Terry talks!

Terry Brooks

Blog entry May 29, 2006

Social expertism - Your friends!

Tacit Software is preparing to introduce an online service that will make it simple to pick the brains of friends and colleagues for opinions and expertise. Tacit plans to start testing the service, called Illumio, next month. The service allows the user to mine the data on the computers of friends, business associates and others with shared interests on any subjects. However, Illumio is not a search engine, like Google or Yahoo. The system works by transparently distributing a request for information on questions like "Who knows John Smith?" and "Are Nikon digital cameras better than Olympus?" to the computers in a network of users. The questions can then be answered locally based on a novel reverse auction system that Illumio uses to determine who the experts are. Software such as Illumio is representative of the rapid emergence of new markets for digital information, said Michael Schrage, a researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. "This represents the eBayification of organizations," he said. "The reality is that organizations are run off of informal connections and tools such as this facilitate gray markets in information and interpersonal exchange." Software to Look for Experts Among Your Friends The NY Times, May 29, 2006

Blog entry May 21, 2006

Spam as example of Architecture, Systems and Retrieval

To the antispam researchers at MessageLabs, an e-mail filtering company, each new wave of a recent stock-pumping spam seemed like a personal affront...The spammers were trying to circumvent the world's junk-mail filters by embedding their messages into images...to filters scanning for telltale spam words in the text of e-mail messages, a picture of the words "Hot Stox!!" is significantly different from the words themselves...Antispam developers at MessageLabs, one of several companies that essentially reroute their clients' e-mail traffic through proprietary spam-scrubbing servers before delivering it, quickly developed a "checksum," or fingerprint, for the images, and created a filter to block them.

Because some spammers can churn out 200 million or more messages a day, and because less than 1 percent of those need to bring responses from naοve, click-happy users to turn handsome profits, there is little incentive to stop..."There are loads of different kinds of obfuscation," Mr. Johnson said. "They've realized that people are looking for V1agra spelled with a '1' and st0ck with a 'zero' and that sort of thing, so they might try some sort of meaning obfuscation, like just referring to a watch as a 'wrist accessory' or something like that. So they say something like, 'Drape your wrist with this elegant accessory.' "Any way not to say 'Rolex,' " he added, "so it's quite cryptic." The Fight Against V1@gra (and Other Spam) The NY Times, May 21, 2006

Blog entry May 18, 2006

Scary! Everybody should watch this eight-minute Flash. Find out what is going to happen from here to 2012. Scary...information architecture, information systems, information retrieval...scary.

Googlezon

 

Blog entry May 11, 2006

Social Features in Google

On Wednesday, Google introduced a beta, or test service, called Google Co-op. Eventually it will allow Google users to mark Web pages they like and associate each page with certain topics. For now the service is mainly of use to large organizations, which can mark their own sites with labels and submit them to Google to make relevant information easier to find in search results.
Initially, Google has focused the Co-op service on two areas, health and local guides, and the handful of participating sites includes the Mayo Clinic and OpenTable, a restaurant reservation service. In several weeks it will create an easy way for individuals to label any page on the Web, and it will add more topics like autos and consumer electronics.
Users will be able to "subscribe" to the Web sites flagged by certain organizations or people, so those sites will be featured prominently when they conduct Web searches. Google also said it would introduce a product next week called Google Notebook, which allows users to record information they have found on a series of Web pages. They can choose to make their research public, to send it to friends and to have it included in Google's index of Web pages.
"If someone has planned a great Hawaiian vacation with great research into snorkel boats, they should be able to share it," Ms. Mayer said.
The company also introduced Google Trends, a way to see how often people are searching for certain terms on its site and where in the world those searches are popular. And it said it would start testing a new version of its Google Desktop software that allows very small programs, like a weather indicator, to be placed anywhere on the user's computer screen. Similar software is already offered by Apple Computer and Yahoo. Google Shows New Services in Battle of Search Engines The NY Times, May 11, 2006

Blog entry May 8, 2006

Polar Bears!!

The polar bear assignment is an interesting example of the 'real world'. I'll guess and say that the library begin sending out RSS in XML but many of their viewers didn't wish to post-process the RSS feed and make it look 'pretty'. I imagine that the library received many comments about making their RSS feeds more attractive to the end reader. Thus the initiative to embed HTML presentation markup. Of course, the more presentation markup you put in a feed like that, the less flexible it becomes. If I don't like their presentation markup, then I have to remove their markup before I can use their information.

