\documentclass[12pt]{book} \usepackage[T1]{fontenc} \usepackage{tgheros} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage[usenames,dvipsnames]{color} \usepackage[colorlinks,urlcolor=black,linkcolor=black,citecolor=black]{hyperref} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{graphicx} \begin{document} %% \textcolor{Yellow}{Immediate} & %% \textcolor{YellowGreen}{Immediate Beginning} & %% \textcolor{Green}{Beginning} & %% \textcolor{BlueGreen}{Unmediated Beginning} & %% \textcolor{RoyalBlue}{Unmediated} & %% \textcolor{RoyalPurple}{Unmediated Embodying} & %% \textcolor{Fuchsia}{Embodying} & %% \textcolor{RedViolet}{Intermediate Embodying} & %% \textcolor{red}{Intermediate} & %% \textcolor{RedOrange}{Intermediate Maintaining} & %% \textcolor{Orange}{Maintaining} & %% \textcolor{YellowOrange}{Immediate Maintaining} \newcommand{\drafted}[1]{\textcolor{Orange}{#1}} \newcommand{\question}[1]{{\tiny \textcolor{RedViolet}{#1}}} \newcommand{\comment}[1]{%{\small {\sc \textcolor{Green}{#1}}}} } \newcommand{\addition}[1]{%{\small {\sc \textcolor{Red}{#1}}}} } \title{Reengineering Mathematics} \author{Joseph Corneli} \maketitle \tableofcontents \newpage \thispagestyle{plain} \includegraphics[width=5in]{road-to-free-math} \clearpage \chapter{The Road to Free Math} \section{Philosophical Background} \hypertarget{motivation}{\subsection{MOTIVATION}} This is a survey of the fields of endeavor relevant to an ``activist anthropology of contemporary mathematics''. The aim of this project is to reengineer the field of mathematics to make it more like free software. This page is growing in segments; the key segments will be developed into survey papers, and these papers will then be welded together into a unified prospectus. \begin{itemize} \item For historical background on the HDM project, see \url{http://wiki.planetmath.org/AsteroidMeta/HDM}. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{formal}{\subsection{FORMAL SELF-DESCRIPTION}} The document is formatted so that ``things we need'' are presented as succinct capitalized section headings, which are then followed by a brief paragraph describing that topic. \begin{itemize} \item ``Good things'' related to these topic-areas are then to be added as bulleted lists below the descriptive paragraph. \item If you do not want to read any more ``introductory crap'', feel free to skip ahead to \hyperlink{mathematics}{MATHEMATICS} or other sections below the conveniently-placed line separating ``research topics'' from ``philosophical background''. \item Any of the ``good things'' can be implemented at any time and in any order, and it will be good, since they are all ``good things''. \item However, if there is any ``good thing'' that is high priority within its topic area, that item can be sorted ``up'' within the bulleted list. Similarly, if a given topic area contains items with higher global priority than some other topic area, it should be sorted ``up'' at this bulkier level of granularity. If it isn't clear which of two items has a higher priority, then, just as clearly, it doesn't really matter how they are ordered here. From a subjective point of view, no one will know whether two items that are next to each other have effectively equal priority or whether one is much higher priority than the other. If we notice any ``edit wars'' having to do with priority, that will be an interesting chance for out-of-channel discussion or debate. \item Items that are logically nested within other items should just be included in the section for the containing idea (whether that container is a ``need'' or a ``good''), so the document is formally only two levels deep, no matter how detailed the individual sub-items are. \item If any item becomes too complicated to be manageable, it should be branched out onto another page, and only a high-level summary retained here. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{time}{\subsection{TIME AND STABILITY}} For working on any task, we need time that isn't already spoken for by some other task with higher priority. \begin{itemize} \item One basic way to ``make time'' for a given task is to work on that task as a side-effect of working on some other task. In this fashion, Joe has produced a description of how Arxana relates to his creative writing work as part of an application for an artistic commission. \cite{01-proposal} \item The other good way to ``make time'' is to work on the task directly. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{systematic}{\subsection{SYSTEMATIC UNDERSTANDING}} Knowing how various tasks, desires, and needs fit into a ``bigger picture'' can give us some confidence that we will get things done in a balanced way. \begin{itemize} \item Working on this Plan helps achieve this goal. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{income}{\subsection{INCOME}} This seems to be an almost physical need, since it relates to biological subsistence. \begin{itemize} \item Ideally, income will be produced as a side-effect of working on things one enjoys doing. \item In particular, some income could conceivably be produced by developing and implementing \hyperlink{business}{BUSINESS MODELS} that relate to the ideas we talk about in this plan. \item One aspect of having \hyperlink{time}{TIME AND STABILITY} is knowing with some certainty when the income is going to arrive and how much of it there will be \end{itemize} \hypertarget{communication}{\subsection{COMMUNICATION}} In order to coordinate possibilities for income and collaboration, we need to be syncing up with relevant parties. \begin{itemize} \item Communicating estimates of time allocations will be spent is a particularly relevant thing to communicate about. \item It is ideal for communication to take place in public whenever the communication is not inherently private in nature. For this reason, the Meteorite wiki seems to be a suitable place to continue major communications about reengineering mathematics. \item It would be of significant advantage to various different projects that have a stake in mathematics and the culture of mathematics to be in communication (and, where possible, further collaboration) with one another. \end{itemize} \section{Research Topics} \hypertarget{mathematics}{\subsection{MATHEMATICS}} Any of the following sub-topics will should help ``mathematical culture'' grow. One of the high-level goals of our work is to create an effective online 'learning platform' for mathematics (cf. section on \hyperlink{learning}{LEARNING PLATFORMS}). \begin{itemize} \item Work on FEM, so we get something concrete to look at. \item Identify and encode a sort of thesaurus of ``core mathematical expressions'' and grammar of ``core mathematical procedures''. \item Develop Ray's work on 'mathematical systems'. \item Integrate Joe's earlier math hacking efforts into a new/improved online system. \cite{joe-math} \end{itemize} \hypertarget{computers}{\subsection{\drafted{{MATH AND COMPUTERS TODAY}}}} \drafted{(See Chapter \ref{surveying-chapter} for a draft survey article in this area.)} This relates more to the contemporary social and technical aspects of \hyperlink{mathematics}{MATHEMATICS} than the more explicitly mathematical items discussed there. \begin{itemize} \item We may want to get other parties who are interested in math and computers in \hyperlink{communication}{COMMUNICATION} with one another by helping found a ``math meta-commons''. (Cf. \cite{surveying}, \cite{metacommons-manifesto}) The most obvious place to start is with a sketch of just what is available in this regard. There are easily hundreds if not thousands of projects and many related informal non-projects, and we won't have time to review or list them all -- but if we can at least list the major \emph{areas} in which work is being done (with a few examples), that would be a good start. It will be important not just to look at applications of math in computers or computers in math, or math \emph{to} computers or computers to math, but also math \emph{through} computers (or, I guess, computers through math, although that direction is a little more confusing). In particular, I'm thinking about things like statistics and geography. Finally, we should open our review up to projects that relate on other dimensions (e.g. other ``open science'' projects, other ``content management'' projects, other projects that are trying to impact education, etc.). \item Can't we provide links from PlanetMath \emph{into} ArXiv (if not also a module, whether it's something we get put into ArXiv, or perhaps an Adobe plug-in, for getting links running the other direction, i.e. from papers into PlanetMath)? \item We may want to collaborate with the MathJax project (``the next jsMath'') as a test site or in some other capacity. I've emailed the project coordinator, but presumably we will need to follow up further. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{data}{\subsection{{DATA ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT}}} We have already thought through and seen some decent ``proofs of concept'' for making electronic editions of public domain works, and managing ``deep links'' in both public domain and copyrighted texts. Because we have thought through the issues with the public domain end of things pretty well and just need to establish a functional system to do the work, our priority list runs ``back-to-front''; in other words, input of brand new data is something we'd do only when we know the various aspects of our backend are going to work well. \begin{itemize} \item Build facilities for managing a collection of public domain works. Ideally, the data-management facilities will be inter-operable with other data-oriented projects, for example the BKN project \cite{bkn}, or the thesaurus project mentioned in the \hyperlink{mathematics}{MATHEMATICS} section. \item Run OCR on already-scanned public domain works. \item Scan more public domain works. \item Identify a complete list of public domain works. \item Hand enter or automatically create links to/from any literature that is online, whether public domain or not. (This project is otherwise known as the ``cross-index''.) \end{itemize} \hypertarget{linguistics}{\subsection{{LINGUISTICS}}} In addition to working with the more traditional methods of linguistics, we will want to work on understanding ``large-scale'' linguistic issues or ideas, ranging from anaphora, to hypertext (cf. section on \hyperlink{hci}{HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION}). \begin{itemize} \item Follow up on the use of Relational Grammar as a way of describing mathematical statements. \item Find any computer platforms that work with relational grammar. \item Intersect work with parsers with the work to develop a ``thesaurus'' of for basic mathematical expressions and procedures. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{hci}{\subsection{\drafted{{HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION}}}} \drafted{(See Chapter \ref{graphic-novel-chapter} for a draft survey article in this area.)} For now, the hypertext aspects of a new and presumably useful system for human-computer interaction are fairly well along in the form of the Arxana prototype. Other types of interactive forms may become interesting and will need work, and hypertext itself is still not completely understood. (Some of the ``philosophy'' of hypertext studies is outlined in \cite{01-proposal}.) \begin{itemize} \item Modifications for working with theories needs to be completed. \item Old features related to browsing and editing (e.g. markup and clusions) need to be re-implemented and/or extended. \item New features for search and collaboration need to be added. \item Again it would be nice to have a list of some possible sorts of 'interactions' we would like to carry out (without implementations) so we have a good sense of the directions in which to build. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{learning}{\subsection{\drafted{{LEARNING PLATFORMS}}}} \drafted{(See Chapter \ref{semantic-adaptivity-chapter} for a draft survey article in this area.)