Compliments: Useful or Useless?

Responding to Compliments: A Quasi-Experiment

© Dan Shaw

Adv. Interpersonal Comm. Dr. Shafer Summer II 2000

This article I wrote several years ago for a communications class at SOU, I've added a postscript and posted it because the topic seems important to me today...

The ability to give compliments and to receive compliments marks a skilled communicator. (Dow). By better understanding a single speech act, we can better understand all communication (Searle). The question I chose to peruse for the purposes of this quasi-experiment is: "Do compliments elicit formulaic responses?" Knapp et al found that compliments were very formulaic, being used in specific ways regarding certain topics, phrased in a limited number of ways, and eliciting very similar types of responses. Another author, Wolfson, observed that compliments show "an almost total lack of originality". Do responses to compliments also "lack originality"? After reviewing Knapp's article, I attempt to answer this question by classifying the responses of stars receiving the Academy Award.

Knapp et al's procedure

In their article, Knapp et al review the relatively sparse literature on compliments to "establish a descriptive taxonomy for the content and form of compliments and replies to them." They also attempt to answer some other basic questions about compliments: What qualities do compliments have in common with other speech acts? Are they formulaic? Do the actor and the partner (recipient) tend to be different status or different gender? Knapp refers to the literature citing certain cultural, gender, age, and status differences in compliment usage. The authors consider the perceptions of the recipient as to whether the compliment was deserved or undeserved, and as to the motives of the complimenter.

Knapp et al conducted three studies. In all three, interviewers ask respondents to recall the exact wording of a recent compliment. In the most extensive survey, investigators gathered 768 compliments (half "given" and half "received), and the replies. Investigators also asked specific questions such as, "What compliment did you value most?" The authors coded the compliments according to several criteria; because they were concerned with the accuracy of the coding they double checked their results. By narrowing their categories, they were able to achieve better consistency in the form and content of compliments, percentages in the high 90's in most categories.

Standard content of compliments

Compliments usually reference performance, personal appearance, attire, possessions, or helping/ service. The mosted valued compliments tend to be of the whole person. Compliments usually are acknowledged. Nice and good appear to have relatively distinct usages. Nice tends to be used more with appearance and attire, and good used more with performance. For example, "Nice shoes," and "good work." Of course, these generalizations vary according to culture, status, age and gender.

Four standard forms of compliments

Compliments generally follow one of four standard syntactic structures. Here they are with examples:

1. noun phrase/ linking verb/ (intensifier)/ adjective

That shirt looks so nice.

2. I/ (intensifier) / like [or] love/ noun phrase

I really like your shoes.

3. pronoun/verb "to be" / (intensifier)/ ("a")/ adjective/ noun phrase

You are really a lovely woman.

4. (noun phrase) / (linking verb)/(intensifier)/adjective/noun phrase

"That Chinese dinner you cooked was really excellent."

The authors identified the fourth category of compliment to account for compliments which were otherwise not easily categorizable. Nonstandard forms of compliments were more likely to be misunderstood.

Four Parameters

According to the authors, compliments incorporate four dialectics; directness, specificity, comparison, and amplification. Compliments vary according to the degree that they are more direct, or more indirect.

The three other spectra are: specific/ general; comparison/ no comparison; and normal/ amplified. The authors identify four levels of amplification, from normal, to amplified with superlative and modifier.

Four Variables

I. cultural differences Complimenting has been found to be more common in the US than in Indonesia.

Americans compliment more in the context of intimate relationships, while Japanese compliment more in the context of less intimate relationships.

II. status differences Compliments tend to be given by people of higher status to those of lower status.

III. age differences Younger people tend to compliment more frequently on appearance, and are more likely to respond in kind.

IV. gender Women receive more and reciprocate more.

Responding to compliments

The recipient of the compliment will likely respond in one of several formulaic ways. Several researchers have cited the difficulty people have in receiving compliments (Knapp p. 14). "Thank you" is considered a ritualistic response acknowledging the compliment. Other responses may be less receptive; the recipient may blush or stammer, attempt to diminish the compliment by deflecting it or sharing the credit; or the recipient may ignore the compliment. Knapp's categories verbatim: ritualistic acceptance, pleased acceptance, embarrassed, tempered acceptance, return compliment, magnified acceptance, not acknowledged, soliciting information, denial. Magnified acceptance is an interesting case because it deliberately breaks the norm against self-praise. The norm of tactful, humble acceptance of compliments is perhaps best embodied by the "aw shucks" of Nashville.

Quasi Experiment: Academy Awards Recipient Speech Types

Frequency of Types of Responses

The 23 samples are recorded in Appendix A, along with the category I chose. Of the 23 samples, here are my counts by frequency. I counted some acceptance speeches in more than one category. My results would have been different had I selected just one "primary" category for each response, or if I had counted all the sharing in one category. Perhaps because of the nature of my observation, I wanted to make finer distinctions between sharing and a type of redirect which Knapp doesn't distinguish.

sharing with family = 6

humor = 6

feeling = 5

sharing with profession = 3

return compliment = 3

sharing with film crew = 2

sharing with nominees = 2

pleased = 2

not acknowledged = 2

magnified = 1

embarrassed = 1

I found that most of the celebrities shared the credit for their award, either with their profession or with their family. Knapp calls this "tempered acceptance." Turner and Edgley called this "minimizing responsibility," a type of "discounting or minimizing." I believe that sharing is distinct from tempering. Some celebs express pleased acceptance. In my opinion, this category is not broad enough to include other expressions of feeling that I saw at the Academy Awards. Many use humor, perhaps as a way to deflect the praise. Some employ a combination of forms. The recipient may share the award with the other nominees, or takes the opportunity to thank other people, family or colleagues. I found that the same words "Thank you" may be ritualized to the point of emptiness, or they may be full of authentic expression of feeling, depending much on the paralinguistics. Perhaps because we are used to identifying with actors, we are pleased when the actor is pleased. But this is also true when we compliment someone personally. Magnified acceptance is used rarely, the award being refused or not acknowledged is even more rare.

Areas for Future Research

Research on compliments poses certain difficulties, namely the virtual impossibility of designing lab experiments to garner information on naturally occurring compliments. Information regarding the frequency of compliment giving is also sparse, according to the authors. Further data on acceptance of awards would be relatively easy to obtain.

