Power Laws in the Blogosphere

Watch now, friends, as I increase the power of my blog.    (462)

At special request of the fine folk at Kitty Joyce Productions, despite the doubting Mr. Whybark and for the lovely poupou I present to you not one but two kitties!    (463)

Thomasina has recently been joined by the foster, Enzo.    (464)

In this shot, the cats, fresh from a brushing, consider a toy mouse.    (465)

+ ++ T    (466)

Enzo has some enthusiasm. Thom is not entirely amused by his presence.    (467)

+ ++ T    (468)

Enzo is not entirely amused by my camera flash. I'm scaring the mouse.    (469)

+ ++ T    (46A)

Power.    (46B)

Posted by cdent at 12:57 AM | Trackback This | | bl | Categories: photo

Have Rack Will Travel (and get lost)

Signs of perfect weather, a (small) gap in the busy schedule, a buddy available (LiggettTheYounger) and my shiny new cams meant it was time for a quick trip to TheRed. Much poring over available route information pointed to GlobalVillage as the place to be for some easy trad and some easy to moderate sport routes, which was a good sampling of the overlap of what we both wanted to do.    (45A)

But I forgot that about half the routes of the eight or so picked are not in the printed guidebook and thus far there's no wireless at the crags.    (45B)

We had just Sunday available; drive down late Saturday, come back Sunday evening after pizza. We got underway earlier than expected; halted for two hours as Thunder Over Louisville let out; arrived very very late; woke up with the sun to meet someone who wasn't there; and stumbled around, washed out and vague from 3 or 4 hours of sleep, until the coffee kicked in.    (45C)

GlobalVillage is a lovely place. For some reason it is not as popular as some of the other locations. I've heard and read various theories to explain this: the approach is long and tiresome or the routes don't feature the overhanging pocketed crimp festivals that brings people to TheRed. I don't know about either of those: I found the approach long but not steep. The climbs were interesting, high quality rock and it was just plain nice in the area. Plenty of napping rocks.    (45D)

The far end of the cliff houses a nice waterfall amphitheater:    (47U)

+ ++ T    (45E)

Here's the view from the top of KentuckyPinstripe, looking sort of westish:    (45F)

+ ++ T    (45G)

KentuckyPinstripe, as we later discovered, is a 5.10a and not EureKa, the 5.6 we thought it was. We started there as a warmup and the moves at the start had me saying things like, "No way this is a 5.6" and "Maybe it's called Eureka because you find the magic 5.6 hold and suddenly it's easy."    (45H)

I onsighted it anyway and went on to OnSight everything else that day (we only did 5 routes, seeing as we didn't know where several of them were). I've since decided that's no good. I should be climbing much harder and falling more often.    (45I)

Here's the view from halfway up the same route:    (45J)

+ ++ T    (45K)

Climbing will make your ass disappear:    (45L)

+ ++ T    (45M)

More info on the crag and the climbs will show up soon in ClimbTheRed. The rest of the pictures from the trip can be viewed at TheRedCliggettThumb. To summarize: We had a good (but sleepy) time, nobody got hurt, we saw and did interesting and fun things. Nice beat, we danced to it.    (45N)

Posted by cdent at 11:52 PM | Trackback This | | bl | Categories: climbing , photo

Obviously, They're Dumb

Adlai E. Stevenson III takes a turn through 20th century history to review the intelligence failures of the Bush Administration.    (42M)

= A Different Kind of Intelligence Failure    (42N)

That's the last paragraph of the editorial.    (42P)

This reminds me of an email conversation where I complained about the apparent value of stating the obvious from a position of authority.    (42Q)

Posted by cdent at 02:53 PM | Trackback This | | bl | Categories: politics

My Patterns of Collaboration

EugeneEricKim, the other cofounder and remaining director of BlueOxen, has spent the last few days hosting a workshop on patterns of collaboration. I was unable to attend, but, along with several other people, watched from the sides through a wiki and email list.    (41H)

On the first day of the workshop, the participants developed a definition of collaboration (at Collab:Collaboration). Members of the email list were asked to introduce themselves and comment on the proceedings. I combined an introduction and a response to the definition in one mail message that I include here for the record. This version is edited to add some WikiWords. The original message is archived.    (41I)