} I suggest that developing ``learning platforms'' that will work for human learners is the flip-side of \hyperlink{ai}{ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE}. \begin{itemize} \item Joe drafted a proposal having to do a 3-year funded project focused on developing learning platforms in both general-purpose and mathematics-specific contexts. (See \cite{ple-proposal}, \cite{kmi-ple-studentship}, \cite{role-project}.) The first part of the proposal -- and the first part of the proposed work! -- is a broadly conceived survey of the field of ``personalized learning environments''. \item As outlined in \cite{teo-and-gay}, the flow from ``data'' to ``information'' to ``knowledge'' requires the addition of (a) structure and (b) context. In a context like PlanetMath that already has a lot of information, we still need to develop context to the information useful for learners. Can we develop standards for what Ray has previously referred to as ``quality at the boundary''? \item Aspects of this project may proceed in collaboration with the \href{http://edutex-wiki.tug.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page}{EduTeX} Project. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{ai}{\subsection{{ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE}}} One of our long-term goals is to produce a computer program that can answer mathematical questions similar to the questions that humans are able to answer. \begin{itemize} \item Use Arxana to manage ``frames'' for the thesaurus project mentioned in the \hyperlink{mathematics}{MATHEMATICS} section. \item Work on developing a theoretical list of queries for a scholium system that contains mathematical information (no need to worry about implementation right away). \item Study the math/computer science/knowledge management literature on queries (e.g. both 'global' and 'local'). \end{itemize} \hypertarget{business}{\subsection{\drafted{{BUSINESS MODELS}}}} \drafted{(See Chapter \ref{hyperreal-enterprises-chapter} for a draft survey article in this area.)} For purposes of this discussion, a ``business model'' needs (a) a consumer (what do they want?); (b) a service or product (i.e. that is to be exchanged for money somehow); (c) a producer (who does the work, how, and with what motivation?). \begin{itemize} \item In \hyperlink{mathematics}{MATHEMATICS}, (a) readers and libraries may be interested in purchasing (b) well-edited print versions of the FEM or related works, for sale through Amazon and/or bookstores at around $50 to $100 a copy (c) which we could generate using already-existing code and some new editorial elbow grease, requiring some further investment of time, and perhaps some profit-sharing agreements to motivate participation. \item Once we've gotten some work done in the \hyperlink{data}{DATA ACQUISITION AND MANAGEMENT} area, we could sell paper books, as in the example above, but they may be even less work to produce. \item In Joe's proposal on \hyperlink{learning}{LEARNING PLATFORMS} \cite{ple-proposal}, each of the ``phases'' will produce some artifact of non-trivial value to (a) groups of learners, designers, and social science types; (b) who could be charged for; (c) customized versions of the software. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{koinomics}{\subsection{{KOINOMICS}}} Although our productive strategy may not be commons-based per se, aspects of it are; indeed, ``scholarship'' as a whole seems to be some kind of commons, and, running with this idea, anything that we want to do that we hope will impact an entire field of human endeavor ought to be informed by a fairly solid understanding of the economic features of the landscape. (Here, more properly ''koi''nomic -- having to do with the rules of commons and common property, as distinct from the rules of households and private property, although certainly that is involved.) \begin{itemize} \item Commons-based peer production, ``systems'', and cybernetics are all relevant -- but no doubt there is a lot more. Coming up with a bibliography of koinomics would be a good first step. \end{itemize} \hypertarget{r-and-d}{\subsection{{R \& D PROGRAMMES}}} Ideally we would have fully-speced out research proposals in each of the major areas. So far, we have a partial proposal on \hyperlink{hci}{HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION}, though it comes at the issue from a somewhat non-scientific angle \cite{01-proposal}; one on \hyperlink{learning}{LEARNING PLATFORMS} \cite{ple-proposal}, and at least the beginnings of one on \hyperlink{computers}{MATH AND COMPUTERS TODAY} \cite{surveying}. \begin{itemize} \item It would be worth doing a literature review and specification of goals, objectives, methodology, and milestones in each of the areas mentioned here, ``complete set''. \item To the extent that we can integrate these plans, in particular, if we have rather comprehensive knowledge about \hyperlink{computers}{MATH AND COMPUTERS TODAY}, I think we can speak with some authority about the future of this field. But I think we will need research prospectuses if we're going to be taken seriously. \item Converting prospectuses into programmes is a further step, for which we will need to look at \hyperlink{business}{BUSINESS MODELS} and other viable synergistic models. \end{itemize} \begin{thebibliography}{99} \bibitem{01-proposal} \url{http://metameso.org/~joe/01.pdf} \bibitem{joe-math} \url{http://metameso.org/~joe/math/} \bibitem{surveying} \url{http://wiki.planetmath.org/AsteroidMeta/Surveying_the_Math_Metacommons} \bibitem{metacommons-manifesto} \url{http://wiki.planetmath.org/AsteroidMeta/metacommons_manifesto} \bibitem{ple-proposal} \url{http://metameso.org/~joe/ple-proposal.pdf} \bibitem{kmi-ple-studentship} \url{http://kmi.open.ac.uk/studentships/personal-learning-environments.php} \bibitem{role-project} \url{http://www.role-project.eu/?page_id=8} \bibitem{teo-and-gay} Teo, C. B. and R. K. L. Gay (2006). ``A knowledge-driven model to personalize e-learning.'' Journal on Educational Resources in Computing 6(1): 3. \bibitem{bkn} \url{http://www.bibkn.org/drupal/} \end{thebibliography} \chapter{Surveying the Math Metacommons} \label{surveying-chapter} \begin{verse} \emph{A commmons is the site of a collaboration.} \end{verse} \begin{verse} \emph{A metacollaboration is a collaboration about collaborations.} \end{verse} \begin{verse} \emph{A metacommons is the site of a metacollaboration.} \end{verse} \section{Introduction} In this initial Survey and Stakeholder Analysis, I'm examining the possibilities for creating \emph{a metacommons for mathematics}. We are therefor surveying a somewhat hypothetical entity in its parts and asking whether the conditions are right for it to come into existence. This \href{http://terrytao.wordpress.com/2009/08/27/mathematical-research-and-the-internet/} {blog post by Terrence Tao} mentions several organizations and projects working in ``online math'' and facilitating collaboration and exchange between mathematics researchers. The following list is based on the material in his talk, with some additions and reorganization by me. \begin{itemize} \item The Internet \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Internet_map_1024.jpg}{Internet map} by \href{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Matt_Britt}{Matt Britt} (\href{http://mattb.alwayssleeping.com/}{blog}) \item \href{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet}{History of the Internet} \item \href{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Wide_Web}{WWW}, ... \end{itemize} \item Online lecture notes (e.g. by \href{http://www.jmilne.org/math/}{J. S. Milne}) \item Online video presentations (e.g. \href{http://www.youtube.com/user/TheCatsters}{The Catsters}) \item Online databases/filesystems \begin{itemize} \item \url{http://getdropbox.com} \end{itemize} \item Revision control systems \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://subversion.tigris.org/}{subversion} \item \href{http://gitorious.org/}{Gitorious} \end{itemize} \item Email \item Various types of online groups \begin{itemize} \item News Groups (\href{http://groups.google.com/group/sci.math/topics?pli=1}{sci.math}, \href{http://groups.google.com/group/sci.math.research/topics?pli=1}{sci.math.research}, ...) \item mailing lists \item \href{http://groups.google.com/}{Google groups} \item \href{http://groups.yahoo.com/}{Yahoo! groups} \item \href{http://wave.google.com/}{Google Wave} \item Chatrooms \end{itemize} \item Blogs (\href{http://www.blogger.com}{Blogger}, \href{http://www.moveabletype.org}{Movable Type}, \href{http://wordpress.org}{Word Press}, ...) \item Feed aggregators \item \href{http://www.latex-project.org/}{LaTeX} \item Computer Algebra \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.maplesoft.com/}{Maple} \item \href{http://www.mathworks.com/}{Matlab} \item \href{http://www.wolfram.com/mathematica/}{Mathematica} \item \href{http://magma.maths.usyd.edu.au/}{Magma} \item \href{http://www.sagemath.org/}{Sage} \end{itemize} \item Preprint archives (\href{http://arxiv.org}{arxiv.org}, ...) \item Overlayed journals (\url{http://arxivjournal.org/rioja/}, ...) \item Post-Print archives and journal databases \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.jstor.org}{Jstor} \item \href{http://citeseer.ist.psu.edu/}{CiteSeer.IST} \item \href{http://projecteuclid.org/}{Project euclid} \item \href{http://isiwebofknowledge.com/about/whatitis/}{ISI Web of Knowledge}, etc. (one can get pretty much any journal article on the computer for ``free'' -- if one is affiliated with a major research institution). \end{itemize} \item Citation indexes \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.ams.org/mathscinet/search}{MathSciNet} (see also \href{http://www.ams.org/mrlookup}{MR Lookup}) \item \href{http://www.zentralblatt-math.org/zmath/en/}{Zentralblatt Math} \item \href{http://scholar.google.com}{Google Scholar} \end{itemize} \item ``Traditional'' Encyclopedias, now online, may not be so traditional anymore \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://mathworld.wolfram.com/}{Mathworld} \item \href{http://www.research.att.com/~njas/sequences/Seis.html}{Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences} (``which would now fill 750 volumes the size of the 1995 book''...) \end{itemize} \item Collaborative editing \begin{itemize} \item Wikis (\href{http://www.wikipedia.org/}{Wikipedia}, \href{http://www.scholarpedia.org}{Scholarpedia}, specialized wikis like \href{http://tosio.math.toronto.edu/wiki/index.php/Main_Page}{DispersiveWiki}...) \item \href{http://planetmath.org}{PlanetMath} \item ... \end{itemize} \item \href{http://www.openarchives.org}{The Open Archives Initiative} \item Software for running your own repository (\url{http://software.eprints.org},...) \item General-Purpose Search Engines \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.google.com}{Google} \item \href{http://books.google.com}{Google Book Search} \end{itemize} \item OCR (\href{http://www.inftyproject.org/}{Infty},...) \item Retrodigitization \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.archive.org/}{archive.org} \item \href{http://www.google.com/press/pressrel/print_library.html}{Google (press release)} \item \href{http://historical.library.cornell.edu/math/}{Cornell Math Monographs} \item ... \end{itemize} \item Translation tools \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://babelfish.yahoo.com/}{Yahoo! Babelfish} \item \href{http://translate.google.com/translate_t#}{Google translate} \end{itemize} \item Specific projects using a range of different technologies \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.tricki.org/}{Tricki} \item \href{http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/the-polymath-project-scope-of-participation/}{Polymath} \end{itemize} \item Social science about science and/or the internet: \begin{itemize} \item (e.g. Helmut Abt, The future of single-authored papers, \href{http://www.springer.com/computer/database+management+&+information+retrieval/journal/11192}{Scientometrics} 73 (2007), 353-358 \item \url{http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/doing-science-online/} \item \href{http://dlc.dlib.indiana.edu/}{Digital Library of the Commons} \item \href{http://www.iascp.org/resources/articles.html}{International Association for the Study of the Commons} \item \href{http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/}{Berkman Center for Internet and Society} (At Harvard, headed up by \href{http://www.benkler.org/}{Yochai Benkler} et al.), \end{itemize} \item More specific online-science policy+advocacy \begin{itemize} \item \url{http://sciencecommons.org/} \end{itemize} \item More specific online-science tools/development \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.dessci.com/}{Design Science} \end{itemize} \item People using computers (not necessarily online) to do research \begin{itemize} \item \url{http://www.carma.newcastle.edu.au/} \end{itemize} \item Less specific ``new media'' advocates/fans/funders \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.nmc.org/}{the new media consortium} \item \href{http://www.macfound.org/site/c.lkLXJ8MQKrH/b.946881/k.380D/Domestic_Grantmaking__Education.htm}{MacArthur} \item \href{http://www.nsf.gov}{NSF} \end{itemize} \item Totally specific! -- Anthropology of mathematics and mathematics learning \begin{itemize} \item \url{http://www.didaktik-der-mathematik.jku.at/didaktik-mathe/abstracts.html} \end{itemize} \item Brick-and-mortar ``legacy'' institutions \item Mathematical associations, societies, and unions \item Advocates of things that are ``Free as in Freedom'' \begin{itemize} \item \url{http://fsf.org} \item \url{http://creativecommons.org} \item ... \end{itemize} \item Other NGOs in Math, Science, \& Engineering \begin{itemize} \item \url{http://www.esustainableworld.org/} \item \url{http://www.ewb-usa.org/} \end{itemize} \item Math Ed stuff \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://remath.cti.gr/index.asp?action=62}{ReMath} \item \url{http://mathforum.org/} \item \href{http://edutex-wiki.tug.