Postscript

Since writing this piece, I have Read Marshall Rosenberg’s Speak Peace in a World of Conflict: What You Say Next Will Change Your World. He outlines principles of good compliments, which are basically the same as principles of good critique. That is, say specifically what you liked (or disliked) and what you felt, not just your opinion (e.g., “that was a good poem.”) Rosenberg points out that compliments are the same type of speech as criticism.

References

Dow, M. G., S. Glaser, and A. Biglan. "The Relevance of Specific Conversational Behaviors to Ratings of Social Skill: An Experimental Analysis." Journal of Behavioral Assessment 3, 1981, pp. 233-242. (Cited in Knapp).

Knapp, Mark L. Robert Hopper, and Robert A. Bell (1984). Compliments: A Descriptive Taxonomy, Journal of Communication 34, Vol. 34 No. 4. pp. 12-31.

Searle, J. R. Speech Acts. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1969. (Cited in Knapp).

Wolfson, N. and J. Manes. "The Compliment as a Social Strategy," Papers in Linguistics: International Journal of Human Communication 13, 1980, pp. 391-410. (Cited in Knapp).

APPENDIX A

Quasi-Experiment:

"Oscar's Greatest Moments"

Academy Awards recipients and their acceptance speeches

Paul Hogan (who played "Crocodile Dundee", presenting in 1986): "Don't be too humble tonight because we have up here a second envelope. So don't get up on stage and say 'I don't deserve this award.' If you really feel you don't deserve an Academy Award just give us a wave from your seat (waving and shaking head)".

In order to study compliments, I obtained a video tape of selections from the Academy Awards. I recorded 23 responses. At the Academy Awards, the compliment comes from a select group (of "experts") rather than from an individual. The compliment is clearly in Knapp's first category, performance. The giving and receiving are of course highly ritualized. Even though my selection was limited and hardly representative, I expected that the recipients would exhibit similar responses to those observed by Knapp and his cohorts.

My observations: Quotes and categories

Recipients (Film and/or Year): Quote type

Michael Douglas: "I'd like to dedicate this award to [my family]... my parents... in particular my father..."

sharing w/ fam.

Michael Day Lewis: "You've just provided me with the makings of one hell of a weekend in Dublin." humor

William Hurt (Kiss of the Spider Woman): "I am very proud to be an actor. Thank you very much." sharing with profession

Liza Minelli (Cabaret, 1972): "Thank you for giving me this award you've made me very happy." pleased

[Narrator] "Diane Keaton shared the glory of her win... with Annie Hall". "I'm very honored to have been nominated with actresses like Jane Fonda, and Shirley Maclaine and Anne Bancroft and Marsha Mason, this is something." sharing with nominees

Sissy Spacek: "I started working on Coal Miner's Daughter with a bunch of strangers and I finished working with a bunch of friends." sharing

Meryl Streep (Sophie's Choice 1982): "I have a lot of people to thank. And I'm gonna be one of those people who tries to mention a lot of names...because I know two minutes ago my mother and father went completely beserk, and I want to give a lot of other mothers and fathers that opportunity." sharing & feeling

Shirley Maclaine: "I'm gonna cry because this show has been as long as my career." feeling & humor

Sally Field (Places in the Heart): "I haven't had an orthodox career, and I wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it. Now I feel it, and I can't deny the fact that you like me right now. You like me. Thank you." This is a particularly rich example, including many elements: pleased & feeling & embarrassed & reference to previous not acknowledged award & return compliment.

Cher (Moonstruck): "I would like to thank the women I was nominated along with because I feel really really good because they were so great. And I would also like to thank Marie Louise Streep... I feel really thankful." sharing with nominees

Jessica Tandy (Driving Miss Daisy): "I'm on cloud nine." feeling

Jack Nicholson (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest): "...last but not least my agent who about ten years ago told me I had no business being an actor" This example of magnified self-praise does not seem to fulfill the author's statement that this response tends to be used "probably... in an effort to avoid responding directly to the compliment."

Dustin Hoffman (1979): I'm up here with mixed feelings. I've been critical of the academy and for a reason. I'm deeply grateful for the opportunity to be able to work. I refuse to believe that I beat Jack Lemmon, that I beat Al Pacino, that I beat Peter Sellers. I refuse to believe that Robert Duvall lost. We are part of an artistic family. There are 60,000 actors in the Screen Actors Guild and probably 100,000 in equity, and... a few of us are so lucky... None of you have ever lost and I'm proud to share that with you." sharing with profession.

Marlon Brando violated the norm in 1972 by refusing the award through Sacheen Littlefeather: "Hello. My name is Sacheen Littlefeather and I'm Apache. President, National Native American Image Committee... He very regretfully can not accept this very generous award. And the reasons for this being the treatment of Native Americans today by the film industry..." [boos].

Vanessa Redgrave: "My dear colleagues I thank you very much for your tribute to my work." ritualized acceptance or rc?

Ann Bates (Misery 1990): "To my mom at home and my dad who I hope is watching somewhere I would like to say thank you very much." sharing w/ fam.

Art Carney (1975): "Last year I got so excited I forgot to thank a few people; this year I'm so nervous I forgot the names of the people who I forgot to thank last year." humor & sharing

Maureen Stapleton: "...my family, my friends, and everybody I ever met in my entire life." humor & sharing

Shirley Maclaine: "I'm not going to thank everybody I've ever met in my entire life. Although with the way my mind has been going lately everybody I've ever met in my entire life and in other lifetimes might have had something to do with this." humor & sharing

Whoopi Goldberg: "I want to thank everybody who makes movies... I'm so proud... thank you very much..." feeling & sharing w/ prof.

John Patrick Shanley: "I'd like to thank everybody who ever punched or kissed me..." humor & sharing

Mickey Rooney (1982): "... tonight you honor me beyond anything a man should be given, you honor me with the greatest and the highest tribute we can receive in our business..." pleased

Charlie Chaplin (1971): "Thank you for the honor of inviting me here, you're wonderful, sweet people. return compliment

APPENDIX B

My personal experiences with compliments

I have in the past found it difficult to accept compliments. I found the deflecting response useful: "Thank you for saying so." On occasion, a person has restated their original compliment in more emphatic terms, making me even more uncomfortable. I have found it useful to take a moment to 'breath in' the compliment. I may refuse the compliment because I would prefer not to be singled out among my peers and possibly subject to negative attention from my peers for being a "know-it-all" or "show-off" or for "making them look bad."