As I noted in my message on Monday May 8, do the Polar Bear assignment based on the fragment of RSS that I copied from the library website several months ago when it was pure XML and didn't have any presentation HTML markup in it.

 

Blog entry May 1, 2006

The importance of the browser

Just goes to show you the importance of the presentation of information. For lots of folks (about 80% of Web activity), the Internet Explorer browser frames the Web world. So if Microsoft puts a little MSN search box in the upper right-hand corner, Google perceives this as a threat:

With a $10 billion advertising market at stake, Google, the fast-rising Internet star, is raising objections to the way that it says Microsoft, the incumbent powerhouse of computing, is wielding control over Internet searching in its new Web browser. The new browser includes a search box in the upper-right corner that is typically set up to send users to Microsoft's MSN search service. Google contends that this puts Microsoft in a position to unfairly grab Web traffic and advertising dollars from its competitors.
The move, Google claims, limits consumer choice and is reminiscent of the tactics that got Microsoft into antitrust trouble in the late 1990's.
"The market favors open choice for search, and companies should compete for users based on the quality of their search services," said Marissa Mayer, the vice president for search products at Google. "We don't think it's right for Microsoft to just set the default to MSN. We believe users should choose." New Microsoft Browser Raises Google's Hackles The NY Times, May 1, 2006

Blog entry April 29, 2006

New/old literary genres!

SEATTLE, April 28 — Microsoft and The New York Times unveiled software on Friday that would allow readers to download an electronic version of the newspaper and view it on a portable device. With Microsoft's new Windows Vista software, to be available in January, virtually any newspaper, magazine or book can be formatted into an electronic version and read online or off. The software would allow The Times to replicate its look — fonts, typeface and layout — more closely than its Web site now does. Newspapers have been trying to develop a stronger online presence as readers and advertisers continue to migrate to the Internet. The new software is meant to make it easier to read an electronic version of a paper and allow readers to download multiple papers and magazines to take with them. Microsoft software will let Times reader download paper. The NY Times, April 29, 2006

 

Blog entry April 27, 2006

The real world intrudes into LIS 540!!!

Hi Terry,

I'm not sure whether your 540 class has gotten to the 'polar bear' 
assignment in which our RSS feeds are featured, but I wanted to let 
you know that we just made some changes to our feeds. To enhance 
the <description> tag, I wrote a script to pull book/CD/DVD jacket 
images from Amazon, so they would show up in some news readers. So now 
there's a bunch of HTML in those tags, rather than just a repeat of the title. 
Hope this doesn't add too much confusion.

Thanks, and hope the term is going well.

Jeremy

--
_______________________
jeremy mcwilliams
access services manager
watzek library
lewis & clark college
(503)768-7273
_______________________

I want everyone in the LIS 540 to tighten their chin straps and do the Polar assignment (when we get to it, of course) regardless if Jeremy has stuffed a bunch of HTML in there or not!

 

Blog entry April 27, 2006

21st Century Librarianship

Anyone who will be working in libraries in the 21st century should probably book passage to this conference. Closely examine the rhetoric in this statement for clues of critical library-type technologies. Clever students with ambitions to be 21st century librarians should bootstrap themselves accordingly.

Tutorial on Semantic Digital Libraries (JCDL 2006)
June 11-15, 2006 - Chapel Hill, NC, USA
[ http://jcdl2006.org/ ]
Libraries have always been an inspiration for the standards and technologies developed by Semantic Web activities: library and digital library communities are using classification schemes, taxonomies, and thesauri, which are closely related to ontologies. In the late 90s, the Dublin Core Metadata Initiative was tasked with the specification of an easy-to-use and understandable format for bibliographic metadata that takes machine-processable semantics into account. There are many advantages in using Semantic Web technologies for digital libraries (described below), however, such technologies have not been adopted or further developed by major digital library initiatives or projects. As a result, the Semantic Web and digital library communities have become disconnected. The aim of this tutorial is to present Semantic Web-related aspects of current digital library activities, and introduce their functionality to a broader audience with basic technical and programming skills. Our goal is to give examples and stimulate the awareness of researchers, engineers and potential users that Semantic Web technologies can indeed be useful for building digital libraries.

