lounges in between. He recently picked up photography and tries to capture the beauty of Tasmanian landscapes, aeroplane cabins and in-flight food, to varying degrees of success.
OttoV
14 Jun, 2019 02:00 pm
Not sure about the new CT scanners at Schiphol. Flew recently from Amsterdam to Budapest and my wife's various carryon items were minutely scrutinised by hand including her jewellery roll which held some non valuable travel trinkets. Perhaps the new equipment makes idle ground personnel extra curious?
Phil Young
That's one enormous machine compared to what is in use now, and that in itself will cause issues, with a likely reduced number of scanners per terminal.
ZQN Fan
However, the speed at which passengers will be processed will no doubt increase, thus leading to a requirement for less scanners. I'm pretty sure BAA would not spend nearly $100m to make the screening process slower.
Himeno
I'm sure they would. They installed body scanners. That in itself proves they would waste money to slow things down with something that doesn't even work.
At least these CT scanners are more likely to be useful then the pointless wastes of time, space and money that are body scanners.
kimshep
15 Jun, 2019 10:57 am
IINM, (if I'm not mistaken) I believe that Tokyo / NRT has also installed a small number of tomographic screeners which detect/analyse liquids without removal and isolation from carry-on luggage.
trisreed
There's still one at Terminal 1 Domestic in Perth as of Thursday night, but I've never actually seen it in use though...
Comment on "London Heathrow's new scanners keep liquids, laptops in your luggage"


During our recent photoshoot for our latest jewellery designs on a glorious Queensland island, we were confronted by the fickle nature of the wind.
We had been preparing this shoot for weeks discussing the options with photographer Israel Rivera and producer Katrine Bowman. Israel believed it would be amazing to shoot on the island that is the source of so much inspiration to us. We didn't disagree as it is pure paradise. Working on an island presents certain complications as you have to remember to bring everything necessary. It's not just a quick trip to town if you need a new outfit or makeup.
Our excitement built as we approached the island by ferry. The weather was stunning with light cloud and warm spring air. Last to arrive was our model Sapphire De Goede and hair and makeup artist Tania Travers and as the sun went down over the sea we discussed the following days shoot.
During the early hours of dawn the sun shone and warmed us. It was going to be an amazing day. All around us, scattered on the beach were fallen trees from tropical cyclone Debbie a few years ago. They were bleached white by the sun and there was a sad beauty about them.
It was on this island that many of our silver and gold jewellery collections have had their design birth. So it was special for us to be shooting here. The long shadows on the sand were stunning and as the sun rose and we set up for our first shot the wind appeared and Sapphire, our model began to freeze.
As things progressed photographer Israel Rivera had to adapt and makeup artist Tania together with Lene Bentley struggled with hair and styling. In a location like this with the perfect coastline and the warm sun it's hard to image being cold, but the wind cut through.
As the day progressed we worked through our list and tried to keep Sapphire warm between shots, she was fabulous.
The next day as we reviewed the images the wind continued to howl. The skill of Israel, Tania, Lene and Sapphire shone through as the photos revealed images of the beach with a seemingly soft breeze and a beautiful girl enjoying the warmth of the sun. Perfect.