I gave a compliment to a woman on my paper route, referring to the work on her yard, "Looking very nice." This seems to follow the formula (intensifier)/ (adjective). Interestingly, this compliment (using nice) ambiguously may also refer to the owner of the yard.

I never give false compliments, as a rule. I find that if people give false compliments they lose their credibility.

Typically, receiving the compliment, "I love you," can be difficult. The cliché response is to match, "I love you, too."

When people compliment me on my poetry, I am usually dissatisfied with knowing that they liked the poem in general, I want to know what part they liked in particular. I will often ask for more information ("soliciting information"). If they say, "You're a great poet," I'm pretty satisfied that they liked a lot of parts of my poems.

I feel less than comfortable with people complimenting my possessions. Possibly because I am living on a shoestring, but I have some nice things (car, art) which I may have self-judgment about being "luxurious". When my son's friend said "Wow, you have a nice car," I just said, "Thank you." Had the complimenter been an adult, I might have deflected the compliment even more. When I first got the car, I actually told a few people that I got the car from a relative so as to deflect my projected self-judgment.

I have a friend whom I consider to be "an ingratiator". He is my peer; is particularly complimentary to me, complimenting my performance and also my whole person. I enjoy his company. After he was here last, he called to say he enjoyed my company. I returned the compliment.

Measures of Ideally Effective Communication

PhD-24jan08-5^th

By DanShaw.com

Abstract: Examines some models of ideal communication suggested by ‘new’ math and physics in order to begin to establish measures of effectiveness of communication.

Dr. Kirby posed the questions, “How effective do we want our communication to be?” and “How can we measure the effectiveness of communication?” Our initial conversation included Gordon Arthur, whose new book, Law Liberty and Church, “examines the presuppositions behind authority in the five largest Churches in England.”

http://www.ecumenist.org

We explored the possibility of presenting the same information in several formats, e.g., written-printed, verbal, audio, video with audio and without audio. Comunicatees could then be observed and / or tested in some way for various desired outcomes of the communication; outcomes could include such factors as change in behavior, change in belief-attitude, or taking a certain action, such as doing further research, talking to friends. This article seeks to explore the measures of effective communication, so that we can improve our communication, and be more certain that our communications have the effect and outcome we intend or hope for.

2-dimensional Geometric models of communication

Many 2-dimensional diagrams of communication have been described, which we will not discuss here.

3- & 4-dimensional Geometric models of communication

In his writings on the Hejera Plot®, a proposal for a socially-culturally-spiritually constructive and healing computer game, cyberneticist Yitzhak Hayut-Man describes the geometry of the relationship between the gameplayers in terms of a hypercube:

http://www.thehope.org/MAINp2.htm#publications

An Infinitely Small Period of Time

As a scientific paradigm shifts, there is a time-lag before the new model is assimilated by other sciences and by lay people. Ideally effective communication accelerates the time period of dissemination, as can be done by streaming video live through the internet, as we are doing with

http://worldportlive.com

Fractal and holographic Models of Communication: Abstract, Synopsis, Summary

It is natural to apply the laws, language, and worldview of mathematics to the liberal arts as suggested by Stuart C. Dodd in his article, “A Scientific Foundation for World Culture”:

http://www.stuartcdoddinstitute.org/dodd-worldculture.shtml

It seems just as natural to apply the new physics to the social sciences, as Dr. Richard S. Kirby has done in his various articles, some mentioned earlier.

http://www.wnrf.org/cms/drrskirby.shtml

Hence in thinking of models of ideal communication we should also bear in mind the mathematics, etc. of fractals and holograms. In the communication itself, we should see a microcosm and macrocosm in the form of an abstract or synopsis at the beginning and summary at the end. This increases the usefulness of the article, since a reader can then easily assess for themselves the contents and thus the value of the article to them at that time or perhaps for a later time.

Many-to-Many model: The Fast-Forum Technique

The Forum Foundation developed the Fast Forum® technique, which has been used “as a part of many-to-many communication groupware technology [that] allows the head-of-state to ‘talk’ symbolically to those youth and parents participating” in an exercise in direct democracy based on George Bush’s State of the Union.

http://forumfoundation.org/default.asp?pageID=53

Media Virus & Re-Visioning a Qaballistic Tarot

Douglas Rushkoff has described “Media Virus” in his book of that name, and I have attempted to realize that model in the design of a card deck that combines traditional playing cards, astrology, tarot and qaballah, inspired in part by

The Qabalistic Tarot: A Textbook of Mystical Philosophy

by Robert Wang.

Metadata: Title, Author, contact info, Date, Length, Keywords, URL

The most useful data includes extensive metadata. That would include the Title, Author, contact info, Date, Length, Keywords, URL. This also includes an effective subtitle and section titles. Metadata also includes filename and location. These principles apply to some degree no matter what one is writing, whether an article, a book, or even a link on a webpage. With metadata, more is always better.

Asking for Action: feedback

Every article should include an invitation for the reader to take some action, such as contacting the author with questions and comments, and provide contact info.

Asking for Action: subscribing

Ideally the communication should provide for a way for the recipient to be notified of new information, such as with RSS. I should determine how, if it is possible, people can ‘subscribe’ to my blog. Please subscribe to my Youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/vortexmaps

Asking for the multiplier effect

Article should include a request for readers to pass on the message. Please pass along my writings and videos to interested parties!

Multiple Streams of Dissemination

Writings and communications should strive to use as many channels as possible; these articles will be posted to my blog

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com

and I will email them to the people whom I mention, and hopefully they will email them to their friends. Ideally, I will also print them out, hand them out, and mail them, as I do with my poetry.

http://danshaw.com/verse

Asking & telling about best channels and times for communication

Do you prefer to be called at a certain time? Do you prefer email to phone or vice-versa? Do you use a certain social networking site more than others? What are the best times and channels of communication for you? I want to know. You will find it empowering to take control of your channels in this way, answering phone calls only during certain times, etc.

My preferred channels and times

You are welcome to call me anytime, Sunday through Friday. I prefer not to do work on Saturdays. You may call within business hours Pacific Time, or even later, up to about 9 p.m. if you like.

Granularity and Non-Linearity

These topics I mentioned in a previous post:

Initial Thoughts on Learning Russian, & Languages in general

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com/2008/01/initial-thoughts-on-learning-russian.html

Put simply, the usefulness of information increases as the granularity, i.e. segmentation increases. Linear media require relatively slow viewing, fast-forwarding and / or ‘scrubbing’, while digital media allow instant access to many (if not all) points, e.g., the scenes on a DVD. Hence the importance of also archiving the

http://worldportlive.com

broadcasts so that viewers can enter in at the beginning at any time of day. These criteria allow the user more rapid assessment, and access to the most useful data ‘bits’.