This will be review for some of you, but it was a nice review for me.    (41J)

Hello, I'm ChrisDent. Sorry for this late message and sorry for missing the gathering. I had some timing conflicts and more importantly a distinct lack of funds.    (41K)

I'll begin with a bit of intro and then move on to some comments on the discovered definition of Collaboration (which I like). I've discovered this messasge is quite long. I seem to be using it for a bit of mental cleanout. Thanks for the opportunity and sorry for the length.    (41L)

I've been interacting (sometimes collaborating) with Eugene off and on in various capacities for about 3 years. We encountered one another in mailing list communities associated with Doug Engelbart's Bootstrap organization (sometimes known as Alliance, sometimes known as Institute).    (41M)

Around then, I had started a masters program in Information Science at IndianaUniversity. I had left a technical leadership role at a mid-sized ISP to fill up some of the holes in my brain. In my first class I was introduced to Engelbart, attracted to his ideas of augmentation, co-evolution and the necessity of collaborative effort to solve wicked problems. I started scrounging around for ways to know more.    (41N)

My first project of note in the IS program[1] laid the groundwork for a continuing sense that the foundation of a good collaborative toolset is the ability to access and reuse existing information. By access I don't mean find; I mean having a graspable handle and being aware of how things are being grasped.    (41O)

My second project[2] was based on some of Engelbart's ideas but explored them through the writings of other authors. I was trying to describe a productive "using" rather than "partnering" or "communicating" interaction with computers. I didn't quite hit it, and I've since discovered much more fodder in the notions of embodied and situated cognition combined with a bit of phenomenology[3] that await a book or PhD? thesis if I can find the steam.    (41P)

I came to the Bootstrap mailing lists with these things in my head. Eugene and I noticed each other as people who thought interesting things and often backed up our noodling with experiments or tools. Around the time Eugene was thinking about creating Blue Oxen, I was looking for a way to get some credits to finish up my degree without taking yet another boring class. We concocted an internship that turned me, with time, into a cofounder of the organization. Eugene and I had met in person only once.    (41Q)

Eugene and I spent several months fleshing out what's since become TheBlueOxenWay. The same semester I did the internship I was taking an extremely hard core practical class in software design patterns[4]. I suspect that class had some impact on the direction we chose. The class, as described in the referenced document, is one of the most significant collaborative events of my life. Another is the interactions I had with the team I worked with before going back to school.    (41R)

Both cases strongly support the idea that a shared goal is a very important part of successful collaboration.    (41S)

I never gained the traction with BlueOxen that I needed to feel successful. In part this was because I was spread too thin, with too many other obligations. I part this was because Eugene and I demonstrated another important aspect of collaboration: while we had a fairly robust shared language and to some degree a quite robust shared understanding, the details of our shared goals were not as well understood as they could have been. I, at least, found it difficult to get the necessary food out of the shared system.    (41T)

So I've since moved on to other things. I think this has been positive for us both. I hope Eugene agrees. We are exploring more diverse areas now than we might have been otherwise.    (41U)

I continue to work in Blue Oxen related areas: I've been one of the primary authors of PurpleWiki, where I've been able to put some of my hopes for good accessibility, backlinking and transclusion into practice; I regularly contribute to the Collaboration Collaboratory; I hang out on the fringes of events like these and step in when I am able.    (41V)

By day I work as a software developer and communications lubricant for a development team working at Indiana University. There I try to implement the things I've learned and continue to learn about collaboration. The most significant observation there, thus far, is continued proof that transparency in communication combined with diligent archiving and refactoring is big magic in making things better along many dimensions but they are still not enough without a shared commitment to a shared goal.    (41W)

I'm playing a waiting game for something to crystallize in my brain so I can make a succinct statement of my interests and thus determine a course of doctoral study or career. In the meantime I go to work and do a lot of rock climbing in TheRed.    (41X)

Which leaves me at the definition:    (41Y)

I think this hits it very nicely, the key words being "shared" and "bounded". The people involved all need to know the goal, and there needs to be an understanding that there is an endpoint to the work involved; a point when the participants can say "we're done, we did it."    (420)

