"The Boy Who Drew Cats" on his Ubiquitous Computing devices - 猫を描く少年(小僧)
While contemplating why Ubiquitous Computing is important and how important agents might or might not be to it, I just remembered this ancient Japanese fable: "The Boy Who Drew Cats" ( 猫を描く少年(小僧) ) as translated to English by Lafcadio Hearn ( 小泉八雲 ) circa 1900 that I read in my childhood. I dug it out of my library but also found it online.
http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a0537.pdf
Images from the original printing with it's illustrations:
http://collec.lib.u-toyama.ac.jp/~hearn/CHIRIMEN/list.html
This fable is common knowledge among the Japanese. Not only does it provide a metaphor for Ubiquitous Computing and its advantages and dangers, it might help explain why some are attracted to it, including the Japanese. Croquet's constructivist capabilities parallel the story pretty well.
Read the two-page story before continuing. Because of plot spoilers, I’ll post the parallels I find between the story and Ubiquitous Computing as a comment to this blog entry.
While I don't consider this story as proof in and of itself, it suggests to me where further research could be directed.
http://www.horrormasters.com/Text/a0537.pdf
Images from the original printing with it's illustrations:
http://collec.lib.u-toyama.ac.jp/~hearn/CHIRIMEN/list.html
This fable is common knowledge among the Japanese. Not only does it provide a metaphor for Ubiquitous Computing and its advantages and dangers, it might help explain why some are attracted to it, including the Japanese. Croquet's constructivist capabilities parallel the story pretty well.
Read the two-page story before continuing. Because of plot spoilers, I’ll post the parallels I find between the story and Ubiquitous Computing as a comment to this blog entry.
While I don't consider this story as proof in and of itself, it suggests to me where further research could be directed.
posted by Darius at 10:18 PM
2 Comments:
The metaphor’s parallels that I’ve found:
1. The boy drew on everything, even things considered inappropriate to have content, specific to the boy’s interests, placed upon them.
2. The boy couldn’t help but always shape the world to his interest.
3. The content, while having a consistent theme and agent character, was also rendered by the boy as having different actions and represented as having different capabilities
4. The physical world was his medium and the content was per his own creative talent and effort.
5. Rice paper screens were like interactive ubiquitous computing billboards to the boy.
6. The content came alive and affected the physical world.
7. The content changed the physical world on boy’s behalf even when he wasn’t conscious of it.
8. The content’s effect on the physical world also changed the content itself slightly per understandable rules.
9. We may not want to get rid if the agent metaphor altogether if it is the result of or representative of the person’s own creative identity or purpose.
10. Those who use Ubiquitous Computing spaces might not anticipate the full impact their actions may have on the physical world, both positive and negative.
11. The temple and its attending monks might represent the elite class of those who maintain Ubiquitous Computing spaces and what content is considered appropriate for them.
12. The elite class who maintain Ubiquitous Computing spaces might not accept those who create the content.
13. Ubiquitous Computing might be more helpful for those who sleep in small spaces. (Meaning no computers in the home. More need for them in common spaces.) [Sorry, just had to throw that one in for humor.]
14. Nothing in the story about a multi-user environment.
15. Considering this story in addition with the Japanese fairytales about everyday objects inhabited by spirits, both good and bad, the internet seems to parallel their “spirit realm”. Ubiquitous Computing devices parallel its portals with powerful spirit-agents passing between that world and ours at will to inhabit our everyday things. An elite-governing group is the only one who could control these spirit-agents.
10:57 PM
New link to the book: http://books.google.com/books?id=a5IVAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA29#v=onepage&q&f=false
9:12 PM
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