Evaluating This and other Writings

This article contains extensive metadata: effective title, author’s name, contact info, date, a synopsis, word-count, and keywords list, and URL. Future articles by me will have these features, and I will continue to develop an exhaustive list. Some metadata, such as length, URL, may be inaccurate or incomplete in early, working versions.

I will continue to research and write on this topic, in pursuit of my PhD in Communications Theory. I invite you to contact me with your thoughts on ideally effective communication. Please pass this article on to your friends.

Keywords:

Ideally Effective Communication; Gordon Arthur; 2-dimensional Geometric models of communication; Fast-Forum Technique of the Forum Foundation; many-to-many communication groupware technology; 3- & 4-dimensional Geometric models; the Hejera Plot®; http://worldportlive.com streaming video; Fractal and holographic Models; Stuart C. Dodd; Media Virus; Qaballistic Tarot; Granularity and Non Linearity.

Length: Approximately 1,120 words

Author:

http://danshaw.com/

danshaw19@gmail.com

URL: http://earthgrid.blogspot.com

Re-Visioning My-Your Purpose to Master Apparent Chaos

PhD-24jan08-2nd

In my last post, I described how, in a matter of a few days, I met Richard Kirby, and decided to move to Seattle to do a PhD in Communications Theory through the University of Russian (URAO). During these first few weeks, it seemed that Richard was testing the limits of my ability to absorb new information. When I mentioned this, he gave me another assignment – this was to build a ‘model city’ which would be a representation of all my diverse interests – as a way to better enjoy, systematize, and “mind-map” my projects and the PhD. At the end of this article I’ll describe how I see this ‘model city’.

Richard introduced me to dozens of people and through them I met even more people. I introduced ten of them in my last post and I will introduce you to several more in this post. Richard ‘volunteered’ me for numerous projects, and I read the two books mentioned in PhD-24jan08, The Leadership of Civilization Building and Nurturing Civilization Builders, and Nurturing Civilization Builders. The former Richard co-authored with Richard Spady of the Forum Foundation.

http://forumfoundation.org

On September 7, 2007, Forum Foundation succeeded in its sponsorship of Initiative 24, which establishes a Citizen Councilor Network for citizens to meet, discuss public issues, and provide opinions. King County Council passed Inititive 24 with a 9 to 0 vote!

http://easycitizeninvolvement.com/LatestNews

Richard introduced me to Yitzhak Hayut-Man

http://www.thehope.org/Yitzhak.htm

author of The Truth about Judas Iscariot

http://www.truthaboutjudas.com/main/index.php

I read it and am writing a review, posted at:

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com/2008/01/truth-about-judas-book-review-work-in.html

Dr. Kirby asked me to make a list twice a week of “Things Dan Wants to Know!”.

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com/2008/01/dr.html

Yitzhak studied under the “father of cybernetics”, Gordon Pask

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Cybernetics_%28Gordon_Pask%29

and will be able to help me answer some of my most pressing questions, especially regarding the use of computer games for political, social and spiritual-religious innovation.

During my brief time in Seattle, I had the pleasure to meet Kevin Cory Benedict, a great guy, super musician-performer, he brings a bit of burlesque-spirit to uplifting songs, with complex lyrics and rhymes, a vast range of styles in even one song; I immediately played some of them over and over. “She’s back!” (“It’s okay for God to Be a Girl!”) moved me to tears, and I laughed out loud at “My Friend Jesus” and “I Want to Be a Guru Too”! Enough said! Click on his site.

http://greatsong.com

Richard has made repeated reference to Olaf Stapledon, so for a start I’ll have a look at his wiki listing:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olaf_Stapledon

I began to study Russian, I’ll be researching and writing about language acquisition and English as a second language. And we discussed the nature of ideal communication, and how to measure the efficacy of education and thus improve and perfect it.

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com/2008/01/initial-thoughts-on-learning-russian.html

I had jokingly quavered, “I won’t have to learn calculus, will I?” and so Richard assigned me to read Morris Kline’s “Mathematics for Liberal Arts,” which I have begun. Richard has assigned me to read Kline’s other two books as well.

Dr. Kirby and Dr. Ellis have published “Basics of Modern Education,” under the North American University Press imprint, and I am studying that. It is a primer on New Paradigm education from the Russian perspective.

Richard asked me to read the Wall Street Journal (which I found included the Seattle Times!) with particular attention to hyper-intelligent venture capital.

Given everything that I was doing in my brief stay in Seattle, only a few of which I have listed above, I was feeling a bit mentally – and emotionally – stretched. Dr. Kirby suggested that I envision and build a ‘model village’ representing my various and diverse interests. The village would have at its conter a ‘volcano of love’ from whose apex, I could survey the surrounding landscape. I was to imagine the ‘volcano’ in numerous horizontal slices, from the divergent details of projects at the bottom to the over-arching and organizing principles at the summit. From this vantage point, the ethical principles spanning all the different areas would make sense of, and simplify the apparent chaos.

I have found such principles to be useful at earlier times in my life. My teacher, “Father Andre” had helped people in our group, “OWLS,” to identify their “path” and “point”. I recall that my path was “knowledge serving the physical.” Although to an observer this might seem impossibly broad, to me it was also narrow enough, and it made sense of what I was doing. Years later I began studying the neo-Mayan cosmology of Jose Arguelles a.k.a. Pacal Votan, called the Dreamspell. My birthday, according to this system, gave me this affirmation:

"I unify in order to know
Attracting healing
I seal the store of accomplishment
With the magnetic tone of purpose
I am guided by my own power doubled"

Again, although this self-description may seem enigmatic to a stranger, to me it makes perfect sense; this article and all my writings have an element of “seal the store of accomplishment”.

Calculate your Mayan birthday “tone, glyph, and affirmation” here:

http://www.photon.net/13moon.php

I intend for me PhD thesis to be broad enough and narrow enough to encompass all I am doing, and also focus my research, “like a laser,” as Dr. Kirby says. If you are feeling stretched to your limit, perhaps this brief article will have helped. Please let me know how I can continue to make these blog posts even more useful and effective.