The tutorial on Semantic Digital Libraries will bring different communities closer together, ranging from librarians to Semantic Web researchers. We will start by defining problems in the domain of Semantic Digital Libraries and present solutions that provide building blocks for these libraries using categorisation schemas such as WordNet, DMoz, and SKOS. We will then present the architecture of existing Semantic Digital Libraries, elaborate on resource management, describe search and browsing features, and discuss identity management and communication interfaces. We will discuss in detail the problems and solutions for bibliographic metadata management and interoperability, followed by a presentation of semantic search and other personalized and community-aware services. We will also discuss the future of federations of digital libraries in the context of the Semantic Web and Web 2.0.

Finally, we will present three initiatives that adhere to the idea of a Semantic Digital Library: SIMILE which leverages and extends DSpace by enhancing its support for arbitrary schemata and metadata; Corrib.org, which delivers semantically-aware digital library components such as JeromeDL, MarcOnt, FOAFRealm, and HyperCuP; and BRICKS, the largest cultural heritage project in the EU's 6th framework program, which applies Semantic Web technology to the management of metadata in a European-wide digital library network. The tutorial will be followed by a hands-on session where participants will be able to try out SIMILE-PiggyBank, JeromeDL and BRICKS. We will conclude the tutorial by encouraging everyone to take part in a discussion on the future of Semantic Digital Libraries. Questions to be discussed will include: are Semantic Digital Libraries needed; what are the requirements that they should meet; and which Semantic Digital Library solution from those presented suits a particular set of requirements.

Blog entry April 23, 2006

Information IS art...Information AS art

To make room for shiny new books, librarians cull the texts that have been loved literally to pieces, as well as volumes that haven't been stamped with a due date in years. The rejected books are given away, tossed in Dumpsters, melted in acid, even burned — visions that could stop any author's pen in midsentence. Last year, the Portland library joined forces with the Maine College of Art in Portland for a first-of-its-kind project: "Long Overdue: Book Renewal." To inaugurate it, the library invited a Brooklyn-based book artist, Doug Beube, to lecture about his work. That was followed by a "book grab," during which artists were invited to take any of the library's discarded volumes and do with them as they pleased. Nearly 200 artists, mostly from Maine but also from Boston, California and Wisconsin, participated. Megan Dunn transformed text into a spiny bracelet by cutting pages into long, skinny strips and attaching them to an elastic band. Susan Winn gutted a copy of Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass" and remade it into "Field of Greens," a potted patch of turf in which the waving blades of grass are lines sliced from the book. Wear This Book (but Bring It Back Friday) The NY Times, Sunday, April 23, 2006

 

A student writes...

Can you clarify this for me...
You said: All the student groups doing the readings should post a thread on our threaded chat about their reading BEFORE the middle of the quarter.
So, even if I'm not a reader until week 6, I should do my reading and post about the reading by the end of week 5?

It certainly would help all of us if you were to tackle your reading right now and attempt to get some paraphrase up on the threaded chat. The reason is that your peers are casting about for essay topics right now and your comments on your reading might help them.

 

A student writes...

Just a quick check-in. I'm assuming if you comment then we can assume we've gotten credit for the deliverable? I'd hate to make assumptions without asking and then get to the end of the quarter with a bad grade.

If I comment then you're good and you've got your credit. If I don't like your submission, I'll tell you so.

 

Blog entry April 18, 2006

Somebody is reading your e-mail

What does this tell you about the Web/Internet as an information system? Does the National Security Agency regard information as 'real', does the contents of your e-mail depend on who is perceiving it (i.e., reading it)? If you artfully elaborated your communication with leetspeek so that only the intended reader could understand it, what would this do to the data mining techniques used by the NSA?