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page}{EduTeX} \end{itemize} \item Math-related education stuff \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://www.vendian.org/envelope/}{A View From the Back of the Envelope} \item \href{http://www.wescheme.org/}{WeScheme} \item \href{http://teachingopensource.org/index.php/Main_Page}{TeachingOpenSource.org} \end{itemize} \item General online/free education stuff \begin{itemize} \item \href{http://learn.creativecommons.org/}{ccLearn} \item \href{http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/}{OpenLearn} \end{itemize} \end{itemize} \section{How complete is our list?} Formal math tools have not been treated here (cf. \href{http://www.vdash.org/formal/}{vdash}'s succinct overview, or Freek Weidijk's \href{http://www.cs.ru.nl/~freek/digimath/bycategory.html}{comprehensive survey}); other important mathematical sciences are not represented at all. Furthermore, I think a variety of smaller non-web-oriented open source mathematical software tools would be included in a more definitive list. Semantic Web tools, also. One comment on Tao's blog mentions ``principles of distributed processing and more recently cloud computing, e.g. \url{http://www.mersenne.org/}''. And, besides that, there are other tools coming from other non-mathematical areas of research that are, or could become, relevant to math (see \url{http://metameso.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl/Reengineering_Mathematics}). But, at any rate, we have a nice beginning! \section{Is our list useful?} By dint of the fact that many of these items are very ``big'', there is often no one point of contact or administrator to whom one could say ``hey, let's team up''. Indeed, we're pretty clearly at the level of ``social movement'' here (i.e., everything is massively distributed). Since no one is coordinating this ``from the top'', the obvious question is: is there anyone going up in an airplane to get a bird's eye view? Michael Nielsen's post is the best item in that category I've found so far (well, other than Tao's talk of course). Surely, however, these are not the only two ``surveyors of the metacommons''. For the moment, Nielson seems like a key figure (not just because of his talk, but also because of his bookmarks -- \url{http://delicious.com/nielsen/science2.0} -- and book \url{http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/the-future-of-science-2/}). His main web page is here: \url{http://michaelnielsen.org/blog/michael-a-nielsen/} -- and, while we're at it, few more items referred to by Michael Nielsen!: \begin{itemize} \item \url{http://3quarksdaily.blogs.com/3quarksdaily/2006/10/the_future_of_s_1.html} \item \url{http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=science-2-point-0-great-new-tool-or-great-risk} \item \url{http://friendfeed.com/rooms/science-2-0} \end{itemize} \section{The true nature of the list, revealed} In fact, these projects and resources are, for the most part, the \emph{nouns} of the math metacommons. The \emph{verbs} have to do with things like this: * issues fading with time as later generations of tools become easier to use, more integrated, and more mainstream. (Tao) * us working together to bring this about (me) \section{So, what are the issues?} \subsection{``Who cares?''} Let me begin by brainstorming and/or inferring some hypothetical ``use cases''. \begin{itemize} \item A researcher in field A trying to read a paper in field B. (Tao talks about this one.) \item A researcher working more or less ``in their own field'', but trying to produce some new results, perhaps in collaboration with others. \item A researcher charged with reviewing the work of some other researcher(s) to decide its merits or demerits (in particular, if it comprises a ``significant new result''). \item A student trying read a paper from field B without knowing anything about field A. \item A student trying to learn the basic concepts and techniques of the field of mathematics, for the first time. \item A beginning student, not particularly interested in mathematics, who nevertheless is required to learn the utmost basics of the field as part of a compulsory general education. \item A teacher trying to develop a curriculum to teach advanced or beginning students. \item A professional or scientist, who uses some mathematical tools (e.g. statistics, or ``computational methods'') in their work, who may not be a ``mathematics researcher'' but who wants to be able to apply a new/different mathematical technique to a new/different problem. \item A developer who is interested in building tools to support any of this type of activity (perhaps for personal or in-house use, or as a corporate/proprietary solution (for pay), or as an open source tool to share, or some combination of the above) -- in particular, this developer will often be interested in ``mashing up'' or extending other packages/tools/datasets. \item A policy-maker or administrator who is interested in building policies that support any/all of this type of activity. \item A social scientist trying to understand the behavior of researchers, students, teachers, professionals, developers, and policy makers. \item A policy-maker or social scientist who is interested in understanding how activity/behavior in the math-sciences sector relates to activity/behavior in other sectors (e.g. education, economics). \item A funder or advocate who is trying to ``improve'' the life conditions of persons in some sector. \item An entrepreneur or technologist speculating on how to make money by finding and filling arbitrage opportunities related to any of the developments above (including entrepreneurs/technologists whose motivation is essentially ``conservative'' -- i.e. those parties who are getting rents in some domain and would rather not ``retool the dies'' -- and who, moreover, really do not want to be undercut by yahoo upstarts!) \end{itemize} \subsection{``What's the problem?''} What can ``go wrong''? What are the challenges/problems these people/groups have to deal with? (Again, brainstorming... since I've been in a number of these roles, many of these statements are drawn from personal experience...) \begin{itemize} \item I don't know the jargon, and so can't really understand the writing (even if I get the basic ``flow''). \item I don't understand the flow or conventions used in the writing. \item I understand the jargon and the flow, but proofs of important lemmas are buried in the references, and I don't have great intuition about where the ideas are coming from in this paper. \item The proofs are complicated / the writing is opaque. \item I have no idea what any of these words mean, much less any idea about how to do the exercises! \item The quantity of facts to keep track of and master is enormous; how am I supposed to organize all of this material in my mind? \item The search engine produces way too many results, leaving me to do the brunt of the searching. At best it serves as a preliminary filter. Why is this stuff so disorganized?! \item I can't find what I want via a search engine because the terms are used in other contexts --- what I need is something that works at a level higher than just the base vocabulary and can recognize patterns more subtle than strings of words and that can take context into account. \item I understand the facts and I'm able to put it all together in my mind, somehow -- but I'd sure like to find someone else who I could talk with about the material. \item I can do the problems, but I don't understand how this stuff is supposed to be useful. \item I'm trying hard and I'm sure I can do better -- I just don't know how! \item I keep failing exams and my teacher isn't helping. \item My students keep failing exams and I don't know what I can do to help them. \item I'm required to teach XYZ material by my department/school/supervising teacher/the government, but I can tell it's not working well. \item I see that there is a bunch of material online that my students could conceivably use, but it would take a long time to pull it all together and organize it. \item Everyone is designing their own curriculum, so there is (a) a lot of duplicated effort (b) no standard way to evaluate ``what works''. \item Or, as above, everyone is required to evaluate according some particular standard, and this evaluation process over-determines the teaching/learning process. \item In any case, the students were not taught ``the basics'' properly. \item I'm rusty with this stuff and it would take too long to relearn. \item I have some great ideas, but it's hard working on them without support. \item They said to ``read the manual'', but the manual is 2000 pages long. \item They said to ``check in the newsgroup'' but the newsgroup has been active since 1994. \item I can't find anything related to this on Google, but I know something must be out there; I just don't know the word for it. \item There is no documentation. \item I have to concentrate on my day job. \item I don't have a day job and I'm running out of money! \item Everyone is using such-and-such a platform already (e.g. QWERTY keyboards) and I know there is a ``better solution'', but hardly anyone's gonna be motivated to switch; they're happy enough to just ``make it work for them''. \item (Alternatively...) I know that ``they'' are going to come out with something better sometime soon, so why should I put in any effort improving things? \item There are so many projects in this area, it's hard to keep track of who's doing what, or what's actually been achieved already. \item I can't get funded to work on this stuff. \item The stuff I'm trying to work on is highly interdisciplinary and would ideally be pursued by an interdisciplinary team -- but it's a bit tricky to find/attract other folks (the ``literature review'' process is a tried and true, if somewhat slow, methodology... what can we do to make it work better?). \item I'm having a huge crisis of faith because I'm seeing that all my efforts at ``benevolent development'' are just making me the tool of mega-rich capitalists. \item I'm having a huge crisis of faith because my efforts at grass-roots organizing don't seem to be going anywhere. \item I've been working on this for a long time and it's hard for me to tell what my impact has been -- maybe I need to change my strategy. \item The world is starting to become overrun by pesky yahoos! \item The world is under the thumb of tiresome fuddy-duddies! \item Matt Britt: \emph{'I have ceased editing Wikipedia indefinitely. My decision to discontinue activity here stems from broken and counterproductive prevailing interpretations and applications of well-intended policies, a lack of leadership and initiative to make tough decisions needed to keep things on track, the sheer impossibility of finding consensus in highly polarized debates, and especially the politics. If you would like to contact me, you may do so via email.