DanShaw.com

danshaw19@gmail.com

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com

Initial Thoughts on Learning Russian, & Languages in general

PhD-24jan08-3rd

Having enrolled in the University of Russia's Academy of Education (URAO),

http://urao.edu

and planning to go to Moscow in late Spring of 2008, I am studying Russian.

I have obtained seven books on learning Russian, and as many audio tapes and CD’s. I will compare them, and evaluate them, as well as evaluate my own learning process, and how my language acquisition, and how language acquisition tools in general can be improved toward optimal efficiency.

At the moment, I am reading Basic Russian, Book One, by Mischa A. Fayer. I chose this book specifically because it had diagrams showing how to draw the letter forms. According to Fayer, “Russians ordinarily do not print,” and a glance at the printed Cyrillic alphabet shows why.

Need for printing large enough for a novice to distinguish similar letter forms.

Many of the printed letters (and the written letters) are quite similar, and I found that, as a novice, the type in the books was too small, especially the Phrasebook, and the dictionaries. I enlarged an alphabet chart from a book for easy reference. On-line (browser-based) and e-book language tools have the advantage over printed books in their ability to be viewed in a larger font.

Need for a ‘Complete’ Alphabet Chart.

Each book showed the alphabet in a chart that, by comparison to the others, was incomplete; I wanted a ‘complete’ alphabet chart that would show the printed upper and lower case, the script upper and lower case, as well as the pronunciation of the letter (e.g. “ess,” “Teh”), and the approximate English sound.

Fayer’s book, for example, rather arbitrarily breaks up the alphabet into seven groups; he gives the script upper and lower case letter forms, the name of the letter, the approximate English sound, and an example word, then repeats the charts with the printed form. The chart of the whole alphabet then only shows the relationship between printed and script forms.

Need for explanation of the derivation of the alphabet.

The Cyrillic alphabet is attributed to Saint Cyril, who fashioned a phonetic alphabet from elements of Hebrew and Greek. My small familiarity with these two languages is somewhat helpful, I need to have charts of these alphabets at hand, so that I can compare them and learn them better as well. Many of the letter forms are identical to their English counterparts, with similar sounds. Others are similar with different sounds, and some letter forms are not found in English.

The Cyrillic alphabet was further modified subsequently and I would like to know the exact derivation. Berlitz in Teach Yourself Russian suggests that learning the alphabet is no harder than learning shorthand, which, in a sense, it is.

I have the following audio courses: Teach Yourself Russian, © Daphne M. West (2 cassettes); Russian Language/30 © 1989 Educational Services Corp. (2 cassettes); Focus on Russian, © S.F. Rosengrant & E.D. Lifshitz; Barron’s Travel Wise Russian; Quickstart Russian (2 CD’s); Russian Lessons (unattributed) (four cassettes).

Advantages of Granularity and Non-Linearity of Digital Media & Cds on I-Pod

Of these I expect the CDs to be most useful because I have loaded them onto my I-pod and they have the advantages of any non-linear medium, that I can easily access any part without rewinding or ‘fast-forwarding’. Certain parts of audios are nearly useless, since I don’t expect to need “my hair cut, waved and set,” etc. Ability to conveniently skip the less useful bits makes any presentation much more useful.

Need for Visual Channel with Auditory Channel

I am a visual learner, and so I find myself wanting to be able to see how words are spelled when I hear them spoken. For this purpose, I enjoy watching movies that have a French language track and French subtitles. I would love to have some familiar movies with Russian language and subtitles. A few of the audio courses also come with the written script (Quickstart Russian, Barron’s Travel Wise, and Language/30) and these will be more useful than those without.

Need for a Tutor who is a Native Speaker

To best learn a language, one should have a tutor who is a native speaker of the language, to correct one’s pronunciation, and to answer questions, etc. Where can I find the community of Russian speakers in Seattle? I contacted a social services agency to see if they could refer me to any resources. Do Russian émigré’s have a place to gather in Seattle? Where do they buy Russian foods, books, etc.? The Magus bookstore in Seattle’s University district has a many shelves of Russian books; I pored over the language learning books there.

Need for Russian computer keyboard

I am one who also learns well kinesthetically, by writing, or even typing notes. For this, a student needs access to Russian computer fonts at least, and at best a Russian computer keyboard.

Need for a list of cognates

The romance languages (in particular, English, French, and Spanish, with which I am familiar in descending order) have a large number of words which are essentially the same in more than one language. I found it very useful to my French comprehension to have such a list at hand. I found a list of Russian-English cognates at:

http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/14/04717800/0471780014.pdf

I anticipate with great enthusiasm my time in Russia, and know that the better I know the language, the more I will appreciate my time there. I will continue to develop this line of inquiry into Techniques and Technologies of Language Acquisition as part of my PhD studies into Communication Theory. Your collaboration is invited. Please contact me with your suggestions.

DanShaw.com

danshaw19@gmail.com

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com

The Truth About Judas

Book Review -- work in progress -- by DanShaw.com

All people seem to share an archetypal longing to discover long-lost treasure, perhaps gold and jewels, perhaps ancient knowledge and wisdom. We are painfully aware that the achievements of our forefathers have been all-too-often lost and destroyed; the sunken Atlantis, the burned Alexandrian library, six of the seven wonders of the world, the Ark of the Covenant, ad infinitum. The discovery of the Nag Hammadi library in 1945, and the Dead Sea Scrolls in 1947 (and their translation and publication) focused the world’s attention and imagination on the fact that these historical treasure troves and more remain to be assimilated into our cultural heritage and zeitgeist, and the fact that the Roman Catholic Church at various times has monkeyed with, translated, edited and expurgated the books of the Bible. As a secular-Jew-turned-mystic, I have been more interested in the Apocrypha, the officially rejected parts of the Bible, than in the officially accepted parts of the Bible. So naturally the story of the discovery of a “Judas Gospel” recounted in The Truth About Judas caught my attention. It deserves consideration of not only Christians, but people of all faiths, and ‘secularists’, for we all live in societies shaped and influenced by the Abrahamic faiths, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. The Truth About Judas certainly fulfills its promise to stimulate a new consideration of the central event of the Christian era, the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus, and the role Judas played.

The name Judas, like “Benedict Arnold” has become synonymous with “traitor.” But the Judas Gospel, as one might expect, presents a contrary storyline, Judas as Jesus’ co-conspirator in carrying out a plan necessary to Jesus’ fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. The Truth About Judas examines the actual Gospel, recovered after 1600 years of obscurity, and the profoundly positive and transformative implications of the Judas Gospel.