This mirrors many of the things I said in a blog entry back in September called "Collaboration Requires Goals"[5]. The conversations (both in person and in email, much of it related to an as yet unreleased Blue Oxen paper) surrounding that document discussed the difference between community building and collaboration. Both are valuable, but they are different.    (421)

An interesting aspect of this definition is how it might impact thoughts about Engelbart's A, B, and C activities[6]. This line:    (422)

Interacting to get smarter might be called a C-activity (improving the improvement process) while interacting in order to prepare for an exam could be called B (improving your capability, making yourself better at calculus tests) or A (doing calculus) depending on your point of view.    (424)

The last 3 years have demonstrated that it is difficult to collaborate on things Engelbartian and feel any sense of motion. Perhaps it's the nature of the beast? I've often said that things were not properly bounded. Perhaps it is a question of framing: smaller pieces and their associated smaller expectations required.    (425)

Finally, I'm extremely pleased to see that individual intention and commitment has been included in the definition.    (426)

I think it might be an interesting exercise to create names and stories for those styles of interaction that are like collaboration but are missing one or some of the key pieces:    (427)

• shared bounded goal    (428)
• intention    (429)
• commitment    (42A)

The stories might acts as foils that engender more clarity to the definition of collaboration.    (42B)

Another aspect perhaps worth investigating: understanding whether a group is collaborating has much to with the distance from which the activity is viewed and the boundaries of the language used in the activity. Since Eugene likes sports stories so much, I'll use one of those to demonstrate:    (42C)

I went climbing recently with someone I had not climbed with before. I did not know him well, but I had interacted with him somewhat in the climbing gym. From the beginning of our trip, our climbing was successful. We had a good grasp of the language of climbing, both in the literal sense of the words we used to communicate and the movements our bodies used to get up the wall, and we were able to cooperate in the effort of getting someone safely where they want to go. Our time, though, was not immediately comfortably fun.    (42D)

As time passed, we built up a better understanding of one another (there was the mild magic of the small unfolding of test conversation topics to see what avenues of discussion are or are not taboo). We broadened and deepened our shared language away from just climbing into other scenarios. As time passed we became more comfortable with one another, had more fun, and climbed better. The resolution of our shared understanding of our shared goal(s) and its context increased. We were not there just to get up the wall, we were there to have a complete experience.    (42E)

I hope the workshop was valuable for the participants and I hope the discussions continue.    (42F)

[1] Hypertext and Knowledge Enhancement Explores some the history, design goals and failings of hypertext in the context of knowledge as something built from information.    (42G)

[2] The Computer as Tool: From Interaction to Augmentation Eugene cites this paper in his recent A Manifesto For Collaborative Tools.    (42H)

[3] Augury A review of my contributions to a reading group looking for connections between augmentation and embodied cognition.    (42I)

[4] Helium Performance A review of a software design patterns class.    (42J)

[5] Collaboration Requires Goals, an explanation of why WikiWords are good for collaboration.    (42K)

[6] http://www.bootstrap.org/#2B http://www.invisiblerevolution.net/engelbart/glossary/capability_infrastruct.html Some information on A, B and C activities.    (42L)

Posted by cdent at 04:11 AM | Trackback This | | bl | Categories: collaboration

TradDaddy Wannabe

Made a midweek trip to TheRed with Danny, one of the regulars at HoosierHeights. I had a very good time exhausting myself following Danny on some possible first ascents, doing some relatively easy trad leads for the first time, and getting on some brutally hard (especially after the other stuff) sport routes.    (3X2)

Read the whole (lengthy) thing for the full story. Just want the pics? TheRedDannyThumb will get you that.    (3X3)

(If you don't like route beta, here's your warning: spoilers ahead.)    (3X7)

We arrived in the gorge around midnight. Danny prefers to camp out in the woods rather than Miguels to get the most quiet and comfort as possible. He picked an excellent campsite. Weather reports called for morning rain which would constrain our plans.    (3X8)