text:
HANSARD 1803–2005 → 1980s → 1987 → March 1987 → 30 March 1987 → Lords Sitting
Health Education Council Report
HL Deb 30 March 1987 vol 486 cc356-60 356
§ 2.47 p.m.
§ Lord Stallard
My Lord, I beg leave to ask the Question standing in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have any plans to ensure the publication of the recent report of the Health Education Council.
§ Baroness Trumpington
My Lords, it has already been published.
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that because of her department's rather clumsy attempts to stifle that report, all available copies have now been sold? Will the new authority take over the report and ensure its widest possible distribution? In the meantime, would she care to comment on the report's conclusions that the health gap between the rich and the poor has widened under the present Government and that because of material deprivation all major killer diseases now affect the poor more than the rich?
My Lords, health differences among different groups in our society are of long standing. They have been a feature of life under governments of both parties. By increasing support for the NHS we have been able to see that new treatments and techniques are available to all sections of the 357 country. By our health education campaign we are determined that all those groups, particularly the less well off, should have the information that they need to protect their health. We have made considerable progress in ironing out inequalities among the regions through RAWP, which the Government inherited.
§ Lord Kilmarnock
My Lords, it is true that the report has been published. I have it in my hands. I have no reason to believe that the Government tried to impede it. Is the noble Baroness aware that the Library was able to obtain only one copy and had to make three further photocopies and that the Printed Paper Office has had the same experience? In view of the impending demise of the Health Education Council at the end of this month, can the noble Baroness assure the House that proper arrangements will be made for the report to continue to be available after its demise? Will the new special health authority take the report on board? We shall be interested to know what the report's availability will be.
My Lords, let me make it clear that neither Ministers nor anyone else in the department exerted pressure to cancel the press conference, let alone to suppress the report. As the chairman has made absolutely clear, the decision to postpone the press conference was entirely his. His reason, as he has also made clear, was that the council had never properly discussed the report's commissioning and had not even been informed of its publication and the calling of a press conference in its name. The Government have great confidence in Sir Brian Bailey and his two vice-chairmen. Considering that the council has not had a chance to look at the report and that certainly Ministers have not, despite the fact that I have had a copy since this morning, it is impossible for me to say what will happen to it.
Lord Morris
My Lords, can my noble friend reconcile these reports of material deprivation with this fact? It is well-established that the vast majority of people enjoy a standard of living far in excess of that dreamt of as little as 40 years ago? Indeed, over 90 per cent. of households own at least one colour television set?
My Lords, experts agree that people can help themselves and their families to stay healthy by making simple changes to the way that they live. A good diet and a healthy lifestyle do not depend upon a high income. In fact, smoking and drinking cost money.
§ Lord Ennals
My Lords, while of course accepting the Minister's words that no Minister was involved in this, does she accept that the decision that there should not be a press conference concerning the document was taken by Sir Brian Bailey, appointed by the Minister? He said that the report would be electoral dynamite. If the noble Baroness has read the report, she will be aware that it shows that the gap between rich and poor, not only in terms of money but of health, has substantially increased in the last few years. That is why it would be political dynamite. Will further copies be made available so that the public may read the truth?
My Lords, I cannot answer about the further copies. That matter is not in my hands. However, studies show that inequalities in health have widened since the 1950s. They have widened under Labour governments as well as Conservative governments. But the main point is that the health of everyone has been improving.
§ Baroness Ewart-Biggs
My Lords, is the Minister aware that this report, like the Black Report in 1980, stresses the importance of what children eat and how this influences their future health? Will she agree therefore that the removal of nutritional standards previously enforced with regard to school meals, the fact that many children are no longer eligible for free school meals and the fact that the free school meals service is disintegrating might have a very great effect on the health of future generations?
My Lords, to prescribe nutrition standards for school meals would be meaningless unless we can also force school children to eat everything that is provided. Prescribing set nutritional standards would lead to waste on a scale that occurred in the past when such standards were prescribed by law.
§ Lord Campbell of Alloway
My Lords, as the Minister has not had an opportunity to study the report and as noble Lords obviously have difficulty in finding copies, will my noble friend agree that it would perhaps be preferable not to debate it—although it is a very important report—in great detail at this moment?
My Lords, publish it!
My Lords, despite that, I think the House has the right to ask questions.