Read more about

The Truth about Judas Iscariot

http://www.truthaboutjudas.com/main/index.php

and author Yitzhak Hayut-Man

http://www.thehope.org/Yitzhak.htm

The Truth About Judas Book Review -- work in progress -- by DanShaw.com

Dr. Kirby asked me to make a list twice a week of

Things Dan Wants to Know!

(15 January 2008)

Collaborative techniques and technologies = CT2

1. Who are at the forefront of CT2?

2. Where are they located?

3. What are they doing?

4. How can I support their collaboration; popularization and dissemination-adoption of their tools?

5. Where can people gather for democratic-collaborative dialog?

6. Who wants to implement CT2?

7. What is the full range of CT2?

8. How does one choose the appropriate CT2 for a specific occasion?

9. Who is prepared to deploy the tools of collaboration?

10. How can we make CT2 available in every city?

11. Who are our allies?

12. What are the obstacles to wide adoption of CT2? How to overcome them?

13. How can we build a temple to CT2, a “Western White House”?

14. How can we adapt Alternate reality games (ARG) and massive multiplayer online games (MMOG) to democracy and civilization building?

15. What is the trend-direction of CT2 development?

16. How can existing CT2 (e.g., Second Life) be applied to civilization building more effectively?

17. What are the current projects of Stuart C. Dodd Institute (SCDI) and how can I help? What are the priorities and ‘deliverables’ of SCDI?

18. How can I help make the results of SCDI’s research more widely known?

19. What businesses, fraternal organizations, and buildings – locations are available for “Town Hall” (chataqua) gatherings?

The Future Geography of Political, Social and Economic Innovation

What might a map of future social, etc. innovation show? As with any map, different features come into relief at different scales. We must eventually consider all scales from individual to global and extra-planetary, since 1 to the third power = 1. A proactive approach to community organizational, school, home, and office designs to facilitate many-to-many collective intelligence will catalyze innovation in all fields.

A map of present social etc. innovation at a community scale might show wireless coverage, cell coverage, hi-speed access, libraries, churches and other places of worship, other commons, wireless hotspots and internet cafes, Elks and other social clubs, to name just a few possible features. Like any map, this map would help us to get where we want to go, in this case towards a community that fosters greater innovation.

Such an “innovation map” over time would reveal interesting trends and shifts in emphasis – areas of interest – as telephone internet modems give way to cable, only to be supercede by wireless (or what-have-you). The location of innovation resources such as schools, libraries and meeting halls has profound influence ‘on the ground’ in peoples’ lives, travel patterns, habits and behaviors, and interpersonal interactions. In the past, towns were made or broken by the route of a river, railway, or highway, and as much is true of the digital divide. Consider the change in lifestyle, habits and travel patterns, profound though slowly incremental over time, with the advent of movies and movie halls, TV, drive-in movies, multiplexes, VHS and Blockbuster, TIVO, YouTube, etc. What can be learned by mapping such trends in the dissemination of information and thus innovation? Well, if the Queen has a YouTube channel… the mission of the Church and of political activists, and futurists can all be better fulfilled.

A corporation such as Barnes & Noble, E-Bay, Starbucks, Google, or Amazon could potentially transform the information landscape by franchising an internet café-innovation-newniversity in a manner that rivals or even exceeds the Carnegie library legacy. How would a corporation or other entity actually design this new infrastructure? What communities should get the first newniversities? Where should they be built precisely? What ethical precepts guide the choice? What would be an ideal design for the campus? For a room? For a “cubicle”? The computer has changed the shapes of our desks, and more subtly the shapes of our buildings, but what if a computer as “central nervous system” were to fully shape our urban design in the future, as the spine shapes the embryo? How will we humanize, design, and implement our geography of innovative human social spheres?

Space in Space

The STILP model suggests some initial implications to me for mapping innovation. In space, ironically, space is at a premium. How can we learn from STILP in designing (mapping) a Space station? Here [I] might equal efficacy as an astronaut: health, response time, dexterity, mood, acuity, etc. It seems vital to provide astronauts personal time and personal space. The Space station of the future would need “play space” free of the clutter of the station, a nearly empty space to relieve the sense of constriction in the main vessel.

The Innovative Building

Since change is constant, how can we design buildings to be innovative? The key feature of architecture is to define and enclose space, differentiating outside from inside, and interior spaces from each other. What materials and building methods are most adaptable to innovation? How can buildings respond to our new whims and activities like a Hamster Habitrail? One immediate idea seems non-load-bearing walls, moveable walls. We can anticipate that our dwelling needs will change, if not exactly how. Buildings that foster innovation are built with systems “soft-wired” so that doors, walls, windows, etc. are modular, and easily interchangeable. Rather than a room built okay for everything, good for none, or a room built for a single purpose (e.g., kitchen or audio studio), a room built for the context of innovation would provide opportunities for people to re-shape their interior spaces, to provide opportunities for people to gather and interact in innovative ways.

Innovative “Cubicle” design

The prevalence of office cubicles, and their attendant visual and emotional fatigue calls for the re-thinking of how we design personal space. A simple alternative to the cubicle would be to use a semi-circular unit, arranged in a circle. The ¾ wall could have a pocket door to provide complete privacy. Such an arrangement could obscure a person’s monitor from passers-by, while at the same time providing the computer user with sight-lines beyond the carrel to the wider room. A competition for “Concept Cubicles” based on the “concept cars show” could foster innovation in this area.

Geography of Books

Something may be learned from explicating a specific example further than the movie house – multiplex – TIVO example used earlier (to which we could add, panavision, cinemascope, etc.), let us consider books. In the context of dissemination of innovation, political, social, economic, religious and otherwise. We would also map literacy, printing presses, libraries, book shops, private collections, etc. Names like Nag Hammadi, Alexandria, Gutenberg, Gideon’s Bible and Bezos’ Kindle would loom large. My intent is to characterize the innovation ‘landscape’ in such a way that strategies and tactics for cultivating innovation can be implemented, tested, proven, and continually improved.

The Geography of books is a human geography, person, place and circumstance change. In this case literacy is the circumstance; in the broader sense we mean Biblical literacy, technological literacy, citizenship literacy, and collective intelligence.

Since S = (T;I;L;P), we need to map the circumstance in the past, present, and alternative futures, literally geographically to show where people interact with the technosphere including each other. That gives us our who-when-where. Our indicator [I], is literacy; [T]=when; L=location-where; [P]=population-person.

