AMY E MARTIN // Thesis

Over dinner with friends the subject of notch codes and what the hell they are came up. It took some late night html wrangling for my brain to put our conversation together with my earlier random dream about sorting email with one's hands. (Although I realize that the idea puts another step between the human and the communication and that's possibly not a useful direction to take, I'm still intrigued by the idea... at least I am at 2am.) So, notch codes are cut outs in sheet film that are standardized for different kinds of film and that help one tell which side of the film is the emulsion side. Cutouts are used because you develop film in the dark (of course) and so can't use your eyes. I wonder how fast photographers could sort through their film (although I don't think the system was developed for speed) and if notch code knowledge could possibly be stored in tactile memory (if such a thing exists... I really need to get on those psych research books).

Labels: random ideas, related links

8.17.2009 // 0 Comments // READ FULL POST...

A Short Manifesto on the Future of Attention. What does it say? I don't know. I'm working and haven't had time to read it yet, but I need to keep note of these things so that when I do have time, I remember what I was (ha) supposed to be paying attention too. More links include Gauging Your Distraction, The Brain: Stop Paying Attention: Zoning Out Is a Crucial Mental State, Chris and Malcolm are Both Wrong (not sure if this is relevant or not), Attention Literacy, The Myth of Multitasking, The Psychology of Attention and People with Lots of Working Memory are not Easily Distracted. Speaking of distraction, I smell french fries. Yum.

Labels: related links

8.13.2009 // 0 Comments // READ FULL POST...

The further I get into this book, the more it feels like I'm reading self-help. While it seems to be a very well-researched book–every other paragraph mentions research by person X at institution Y doing Z things–there isn't much discussion of the experiments beyond a sentence or two, there are no references or footnotes–which I often enjoy reading more than the textthemselves–and there's no discussion of how the experiments were performed. Basically the book so far has told me "hey, scientists say if you spend your time focusing on being happy, you'll be happier." It's a great sentiment but at this point only my stubborn distaste for quitting is preventing me from dropping the book entirely.

I am, however, really looking forward to random books I've picked up like Suspensions of Perception by Jonathan Crary and of course I really should've started my research with The Principles of Psychology by William James.

Labels: book reviews, reading list, related links