We woke to a beautiful morning that turned into a gorgeous sunscreen-requiring day. No rain meant wide open opportunities so we went to FunkRockCity to visit some moderate, well-established trad routes and look at a sport route called Orange Juice.    (3X9)

Funk Rock is one of the lower elevation crags. The long approach follows the river upstream along a gentle trail, crosses through the river (no problem in sandals) and heads uphill to a lengthy cliffline of mostly vertical walls with less of the pockety nature found in other areas. My guess is that the majority of the iron is higher in elevation.    (3XA)

First order of business: Observe Chris following an easy crack climb to get a gauge on his ability. We chose a nice crack in a right facing dihedral called JoeCamel    (3XB)

+ ++ T    (3XC)

that has some fixed gear as anchors about 40ft up. It's 5.8 to there.    (3XD)

Both Danny and I look up and see that the crack continues up above the anchors and with a bit of a traverse can be linked up to a right leaning narrow crack that goes to the top of the cliff. "That'll go", we both say.    (3XE)

Danny racks up and starts off.    (3XF)

Me: So, uh, you planning to put in any gear?    (3XG)

The first 40ft go down without issue, then the next 20 or so. It's the 20 to 25 after that where things start to get hard. This was supposed to be our warmup. A straightforward finger crack turns into a series of bouldery moves, a few exciting catches, and a "please don't fall now, please don't fall now" top out including a dead tree of considerable proportions crashing into the valley behind me.    (3XH)

Danny sets an anchor, puts me on belay and off I go.    (3XI)

I try to remember all the things I'm supposed to remember: stemming is good, cracks are your friend, look for your feet. I get to the original anchors and up to just before the hard part where I find a knee bar that gives me a no hands rest.    (3XJ)

It doesn't help. I pull into the hard section, fussing, whining, blowing and stop before the true crux. After flailing through several attempts Danny tells me to do a butterfly. I thought I knew what a butterfly was so I tried to do that. That was wrong. Then I did what a butterfly is and I was through, up to the top and into the anchors. Fabulous view, camera is 100 feet below.    (3XK)

Exhausted, and that was just the first climb of the day. We reckon the top half could be somewhere in the 5.11s, maybe even 12s.    (3XL)

Apparently I can follow a crack, so now it is time to lead one. Further down the crag is a lovely corner containing RiteOfPassage:    (3XM)

+ ++ T    (3XN)

Perfect hands up to near the top and then some tricky combination of fingers, laying back, smearing and wishful thinking.    (3XO)

Me: Which gear should I take?    (3XP)

Danny: It's your lead, you decide!    (3XQ)

I fiddle. I fret. I pick and choose.    (3XR)

Danny: I'll tell you if you haven't got what you need.    (3XS)

I feel relief.    (3XT)

I go up, I place gear, I reach the anchors, I rappel down, I clean.    (3XU)

By the end of the day I will have a powerful sense of satisfaction, but at this point I'm still somewhat bewildered.    (3XV)

Danny doesn't do RiteOfPassage. He's been thinking about OrangeJuice.    (3XW)

+ ++ T    (3XX)

Orange Juice is a combination of little pockets and tiny crimpers interspersed with out of reach pleasant flat ledges all on a beautifully orange, 95 foot long, overhung wall that goes at 5.12 c or d.    (3XY)

It's all hard, but there are three definite cruxes: getting to the third bolt; the lower dyno; and the higher maybe it's a dyno from a one or two fingered pocket, maybe it's a layback on a teeny weeny little lip move. Danny, who's had three hours of sleep, makes a prodigious show with a miss of the dyno and then a few what the hell's at the upper crux and finishes it out. We leave the draws hung so I can come back to it later. I'm trying to maintain an I'll try anything attitude.    (3XZ)

Next in line is my next trad lead, HeadstoneSurfer.    (3Y0)

+ ++ T    (3Y1)

Headstone Surfer begins with an easy flake to a ledge followed by awkward thin stemming to another ledge, then pretty, happy stemming to the anchors. 10c in the printed guidebook, 10a in the online guide.    (3Y2)

I head for the first ledge, loose my feet, scramble to stay on.    (3Y3)

Danny: Now you'll place some gear.    (3Y4)