Consider the ridiculously abbreviated history of the book below:

Clay tablets – papyrus – scribes – literate priestly class… Renaissance – illuminated manuscripts – private libraries – wider literacy… Gutenberg… e-book – Bezos’ Kindle –Espresso Book Machine.

First we see the profound implications of the materials, paper or not. Like clay, paper has a weight, which any publisher can tell you, affects its economic geography. In other words paper is expensive to produce, ship, warehouse, ship, print, ship, warehouse, ship to distributors and end users (“readers”). Our purpose in explicating the obvious here is to draw useful parameters for our future innovation map. Looking over a map of rural libraries, we might choose a strategy called “bookmobile,” for example. But where should we take the bookmobile? Can we answer these questions in our broader context of innovation?

In our equation S = (T;I;L;P), our goal is to increase literacy of various kinds. Thus we seek to maximize the other factors, to provide a time and place to gather and reach populations of people. Population densities and travel patterns over time reflect how much time people spend at home, school, office, church, social, political, and other locations. What is our equivalent of the book? It is Opportunity. Opportunity for people to experience, model, and share innovation.

The Espresso book machine and Bezos’ Kindle each seek to free the book from the limits of paper in their own ways. What is our “paper”? In other words, what limits our dissemination of innovation? I propose that the disappearance of the commons by whatever name, in my opinion as a geographer, factors large in our equation of innovation. The revitalization of citizenship depends profoundly on, and at this time can best be created by, a re-establishment of town halls, and other non-commercial venues where people can gather. As people feel they have less time [T], the [S] situation i.e. innovativeness decreases, and political engagement decreases.

As new technologies emerge, they shape our patterns of movement and interaction, which can be usefully mapped over time. Using our movie example, when movies first came to town, people who like novelty might go to town on the day of the release, hence innovation-medium-time-location inter-twine.

Now let us consider a “Newniversity” by any name. XYZ Corp franchises a brick and mortar “storefront”, locations chosen, buildings designed, furniture arranged for innovation. What are the design criteria for locating these Temples of Tomorrow (if I can use that term)?

I would like to research the choice of location of these focal points of innovation specifically in the areas of politics, commerce, spirituality, but also as a whole.

DanShaw.com

danshaw19@gmail.com

DanShaw.com Goes to Seattle for a PhD

PhD-24jan08

My first contact with Dr. Richard S. Kirby was on 2 January. My ‘honorary Mom’, Barbara Hero had suggested I call him several days ago, but I hadn’t.

Barbara is one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met; she is the inventor of the Lambdoma keyboard, a musical keyboard based on Pythagorean harmonics, and on the “Cantor Array” of ratios. Barbara is a mathematician and artist as well.

Barbara’s site:

http://lambdoma.com

Article by Dan:

New Musical Instrument May Reveal Key to the Universe

Barbara had commended Richard Kirby highly, but I didn’t know why I was calling him. “Call him as my birthday present,” Barbara urged me, the second time. So of course I did. We had a long phone conversation, exploring ways we might collaborate on areas of common interest. To me, that is real communication, the very definition of communication includes “for collaborative action”. Several emails and another long phone call ensued. We considered collaborating on, among other things, a book on the subject of physical ecstasy, a book about presidential candidates, and Barbara Hero’s projects. Richard had so many ideas, expressed them so poetically, and was involved in so many projects! I googled him. Rev. Richard S. Kirby, PhD., World Network of Religious Futurists

http://www.wnrf.org/cms/drrskirby.shtm

author of hundreds of articles, including weekly sermons http://www.newgenius.com/religion/home.htm

Executive Director, Stuart C. Dodd Institute for Social Innovation, Seattle, Washington, USA:

http://www.StuartCDoddInstitute.org

Co-author, The Leadership of Civilization Building: Administrative and Civilization Theory, Symbolic Dialogue, and Citizen Skills for the 21st Century with Richard J. Spady. ;

http://www.wnrf.org/cms/civbk.shtml

Co-author, Nurturing Civilization Builders with Barbara Ray Gilles,

http://www.stuartcdoddinstitute.org/ncb.shtml

In an email dated 3 January, Richard wrote me:

“How would you like to do a PhD in mystical mathematics? From your Internet location...”

I wondered why Richard suggested this subject area? Perhaps he had studied my website, http://www.vortexmaps.com

Or some of my videos and writings at

http://danshaw.com

in particular,

Timesickness & Healing Calendars: A prescription for the hectic modern life.
http://www.vortexmaps.com/htmla/timesic.htm

or perhaps it was because of our introduction by Barbara Hero.

The idea of a PhD in Mystical Mathematics was enticing, it suggested that I could get my PhD for doing basically what I am already doing; researching, writing, publishing and video on what I call “sacred geometry.” I could frame my PhD in terms of “The Varieties of Geometric Experience,” an obvious allusion to William James’ Varieties of Religious Experience. For me sacred geometry is about using geometry in the service of modern alchemy. Alchemy, in the sense of perfecting the human body and psyche, modern in that I use whatever tools are available, namely my computer and video camera, and the internet, and also electronic healing devices of all sorts. What university would grant such a degree? I wondered.

University of Russia's Academy of Education (URAO), Moscow, Russia; Richard is Corresponding Professor of Mathematical and Financial Sciences and Director of the Institute for Mathematical and Financial Innovation.

http://urao.edu

Richard used the term “philosophy of math” and wrote of
A New Mathematics for a New Era

and

Future of Mathematical Sociology

http://www.stuartcdoddinstitute.org/mathematical-sociology.shtml

I would only consider a PhD if I were totally convinced that my advisor was a brilliant person, whose work is totally in alignment with mine, and with whom I could work closely for several years. I had to be assured that I could tailor the degree to suit me. I wrote:

“as long as I can earn [the PhD] outside the ivory tower! in praxis.”

And:

“I appreciate your 'new paradigm' approach I see as fitting the job to the
person (not vice versa) and have to assume the PhD you have in mind would
be equally liberating.”

I had little idea what a PhD program traditionally involves, and my program would be untraditional in any case. I should take advantage of Dr. Kirby’s areas of expertise, and align my PhD as closely as possible with his work, I thought. He encouraged me to consider what I most wanted to know. He defined a Doctor of Philosophy as a “knowledge creator,” an idea I hadn’t considered. I want to strengthen my quantitative skills, and have a degree which would place me in a strong position in the world of business administration and commerce. Considering how I could bring my BS in Geography to my PhD program, I wrote a brief article titled, “The Future Geography of Political, Social and Economic Innovation.”

