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METAFORIX MAIL Volume 1, Issue 39 May 4, 2001 Sites and insights for the Information Age
CONTENTS AT A GLANCE: ON
MY MIND: Revising History, Right Before Your Eyes ON MY MIND [From the Editor] The New Paper Trail In a recent article in The Nation, Terry J. Allen asks, "When there is no paper, is there still a paper trail?" His answer: "Not unless you vacuum the Internet and print the download."Allen's particular concern is the web site of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. It seems that just around the time President Bush took office, the Alaska Fish and Wildlife regional office revised the portion of the site dealing with the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The new language downplays the environmental risks of drilling for oil in the Refuge. Documentation of the change exists because an employee of the environmental action group Defenders of Wildlife printed out the Clinton-era language just before Bush's inauguration. According to Allen's report, the Alaska Fish and Wildlife office made the revisions on its own initiative, as part of a strategy of "pre-emptive surgery" in anticipation of the new administration's energy and environmental policies. Allen goes on to compare the new version with the old, demonstrating the dramatically different impressions they create. Regardless of one's view on the issue of oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the site revisions highlight the fleeting nature of Web-based text. If text does not exist in hard copy or its electronic traces cannot be pinpointed, it cannot be subpoenaed, requested under the Freedom of Information Act, or otherwise located on demand. For all intents and purposes, it disappears. Concerns about the fleeting nature of digital text are not limited to the political and legal arenas. In individual companies and organizations, without special efforts to preserve electronic documents, important artifacts of organizational history are lost. In the academic world, scholars who previously could compare published works with earlier drafts lose that valuable opportunity when authors compose their work on computers and edit as they go. We hear a great deal about the indestructibility of electronic data. Cyberforensics allows the reconstruction of data that had been "deleted" and overwritten -- with the diligent application of sufficient expertise, time, and money. Most of us, however, exist in that ironic space where discarded data can never be totally eradicated, while lost data cannot be readily retrieved. A space worthy of Lewis Carroll's Red Queen. Maybe she's really the person in charge..
Cordially, Lois C.
Ambash, Editor
MEDIA Artificial Investigation Steven Spielberg's latest film, A.I.: Artificial Intelligence, is due out at the end of June. Like any new Spielberg opus, it's getting a lot of advance hype -- this time, with the assistance of an elaborate series of electronic promotions. E.T. meets The Blair Witch Project, you might say.A strange line in A.I.'s credits cites Jeanine Salla, "sentient machine therapist." Querying a search engine using that name leads to the fictional Salla's fictional home page at Bangalore World University, the first of a series of web sites related to the mysterious death of the fictional Evan Chan. Those who allow themselves to be drawn into the game amass more details by following links and by working intricate puzzles that require knowledge in domains ranging from literature to computer programming. Supplying personal information on some of the sites elicits faxes, phone calls, e-mails, and incorporation into the game. Cabel Sasser constructed his own site, www.for-evan.com, as a guide to the game. He quickly found himself mentioned on one of the game's own site and is now deluged with e-mails asking whether he is a robot. Still, details of both the film and the game are being treated as state secrets by Spielberg's Dreamworks production company and its partners, AOL Time Warner and Microsoft. We do know that the film, set in the middle of the next century, is inspired by Brian Aldiss's short story, "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long," in which a boy robot displays human characteristics. A pet project of the late Stanley Kubrick, Spielberg took it on after Kubrick's death. Word is that the game will continue well past the film's release date and will (surprise!) be a vehicle for promoting a variety of products. The film's plot may be a spooky nightmare, but this kind of convergence has to be a marketer's dream. Source consulted: "Bizarre Web Game Pops Up to Promote Spielberg's 'A.I.'" Anna Wilde Matthews, The Wall Street Journal, 4/30/01
Access previous issues of Metaforix Mail by date by visiting our archives. Or use the search box on any page of the Metaforix site (www.metaforix.com) to search by keywords. INFORMATICON David Brooks on the New "Meritocratic Elite" "At the top of the meritocratic ladder we have in America a generation of students who are extraordinarily bright, morally earnest, and incredibly industrious. They like to study and socialize in groups. They create and join organizations with great enthusiasm. They are responsible, safety-conscious, and mature. They feel no compelling need to rebel-not even a hint of one. They not only defer to authority; they admire it. "Alienation" is a word one almost never hears from them. They regard the universe as beneficent, orderly, and meaningful. At the schools and colleges where the next leadership class is being bred, one finds not angry revolutionaries, despondent slackers, or dark cynics but the Organization Kid."
Supply and Demand Over 75,000 Americans are awaiting organ donations that could save their lives. Thousands more await corneas, bone marrow, and other tissue.But only 23,000 organ transplants were performed last year, even as the ever-improving success transplant success rate fuels demand. A recent PBS NewsHour report on organ donation featured Dr. Kenneth Moritsugu, Deputy Surgeon General of the United States, a leader in the campaign to encourage organ and tissue donation. Moritsugu, who lost his wife and daughter in separate accidents within a four-year period, rejoices in the legacy of life that emerged from otherwise senseless tragedies. The NewHour report, available in video, audio, and transcript forms, is supplemented by state-by-state information on organ donation procedures, a summary of religious views on organ donation, and printable organ/tissue donation documents. To learn more about the need for organ donation and its immense rewards, visit www.pbs.org.
Long Lines at Ellis Island Between 1892 and 1924, Ellis Island was the gateway to America for 17 million immigrants. Their descendants comprise 40 per cent of the current US population.So, when the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island foundation put its searchable database of ships' manifests online last month, they expected a great deal of traffic at www.ellisislandrecords.org. The response to the site was not merely enthusiastic. It was staggering. Over 85% of those who tried to access the site during its first week of operation were turned away. Eight years of planning and production and a $22.5 million investment had not been adequate to prevent the site from being overwhelmed by traffic. Things are improving rapidly as the site adds capacity with the help of corporate partners. I actually accessed the site once, very early on a Sunday morning. It is fascinating and moving, especially for anyone whose ancestors passed through the corridors of Ellis Island. Do visit the site -- if not today, than after a week or two when it has come up to speed. And if you find yourself in the New York City area, visit Ellis Island itself. Ascending the stairs walked by new arrivals to our shores, stone steps whose surfaces are worn down by millions of footsteps, is a powerful experience of reconnection to our national heritage. To search the Ellis Island passenger database, go to: www.ellisislandrecords.org
Guest Columnists and Interviewees Wanted! Metaforix
Mail seeks your opinions on how information technologies are (or are not)
changing your world of work.
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Volume 1, Issue 37 April 24, 2001 |
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