In a unique study that will become a rich source of ideas for professionals and anyone interested in fostering creative work in the arts and sciences, Michael P. Farrell looks at the group dynamics in six collaborative circles ... [among them] C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and the Inklings .... He demonstrates how the unusual interactions in these collaborative circles drew out the creativity in each member. Farrell also presents vivid narrative accounts of the roles played by the members of each circle. He considers how working in such circles sustains the motivation of each member to do creative work; how collaborative circles shape the individual styles of the persons within them; how leadership roles and interpersonal relationships change as circles develop; and why some circles flourish while others flounder.

Collaborative Circles: Friendship Dynamics and Creative Work

From the author's description: Where the Action Is draws on recent research trends in interactive systems to explore the foundations of a new model of using and experiencing computer systems -- what I call "embodied interaction." The idea of Embodied Interaction reflects a number of recent trends that have emerged in the area of Human-Computer Interaction. ... By incorporating understandings of how social practice emerges, we can build systems that fit more easily into the ways in which we work. ... [E]mbodied interaction is based on the understanding that users create and communicate meaning through their interaction with the system (and with each other, through the system). ... On the basis of this understanding, we can set out a range of design principles that are reflected by systems exploiting embodied interaction. This principles not only reflect important issues for design practice, but they also provide a framework for analysing embodied interaction in existing systems.

Terry Winograd says: "The book is unique ... great breadth ... clear explanation ..." Phil Agre: "a clarity and thoughtfulness that make hard ideas easy." Don Norman calls it a cogent explanation of interactive computing design.

Where the Action Is: The Foundations of Embodied Interaction

Advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology promise to have major impacts on human health, wealth, and peace in the coming decades. Among the expected breakthroughs are orders of magnitude increases in computer efficiency, human organ restoration using engineered tissue, `designer' materials created from directed assembly of atoms and molecules, and the emergence of entirely new phenomena in chemistry and physics. This book includes a collection of essays by leading scientists, engineers, and social scientists reviewing the possible uses of these impending technical developments in various industrial, medical, and national security applications, and the corresponding ethical, legal, social, economic, and educational issues that they raise. The report outlines potential areas for research into societal implications of nanotechnology, as well as some preliminary suggestions for how potential positive impacts of nanotechnology can be maximized, while minimizing any possible negative impacts, real or imagined. This book also provides the beginning of a blueprint for how one should address second-order consequences of the new technology, either positive implications or potential risks. This material was prepared under the auspices of the US National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The issues raised in the book are global in scope, going far beyond the immediate impact of the NNI. They ask the general questions of how history and the human condition are affected by technological progress, and how individuals and institutions can seek to guide that progress in ways most beneficial to mankind in the long run.

Published in March 2001, this is the final report from an NSF workshop held in September 2000. Participants include Tom Kalil, Newt Gingrich, John Seely Brown, Richard Smalley, Bonnie Nardi, and many more.

Societal Implications of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology [PDF]

Publisher's book description: Money, jobs, careers, training -- all are topics often overheard in the conversation of middle-class Americans today. One of the nation's leading critics of education, the world of work, and the labor movement, Stanley Aronowitz has, over three decades, shown how new technologies, labor, and education all are deeply intertwined in our culture and everyday lives. This new book reflects Aronowitz's latest thinking at a time when globalization has brought these connections to broad public attention. Aronowitz argues for the decline of "the job" as the backbone, along with family, of American society. Even at a time of high employment, low wages and job insecurity leave many families at or below the poverty line. The career instability previously experienced mostly by blue-collar workers has now spread to middle managers and high-level executives caught in the rapid movement of capital and technologies. Today's world, he argues, calls for a new social contract between employers and workers. While many writers emphasize the "new social spaces" opened up by communications technologies, Aronowitz looks more deeply to find subtle shifts also taking place in our more familiar and conventional social worlds. The decline of "bohemia" among the intelligentsia of Greenwich Village and other similar urban communities is caused not only by changing financial and urban forces but also by shifting patterns of communication among its inhabitants. Similar changes in everyday uses of time and patterns of work also reflect ways in which individuals today have diminished control over space and time. While these social changes begin in home and community, ultimately they limit the "political space" available to most citizens. Aronowitz shows how and why these changes must be met with a stronger awareness among working Americans of new forms of democratic participation.