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class-action lawsuit against AT&T on January 31, 2006, accusing the telecom giant of violating the law and the privacy of its customers by collaborating with the National Security Agency (NSA) in its massive and illegal program to wiretap and data-mine Americans' communications.
In December of 2005, the press revealed that the government had instituted a comprehensive and warrantless electronic surveillance program that ignored the careful safeguards set forth by Congress. This surveillance program, purportedly authorized by the President at least as early as 2001 and primarily undertaken by the NSA, intercepts and analyzes the communications of millions of ordinary Americans.
In the largest "fishing expedition" ever devised, the NSA uses powerful computers to "data-mine" the contents of these Internet and telephone communications for suspicious names, numbers, and words, and to analyze traffic data indicating who is calling and emailing whom in order to identify persons who may be "linked" to "suspicious activities," suspected terrorists or other investigatory targets, whether directly or indirectly.
But the government did not act-and is not acting-alone. The government requires the collaboration of major telecommunications companies to implement its unprecedented and illegal domestic spying program.
AT&T Corp. (which was recently acquired by the new AT&T, Inc,. formerly known as SBC Communications) maintains domestic telecommunications facilities over which millions of Americans' telephone and Internet communications pass every day. It also manages some of the largest databases in the world, containing records of most or all communications made through its myriad telecommunications services.   EFF's Class-Action Lawsuit Against AT&T for Collaboration with Illegal Domestic Spying Program at http://www.eff.org/legal/cases/att/

 

Blog entry April 16, 2006

The stigmergic user script pattern

Oh, oh! The future is happening before our eyes...

The user script is slowly shifting and reshaping our understanding of the web, into something it was not designed to be, but, as many of us have noticed, into a very powerful and shape shifting capable organism. It's a paradigm shift I believe will evolve the web in a profound way, following along in the trail of previous paradigm shifts...A stigmergy structure is the result of emergent behaviour in a system, examples being Wikipedia or the Linux source code, evolving over time from contributions by a large number of people, building something fit for a purpose that evolves around some small set of basic principles governing its growth. Or search engines, harnessing the web into a very large data mine, growing larger and more resourceful by the second. Stigmergy is the method of communication in these systems: how one part sends a message to another part by modifying their common environment. Editing a wikipedia page, submitting a linux patch or writing a web page, registering it with the search engine or being picked up by it from external linkage. And it's a coming, very useful practice in user scripts too. ecmanaut blog, 2006-04-15, 17:38

Blog entry April 13, 2006

Get paid $1 everytime somebody uses your information system

Ever wonder if information systems can make you rich? Just build an information system that links people together - that's all - the users do all the work - you just provide them the information system to find each other - and when they do, they paid you a dollar.

...Then a friend of a friend told her about Zunafish (www.zunafish.com), a new Web site that matches people with discs and tapes to trade — and video games and paperback books, too. The site, which looks remarkably similar to a prototype Mr. Bloom sketched on notebook paper four years ago with Mr. Elias, trades only one-for-one items within the same category — CD's, DVD's, VHS tapes, video games, audio books or paperback books. No item (for example, a seven-disc DVD set of the first season of the television series "24") is worth more than any another (say, a DVD of Peter Jackson's "King Kong"). Traders using the site determine the relative value of an item by choosing to swap or not. No one is ever forced to make a trade, Mr. Elias noted. Each trader pays Zunafish $1 through credit or debit card for each trade. Read It? Watched It? Swap It The NY Times, April 13, 2006

 

Blog entry April 11, 2006

Burgers via the Internet!

Note how information systems saves seconds, reduces labor cost, and tests the operator's alertness. Who says information systems don't create culture?

Like many American teenagers, Julissa Vargas, 17, has a minimum-wage job in the fast-food industry — but hers has an unusual geographic reach. Ms. Vargas works not in a restaurant but in a busy call center in this town, 150 miles from Los Angeles. She and as many as 35 others take orders remotely from 40 McDonald's outlets around the country. The orders are then sent back to the restaurants by Internet, to be filled a few yards from where they were placed. The people behind this setup expect it to save just a few seconds on each order. But that can add up to extra sales over the course of a busy day at the drive-through. Ms. Vargas seems unfazed by her job, even though it involves being subjected to constant electronic scrutiny. Software tracks her productivity and speed, and every so often a red box pops up on her screen to test whether she is paying attention. She is expected to click on it within 1.75 seconds. In the break room, a computer screen lets employees know just how many minutes have elapsed since they left their workstations. The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order The NY Times, April 11, 2006

 

Blog entry April 9, 2006

Google as arbiter of literary taste [Yikes! Too obscure!]

