This is a trail through entries in this web site that, taken together, constitute the core elements of a thesis for an MA in epedagogy at the University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland.
Abstract
The thesis offers a view of the cultural and technical history of the last one hundred years that seeks to demonstrate the existence of recurring attempts to construct devices that will act as memory extenders, and to use these devices in a form of constant self-learning and refocusing, of a kind that has been moved to the sidelines by industrial capitalism.
It proposes the creation of a software based tool to act as a “portable, personal, lifelong dataspace” for purposes of memory extension to be called a memi. This web site is intended as a working prototype of a memi, and is intended as a proof of concept, that will be developed later into a fully functional version to be made publicly available.
The thesis argues that cultural history, and the development of tools like the memi, to be used in ‘the cloud’, will force a rethinking of pedagogy, and the move towards an epedagogy founded on a belief in mentored peer to peer learning. It concludes by showing how the ultimate goal of such an epedagogy will be cultural democracy, something that can be seen as another strand in the same lightly woven cultural history.
Key definition
In The Little Book on Living, Krishnamurti asked: “Why do you want to read others´ books when there is the book of yourself?” The memi can be seen as a way of rendering the book of yourself tangibly so that it can be studied whenever it is needed with a view to finding patterns that might otherwise go unnoticed and learning lessons that be otherwise be unavailable.
I have thus defined the memi as
a portable, personal, lifelong dataspace, under the control of its user, and capable of publishing to, and subscribing to, a range of networks simultaneously. At its simplest it can be seen as a combination of a diary, address book, aide memoire, personal library, expense sheet, notepad, and portfolio. Everything you might want to remember, or be reminded of, or reuse, can be found in one place, where it can be searched, sorted, linked and cross-referenced.
The memi is intended, then, to store a lifetime’s worth of data, from birth to death. It is not an “official” document, maintaining a log of data that has been taken from you. Rather it s a personal record of whatever data that you wish to keep for later use: data you may choose to share or not share, in a spirit of radical transparency.
Structure of the trail
The trail that constitutes the core elements of this thesis begins with a single page that presents an overview and summary of the main arguments. This contains a few introductory paragraphs, followed by three main sections. Each section is a summary that is expanded in a longer overview entry. Each of these overviews also contain three sections which are themselves summaries of the arguments in three much longer essays.
Each of the nine essays, in turn, makes many internal links to other entries scattered throughout the site from which the original research and observations are drawn. Thus there are thirteen core elements to the thesis trail, although the actual amount of relevant material that can accessed along the trail is very much larger.
It should also be noted that, since the conception and development of the site itself has formed a arge part of the practical research, the nature of the trail; the relationships between the elements; and the ways in which they are related internally and externally, itself forms an experiential dimension of the main argument.
Starting points
The starting point for the trail is the overall overview of the main arguments.
This page also has three ‘sideways links’.
The first of these is to an overview of the contents. This is a simple text list in a form familiar from the contents pages of any non-fiction book. Each essay can be directly accessed from here by clicking on its title.
The second is an overview of the structure of the trail. This is presented in the form of a concept map that shows the logic behind the current arrangement of the material, and the underlying progression of the main argument through the essays.
The third is described as an overview of the journey. It presents an imaginary alternate journey through the ideas that are raised and discussed in the thirteen core elements, in the form of an elaborate concept map.