}' (\href{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Matt_Britt}{source}) \item Ted Nelson: ... \emph{'today's nightmarish new world is controlled by ``webmasters'', tekkies unlikely to understand the niceties of text issues and preoccupied with the Web's exploding alphabet soup of embedded formats. XML is not an improvement but a hierarchy hamburger. Everything, everything must be forced into hierarchical templates! And the ``semantic web'' means that tekkie committees will decide the world's true concepts for once and for all. Enforcement is going to be another problem :)}' (\href{http://ted.hyperland.com/buyin.txt}{source}) \item Etc. \end{itemize} \subsection{``What do you propose we do about it?''} \begin{itemize} \item Papers shoudl be feedable into a system that will expand jargon with mouseover, popups, side-bar, what-have-you. (This should be totally doable now, and I would put it together myself if I didn't think it had already been 90% done...). \item Papers and books should have forums attached for asking questions. Similar with source code for open source projects, which can sometimes be hard to understand. \item Content from referenced papers (and not just definitions therein, but theorems, proofs, the whole thing, and comments/questions thereon) should ideally be expandable and available within the current context. Presumably requires having the relevant papers and books in electronic forms. \item Proofs should be parsable into simple network shapes as a useful alternative to their text-based linearizations. \item Scholarly publications in general could be maintained ``Scholarpedia-style'' with contributed revisions added in if the maintainer approves. \item Examples and other intuitive/basic materials should be linked to and popable within each context. \item We need organizing tools for mnemonics, visual storage, storytelling... whatever works! -- We should hook up with memory and heuristics/workflow researchers and ask them. \item Probably Semantic Web-style markup organization would be a useful addition -- making it possible for things to be eternally reorganized. \item Turn ``topics'', ``papers'' and so forth into a social network -- or perhaps more like a chatroom -- anyway, the idea is that you should know who else is reading/studying the thing, and who else has already read it. \item Science is still rife with ``competition'' instead of ``collaboration'' mindsets. (And people who talk about ``plagiarism'' may just be trying to find a convenient excuse not to share... still, the need/desire to establish ``priority'' should be handled nicely, and already is, to a large extent, with arxiv...; there is a giant field of ``intellectual property'' to study, but we already have tools that work pretty well -- people don't always use them... hm.) \item Connect math terms to applications/usages (like a dictionary!). \item Conversations and ideas about strategies (a la Polya) should be popularized and linked to. Perhaps Tricki will help with this. Some really basic strategies like ``if you are stuck, try looking at a different book'' should be documented. \item Tracking your own behavior in a parallel ``supplementary'' learning model (which could explicitly include problems like Chapter X of Text Y) might be helpful to students. \item Access to student self-tracking data could be granted to a ``teacher'' who can then intervene or comment. \item If the ``standard material'' isn't even working for its own stated purposes, it clearly needs to be rethought (and appropriate steps, including teacher re-training, should be taken). If it isn't working for some \emph{other} purposes, then it is easy enough to supplement! -- as much as student motivation allows. This actual opens up a much bigger can of words, namely, what's enjoyable, what's interesting -- but also, what's useful, and how is it used (i.e. ``in the real world''). The model ``follow the student's motivation'' is interesting... \item Material that's online should be organized by whoever is using it -- and any such ``organizing/improving use'' should be accessible to others. This is often the case, e.g. with Connexions, !ArXiv, etc. However, access isn't enough, we also need explications, including attached forums with \emph{typed} feedback (e.g. ``comment'' versus ``question''), and the ability to use all of this data to pull together nice little boxes containing just the kind of data feed that you happen to be interested in... and these should, of course, be mapable to higher levels for management, so we can e.g. look at particular lists of requests that have gotten too long! \item Is it really true that ``effort is duplicated'', or is the issue more that we have many similar ``units of production'' -- close in a lot of ways, maybe, but not the same. It is important to be quite clear about what the production objectives are! To get a handle on what is actually being produced seems like a prerequisite for ``evaluation''. It \emph{is} true that this is asking for one unified dataset (unified to the extent that analysis is done on the data set as a whole). Note that right now, most analysis is done e.g. at the end of the school year (when it is already too late) and, moreover, is used as a way to evaluate \emph{students} (e.g. rather than teachers or methodology). \item The so-called ``teaching to the test'' phenomenon... wouldn't be such a bad thing if the test was in any way an accurate assessment of or intermediary to the desired ``real world'' uses and behavior. Again, something other than \emph{students} needs to be evaluated. \item To what extent can older students learn ``the basics'' -- especially when they have been ``taught wrong'' before? Some good education questions for sure. Note that if there was a \emph{standard online curriculum} that actually worked, students could just be tossed into that at the level that's appropriate... \item Review papers and such are suppsed to teach people what they want to know at the level at which they want to know it. Having a reasonable diagnostic that would say just how long it would take for a given person to learn some given skills would be a neat thing. Besides, maybe people can keep their skills from getting rusty without too much trouble, who knows! \item There are many relevant ``flows'' and many other forms of support besides money. It's worthwhile to go to where work \& innovation happens. (We can also look for and do or be part of research on ``how that works''.) \item All the same business about ``navigating the material you want to learn'' ought to apply to \emph{software} as well as math. \item Managing the data in conversations (not the same as managing the conversations!) is related to Arxana. \item Semantic Web-style thinking is nice... what does it have for math, and what does math have for it? \item It probably isn't strictly true that there is ``no'' documentation -- even when the central object of interest is not well-documented. However, good software development practices can \emph{still} be applied, and documentation of ``the basics'' can be brought in and combined with a functional description of the whole... to redevelop or document as needed. \item When someone is working on their day job, one really has to let them. Blaming people who are working on other things isn't going to go anywhere. It seems much better to work on our issues, document them better, find more ways to engage, and ways to make engagement possible for others who end up being interested. At least this way something gets done! \item As I was saying above, moving in some direction that supports the work (even if it is outside of formal employment) ought to be helpful. In the mean time, for money, there's always plasma donation, food not bombs, welfare, etc. \item Build things you want to use! Don't expect others to necessarily want switch. (They might if you do sufficiently cool things, but then again, they might not.) Build an interface that lets you share your work with them and learn from their work. (There are some interesting psychological issues here -- are we really trying to ``change society'' -- or just change our own lifestyles?) \item Whether what ``they'' came out with before or are coming out with soon is useful or attractive or interesting -- or not -- there is still the matter of how one is living one's own life, and if one is happy with that. If one is happy with the way one lives/works/grows that's probably ``good enough''. Don't begrudge other people \emph{their} happiness! \item Making a map is typically useful in cases of disorientation. If this sort of work proves useful enough, maybe there's even money in it. \item Some people have the luck, interest and institutional-wrangling skills required to get money, and others don't. This presumably has some relationship with issues of ``how the product is going to be used''. Notice that if you can work without funding, people are probably not so likely to give it to you. \item Just do the literature reviews. Collaborate by bringing your skills (and starting with topics you're good at). \item You pick your lifestyle and you try to stay honest with yourself. Can you really be happy with XYZ going on in the world? Know how what you're doing effects other things/people. \item Keep plugging away, on your own if needs be, but look for more ways to \emph{participate}! You won't \emph{get} what you want, you have to \emph{make it}. Who/what will help you, and how can \emph{you} help? \item Always good to reassess the strategy -- that should be part of the strategy! \item Throw a pesky-yahoo/fuddy-duddy mixer and pool party. \item Document brokenness and bugs, and learn from these! Take leadership, and don't expect full consensus (this is part of \emph{initiative}). \item Figure out your own ``best practices'' and work that way. \end{itemize} I'm afraid this page already is the equivalent of ``too many results'' -- therefore, I'm going to try to distill it all into a relatively succinct conclusion!, to wit: \section{Recommendations} We have taken a look at \emph{users of mathematics}, some of the \emph{difficulties they face}, and listed some \emph{ideas} about that might help make things less difficult. Some themes and outstanding issues arise -- here's what comes to mind. \begin{enumerate} \item Math users are, statistically speaking, not programmers! They are not all that likely to be able to develop their own new tools. There are a few (notable) exceptions to this rule, and we should get in touch with these people directly. \item Math users who are not programmers who nevertheless want new tools have a few options: (a) Hire someone; (b) Wait; (c) Learn how to program. Each of these options has its situation-dependent merits and demerits. \item We observe that \emph{some of the same problems that effect math effect software too}. This is no coincidence and has to do with the fact that \href{http://wiki.planetmath.org/AsteroidMeta/original_hdm_essay}{math is a lot like software}. Nevertheless, this should make us worry a little. If programmers have a hard time overcoming these difficulties... aren't we all hosed? Well, I don't think things are that bleak. I think computers are, on a whole, getting easier to do useful things with. It takes time for the ideas to gel, it takes time to write the code, and it takes time for the word to get out -- but all of this is happening. Programmers can be rather smart :). This doesn't mean that everyone else should just sit around waiting for what they want to fall into their lap: there are roles we can play as beta testers, subscribers/clients, and bloggers/pundits. The key point is to speak up! \item If possible, we should try to figure out what the view on math is from ``outside'' (as well as from ``inside''...). Places like the Free Software Foundation, First Monday, Free Software Magazine, and