Profoundly paradoxical
Beauty in the eye of the beholder
'{\n"num_found": 193,\n "results": [\n {\n"speaker_state": null,\n"speaker_first": null,\n"congress": 106,\n"title": "Amendment No. 3753",\n"origin_url": "http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2000-07-13/html/CREC-2000-07-13-pt1-PgS6593.htm",\n"number": 90,\n"order": 154,\n"volume": 146,\n "chamber": "Senate",\n"session": 2,\n"id": "CREC-2000-07-13-pt1-PgS6593.chunk154",\n"speaking": [\n"Cyber Attack Sensing and Warning...................................20"\n],\n"capitolwords_url": "http://capitolwords.org/date/2000/07/13/S6593_amendment-no-3753/",\n"speaker_party": null,\n"date": "2000-07-13",\n"bills": null,\n"bioguide_id": null,\n"pages": "S6593-S6598",\n"speaker_last": null,\n"speaker_raw": "recorder"\n},\n{\n"speaker_state": null,\n"speaker_first": null,\n"congress": 105,\n"title": "THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 1998",\n"origin_url": "http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1997-11-09/html/CREC-1997-11-09-pt2-PgS12315-2.htm",\n"number": 157,\n"order": 1798,\n"volume": 143,\n"chamber": "Senate",\n"session": 1,\n"id": "CREC-1997-11-09-pt2-PgS12315-2.chunk1798",\n"speaking": [\n"biological, nuclear, and cyber attack prevention and response "\n],\n"capitolwords_url": "http://capitolwords.org/date/1997/11/09/S12315-2_the-district-of-columbia-appropriations-act-1998/",\n"speaker_party": null,\n"date": "1997-11-09",\n"bills": null,\n"bioguide_id": null,\n"pages": "S12315-S12391",\n"speaker_last": null,\n"speaker_raw": "recorder"\n},\n{\n"speaker_state": "GA",\n"speaker_first": "Paul",\n"congress": 106,\n
{u'bills': None,
u'bioguide_id': u'C000813',
u'capitolwords_url': u'http://capitolwords.org/date/2000/03/02/S1149_authority-for-committees-to-meet/',
u'chamber': u'Senate',
u'congress': 106,
u'date': u'2000-03-02',
u'id': u'CREC-2000-03-02-pt1-PgS1149.chunk8',
u'number': 22,
u'order': 8,
u'origin_url': u'http://origin.www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2000-03-02/html/CREC-2000-03-02-pt1-PgS1149.htm',
u'pages': u'S1149-S1150',
u'session': 2,
u'speaker_first': u'Paul',
u'speaker_last': u'Coverdell',
u'speaker_party': u'R',
u'speaker_raw': u'mr. coverdell',
u'speaker_state': u'GA',
u'speaking': [u"Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Thursday, March 2, 2000 at 10 a.m., for a hearing entitled ``Cyber Attack: Is the Government Safe?''"],
u'title': u'AUTHORITY FOR COMMITTEES TO MEET',
u'volume': 146}A little less good, but we'll deal
"You will learn to love me," quoth this data.
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data list file ='C:\slave1850_1.dat'/
year 1-2
datanum 3
serial 4-8
slavenum 9-11
weight 12-13
reel 14-17
[...]
In [11]:
from IPython.display import Image
Image("http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xploreAssets/images/absImages/01173453.png")
Out[11]:
In [9]:
Out[9]:
Ye olde pdf of a bad scan of an excel spreadsheet Fun with FOIA!
First law of data accessibility
never discuss data accessibility
Second law of data accessibility
data is actually useful in inverse proportion to its readiblity by mere mortals
In other words, if you can read it easily (and you are not a computer), then the computer probably can't read it easily.
Our gripes with the bad data practices of others leads us to impose a law unto ourselves:
Third law of data accessibility
It is a universal maxim to strive to produce our data findings in formats good for human beings and also in formats open for other computational tools
In [18]:
#first blackbox
from IPython.display import YouTubeVideo
YouTubeVideo('W8h5OEivJdA')
Out[18]:
They took the credit for your second symphony
re-written by machine and new technology
and now I understand the problems you can see.
Oh oh -- I met your children
oh oh -- what did you tell them+
video killed the radio star
video killed the radio star
pictures came and broke your heart
we can't rewind we've gone too far --Buggles, 1979
roughly, a belief that technology causes social, economic and cultural transformation
often belief that technology primary, most important cause of these changes
often belief that technology has internal dynamic, a univocal path of development
belief in technological determinism itself a major cause
even if false (as it surely is), belief in inevitability of technological change a major political and economic argument
need to figure out what to do given the change or, surrender to its (non-extant) inevitabilityLetting us direct technology critically, rather than being ruled by it.
too binary: trick to learn the affordances of extant technologies while appreciating tradeoffs
YouTubeVideo('W8h5OEivJdA')
is very easy. All I had to do was copy a part of the web address (aka URL).
Learn the insides of some algorithms
Mostly learn how to use 'blackboxes' and to properly format data for them
Our plan
But this is an experiment.
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