the future of km

KM – does it have a future?

Professor Paul MahargGlasgow Graduate School of Law

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presentation

Two modest proposals Medieval KM Information visualisation

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two modest proposals...

1. KM has a ancient lineage we can still learn from2. KM’s future digital toolset must be more embodied and

intuitive – for clients as well as lawyers

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manuscript writing: the early context, pre-12th century

1. Materials Wax tablets Tally sticks Paper Parchment or vellum

2. Forms of writing Different hands, thickness of line,

height of letters Early medieval scripts included scriptio continua –

theexperiencewasratherlikereadingthisnottoodifficultthougheasierifyoutryreadingunderyourbreathalsocalledsubvocalisationwhichiswhatalotofscribestendedtodowhenreadingandwritingandofcoursenomodernpunctuation

3. Punctuation Marks were used at different heights in lines, eg ‘diple’ or

arrowhead (for quoting scripture), hedera or ivy leaf for start of quotations, and 7-shaped mark (end of section)

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the 13th centuryscholarly text

Writers used alphabetisation,arabic numerals, chapter divisions,rubrics, capitals, paraph marks,running titles

Used compilatio – compilation ofextracts of works of authorityor auctoritas, chosen byhierarchies of compilators

‘The late medieval book differs more from its early medieval predecessors than it does from the printed books of our own day. The scholarly apparatus which we take for granted – analyticaltable of contents, text disposed into books, chapters, and paragraphs, and accompanied by footnotes and index -- originated in the applications of the notions of ordinatio and compilatio by writers, scribes, and the rubricators of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries.’

M.B. Parkes (1976), The Influence of the Concepts of Ordinatio and Compilatio on the Development of the Book, in Medieval Learning and Literature: Essays Presented to R.W. Hunt, edited by J.J.G. Alexander and M.T. Gibson, Oxford UniversityPress, 66

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workinggloss...

Primary texturain the central two columns

Glossa or commentary surrounded them,sometimes signed with glossator’s initials

Corpus iuris civilis, c.1285-99, Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library UCB 130:f1200:10, http://tinyurl.com/6y5bva

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workinggloss...

1. Primary texturain the central two columns

2. Glossa or commentary surrounded them, sometimessigned with glossator’s initials Corpus iuris civilis, c.1285-99,

Berkeley, University of California, Berkeley, Bancroft Library UCB 130:f1200:10, http://tinyurl.com/6y5bva

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gloss structure and effect

Glossators corrected textura,commented on sources, added othersources, and discussed hypotheticals

Glosses were in constant flux, a betterone replacing a poorer one in the compilation

The effect is one of respectful criticism, a dialogue on the page that’s full of information, very mobile, flexible,highly practical, very memorable.

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example gloss:Gratian’s Decretals

3,800 texts or capitulae, broken down into topoi or distinctiones that posed interlocking sets of questions about legal situations

Around this complex & lengthy text, a gloss arose: Johannes Teutonicus, canon of Halberstadt, c.1215 Revised by Bartholomeus of Brescia, mid-13th century,

and later

Memory and understanding of the page is critical:‘the glossed format seems deliberately designed to present memorable variations of letters [...] colours, for each page is unique. [...] Clearly, they were used to form a visual cue to the sort of text with which one was dealing.’

Carruthers, M. (1998) The Craft of Thought: Meditation, Rhetoric and the Making of Images, 400-1200, Cambridge University Press, 215-16

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example of Gratian’s primary text…

Now natural law similarly prevails by dignity over custom and enactments. So whatever has been either received in usages or set down in writing is to be held null and void if it is contrary to natural lawSo, Augustine says in Confessions, III, viii:[quotation ...]Also, Pope Nicholas wrote to Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims:[quotation]Also, Augustine, in On One Baptism [...][quotation]Also, Gregory wrote to Guitmund, bishop of Aversa:[quotation]Also, Augustine in On Baptism [...][quotation]Also in On Baptism [...][quotation]Also, Cyprian to Pompey in the letter against Stephen:[quotation]Also, to Caecilian, in Letters, II, iii:[quotation]

Thus it is obvious that custom is subordinate to natural law.