Slashdot will have things to say about math and maybe even math-as-a-commons. Some other folks might too. \item One thing we can do as ``maintainers of a metacommons'' is \emph{connect our feature requests to implementations} (and partial implementations). It's helpful to everyone to have some sense of what's out there. \item Those of us who \emph{do} have programming skills should \emph{keep building mashups} -- not just because they are useful, but because \emph{mashups give people in different communities a reason to start talking to each other}. Which they are probably \emph{not} going to do unless they have a reason. First and foremost, developing a math metacommons is about building some discourse space -- we should always be looking for ways to get different groups communicating in productive ways. \item Do the groups listed in my survey above have contact information or mailing lists of their own? If so, someone should be subscribing to all of these lists and at least lurking. Whenever we're ready, we should speak up! \item As I said in the comments above, even our survey-to-date is \emph{complicated} (and maybe boring to read). We should revise this page into a Fine Piece of Writing and get it out there (e.g. in First Monday or AMS Notices or perhaps a version to both). We may be able to get feedback from the groups we mention in the article... \item We should keep in mind that the adage ``good enough is the enemy of the best'' is a double-edged sword. (At least!) In other words, it can be frustrating when people ``settled'' for something that everyone else can see is only a local optimum. At the same time, we need to be building tools that are flexible, tools that anyone can use, tools that are inherently anti-perfectionist -- tools that admit perturbation -- precisely so we can help people get out of local optima. \item We might imagine (or believe) that the Semantic Web is going to Solve Everything. In fact, what seems more likely, is that it will just allow us to be more open and transparent about \emph{what's hard}. There are some serious limits to what is possible -- as long as we know what they are (and can see we're not being ``had'') we tend to feel comfortable. So we should look for Semantic Web-style tools (and any tools) that provide us with metrics, and with a sense of the lay of the land (as it were). \item Considering that \emph{the people involved are often the key resource} we should be asking \emph{who is left out?}. For example, in my list above -- comic book writers, science fiction enthusiasts... all those ``weird'' formal math guys. Maybe some of these ``outsiders'' would have a surprising ability to make an impact in the math metacommons domain -- if we just go to the length of inviting them! \end{enumerate} \chapter{A Graphic Novel Without Pictures} \label{graphic-novel-chapter} \section{Conceptual Proposal} At first it might sound like a contradiction in terms. Like the clerk at my local comic book shop, you might say, ``You mean, a novel?''. But no. What I mean is: \emph{texts set against the background of real physical spaces}. Perhaps the ``Hollywood sign'' is the most memorable example, but I am not talking about the construction of iconography. The challenge of this project is to tell a novel-length story against and amidst a geographically-shifting background; in intimate spaces, natural spaces, public spaces. Without special effects; even largely without actors. I believe that the presence of text in these spaces is enough to act as a dream or magic element; the ``nonsense element'' of Deleuze; the thing that doesn't belong, but which somehow keeps showing up, and in so doing, invites us to make sense of its progress. The ``story'' I want to tell is the story of language itself. \v{Z}i\v{z}ek refers to ``the human stain'' in his description of Charlie Chaplin's tramp's amusing, and of course endearing, obtrusiveness. But it is all the more so language, with its shortcomings, its suggestiveness, its commonness, that tramps around in our consciousnesses, that marks us one way or another, that hides certain details and exaggerates others, to which we as humans are most endeared and inextricably tied, for, ultimately, it cannot be eliminated, abstracted away, or forgotten. We notice how the mere act of communicating can change a situation: a question finds interpretations, judgments, and decisions, not just answers. There is no such thing as a ``perfect'' communication, nor are questions ``innocent until proven guilty'' -- there is always a backdrop, a setting, a context -- for us, perhaps, a mise en scene -- which we typically only learn about by trial and error. In order to better understand how this all works, I propose to document a wide range of embodied interactions with text ``on location''. \begin{center}*\end{center} For writers, the key experimental question is: ``who is my audience?''. The people who read my words? The people who read my words and \emph{like them}? Perhaps, an elite few who find themselves so interested in what I have to say that they obsessively strive to \emph{understand} this strange rash of poems nailed to trees, giant letters appearing above a mountain ridge against the sunrise, posters, handbills, banners, chalk, stencils, paper cut-outs in the city square, and unpublished novels discovered in the library? I want to turn this question around, to examine myself as an audience member \emph{confronting an already-huge onslaught of text in my daily life} and \emph{considering the art of selection and contexualization}. The library is of course too huge. One bookshelf might be too much to master in a lifetime. And the internet? Forget it! -- at least for the moment. Let's look instead at something much simpler, and directly relevant to this proposal, namely a collection of various ``experimental'' writings of my own, written over the 9 month period from September, 2007 to May, 2008. I recently typed these old manuscripts and typescripts into the computer and formatted them as a trade paperback of 265 pages. The first problem is that certain sections of this book bore \emph{me} to tears. The second problem is that portions of it are both inflammatory and insulting to people I care about, and these parts of the text make me as a reader highly uncomfortable. Presumably I am more sensitive to these issues than an ``average reader'' would be, but in any case, speaking as a \emph{critical} reader, I say that fiction should be written responsibly, that is, with an awareness of its social impact. Furthermore, the stylistic use of fragments, fantasies, and digressions without buffering context and explanation produces a work that resembles so many shards of glass, whereas I would rather see something more like a mosaic. Editing and revising my draft material for publication will be a huge challenge. \emph{I find this inherently interesting, but particularly so when revisions are directly linked to audience interaction.} \begin{center}*\end{center} The collection of writings I have been talking about is a semi-fictional written documentary about the making of \emph{Arxana}, the latter being an open source computer platform I am writing. Arxana's purpose is to organize collections of information on the book, bookshelf, library and even Internet scales. It uses as its organizing principle something called the \emph{semantic link}, basically a labeled arrow connecting $A$ to $B$. This technology is at least as old as the field of artificial intelligence, but which has become more widely known this Century, in discussions surrounding the Semantic Web or ``Web 3.0''. As a dramatic subject, Arxana might be seen as part of humanity's efforts towards self-overcoming. I plan to deploy Arxana on the collection of mathematical learning materials hosted by PlanetMath.org, a popular mathematics-related online community and non-profit, where I currently serve on the Board of Directors. The idea of connecting theorems to examples where the theorems are used, or connecting an advanced topic to simpler preliminary topics, and such like, seemed both useful, and necessary, if the heterogeneous materials that have been contributed to PlanetMath are to be turned into a bona fide mathematics learning platform. But PlanetMath is large (bookshelf-scale), under constant revision, and the expert knowledge that must go into organizing its contents is substantial -- so before I put Arxana to work in this context, I figured I had better make sure it is working well. To design a platform with maximum expressiveness, I wanted to look at all the different things people are doing with text, and it was natural for me to focus on material of personal interest to me -- the story of my life and dreams. Unlike in mathematics, here there are no particular rules about how to present things, so I am free to come bring texts into relationship with each other in the ways I find most pleasing. \emph{Place is the crucible in which this material becomes meaningful.} Watching and interacting with the ``audience'' during critical moments when the audience is watching and interacting with texts-in-juxtaposition and, more generally, texts-in-context, and is how we experience and build meaning. The Locative Cinema Commission therefor presents much more than just an opportunity for me to make ``a making of'' of ``a making of''. \emph{The locative cinema is where making at all levels merges and thereby becomes possible.} Hollywood, in its fascination with adapting graphic novels for the screen, presents us with an interesting recent example: ``Watchmen'', which considers a world in which superheroes are real. It seems to me that in our world, the real heroes are engaged in the all-too-human effort of adapting to and adapting the world itself. My vision is to document this process in its small and grand aspects, and to unify these, in a work that is at the same time software documentation, documentary film, a graphic novel, and a dream for the future, made real. \section{Technical Proposal} The basic dimensions of this work, in which I plan to plan to blend ``fact'' and ``fiction'' and to spell out the subtexts whenever possible, are as follows: \begin{itemize} \item[{\bfseries (1)}] {\bfseries \emph{The Penmaster's Apprentice}} is a true hypertext novel, and work in progress, written in a digressive, subjective, fragmented, philosophical, and highly personal style (as characterized by, and building on, the work of literary rebels Lawrence Sterne, Virginia Woolf, William S. Burroughs, Robert M. Pirsig, and Kathy Acker). At the present point in time, The Penmaster's Apprentice comprises an e-book of some 265 6$\times$9 pages, 1600 scanned 3$\times$5 notecards, and a growing number of new pages of plain text, all unedited and written under a variety of life conditions and with various expressive goals (e.g. to capture ``speed'', ``thoroughness'', ``fantasy'' ``reality'', etc.). \item[{\bfseries (2)}] {\bfseries \emph{Arxana}} is a semantic hypertext engine, and work in progress, written in a highly structured, mathematically precise, extensible, adaptable, and human-user-oriented style (as characterized by, and building on, the work of technical innovators Donald Knuth, John McCarthy, Richard Stallman, Marvin Minsky, and Ted Nelson). Arxana is currently capable of browsing and otherwise processing simple structured documents (such as its own source code), but is in the midst of an overhaul that will restore browsing and editing features that were present in earlier prototypes, as well as new features for collaboration and sophisticated search. \item[{\bfseries (3)}] {\bfseries \emph{The Locative Cinema Commission}}, as you've expressed it, seeks to ``navigate between the disembodied experience and physicalized imaginary'', operating in places ``both manifest and mobile'', formed from ``embodied memories and constructed narratives'' and oriented towards ``ensuring that what's next matters''. (Dogme 95 comes to mind as a relevant cinematic approach for dealing for dealing with a combination of fiction and documentary ``on location''. Douglas Adams's film 1990 ``fantasy documentary'', \emph{Hyperland}, shares some similar subject matter, and some similar scripting ideas; it's just 20 years