This section is somewhat marked in its differences when compared with the other metaphor sections. In that it represents the incomplete. The Memory Palace, the Palimpsest and the other sections have a clearly defined subject and purpose and seek to discuss clearly defined questions. This section is the flotsam and jetsam of ideas and notions that I examined as possible structures for the assignment but that were ultimately left for later investigation.
In a formal academic essay this section would simply be abandoned, given the medium I have chosen to deliver my essay I think it is a complimentary section. In the same way that the audio offers a contrast of content and style in delivery so this section offers a backdrop against which to review the work actually chosen. And I suppose should be linked to the Rules of the Game as it constitutes part of my own internal assessment process: the decision that I have taken to pursue one line of work at the expense of another.
I have not included every whim or passing idea that occurred to when I started working on the assignment; only those which I actually took some steps to investigate, and feel certain I shall return to in the future.
Chinese Whispers – I wanted to see the effect of using a wiki to deliver a text, a story or some other piece of information that could be compared to see the changes made by users both known and anonymous, and then an attempt to discuss why changes had been made and their effects on the delivery of the message.
The Imaginary Dinner Party – This is based on the question regarding whom you would want to invite to your perfect dinner party, allowing any person from history to attend. It was inspired by Richard Yeo’s article on ‘External Memory’ in which he compares Hooke, Locke and Vannevar Bush, a 20th Century inventor and their views on devices to support memory. The idea was to write the script of a chat room or discussion board in which the participants discuss the notion of an external memory addressing a number of the issues I’ve raised in the Memory Palace and Palimpsest sections. I wanted to open the discussion to include Aristotle, Kant, Ramus (a Renaissance teacher and fierce critic of Aristotelian logic) as well as Hooke, Locke and Bush then let them fight it out, flaming each other at will.
The Memory Palace 2 – I wanted to house my essay in Second Life, by actually building a memory construct along the lines of the ‘Memory Theatres’ of Robert Fludd or Giulio Camillo. Users would enter the building and find the essay components attached to the metaphorical objects. Unfortunately my familiarity with Second Life has not allowed me to get this far.
Socratic Elenchus via MSN – Following on from the representative dialogues, and skits I included in my web log I wanted to have a dialogue using the Socratic dialectic (elenchus, exetasis or basanismus) As it seems a direct way of investigating statements about the use of synchronous methods of text-based communication and at the same time illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of the same. This idea was inspired by Diana Laurillard’s Rethinking University Teaching, and by the works of Socrates.