So I do. Nice big fat cam. Seems like maybe I'm using one that's a bit too big, but I find a spot and move on.    (3Y5)

I get through the crux thinking: stem, stem, stem, the feet love friction. I start moving into the easier parts and I'm getting tired. I can't remember how long the route is. I can't see the anchors. Am I going to have enough gear? Are these placements any good? I seem to be running it out a long way.    (3Y6)

Then the anchors show up and I'm greatly relieved. Danny's going to clean this one, so I'm lowered and he goes up.    (3Y7)

That cam, the big one, it's stuck, so Danny leaves it behind to get it on the way back down.    (3Y8)

+ ++ T    (3Y9)

I feel shame to have done such a thing to another man's cams, but he gets it eventually.    (3YA)

Danny graciously provides commentary on my placements as he cleans. Exactly the sort of thing I was hoping to get. My main problem is a tendency to orient the cams too much in an outward direction rather than the down they need.    (3YB)

Despite my stress Danny reports that I looked like a pro. I dealt with the stress the only way I knew how: concentrate on doing the right thing. An essentially meaningless phrase that seemed to work in this case. I've yet to fall on gear I've placed myself. I hope that inevitable happening does not harsh my mellow.    (3YC)

My turn for OrangeJuice. Prior to this climb I had never touched anything in the 12s on lead outside, and only two 12as on top rope, neither of which I completed clean (but I did make it to the anchors).    (3YD)

I get through to the third bolt and up just below the lower crux (5th or 6th boly maybe?). I'm looking around--looking, wondering. There's nothing there. I take.    (3YE)

Danny gives me the beta which amounts to put your hands on some non-existent holds here and here, and your feet like so, suck in your butt and go boom into the dyno. Shnook, I popped my hand up to the hold and miraculously (it seemed to me) stuck it.    (3YF)

Then came the upper crux. I'm not sure how many times I tried. The fall is lengthy. The jug back up exhausting. The moves all wrong: off balance, painful, position absolutely critical and requiring more power 80 feet up than I generally have on the ground. I finally gave up after an extra long fall positioned me for a landing that tweaked my ankle with an over extension. If I had pulled the move I would have made the next clip and then it was the anchors.    (3YG)

Danny: That was the straw that broke off your penis.    (3YH)

Me coming down meant the already tired Danny had to go back up to fetch the draws. Again with my shame, I was supposed to do that. But it is brief: Up at the high crux Danny susses out a new sequence that probably means success for him in the near future: observe the blood I left in the mono for your right hand; don't use the tiny layback flake thing; instead adjust the left-handed pocket below into an almost undercling and dyno for the ledge.    (3YI)

After all this we head back in the direction of the approach trail saying we will stop at a couple of cracks we'd like to do. Auto pilot kicks in and soon we are back at the car, the cracks avoided by our bodies that know better.    (3YJ)

Off to Miguels. I went for shrimp, broccoli, black olive, garlic and pineapple. The recent addition of seafood style protein to the menu (there's also imitation crab meat) is manna.    (3YK)

Back to the campsite. I'm probably asleep by 10 local-to-me time.    (3YL)

Friday we choose to visit MuirValley.    (3YM)

MuirValley is a lovely place purchased by some retired and generous climbers with about 4 miles of undeveloped cliffline. The owners plan to offer it as a climbing and nature preserve.    (3YN)

With permission from the owners, we went exploring. Our goal: aesthetic cracks beckoning climbers for first ascents.    (3YO)

Note to self: next time take a guide who knows their way around. Yes we ascended a remarkable line. Yes we had a very good day. But, oi, did we ever do some bushwacking.    (3YP)

Going up, down and around steep, leaf-covered hills covered with rhododendrons is work enough. Doing it with some several tens of pounds of unbalanced gear and water on your back where any misstep will send you careening down the hill and maybe over a cliff--that's an adventure in hard work.    (3YQ)

But we found a lovely line.    (3YR)

+ ++ T    (3YS)

and had a lovely adventure. We have a name, I reckon it's a fabulous name, but protocol suggests that we save it for a free ascent.    (3YT)

Other note to self: Buy a helmet. Wear it while belaying. Wear it while climbing. Especially if, most definitely if, doing first ascents. Oh, the things that rain down.    (3YU)