out of date.) \end{itemize} In fact, the two ``groups'' of people in items (1) and (2) have exploring the same world, but with different tools. Within the Locative Cinema Commission, I want to show how the two approaches connect and merge. Here what I see happening: \begin{description} \item[(1)$\Leftrightarrow$(2)] This is the relationship I have been developing, since at least 2007, as I work to create a motivating example to run on my computer platform, and a computer platform that is capable of doing something interesting with a worthwhile example. Both projects are just now reaching the stage of maturity to make combining them a reasonable proposition. Once this happens, portions of The Penmaster's Apprentice will be marked up with annotations describing their various interpretations and indicating how they may fit in to revised versions of the work, and connected to other relevant portions of the work by hyperlinks. I will be able to make ``freer'' free associations than have been made in the past, and use them to build solidly-narrated pathways through the work that readers can easily follow. Readers will be provided with the means to extend and adapt all aspects of the work, in ways that would be hard to see how to do in current platforms for ``interactive fiction''. \item[(1)$\Leftrightarrow$(3)] One of the overarching goals I've had with The Penmaster's Apprentice is to become increasingly proficient at documenting my thoughts in the moment using a variety of writing styles and technologies. Although one is always ``writing on the world'' in some sense, within the context of the Locative Cinema Commission, I would be pushing myself to write in increasingly embodied modes, and so as \emph{to be able to directly document the interaction of readers with the text}. This process begins to answer the key experimental question I mentioned in my Conceptual Proposal, not only by identifying the members of ``my audience'' \emph{but by making audience behavior the central focus of the commissioned work}. I can begin making experiments right away; the focus of the project will be to develop increasingly interesting experiments, and put them together to tell a story. \item[(2)$\Leftrightarrow$(3)] Arxana will be a primary tool for script development \emph{and} the basis for a non-linear, interactive, extensible, online documentary \emph{and also} a tool for building fixed and concrete distillations of that text. Furthermore, I said in the Conceptual Proposal that the I aim to tell is the story of language itself: Arxana is in some sense a central persona in this story. \end{description} Within this space, here are some of the concrete procedures, deliverables, and issues: \begin{itemize} \item I want to make a film documentary, using simple technologies that befit my ``newbie'' status as a cinematographer and video editor. Part of the in-kind support I will require is basic training in the use of the relevant tools, and of course to access to these tools throughout the residency. \item I want to make the filming process open to contributed materials of various forms. I plan to solicit contributed footage, text, and interviews. \item I will be interested in interviewing other writers, critical readers, and persons working in related technical fields, but I will certainly not restrict myself to literati/digerati. \item I will have to go through standard procedures for permission to use images of human subjects in a film documentary. \item I will have to address the legal, permissions, and environmental issues associated with temporary or permanent text installations. \item I will be looking for ways to inspire and document a wide range of audience interactions with these installations. \item I will endeavor to find a way to provide a sense of continuity for readers of a novel-length work that has its contents dispersed in space and time, and for viewers of the subsequent documentary. \item I may want to release some of the products anonymously or under a pseudonym. I currently plan for the text installations to appear without distracting credits. \item I would like as many products as possible to be released to the public domain, so that this work can be a proper companion to Arxana. I plan to solicit transfer of copyright waivers from contributors whenever this is relevant. \end{itemize} \section{Proposed Budget} \begin{description} \item[\$200, Early Bird Registration to In(ter)ventions] % I would like to visit The Banff Center for this February 2010 conference, to preview the location and get feedback on my ideas for the Commission. I plan to submit a revised write-up of this project to the open call for papers for this conference. I would like to begin my on-location work by interviewing In(ter)ventions' attendees. \item[\$2000, Subcontracted computer programming work] % Some routine aspects of web-programming and other computer programming tasks will be contracted out to qualified persons. \item[\$300, Advertising] % I would like to solicit locally for contributions. \item[\$2500, Materials and printing] % A significant portion of the project will be to produce and install a large quantity of text in a variety of formats. I will endeavor to find organizations willing to donate materials or printing services if it appears that production needs will go over the amount budgeted. \end{description} \section{Related Links} \begin{description} \item[The Penmaster's Apprentice: Sept 8, 2007 to July 24, 2009] This is a work of ``autobiographical fiction'' that, in places, deals with sensitive personal material. I have not made a consistent effort to distinguish between fact, fantasy, and outright fibbing. Rather than posting a web link, I'll ask you to email me for a copy. % Place is both felt and ambient. {\ttfamily \href{mailto:holtzermann17@gmail.com?subject=Penmaster's Apprentice}{holtzermann17@gmail.com}} \item[Arxana] A tool for building hackable semantic hypertext platforms. The current ``development'' version (including documentation) is here: {\ttfamily \url{http://metameso.org/unstable-arxana.pdf}}. \item[People Should Be Free] A representative experimental music piece produced in a years-long collaboration with Anders Amala. In this example, Anders reads draft material from The Penmaster's Apprentice and adds his own improvised variations. {\ttfamily \href{http://metameso.org/~joe/music/people-should-be-free.mp3}{http://metameso.org/\~{}joe/music/people-should-be-free.mp3}}. \item[Short Memory, YouTube video by Anders Amala] Although this short video is not by me, some text by me appears in the film (1:25) and I do as well (8:43). The work as a whole is in some respects a response by my collaborator to material in The Penmaster's Apprentice, and in my opinion, it does a remarkable job capturing the ``feel'' of the text. Note that the video may not play automatically; clicking ahead a few seconds will get it started. {\ttfamily \href{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_zGYd_beos}{http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b\_zGYd\_beos}} \item[Building a Better Conversation] A non-competitive conversational game I invented. Of interest because it combines text and live action. {\ttfamily \url{http://wiki.planetmath.org/AsteroidMeta/BBC}} \end{description} % If possible, link to plans being developed by me and % Ray, or me and Ross and Frank Quinn... in any case, it % would be really nice to link to additional examples of % Arxana in use. \chapter[Semantic Adaptivity]{Semantic Adaptivity and Social Networking in Personal Learning Environments} \label{semantic-adaptivity-chapter} \begin{paragraph}{Introduction.} \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Introduction} Perusing the literature, one may quickly discover how many dimensions are relevant to personalized learning. Here is an incomplete list, that illustrates the richness and complexity of this area: \begin{description} \item[\emph{Stakeholders:}] students, instructors, educational institutions, content providers, technology providers, accreditation bodies \cite{stakeholders} \item[\emph{Learning modes:}] asynchronous or synchronous, co-located or distributed, individual or collaborative, electronic-only or blended \cite{stakeholders} \item[\emph{Fundamental needs:}] subsistence, protection, affection, understanding, participation, leisure, creation, identity, freedom \cite{maxneef} \item[\emph{Knowledge elements:}] concepts, topics, objectives, outcomes \cite{um} \item[\emph{General features of learners:}] knowledge, interests, background, goals, traits \cite{um} \item[\emph{Cognitive styles:}] field-dependent or independent, impulsive or reflective, conceptual or inferential, thematic or relational, holist or serialist \cite{um} \item[\emph{Learning styles:}] modeled many different ways, cf. for example Felder \cite{felder}, cited in \cite{um} \item[\emph{Learning skills:}] self-discipline, ability to work alone, good time management, independence, readiness, the ability to plan \cite{concept-maps} \item[\emph{Emotional states:}] joy/distress, pride/shame, admiration/reproach, etc. \cite{emotions}, cited in \cite{um} \item[\emph{Observable variables:}] hints asked per question, time taken for each attempt, average time between problems, etc. \cite{um} \item[\emph{Model type:}] Overlayed, layered, Bayesian network, concept map, etc. \end{description} In the face of this complexity, I suggest we begin by looking at something very simple: the link ``ACB''. This semantic link or triple is equivalent to the labeled arrow C running from A to B in a ``concept map'' or ``bubble diagram'', except that C is a cell as well as an arrow, and ``ACB'' is a structural unit. (RDF triples by any other name; see Section 2.2 of \cite{RDF}.) When we model this way, we quickly begin to see more than one layer of annotations; the link is our gateway into the rhizomic world (\cite{deleuze}, \cite{eco}) of semantic hypertext \cite{burnett}. In particular, we see, or begin to see, \emph{byproducts of processes}, and \emph{externalities of transactions}. Semantic networks formed from triples are prime ground for studying learning from the viewpoint of symbolic interactionism \cite{s-interact}, since they make explicit the \emph{meanings}, \emph{interactions}, and \emph{interpretive processes} with which learners are engaged. Interactive, textual, and social, such networks form input suitable for ethnographic research and ethnography-informed development work in the domain of personalized learning (\cite{ethnography}, \cite{v-ethnography}, cited in \cite{key-ideas}). \end{paragraph} \begin{paragraph}{Discussion.} \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Discussion} Semantic networks of this sort convey a sense of \emph{consequences}: $(\mathrm{the\ eggplant\ in\ Mexico} \xrightarrow{\mathrm{tranported\ by\ truck}} \mathrm{the\ eggplant\ in\ Massachusetts})$ \indent \qquad $\xrightarrow{\mathrm{produces}}\mathrm{smog}$. \vskip.1in \noindent In an example related to education (\cite{essays}, Chapter 10): $(\mathrm{Given\ the\ problem\ of\ finding\ the\ average\ of\ three\ things} $ \\ \indent \qquad $\xrightarrow{\mathrm{writing}\ \frac{(\# \# \#)}{3}}\mathrm{the\ answer})$ \\ \indent \qquad \qquad $\xrightarrow{\mathrm{subliminally\ reenforces}} \mathrm{good\ use\ of\ parentheses\ and\ sums\ in\ general}$. \noindent Describing the dimensions of learning experiences and interactions as semantic networks, we avail ourselves of an opportunity to study the resources and processes used by learners, and the effects and side-effects of these processes, in a systematic and semi-transferable fashion. The close similarity of semantic networks and conceptual maps indicates that many of the same intuitive-use features, including features supporting self-directed learning \cite{concept-maps}, will be directly beneficial to learners who are navigating complex resource arrangements. In addition, the job of interpreting and adapting to user behavior will take place on richer epistemological ground when input data contains explicit semantics (no matter how sloppy), and not just one-layer tags to which semantics are supplied later (as in \cite{enrichment-of-tags}). If we are to overcome the difficulties and limitations in uptake of the semantic web, and reap the benefits of structure, then sloppiness and informality must come first, and precise distillations, later.