Write for Google [Much better! Google can understand this version]

Google has become a literary arbiter as newspapers simplify headlines so that web bots can easily consume them:

Journalists over the years have assumed they were writing their headlines and articles for two audiences — fickle readers and nitpicking editors. Today, there is a third important arbiter of their work: the software programs that scour the Web, analyzing and ranking online news articles on behalf of Internet search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. In newspapers and magazines, for example, section titles and headlines are distilled nuggets of human brainwork, tapping context and culture. "Part of the craft of journalism for more than a century has been to think up clever titles and headlines, and Google comes along and says, 'The heck with that,' " observed Ed Canale, vice president for strategy and new media at The Sacramento Bee. About a year ago, The Sacramento Bee changed online section titles. "Real Estate" became "Homes," "Scene" turned into "Lifestyle," and dining information found in newsprint under "Taste," is online under "Taste/Food." Some news sites offer two headlines. One headline, often on the first Web page, is clever, meant to attract human readers. Then, one click to a second Web page, a more quotidian, factual headline appears with the article itself. This Boring Headline Is Written for Google The NY Times, April 9, 2006

 

Blog entry April 8, 2006

ThisClose

Here's an example of architecting language ("ThisClose"), that would reside in an information system as ("ThisClose") and bedevil information retrieval because most enquirers would be 'that close' to 'ThisClose' because we're playing around with the invisible character, the space.

It has its own language, using words like "canoodling" and "thisclose" to describe celebrities in some corner booth in the back of a restaurant who probably figured that nobody would notice one long kiss, and another, and another.  Which gossip column to thisclose to brutal? The NY Times, April 8, 2006

 

Just a thought: isn't 'thisclose' as form of language art where the missing space is amplifying the meaning of the words?

 

Blog entry April 4, 2006

100% of New Brides!

What is the relationship between print and Web resources?

"One hundred percent of the people who are getting married for the first time are people who grew up on the Internet" said Marshal Cohen, chief analyst of a market research firm....reflect(s) the new reality in the magazine industry: The Internet is an indispensable companion to print. "You gain a broader audience and more loyalty from your subscribers if you extend the experience into the Web," said Steven Newhouse, chairman of Advance.net. "A magazine can spark an idea but the internet will provide the real vehicle for deep research, the purchase of products and the referral system to friends. So you can 'I saw this great dress, you should see it, you've got to go online." As magazine readers increasingly turn to the Web, so does Conde Nast The NY Times, April 3, 2006

 

Blog entry April 2, 2006

A student writes...

Hi Terry,
When I log onto Catalyst I get a submission error message. I've tried to contact the link provided on the Catalyst site but my computer freezes once I've actually logged onto the site. Is anyone else having this problem?
Do you want us to post the deliverables to the catalyst site or in our portfolio.

The Catalyst portfolio tools seems to be working for other folks. I've had about a dozen submissions so far. Here's a trick: During the Autumn quarter, some folks would have trouble logging on to Catalyst because they had stored the URL logon page of Catalyst in the Favorites list. Best to try to log on to Catalyst by clicking on the link on our Community page. I just did that myself about two minutes ago and it worked just fine.

 

A student writes...

When I click on the Gerald Salton link I get a blank space. Can you give me the URL?

I just clicked on it and it worked just fine. Just FYI, the URL is http://courses.washington.edu/d540svi/Salton.htm

 

A student writes...

I am a little unclear on the wiki project: “edit” the paragraph – add information from readings that would tie in (i.e., a more formal, professional written piece than the chat stuff)? Or simply edit what you wrote? (By the way – I think it looks great so I am thinking it is the former).

The Wiki tool is a new experiment. I notice that NO student has been brave enough to begin editing the two writing projects. I'm going to have to talk about 'what is a wiki' etc. at the residency.

 

Blog entry March 31, 2006

What happened to the Digital Divide?

Not having hardware, or not having access to hardware is no longer an issue:

African-Americans are steadily gaining access to and ease with the Internet, signaling a remarkable closing of the digital divide that many experts had worried would be a crippling disadvantage in achieving success....According to a Pew national survey of people 18 and older, completed in February, 74 percent of whites go online, 61 percent of African-Americans do and 80 percent of English-speaking Hispanic-Americans report using the Internet. Blacks Turn to Internet highway, and Digital Divide Starts to Close The NY Times, March 31, 2006

 

Blog entry March 30, 2006

Web = Truth/Truth = Web?