The climb has a nice mix of moves. Definitely not a splitter crack dividing a clean face. After the do-whatever-you-can move to get to a ledge, move up into a sort of finger jam layback combo until you are tight up under a roof where there's a hand jam that lets you think about coming out from under the roof.    (3YV)

I fell back to the ground reaching for the ledge. The ground, mind you, is a series up upthrust sharp stones coiled around with rhodo branches. So I went a little further up, fell on the rope. Did that again. Got a little higher and then fell on the ground, further than any time before, narrowly avoiding non-consensual relations with the stones. Huh? Dirt, air, air, dirt. Some gear further up had pulled, lengthening the rope.    (3YW)

I start again and make it to the hand jam and contemplate getting around the first roof.    (3YX)

To do this Danny pulled a fabulous move with his legs. One leg hooked around, the other pasted against the wall. My exhausted, over-bushwacked legs refused to stick to the lichen covered wall under the roof; I never made it around the edge. My fall left me swinging out in space, with no way back in to the wall so I chose to jug up past those moves to just below the second roof where I exhaustedly flailed around and pulled a rock (what appeared to be the crucial hold) down on my head.    (3YY)

Yet another note to self: That which looks secure may not be. Tap, test, etc. before use. I know this already, but apparently not well enough.    (3YZ)

And then I made it to the top through a series of heel hooks, full leg hook whoosits, a little chimney action, and some shuffling about. A fine route I reckon.    (3Z0)

Not satisfied with our explorations of the valley we continued our treck. We had heard other folk would be in the neighborhood that day so we went looking. More bushwacking. No climbing (at least not the technical kind). No people. Many rhododendrons and slippery leaves.    (3Z1)

So we left there. Leaving is no easy proposition. Up a very steep and muddy logging trail. I was used to the down at the end style approach. Up is hard at the end of the day. I should get that kind of exercise every day.    (3Z2)

But we weren't done. One climb is just not enough. We went to TorrentFalls for the easy approach to two projects: BareMetalTeen? for Danny, and SeekTheTruth for me.    (3Z3)

Neither of us had the strength to be good little redpointers. Our leg muscles were gone. Our fingertips were shredded. But we finished them and started the long trip home.    (3Z4)

I had fun, I saw and did many neat things, learned a great deal, enjoyed the company and accomplished some things I'm proud of. Time well spent.    (3Z5)

(Is a writing instructor going to come along and bitch at my lack of tense consistency?)    (3Z6)

(Update April 11 to get PurpleNumbers in there.)    (3Z7)

Posted by cdent at 06:48 AM | Trackback This | | bl | Categories: climbing

Adaptive Knowledge Base Development

At the day job we are finally beginning to make plans for developing the next iteration of IndianaUniversity's KnowledgeBase. To gather my thoughts I wrote a little document that brings together some of the thoughts about situated software and software development that have been bouncing around over the last several days.    (3UZ)

Here's the beginning:    (3V0)

and the end:    (3V2)

Whole text.    (3V4)

Update: Thanks to Seb for catching my misattribution of the preface of ''Small Pieces Loosely Joined".    (41G)

Posted by cdent at 06:37 AM | Trackback This | | bl | Categories: collaboration , geek-glaxon

Spring Oh Four

Spring has sprung    (3RI)

+ ++ T    (3RJ)

here on the ranch    (3RK)

+ ++ T    (3RL)

and with it comes    (3RM)

+ ++ T    (3RN)

the affirmation    (3RO)

+ ++ T    (3RP)

that as time passes    (3RQ)

+ ++ T    (3RR)

so we come round again.    (3RS)

+ ++ T    (3RT)

(Photos from around the house and Flatwoods park. Whole group at SpringOhFourContents.)    (3RU)

Posted by cdent at 01:56 AM | Trackback This | | bl | Categories: photo

Transformation

My kitty, inspired by the haste with which I purchased my new sandals, has decided to go into sales and marketing.    (3Q8)

+ ++ T    (3Q9)

Posted by cdent at 01:34 AM | Trackback This | | bl | Categories: photo