\footnote{``Tags are easy to create, as users are free to use any word or phrase they please, without restrictions. This simple and highly usable mechanism has caused Social Web applications to be very popular with users. The formal metadata representation employed by the Semantic Web, on the other hand, makes it far more difficult to create annotations. Although semantic metadata has enormous potential, its limitations in terms of usability are proving a significant barrier which discourages users and prevents the technology from becoming more widely established.'' \cite{escience}} Ideally we would find ways to integrate every learner's personal context, experience, values, and instincts (not to mention their preferred user interface), into one platform that makes helpful and coherent recommendations based on patterns it finds among the data it collects, utilizing a combination of peer interactions and automatic inference. As system designers, we are ourselves participants in a learning process. The fact that the system too will ``learn'' by interacting with themes that repeat with variations, by testing its current abilities on new data and getting feedback on the quality of the results, and by being brought to its point of failure and overcoming that failure with assistance, serves to underscore the fact that we can learn a lot about learning in the course of this study. Whoever the learner is, personalization should capture value and reduce waste and frustration. Sometimes the extra value falls to society as a whole: Recaptcha is a popular web service that exemplifies extraction of extra value from distributed routine labor \cite{recaptcha}. Sometimes gains will go directly to the learner, in terms of time saved, skills gained, or an enhanced sense of meaning. By connecting learning needs and relevant engagement opportunities, we may realistically hope for widely accruing benefits; this is the vision behind student involvement with ``real-world problems'' in the liberal arts \cite{coleman} or sciences \cite{nsfreu}. A key theme in this proposal is that \emph{all} learning takes place in the real world, so that, following to the rules of open systems, there will always be extra value to capture. If we understand the semantics of different modes of learner engagement, and the associated products, externalities, and arbitrage opportunities, we will be able to create useful, effective, personalization that enhances both the personal and social value of learning. \end{paragraph} \medskip \begin{paragraph}{Agenda.} \addcontentsline{toc}{section}{Agenda} \emph{(Phase I.)} I propose to begin by making semantic maps of three domains: \emph{(1)} personalized learning environments in general (starting with a network version of the survey given above); \emph{(2)} the major target domain OpenLearn\footnote{OpenLearn, \url{http://openlearn.open.ac.uk/}}; and \emph{(3)} PlanetMath.org\footnote{PlanetMath.org: Math for the people, by the people, \url{http://planetmath.org}}, a non-profit community-based mathematics website, on whose board of directors I serve. Over the past several years I have developed an open source triples-based software system, Arxana, which stands ready to facilitate this work \cite{arxana}. Studying Domain \emph{(1)} will expose other approaches, and a comparison of approaches should show how best to extend and deploy the triples-based network approach in building and studying personalized learning environments. Domains \emph{(2)} and \emph{(3)} possess very different user communities and inherent semantics; a comparative study along the dimensions of \emph{(1)} will be the groundwork for subsequent phases of PLE development in these domains. \emph{(Phase II.)} I propose to deploy Arxana in an open source demo in Domains \emph{(2)} and \emph{(3)}, in a form suitable for use in building learning objects, curricula suitable for self-directed study, and personalized learning plans. System prototyping in Domain \emph{(2)} will proceed in concert with the ROLE Project\footnote{Responsive Open Learning Environments (ROLE), \url{http://www.role-project.eu}} and, in particular, will follow evaluation criteria specified by that project\footnote{Deliverable M48, \url{http://www.role-project.eu/Deliverables}}. The general outline of the work is: \emph{(i)} can we bring learners to their personal point of difficulty; \emph{(ii)} help them explicitly identify and describe this difficulty; and \emph{(iii)} help them obtain contextualizing information that enables them to surmount the difficulty? Ruling out non-useful helps will often be an important step in finding the useful ones; both subjective feedback (``was this helpful?''), and objective measures of learner performance, will show what's working. System prototyping in Domain \emph{(3)} will proceed in concert with work by Ross Moore\footnote{Towards tagged PDF, \url{http://www.tug.org/tug2009/abstracts/moore.txt}}, Frank Quinn\footnote{The EduTeX Wiki, \url{http://edutex-wiki.tug.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page}}, and the No\"osphere development team\footnote{No\"osphere, \url{http://code.google.com/p/noosphere/}}, to develop tools for authoring self-grading problem sets, and methods to assess and improve the quality of connection between the elements of PlanetMath's corpus. When see topics connected to exercises and applications, preliminary materials, and resources for further learning, the result will be a tool that students can use for self-directed study in mathematics. Further, our tool will be able to track individual performance (\cite{essays}, Chapter 11) and will have a sense of what has worked for other learners in similar situations, so that we can provide the benefits of personalization. \emph{(Phase III.)} I propose to conclude the project by integrating my findings into a web front-end, that works transparently with other web-based learning platforms, and that facilitates \emph{mixing}, \emph{annotating}, and \emph{connecting} learning resources. In some respects similar to iGoogle\footnote{iGoogle, \url{http://www.google.com/ig}}, in the sense that it brings different modular interactive resources and data feeds to the user, the tool should cut across modules in its annotation and connection layer. Indeed, the combination of connection and modularity is the key to commons-based peer production \cite{scholia}, an approach that will help subsequent developments in personalized learning that build on our efforts achieve social and financial sustainability. \end{paragraph} \begin{thebibliography}{99} \bibitem{stakeholders} Wagner, N., Hassamein, K., and Head, M. (2008). Who is responsible for E-Learning Success in Higher Education? A Stakeholders' Analysis. \emph{Educational Technology \& Society}, 11(3), 26--36 \bibitem{maxneef} Manfred A. Max-Neef with Antonio Elizalde, Martin Hopenhayn (1991). Human scale development: conception, application and further reflections. Apex Press. (Appendix to Chapter. 2. ``Development and Human Needs'', p. 18.) \bibitem{um} Peter Brusilovsky and Eva Mill\'an. (2007). User Models for Adaptive Hypermedia and Adaptive Educational Systems, in P. Brusilovsky, A. Kobsa, and W. Nejdl (Eds.), \emph{The Adaptive Web}, LNCS 4321, 3--53 \bibitem{felder} Felder, R. (1988). Learning and teaching styles. \emph{Journal of Engineering Education} 78(7), 674-681 \bibitem{concept-maps} Chao Boon Kheng Leng Teo and Robert Gay (2006). Concept map provision for E-learning. \emph{Int. J. Instructional Technology Distance Learning}, 3(7), 17--32, \url{http://www.itdl.org/Journal/Jul_06/article02.htm} \bibitem{emotions} Ortony, A., Clore, G. L., Collins, A. (1988). The Cognitive Structure of Emotions, Cambridge University Press \bibitem{essays} Frank Quinn (2009), Essays on Mathematics Education (July 2009 Draft), \url{http://www.math.vt.edu/people/quinn/education/Book0.pdf} \bibitem{RDF} Frank Manola and Eric Miller (2004), RDF Primer, W3C, \url{http://www.w3.org/TR/2004/REC-rdf-primer-20040210/} \bibitem{deleuze} Gilles Deleuze and F\'elix Guattari (1980). Mille Plateaux. Paris: Les Editions de Minuit (translation, Brian Massumi (1987). A Thousand Plateaus, University of Minnesota Press) \bibitem{eco} Umberto Eco (1984). Semiotics and the philosophy of language, Indiana University Press \bibitem{burnett} Kathleen Burnett (1993). Toward a theory of hypertextual design, \emph{Postmodern Culture} 3(2), \url{http://www.iath.virginia.edu/pmc/text-only/issue.193/burnett.193} \bibitem{s-interact} Blumer, Herbert (1969). Symbolic Interactionism: Perspective and Method. University of California Press \bibitem{ethnography} Christopher Pole and Marlene Morrison (2003). Ethnography for Education. Open University Press \bibitem{v-ethnography} Christine Hine (2000). Virtual Ethnography. Sage Publications Ltd \bibitem{key-ideas} David Scott and Marlene Morrison (2007). Key Ideas in Educational Research, Continuum International Publishing Group %% \bibitem{bateson} Bateson, G. (1979). Mind and Nature: A %% Necessary Unity (Advances in Systems Theory, Complexity, %% and the Human Sciences). Hampton Press \bibitem{enrichment-of-tags} Sofia Angeletou (2008). Semantic Enrichment of Folksonomies, Technical Report kmi-08-06, Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University \bibitem{escience} Peter Edwards, Richard Reid, Alison Chorley, Feikje Hielkema, Rudradeb Mitra, and Edoardo Pignotti (2009), Building a Social Semantic Web for eScience, in \emph{Proceedings of the AAAI 2009 Spring Symposium on Social Semantic Web: Where Web 2.0 meets Web 3.0}, \url{http://www.csd.abdn.ac.uk/~pedwards/research/pubs/aaai-sss2009.pdf} \bibitem{recaptcha} Luis von Ahn, Benjamin Maurer, Colin McMillen, David Abraham, Manuel Blum (2008). reCAPTCHA: Human-Based Character Recognition via Web Security Measures, \emph{Science}, 321(12), 1465--1468 \bibitem{coleman} Elizabeth Coleman (2007). The Bennington Curriculum: A New Liberal Arts, \url{http://www.bennington.edu/go/about-bennington/a-new-liberal-arts} \bibitem{nsfreu} National Science Foundation, Research Experiences for Undergraduates: Program Announcement, \url{http://www.nsf.gov/nsf/nsfpubs/nsf96102/nsf96102.htm} \bibitem{arxana} Joseph Corneli (2009). Arxana, \url{http://metameso.org/files/unstable-arxana.pdf} \bibitem{scholia} Joseph Corneli and Aaron Krowne (2005). A Scholia-based Document Model for Commons-based Peer Production, in M. Halbert (Ed.): \emph{Free Culture and the Digital Library Symposium Proceedings}. Atlanta, Georgia: MetaScholar Initiative at Emory University, 240--253 \end{thebibliography} \bigskip \begin{center} \emph{Postscriptum, after Confucius} \\ \end{center} \begin{verse} \emph{exercising control over process and resources, the learner is engaged} \\ \emph{aware of what else is out there, and sharing openly, the learner is social} \\ \emph{active and interactive, explicating their situation, and co-building by annotating, mixing, and connecting, the learner learns} \\ \end{verse} \chapter{Hyperreal Enterprises} \label{hyperreal-enterprises-chapter} \question{APPLICATION DEADLINE: 10 PM (PST) OCTOBER 26, 2009. PLEASE TRY TO ANSWER EACH QUESTION IN LESS THAN 120 WORDS. WE LOOK AT ONLINE DEMOS ONLY FOR THE MOST PROMISING APPLICATIONS, SO DON'T SKIMP ON THE APPLICATION BECAUSE YOU'RE RELYING ON A GOOD DEMO. WE DO USUALLY LOOK AT THE VIDEO. SUBMITTING ONE GREATLY IMPROVES YOUR CHANCES. THOUGH WE DON'T MAKE ANY FORMAL PROMISE ABOUT SECRECY, WE WILL TRY TO AVOID DISCLOSING YOUR PLANS TO POTENTIAL COMPETITORS. WE RECOMMEND YOU SAVE REGULARLY BY CLICKING ON THE UPDATE BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE. OTHERWISE YOU MAY LOSE WORK IF WE RESTART THE SERVER.} \medskip \question{YOUR YC USERNAME:} holtzermann17 \question{COMPANY NAME:} Hyperreal Enterprises \question{COMPANY URL, IF ANY:} http://metameso.org \question{PHONE NUMBER(S):} 617-868-1392 \question{PLEASE ENTER THE POSTEROUS URL OF A 1 MINUTE VIDEO INTRODUCING YOURSELVES. (OPTIONAL. INSTRUCTIONS.)