Future-Geography-of-Political.pdf (see next blog post)

On Tuesday, January 8^th, I decided I would fly the next day to Seattle to meet Richard, and see if I could establish exactly what my PhD options might be. I would also meet Dr. Arthur Ellis, who would also be overseeing my PhD. Dr. Ellis is Director of the Center for Global Curriculum Studies at Seattle Pacific University:

http://www.spu.edu/depts/soe/academics/iccs/contact.asp

On Wednesday, Richard’s Leadership of Civilization Building arrived in the mail. After reading some of it I was convinced Dr. Kirby would make a great PhD advisor. I have been active as a community builder, in politics, and in striving to live a new paradigm in social relations, and I have read widely and deeply in the field; Leadership was pretty much everything I hoped it would be. To say the book is a new paradigm approach to social and political relations would be too narrow. I finally understood that to be a civilization builder, a futurist and a religious futurist means that one is indeed interested in and involved in every field of human endeavor.

Richard introduced me to Al Dolan, who offered to let me stay at his home while I was in Seattle. Al’s home is his TV studio, it turns out, he broadcasts on the internet live from his living room on Mondays at noon at:

http://worldportlive.com

Al invited me to “guest host” his show on 13 Jan 2008. Carol Hiltner spoke on “Altai, Siberia, indigenous people’s land rights”, and Cheryl Honey and Maben (?) also appeared.

Carol is President and Founder of Altai Mir University, and currently working to assure that the people of Altai are able to survey their land in the next two years, in order to retain ownership and protect it from the ravages of uncontrolled tourism.

http://www.altaimir.org

Cheryl Honey calls her work “community weaving” and her Family Support Network is “an all-volunteer effort to create a more caring, just and civil society.”

http://familynetwork.org

I am considering titling my degree, “Techniques and Technologies of Democratic Communication.” This is quite similar to the degree program I was developing at UC Davis in the 1980’s in the Community Development department, “Applying Cooperative Principles to Education.”

When Al picked me up from the airport, and I told him the nature of the PhD I was considering, he suggested I meet Jim Rough, founder of Wisdom Councils.

http://www.tobe.net/Wisdom%20Council%20stuff/WisdomCouncil.html

I had heard much of Jim Rough through my involvement with Reuniting America, an organization doing great work “Engaging Across the Divides” through trans-partisan dialogue.

http://reunitingamerica.org

I called Jim, and he invited me to guest host his show, Society's Breakthrough!

http://www.societysbreakthrough.com/theJimRoughShow.html

Jim calls our episode on 16 Jan 2008 “a pivotal video.” It is posted at

http://www.veoh.com/videos/v3290737aFZxjpMm

Al introduced me to Prisis Wright, a Seattle activist. Prisis advocates for corporate greed, “fee” speech, and multinational corporate dominance.

http://maxibucksinc.com

Prisis invited me to the Seattle Eco-April Open Space Meeting. In April, many organizations, political, social, and otherwise, will be holding events, and by gathering for an open space meetings, these diverse organizations intended to address the question, “What can we do together that we can’t do alone?”

http://www.wiserearth.org/forum/view/ecoaprilMF

I have heard of the “Open Space” format for meetings, but I hadn’t experience it, so naturally I wanted to know:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Space_Meeting

The Seattle Eco-April Open Space Meeting was hosted by Interra and

Wiser Earth. Interra’s Community Card programs help locals keep their money local, boosting local business and the local economy.

http://www.interraproject.org

I interviewed Janine Michelsons about the program, and the video will soon be posted at my youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/vortexmaps

Wiser Earth, co-hosted the Open Space meetingy. Their community directory and networking forum “serves the people who are transforming the world”:

http://www.wiserearth.org

On the way to the meeting, we met Michelle Copeland, also a producer of inspirational films:

http://livingwellsanctuary.com

About 50 people attended the meeting. Patricia Anne Davis born of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw to the Ta chii’ nii clan (“Red Running into the Water”) said a prayer and blessing. Her ceremonial name is “one who greets the enemy with peace” or “peacemaker.”

http://www.nativeamericanconcepts.com

Later in the day I interviewed her; I will post the film at my youtube channel.

After very brief individual introductions, we shared information about which organizations were planning events in April.

Then, everyone had a chance to suggest a topic for the smaller dialogue groups, one before lunch and one after. Each person wrote their topic on a piece of paper, to be posted on the ‘agenda wall’. The convener suggested that we phrase our topic as a question. My topic was “How can we use YouTube.com to further our dreams and visions?” About 10 people attended our dialogue:

http://www.wiserearth.org/forum/view/7bf1024c4c54e383c95e5fa7dc724291/group/ecoapril

In between everything else going on in Seattle, I met with Dr. Ellis and enrolled in the University of Russia's Academy of Education. My studies will include a month or two in Moscow, giving some lectures on various topics. I began studying Russian immediately. My heritage is Russian, and I suspected that I would take naturally to the language, especially since about a year ago I had a dream in which, I am convinced, several men were speaking Russian.

In the coming months and years, I will be documenting my research and learning with an almost-daily journal. Although the purpose of these writings is academic, I will endeavor to write in as ‘popular’ a style as possible, especially since part of my thesis involves the dissemination and popularization of knowledge.

I invite you, dear reader, to join in collaboration with me, following my progress, and suggesting fruitful areas for research, important contacts, etc.

Au revoir,

DanShaw.com

danshaw19@gmail.com

http://earthgrid.blogspot.com

Hedronists: Geometry with an Edge

Geometry holds within it the power to transform us. Some friends and I who share an interest in all things geometric have joined together to discover what we might create ensemble. We wish to invite all others to co-create an event featuring geometries of all sorts, especially ‘transformative geometry,’ an experience of geometry with which we interact and are transformed. You are the key ingredient in helping realize this vision of a new sort of an event, an event that is more collaborative, creative, and surprising than we can imagine. We seek input from every side.

We imagine this event not as a conference in the old model, with lectures, but instead a gathering where we share on many other levels as well, more than information, the experience.

We seek a location with geometric architecture. At what location or locations should we hold the event?

Who would you invite to the Hedronists’ Ball? We need your suggestions.

Do you have a Geometric multi-media art installation to exhibit?

Would you help organize the event?