Gratian (1993) The Treatise on Laws with the Ordinary Gloss, trans. A. Thompson & J. Gordley, Washington, DC, The Catholic U. of America Press


So it appears that something is possessed not by divine law but by human law alone. To the contraryisC.23 q.7c.1, where it says that something is possessed by divine law. But this is not contrary because it says there that all heresy may be raisedagainst a claim for restitution. Note that it is not licit for a heretic to possess anything. C.23 q 5 c.35; C.23 q.7 c.1; C.23 q.7 c.2. Also, it may be argued from this text that when there is a claim for restitution, we must ask by what law the claim is made: by an interdict or by the authority of the court. Also, a claimant is obliged to explain the basis of his claim and what action is brought under canon law. X 2.1.15; X 2.3.3, notwithstanding X 2.1.6. The solution, I believe, is that the basis and the kind of action must be given so that the judge can make a decision according to the kind of action. X 5.3.31. Nevertheless, one is not compelled to specify an action, for according to [civil] ordinance the basis alone is sufficient. Cod. 6.33.3. Bar. Gratian, (1993) The Treatise on Laws with the Ordinary Gloss, trans. A.

Thompson & J. Gordley, Washington, DC, The Catholic U. of America Press

example of a gloss...


glosses, web 2.0 & KM

The internet creates new forms of communications & archives

They share many of the qualities of a gloss: Links + contiguous information are crucial Commentary creates community Marginal texts attach to central

What is affected? Everything related to KM: Nature of communication &

collaboration Archiving & retrieval of knowledge Textual authority & versioning


Web 2.0 as medieval cross-over…

Blogs as glossed commentary, but much more interactive, using comment postings, trackbacks, permalinks, RSS.

Wikis as glossae, shifting and constantly amended by a community of practice.

New forms of reading on mobile platforms, eg PDAs, phones, etc – eg RSVP: contemporary forms of scriptio continua

Social software, eg Furl, del.icio.us, Google Earth, Picasa, Flickr, that can develop community

Webcasts / podcasts for iPods – downloadable as .mp3 files


In these three examples compare: Graphics Finding devices Data organisation Informational structure


Standard classroom c.1908. Would you like to learn about measurement and volume this way?

Thanks to Mike Sharples,http://tinyurl.com/6bzdgx


Or this way? (Dewey’s Laboratory School, U. of Chicago, 1901) http://tinyurl.com/6onvjp


Would you like to learn about history and town planning this way?


Or by building a table-top town for a social life history project? (Dewey’s Lab School, http://tinyurl.com/59c93q)


Now we can build virtual spaces in virtual worlds…


… or be immersed in virtual spaces that represent the real world…


knowledge should be human & embodied...

Ddsaasdf

http://www.perceptivepixel.com/

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/129


what is affected by the digital domain?

Issues central to KM and learning...

Nature of communication & collaboration Archiving & retrieval of knowledge Textual authority & versioning

... and which were so crucial to the development of glossed texts in the thirteenth century.


two modest proposals, and a question...

1. KM has a ancient lineage we can still learn from2. KM’s future digital toolset must be more embodied and

intuitive – for clients as well as lawyers

KM has many futures: which will you choose?

‘So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.’Scott Fitzgerald, The Great Gatsby


the future will happen anyway, won’t it?

‘What scandalized the serious scholar Erasmus (as it fascinated Dürer) was the fact that, not much more than half a century after the first appearance of the printed book, demand had turned it into a product beyond the control of the scholars and specialists. The book had taken over as the transmitter of European written culture, before scholars and educators had had time to come to terms with its power and influence.’

Jardine, L. (1996) Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance, Macmillan, 228


contact details

Email: [email protected]

Blog: http://zeugma.typepad.com

Book: www.transforming.org.uk

These slides at: www.slideshare.net/paulmaharg

Address: Glasgow Graduate School of LawLord Hope BuildingUniversity of Strathclyde141 St James’ RoadGlasgow G4 0LU

http://zeugma.typepad.com/

http://www.transforming.org.uk/

http://www.slideshare.net/paulmaharg

the future of km

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example gloss

gloss structure

modest proposals medieval

medieval predecessors

university of california

late medieval book

bancroft library ucb

early context