§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, is the noble Baroness aware that the situation is quite unsatisfactory? I regret to say too that her replies have not been satisfactory. Is she aware that we have a very important debate on Wednesday on the National Health Service? The report is very relevant to that debate. Can the noble Baroness say whether the new authority will publish the report? Can she make enquiries to make sure that it will be published? Can she also say whether or not the Government agree with the important recommendations of the report?
Has the noble Baroness read the report carefully herself? Is she able to make a comment on what is unquestionably one of the most significant and important reports on health in recent years?
My Lords, as I said, the report has been published. It is not for me to say whether extra copies will be made. That is up to the new health authority. It would be quite wrong for me to comment on the contents of the report, which I have just seen for only a few minutes.
§ Baroness Seear
My Lords, will the Minister not agree that unless this report is published, we are all bound to assume that there are things which the Government do notwish the public to see? Would that 359 not be extremely damaging both to the Government and to the Opposition?
My Lords, it has been published.
§ Lord Taylor of Gryfe
My Lords, is the Minister aware that the report contains reference to regional differences in health standards and that between 1979 and 1983 death rates were highest in Scotland, followed by the North, and the North-West? Will the Minister accept, in order that the economies of these areas might be improved, that it is unwise to cut by 50 per cent. regional development funds?
My Lords, that is a little wide of the Question. If the noble Lord will put down a Question to that effect, I shall be delighted to give it the full attention that it deserves.
My Lords, will the Minister agree with this? There is a Question on the Order Paper to which the Minister is replying concerning this publication. Is it not disturbing that she has not read it? Is she aware that now that it is a special health authority appointed by the Secretary of State, she and her colleagues have the authority and the right to require that further copies should be made available?
My Lords, the new health education authority will work within the framework of ministerial accountability to Parliament and of a policy to increase the vigour and effectiveness of action through the NHS to prevent illness and to promote good health. It is not, however, expected to acquiesce in its employees' commissioning and publishing major documents without properly involving or informing the chairman and members of the authority.
§ Lord Mellish
My Lords, I understand that we are talking about the health of the nation. We have heard only recently that one of the biggest problems facing Britain today is that there are thousands of empty beds as a result of a shortage of nurses who are now going abroad. Can the Minister say whether this is a matter on which her Government will take action in order to overcome some of the problems?
My Lords, I hope that the noble Lord will ask the same question during Wednesday's debate.
My Lords, since the Health Education Council dies on 31st March and the new body does not come into being until 1st April, which is the day of the debate in your Lordships' House, will the noble Baroness give an undertaking that sufficient copies will be available for the purpose of the debate in your Lordships' House?
§ The Lord President of the Council (Viscount Whitelaw)
My Lords, perhaps it would be reasonable for me to say that I shall look into the whole question of the status of this report. There is to be a debate in your Lordships' House on Wednesday. If it is proper and in accordance with precedent concerning other 360 reports that there should be more copies available, I shall make sure that there are.
My Lords, the House is extremely grateful to the noble Viscount.
§ Lord Diamond
My Lords, there is one further question, however. The Minister has stated that there is authority for her comment that the gap between rich and poor in terms of health has been widening since the mid-1950s. Will she be good enough to put in the Library before Wednesday a statement of the authorities on which she relies?
My Lords, yes.
My Lords, will the noble Baroness accept that I, too, am grateful to the noble Viscount for his assurance that copies will be made available for the debate—
§ Viscount Whitelaw
My Lords, I must make my position absolutely clear. I have only the power to see what the position is and to do everything I can to make sure that they are available. I can go no further than that.
My Lords, I accept that correction from the noble Viscount. Is the noble Baroness also aware that her replies have been extremely disappointing? Her attempts to "rubbish" this very important and well-researched document cannot disguise the fact that there is now an indisputable, direct connection between the Government's economic policies and the deterioration of the National Health Service and the nation's health.
My Lords, perhaps it would be a good idea if I gave a few facts. Overall, health in the United Kingdom has improved steadily. Life expectancy continues to rise. Infant mortality has fallen by one-third since 1979. Improvements like these have been felt among all groups. They reflect the increased resources that we have put into the health service, from £7.75 billion in 1978–1979 to nearly £20 billion next year. They also reflect the improved treatment which is offered and the increasing number of patients who have been cared for.
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text:
Q: If $f$ is continuous on $[a,\infty)$ and increasing on $(a,\infty)$, can we say $f(x)>f(a)$. If $f$ is continuous on $[a,\infty)$ and increasing on $(a,\infty)$ can we say $f(x)>f(a)$ for $x>a$.
I think yes, the fact that $f$ is (strictly) increasing on $(a,\infty)$ gives,
$$f(x)>f(y)$$
For $x,y \in (a,\infty)$ with $x>y$, in particular take $y=a+.0000000....01$ or $y=a+\epsilon$ with $\epsilon>0$, the inequality holds and $f(a+\epsilon) \to f(a)$ by continuity.
But I don't know how to make a rigorous proof.