} http://hyperreal-enterprises.posterous.com/another-video \comment{Do we have a strategy for scripting and editing something that actually introduces all of us? Well... One possible strategy would be to start with some other ``ad hoc'' video and then splice it together as a montage. We could also do something more layered, like Ray could supply a drum soundtrack, and Aaron could do a voice-over. We could also include some still images, like a screenshot of PlanetMath and the picture of us at the ``PlanetMath beach house'' in Madison...} \question{YC USERNAMES OF ALL FOUNDERS, INCLUDING YOU, HOLTZERMANN17, SEPARATED BY SPACES. (THAT'S USERNAMES, NOT GIVEN NAMES: "BKSMITH," NOT "BOB SMITH." IF THE STARTUP HAS 3 FOUNDERS, THERE SHOULD BE 3 WORDS IN THIS ANSWER.)} holtzermann17 puzio1 akrowne \question{YC USERNAMES OF ALL FOUNDERS, INCLUDING YOU, HOLTZERMANN17, WHO WILL LIVE IN THE BAY AREA JANUARY THROUGH MARCH IF WE FUND YOU. (AGAIN, THAT'S USERNAMES, NOT GIVEN NAMES.)} holtzermann17 \question{WHAT IS YOUR COMPANY GOING TO MAKE?} We will make a web service that will enable our subscribers to treat every page on the web like a wiki, only better, because we will provide branching and semantic search capabilities. The service will also function as an open platform for running open source third party code, which will deliver a version of the web hacked to suit each user's preferences. \question{IF THIS APPLICATION IS A RESPONSE TO A YC RFS, WHICH ONE?} N/A \question{FOR EACH FOUNDER, PLEASE LIST: YC USERNAME; NAME; AGE; YEAR, SCHOOL, DEGREE AND SUBJECT FOR EACH DEGREE; EMAIL ADDRESS; PERSONAL URL (IF ANY); AND PRESENT EMPLOYER AND TITLE (IF ANY). PUT UNFINISHED DEGREES IN PARENS. LIST THE MAIN CONTACT FIRST. SEPARATE FOUNDERS WITH BLANK LINES. PUT AN ASTERISK BEFORE THE NAME OF ANYONE NOT ABLE TO MOVE TO THE BAY AREA.} holtzermann17; Joseph Corneli; 29; 2002, New College of Florida, BA, Mathematics; holtzermann17@gmail.com; \url{http://metameso.org/~joe/} akrowne; Aaron Krowne; ... * puzio1; Raymond Puzio; ... \question{PLEASE TELL US IN ONE OR TWO SENTENCES ABOUT SOMETHING IMPRESSIVE THAT EACH FOUNDER HAS BUILT OR ACHIEVED.} holtzermann17: Half-way through writing a $\approx$1000 page hypertext novel. The novel serves as a test case for the system described in this proposal. akrowne: puzio1: \comment{I wonder if that's really the most immediately ``impressive'' thing I've built... Maybe if I could go into more detail, but I'm only allowed one or two sentences.} \question{PLEASE TELL US ABOUT THE TIME YOU, HOLTZERMANN17, MOST SUCCESSFULLY HACKED SOME (NON-COMPUTER) SYSTEM TO YOUR ADVANTAGE.} The insight that I should write a semi-autobiographical hypertext novel to test and document the computer system I was building has been an extremely motivating instance of life-hacking, effectively coupling my life with my work. \question{PLEASE TELL US ABOUT AN INTERESTING PROJECT, PREFERABLY OUTSIDE OF CLASS OR WORK, THAT TWO OR MORE OF YOU CREATED TOGETHER. INCLUDE URLS IF POSSIBLE.} http://planetmath.org \question{HOW LONG HAVE THE FOUNDERS KNOWN ONE ANOTHER AND HOW DID YOU MEET? HAVE ANY OF THE FOUNDERS NOT MET IN PERSON?} Joe contacted Aaron via PlanetMath in 2002. Ray started working with PlanetMath in 2004. Now Joe and Ray are on PlanetMath's board of directors. We've met in person about once a year on average, and we're regularly in touch both by phone and online. \question{WHAT'S NEW ABOUT WHAT YOU'RE DOING? WHAT ARE PEOPLE FORCED TO DO NOW BECAUSE WHAT YOU PLAN TO MAKE DOESN'T EXIST YET?} Currently people who have a problem with something they find on the web (or who have a problem finding something on the web) are at the mercy of the people running the web pages and services. Ironically, despite the fact that web pages are more or less ``open source'' by definition, it effectively functions as a ``closed source'' system. Our tool will change that. We will make it possible for our subscribers create, publish, and selectively choose to use hacked and replacement web pages. We'll bring the ``power of networks'' to the web, which it surprisingly lacks, due to its effectively-closed nature and its silo-like data traps. \addition{\begin{itemize} \item The user becomes a storyteller. Administrators get more detail from narration. Everyone is less limited when they encounter frustration. \item At present the web is full of annotation -- but we will make it easy to do higher order things (annotate the annotation). \item We're thinking of semantic networks as linguistic structures -- they should be more flexible and informal than the typical semantic web so it is easier to get started, and then (later) to translate into more formal/structured/actionable forms. \end{itemize}} \question{WHAT DO YOU UNDERSTAND ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS THAT OTHER COMPANIES IN IT JUST DON'T GET?} We recognize that every web page can be an ingredient in potentially useful mashups. On the other hand, everyone doing web annotation seems to think that the base content is sacrosanct. In fact, it's not. \question{WHO ARE YOUR COMPETITORS, AND WHO MIGHT BECOME COMPETITORS? WHO DO YOU FEAR MOST?} In a sense, we're strictly a value-add over anything that's on the web. Google is omnipresent, but we're even a value-add over Google (we'll need to convince people of this fact). Different companies provide other more specific ``pieces of the puzzle'' (e.g. ZoomInfo for named entity recognition, WhySearchAlone.com for social search, Connotate for intelligent agents, etc.), but are only competitors in these specific dimensions. Anyone who is explicitly working on the ``Social Semantic Web'' could become a competitor, or a collaborator. It basically comes down to the traditional fight between free/libre/open source software and closed source, now in the domain of web services (where it seems openness has a significant, but still nacent, advantage). The main fear is that someone will get pissed off and sue us. We're pretty sure that what we're doing is 100\% legal, but as we know from experience, lawsuits still suck. \addition{\begin{itemize} \item Franz, Inc. (makers of AllegroGraph) are the best example of a competitor in terms of ``supplying a Lisp-based semantic backend''. They are standards-compliant; we're looser and more flexible. \item Our biggest fear is everpresent \emph{inertia} and the phenomenon that ``good enough is the enemy of the best''. At the same time, this is a double-edged sword that we want to use to our advantage! \item Anyone who uses e.g. AllegroGraph to provide user services in the field we want to work in could be a competitor. And the semantic web domain seems to be starting to heat up... \item Companies working with ``Fair Trade'' etc. provide pedigrees and other properties of their products at a premium price! We'll do something similar, but in an online/open source way. \end{itemize}} \question{HOW WILL YOU MAKE MONEY?} Arbitrage is really similar to links. Indeed, as LinkedIn says: ``every connection adds value to your network''. We will find ways to capitalize on that value. Specifically, we create the platform, build the community, and provide support and expertise. In the most straightforward ``co-op'' (or ``market'') model, anyone can create content but content creators can charge subscribers for the work of creation or for the use their content, and we will take a slice of that. Another typical model is to charge advertisers. Our service comes with the twist that we can also charge people to view the web ad-free :). \addition{\begin{itemize} \item ``Freemium'' model site with accounts -- charging not just for space, but also for intensive processing. (Search within the Semantic Web is not ``flat'', but hopefully our fee-for-intensive-service model will make it scalable!) \item Consulting and support (adapting software) \item E.g. use the triple system to run an integrated logistics/point-of-sale/online interface to cut margins and provide better service, undercutting and/or outperforming other retailers (e.g. Whole Foods, Walmart, Amazon?). \item In terms of the ``How...'': This is an open source product. We need to ``secure the middle'' like in chess -- we need to have people keep coming back. Buyers will come back for the quality of service and ``the community''. As for ``the community'' itself, a profit-sharing co-op model may be enticing to coder. \end{itemize}} \question{IF YOU'VE ALREADY STARTED WORKING ON IT, HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN WORKING AND HOW MANY LINES OF CODE (IF APPLICABLE) HAVE YOU WRITTEN?} 3 years of part-time work to develop a triplestore and a demo interface; code is 1240 lines (50\% Common Lisp, 50\% Emacs Lisp); code and documentation together are 4250 lines (65 pages typeset). Another separate open source project NNexus adds links... \question{IF YOU HAVE AN ONLINE DEMO, WHAT'S THE URL? (PLEASE DON'T PASSWORD PROTECT IT; JUST USE AN OBSCURE URL.)} http://metameso.org \question{HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE BEFORE YOU HAVE A PROTOTYPE? A BETA? A VERSION YOU CAN CHARGE FOR?} Estimates: any time we have a free month, we ought to be able to get the core system hammered together better and produce a prototype that a significant number of people actually find useful (e.g. using WordPress as a front-end to our triplestore instead of Emacs). Perhaps 3 full time months after that to a free beta with the basic features we've outlined here. After that we just need to design and build a billing system (say, an additional 3 months). \question{IF YOU'RE ALREADY INCORPORATED, WHEN WERE YOU? WHO ARE THE SHAREHOLDERS AND WHAT PERCENT DOES EACH OWN? IF YOU'VE HAD FUNDING, HOW MUCH, AT WHAT VALUATION(S)?} N/A. \question{IF YOU'RE NOT INCORPORATED YET, PLEASE LIST THE PERCENT OF THE COMPANY YOU PLAN TO GIVE EACH FOUNDER, AND ANYONE ELSE YOU PLAN TO GIVE STOCK TO. (THIS QUESTION IS AS MUCH FOR YOU AS US.)} 33 and 1/3\% of (available) stock to each founder. \comment{If Y combinator doesn't fund us and we want to do a more ``open'' version of this, I suggest a co-op model in which each of N founders gets 1/N of the stock -- ideally for the price of \$100 (as an homage to Benjamin Franklin).} \question{IF WE FUND YOU, WHICH OF THE FOUNDERS WILL COMMIT TO WORKING EXCLUSIVELY (NO SCHOOL, NO OTHER JOBS) ON THIS PROJECT FOR THE NEXT YEAR?} holtzermann17 \question{FOR FOUNDERS WHO CAN'T, WHY NOT? WHAT LEVEL OF COMMITMENT ARE THEY WILLING TO MAKE?} akrowne: ... puzio1: ... \question{DO ANY FOUNDERS HAVE OTHER COMMITMENTS BETWEEN JANUARY AND MAY 2010 INCLUSIVE?} puzio1: ... \question{DO ANY FOUNDERS HAVE COMMITMENTS IN THE FUTURE (E.G. FINISHING COLLEGE, GOING TO GRAD SCHOOL), AND IF SO WHAT?} puzio1: ... \question{ARE ANY OF THE FOUNDERS COVERED BY NONCOMPETES OR INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY AGREEMENTS THAT OVERLAP WITH YOUR PROJECT? WILL ANY BE WORKING AS EMPLOYEES OR CONSULTANTS FOR ANYONE ELSE?} No. \question{WAS ANY OF YOUR CODE WRITTEN BY SOMEONE WHO IS NOT ONE OF YOUR FOUNDERS? IF SO, HOW CAN YOU SAFELY USE IT? (OPEN SOURCE IS OK OF COURSE.)} NNexus... \question{ARE ANY OF THE FOLLOWING TRUE? (A) YOU ARE THE ONLY FOUNDER. (B) YOU ARE A STUDENT WHO MAY RETURN TO SCHOOL WHEN THE NEXT TERM STARTS. (C) HALF OR MORE OF YOUR GROUP CAN'T MOVE TO THE BAY AREA. (D) ONE OR MORE FOUNDERS WILL KEEP THEIR CURRENT JOBS. (E) NONE OF THE FOUNDERS ARE PROGRAMMERS. (ANSWERING YES DOESN'T DISQUALIFY YOU. IT'S JUST TO REMIND US TO CHECK.)} (D): Aaron? \question{IF YOU HAD ANY OTHER IDEAS YOU CONSIDERED APPLYING WITH, FEEL FREE TO LIST THEM. ONE MAY BE SOMETHING WE'VE BEEN WAITING FOR.} We've been collaborating on a project to hack math to make it more like free software. The project described above is a spin-off from our work on the tail-end of the toolchain ``scanning$\rightarrow$ocr$\rightarrow$parsing$\rightarrow$ai$\rightarrow$database$\rightarrow$UI''. We considered submitting an application to ``reengineer mathematics'' with tools of this sort, but we figured that would be more of a ``niche'' thing. \question{PLEASE TELL US SOMETHING SURPRISING OR AMUSING THAT ONE OF YOU HAS DISCOVERED. (THE ANSWER NEED NOT BE RELATED TO YOUR PROJECT.)} Joe discovered that by sitting down on a bench by Fresh Pond and writing in a small notebook, with one eye on the joggers and the dogs, he never fails to improve his mood. \end{document}