What does this tell you about the assertion of fact? Establishing authority? Truth?

The sleuths of cyberspace never sleep. Starting Tuesday afternoon and working through the night, a group of bloggers dissected a photo and a caption on the Web site of a Republican Congressional candidate in California, Howard Kaloogian, and declared it a fraud. Within hours, Mr. Kaloogian withdrew the picture, blamed an unnamed staff member for the blunder and apologized. The whole kerfuffle would be of no moment, except that Mr. Kaloogian posted the photo to illustrate a peaceful and prosperous Baghdad that he claims the antiwar liberals who run the so-called mainstream news media never show....The color photograph shows a bustling street corner with a variety of shops, billboards and fashionably dressed pedestrians....It turns out that the photo was taken in a suburb of Istanbul last summer by a member of a group Mr. Kaloogian led to the Middle East in support of President Bush. The unraveling of the error began on the Web log of Joshua M. Marshall (www.talkingpointsmemo.com) and a related site, www.TPMmuckraker.com. On Web, Error Is Uncovered Through Relentless Pursuit The NY Times, March 30, 2006

 

Blog entry March 28, 2006

Who determines what information really means?

Here's a social experiment that involves information systems...put official documents out in public and see who can determine what they mean:

American intelligence agencies and presidential commissions long ago concluded that Saddam Hussein had no unconventional weapons and no substantive ties to Al Qaeda before the 2003 invasion. But now, an unusual experiment in public access is giving anyone with a computer a chance to play intelligence analyst and second-guess the government. Under pressure from Congressional Republicans, the director of national intelligence has begun a yearlong process of posting on the Web 48,000 boxes of Arabic-language Iraqi documents captured by American troops. Less than two weeks into the project, and with only 600 out of possibly a million documents and video and audio files posted, some conservative bloggers are already asserting that the material undermines the official view. On his blog last week, Ray Robison, a former Army officer from Alabama, quoted a document reporting a supposed scheme to put anthrax into American leaflets dropped in Iraq and declared: "Saddam's W.M.D. and terrorist connections all proven in one document!!!" Iraqi Documents Are Put on Web, and Search Is On The NY Times, March 28, 2006

So if Ray Robison is correct, that implies that the State Department, the FBI, the CIA, etc. are incompetent and didn't find this 'smoking gun' document, i.e., they can't determine the meaning of information. Even if they deny his interpretation of the document, folks predisposed to believe in a connection between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda will believe that Robison found a connection, and the U.S. government is trying to hide it. Thus conspiracy theories will develop. Why can't we all agree on the meaning of information? Isn't that pretty simple?

 

A student writes...

Thanks for the e-mail. I just wanted to let you know that I haven't received a portfolio invitation yet...Not sure if I'm the only one, but thought I should double check to make sure that I wasn't missing anything. Thanks much, and I'm looking forward to the residency next week (crowded though it may be!)

Well, you don't get a embossed envelope in the mail, but if you log on to Catalyst (http://catalyst.washington.edu/), you should be informed (i.e., invited/alerted) that you have a portfolio tool to use.

 

Blog entry March 27, 2006

Where are the serious readers?

Reconcile these two facts and tell me what they imply for reading and writing in the 21st Century:

Do information systems create their own cultures? New literary genres? The technologies we use come back to change us?

 

Blog entry March 26, 2006

Search engines are making us dummer?

Edward Tenner argues in "Searching for Dummies" (NY Times, Sunday March 26, 2006) that the convenience of searching Google actually makes for dummer students. He wants to return to the 'good old days' of AltaVista:

In the Web's early days, the most serious search engine was AltaVista. To use it well, a searcher had to learn how to construct a search statement, like say, "Engelbert Humperdinck and not Las Vegas" for the opera composer rather than the contemporary singer. It took practice to produce usable results. Now, thanks to brilliant programming, a simple query usually produces a first page that's at least adequate -- 'satisficing' as the economist Herbert Simon called it

Since this is a course about information systems, architecture and retrieval, can we conclude that if we make retrieval harder, we'll make people smarter? Is it the case that our society is suffering because information systems are being built with 'brilliant programming'? Perhaps we need to dumb down our programmers who build our information systems so that they will create more difficult retrieval systems so that our high level of mental achievement can be maintained. Is this nonsense or what?