June 9, 2013
by PH
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The background to the organized sound of Gregorian chant, in a mediaeval monastic community, was not random noise. Silence—the silence of nature itself, in which the random noises of culture were swallowed up—was one of the facts of mediaeval life, … Continue reading
December 6, 2012
by PH
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When music occupies so much cultural space, you yearn for any noise that wasn’t meant to be music, that is fresh and complicated and free from intention (and therefore available for aesthetic invention). Brian Eno
June 17, 2011
by PH
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Students should be taken to the edge of the precipice beyond which knowledge does not exist. Harold Innis
December 13, 2009
by PH
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Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand—and melting like a snowflake… Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626)
July 27, 2009
by PH
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The sky turns deep blue, the world freezes, and a progress bar marches slowly across it from horizon to horizon. Ethereal runes written in aurorae six hundred metres high scrawl across the heavens, updating reality, and for a moment your … Continue reading
March 23, 2009
by PH
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One late evening, about 10pm London time, I was sitting on the crew bus with the rest of my crew. We had just arrived home from the States on an unusual schedule: normally the flights from there come in overnight … Continue reading
November 9, 2008
by PH
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The defining element of the desktop GUI is the icon, which, although it often has a name, is above all a picture that performs or receives an action. These actions give the icon its meaning. As elements in a true … Continue reading
September 7, 2008
by PH
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The words are all on a transparent film. The experiences to which they refer are taking place seamlessly behind the film overlay. The words are like digital samples of a continuous analog experience. If you focus on the word-film, the … Continue reading
March 25, 2008
by PH
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What exactly is an interface anyway? In its simplest sense, the word refers to software that shapes the interaction between user and computer. The interface serves as a kind of translator, mediating between the two parties, making one sensible to … Continue reading
November 27, 2007
by PH
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When reading a book or even a sentence, there is a beginning step. A book and a sentence both have a beginning that is formally denoted. There is a middle, and, hopefully, there is a solution to a problem that … Continue reading