The Last Good Job in America: Work and Education in the New Global Technoculture

If you're already familiar with the classic _Flatland_ by Edwin Abbott, you'll enjoy this updated, annotated edition. If not, now is the time to check it out. Publisher's Weekly calls it "a math-geek classic!"

Editorial review at Amazon: The product of an agreeably dotty cleric named Edwin Abbott Abbott and first published in 1884, Flatland distills all that the Victorian era knew of higher mathematics--and then some--into a witty, complex novel of ideas.

Ian Stewart, the author of the equally witty sequel, Flatterland --which adds to Abbott's store of science the key discoveries made since--does a superb job of explaining the original book's enigmas, allusions, ironies, implausibilities, and what Douglas Hofstadter would call "metamagical themas." Among other things, Stewart comments on Abbott's comments on such things as the nature/nurture controversy, the fourth dimension and beyond, the role of multidimensional spaces in economic systems, infinite series and perfect squares, celestial mechanics, and other matters close to the hearts of cosmologists and science buffs alike.

Stewart's notes make an entertaining and learned addition to an already classic bit of writing--one that has never been out of print since its first publication. For both devoted Abbott fans and newcomers to his work, this is the edition to have.

The Annotated Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions

That was the first revolution. The second, under way now, is a surge of basic biomedical science toward the private sector, driven by the mobilization of philanthropy and corporate risk capital. ...

In the December 14 issue of _Science_, columnist Donald Kennedy goes on to discuss the ways in which today's science is increasingly dominated and driven by corporate interests. He compares and contrasts with several other points in the history of science. (A letter to the editor in the latest _Science_ references this article.)

A subscription is required for this article.

Enclosing the Research Commons

Everyone should read this brief editorial in the latest _Science_. The author discusses the various synergies that exist when dealing with terrorism and natural disasters. It begins:

Since the September 11 terror attacks, scientists and the policy community have focused on ways in which science might be applied toward reducing the risks or consequences of future attacks. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences has appointed a committee under the co-chairmanship of Lewis Branscomb and Richard Klausner to explore the vulnerability of the United States and other Western nations. The committee will do well to consider how mitigating threats from terrorism could also serve to reduce the consequences of natural hazards, for the two are linked in some unexpected ways. ...

May require free registration, but no subscription is required.

Science, Terrorism, and Natural Disasters | editorial in _Science_

Educators lament the embarrassing results when once-touted educational web sites are silently replaced by ... shall we say ... recreational web sites. A notable excerpt/quote:

"For the first time in history, domains are expiring at a faster rate than they are being sold."

Is this actually true? Has anyone seen independent verification of this claim? If so, do we really need more TLDs?

A new twist on cyber-squatting?

A forthcoming title from National Academy Press, now available online. 175 pages.

Most Americans know little about the world of technology, yet frequently make decisions that are technologically based, such as whether to buy genetically engineered foods or transmit personal data over the Internet. A new National Academies report calls for a broad-based effort to increase technological literacy for all Americans.

...

Technically Speaking provides a blueprint for bringing us all up to speed on the role of technology in our society, including understanding such distinctions as technology versus science and technological literacy versus technical competence. It clearly and decisively explains what it means to be a technologically-literate citizen. The book goes on to explore the context of technological literacy -- the social, historical, political, and educational environments.

This readable overview highlights specific issues of concern: the state of technological studies in K-12 schools, the reach of the Internet into our homes and lives, and the crucial role of technology in today?s economy and workforce. Three case studies of current issues -- car airbags, genetically modified foods, and the California energy crisis -- illustrate why ordinary citizens need to understand technology to make responsible decisions. This fascinating book from the National Academy of Engineering is enjoyable to read and filled with contemporary examples. It will be important to anyone interested in understanding how the world around them works.

Technically Speaking: Why All Americans Need to Know More About Technology

Here is NYT's latest report on IP issues related primarily to the FastTrack-based P2P networks. The increase in video content is the focus of the story, with choice quotes from all sides, including this one:

"We're fighting our own terrorist war ... The great moat that protects us ... is lack of broadband access." -- Jack Valenti

This sort of thing is becoming increasingly common. Does anyone else find this behavior (that of invoking "terror" in all sorts of unrelated contexts in order to promote one's personal agenda) extremely annoying, troublesome, even downright rude? Does not Jack Valenti seek to equate DivX trading with sudden, massive, and tragic loss of human life?

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