A: Let $x>a$, let $t$ be in $(a,x)$, and assume that $f(a)>f(t)$.
Since $f$ is continuous on $[a,t]$, by the Intermediate Value Theorem
there is a number $c$ in $(a,t)$ with $\displaystyle f(c)=\frac{f(a)+f(t)}{2}>\frac{f(t)+f(t)}{2}=f(t)$.
Since $c<t$ with $f(c)>f(t)$,  this gives a contradiction.
Therefore $f(a)\le f(t)<f(x)$.

(edited to correct the error pointed out by Furrane)

A: This is true, the problem is only weak inequalities are preserved under limits (can you prove it?). You can overcome this: Take $z>a$, then there are $x,y$ such that $z>y>x>a$ (why?). We have $f(z)>f(y)>f(x)$. Take $x\rightarrow a$.

A: This holds true if $f$ is strictly increasing, which means :
$$\forall x \in (a,+\infty), \forall y>x : f(y)>f(x)$$
In particular :
$$\forall x\in (a,+\infty), f(x)>f\left(a+{x-a\over2}\right)\ge f(a)$$
But if $f$ in increasing (not strictly) well you could have for example :
$$\forall x \in (a,+\infty), f(x)=f(a)$$
Which is obviously not compatible with $f(x)>f(a)$
If $f$ is increasing, the best comparaison you can have is :
$$\forall x \in (a,+\infty), \forall y>x : f(y)\ge f(x)$$
Which would lead to :
$$\forall x \in (a,+\infty), f(x)\ge f(a)$$

A: Correct me if wrong:
Let $f$ be continuous on $[a,n]$, $n \in \mathbb{N}$, and strictly increasing on $(a,n]$.
1) min {$f(x) | x \in [a,n]$} = $f(a)$.
The continuous function $f$ on a closed interval attains its minimum.
Assume the function has its minimum at $x_0 \gt a$.
Then $f((x_0 + a)/2)  \lt f(x_0)$ since $f$ is strictly increasing on $(a,n]$.
Contradiction, since $f(x_0)$ was assumed to be the minimum.
Hence min {$f(x)| x \in [a,n]$} = $f(a)$.
2) $f(a) \lt f(x)$ for $x \gt a$.
Since $f(a)$ is the minimum on $[a,n]$ we have
$f(a) \le f(x)$ , $x \in [a,n]$.
It remains to be  shown  that
$f(a) \lt f(x)$ , $x \in (a,n]$.
Assume for an $x_1 \gt a$ we have $f(a) = f(x_1)$.
Consider $x_2 = (x_1 + a)/2  \lt x_1$.
It follows $f(x_2) \lt  f(x_1) = f(a)$, the minimum, since $f$ is stricly increasing and  $x_2  \lt x_1$.
A contradiction.
Now the other case:
Let $f$ be increasing in $(a,n]$, $n \in \mathbb{N}$.
1) $f$ has its minimum at $x = a$ as before,
I.e. $f(a) \le f(x)$ for $x \in (a,n]$.
Proof by contradiction:
Assume there is an $x_1 \gt a$ such that $f(x_1) \lt f(a)$.
$f$ is continuous on $[a,x_1]$.
Intermediate Value Theorem:
There exists a point $p \in [a,x_1]$ with $f(p) =( f(a) + f(x_1))/2$.
Note:  $f(x_1) \lt f(p) \lt f(a)$.
We have $p \ne a$ ; $p\ne x_1$,
I.e. $a \lt p \lt x_1$.
Thus $f(p) \gt f(x_1)$,  where $p \lt x_1$,
a contradiction to f being an increasing function.
Conclusion:  $f(a)$ is the minimum, hence $f(a) \le f(x)$ , for $x \gt a$.

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