WEBVTT
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Welcome to this EmacsConf 2021 talk
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on Emacs as Design Pattern Learning.
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I'm Greta Goetz, and this talk
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is for people who are interested
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in thinking about Emacs
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as a tool that's sophisticated enough
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not only to cope with activities and tasks,
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but also sophisticated enough
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to cater to a complex assemblage
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of [not just] tasks and activities,
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but also people, outcomes,
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as well as tools.
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This is a definition of epistemic fluency
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from a work by Markauskaite and Goodyear
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that is relevant to us
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if we're interested in
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learning how to learn [and]
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how to continuously iterate knowledge
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to fit changing complex specific contexts.
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Some software oversimplifies.
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Emacs both helps users
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implement design pattern learning
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that can cope with complexity,
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and it models complex design pattern learning.
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So, what do we mean by design patterns?
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The term comes from design theorist and
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architect Christopher Alexander,
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whose work influenced
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a broad variety of disciplines.
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I'll be drawing on a work in programming
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by Richard Gabriel, and in pedagogy,
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by Peter Goodyear.
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What are design patterns?
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They are patterns of micro solutions
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combining method and artifact,
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and macro solutions
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of these micro patterns
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when viewed together.
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This approach allows for the
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specialization, customization,
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extension, and reuse of patterns.
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This is useful if we're seeking to
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deal with complexity. It helps extend
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the assemblage of learning components
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that we have, without having to build
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from scratch.
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Another important feature
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of design patterns
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and their relevance to Emacs
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is the human-centeredness.
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Christopher Alexander critiqued
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the mechanical
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and championed the human place.
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Emacs, too, champions the human place.
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So why Emacs and design learning?
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One reason is indeed this extensibility
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through Emacs, which allows a person
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to extend their learning and use of Emacs
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as far as they wish to take it.
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This is thanks to its free software core,
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and this permits what we call
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in networked learning
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'e-quality' [cf. Beaty et al.],
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which is to say,
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the opportunity to co-create knowledge.
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So if one wishes to extend
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their learning trajectory with Emacs
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such that they're able to
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write packages for Emacs,
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if these packages become part of the core,
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they're really co-creating knowledge
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within the community
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and extending the capabilities of Emacs.
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Emacs can also be considered
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in terms of design pattern learning,
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because it can be used
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for different purposes.
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This is true even at the very basic level
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of Emacs functionalities,
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which is a point
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that should really be stressed.
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So even newcomers coming to Emacs
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who don't know programming
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can do a very broad variety
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of different things with their Emacs,
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using these basic functionalities:
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for example, simply by customizing
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the language variable
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in the initialization file.
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This, thanks to the powerful Emacs Lisp
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interpreter, makes it possible for one
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to do a wide variety of different things
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within Emacs: from making graphs
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to exporting in LaTeX.
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And also part of the Emacs basic
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functionalities are
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how we can cycle through
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different tasks and texts very easily
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through buffer cycling,
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or how within Org we can use tree outlines
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that can hierarchize the material
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that we're working with
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and even change a headline
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into a to-do. So we see this extensibility,
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this flexibility. Also, within Org,
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we can see how by writing
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just a few lines of code
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such as through header arguments
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or code blocks, we can change the way
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in which a file,
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or part of a file, is executed.
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An illustration of what this means
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to the beginner would be how easy it is
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to export a LaTeX file,
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so one doesn't even need to know
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all of LaTeX to be able to implement
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parts of LaTeX within Org. So this
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variety of different purposes, then,
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can be experienced by the beginner.
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Emacs is also an example
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of design pattern learning
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because it is a design pattern
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of learning itself.
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Here we're thinking about design patterns
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as a visual representation.
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We can think of how systems of systems,
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which Emacs is an example of,
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stem from a successful center,
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and 'this center is surrounded
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by a boundary which is itself
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made up of centers' [Gabriel].
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So, where we have Emacs at the center,
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we also have packages such as Magit.
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Magit can be viewed as a center
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unto itself. However, this center
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only exists thanks to the center
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of the center, which is Emacs.
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And thus we speak of Emacs
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as being a successful design pattern
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implementation [cf. Gabriel].
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And why do we care about
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design pattern approaches? Here, well,
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what I'm trying to say is that
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this is useful to the person
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who is interested in being able to
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more efficiently cope with
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complex and specific situations,
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and this design pattern allows for this
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because of its extensibility,
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because we can find these specializations
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or customizations that are able to reach
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these changing contexts [that we seek to interact with].
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This can be compared with
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other software applications
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that are prefabricated
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so they already decide
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what it is a person is going to do
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when they use them.
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This also means that what they're doing
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within these applications
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can get stranded there,
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that it's harder to integrate
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their knowledge or their texts
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or their activities
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with each other.
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A lot of software also makes assumptions
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on who their users are. We know that
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we speak in user experience design
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of the 'customer journey' or of 'personas',
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and very often, then,
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the customer journey is pre-designed.
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But within Emacs, we can be
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our own persona.
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Practical use of Emacs
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can also make non-programmers
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into programmers.
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So this is to say that
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as we are using Emacs,
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we can continue to develop
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as far as we wish.
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Therefore we are not only users
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within Emacs, but we are also
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creative persons and producers.
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So here I am citing work by ivan Illich.
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We can further contribute
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to the evolution of the rules of Emacs.
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To draw on Bernard Stiegler,
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if I may also make an analogy,
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within our inits, we contribute to
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the evolution of the rules
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according to which our Emacs works for us.
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But again, if we're extending
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our learning trajectory,
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and if we write a package,
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and the package becomes part of the core,
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we do indeed contribute to the evolution
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of the rules of Emacs.
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But because it stems
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from our personal use
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and our personal customizations,
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we can think of it as being
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a personal toolkit [cf. Stallman].
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So this design pattern iteration approach
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to Emacs is the very reason
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why it is that we can customize it
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to our own liking,
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and using Emacs to extend our freedom
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then helps us to develop heuristics.
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It helps us develop our decision-making,
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our problem-solving
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and responsibility for what it is
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that we're doing,
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and these skill sets
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are extensible beyond Emacs.
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These can be considered as life skills
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that have relevance beyond.
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This is a very good example
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of why it is that being exposed
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to complex assemblages
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matter to us as human beings.
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It's good training ground for life.
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But it's also important
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for a very basic pedagogical point.
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So now I'm going to draw on work
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by Hélène Trocmé-Fabre,
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who explains that
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reduced and poor contextualizations
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flatten communication.
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So, for example,
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within the field of software,
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if we are using an application
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that only asks us to swipe left or right,
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this deprives us of our ability
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to respond in a more sophisticated way.
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By contrast, by being exposed
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to a rich contextualization within Emacs,
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we are learning to contextualize,
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which Trocmé-Fabre says is the first step
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in learning how to learn.
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So we can understand
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just how important it is
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to be exposed to complexity.
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It's not just a mere
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intellectual exercise,
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but it is indeed how it is
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that we begin to learn.
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If this sounds too abstract,
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maybe we can step back for a moment
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and think about visualizing Emacs
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as a mental map. So here, too,
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I'm going to draw on Trocmé-Fabre,
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and she is building her ideas
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on those of Tony Buzan,
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who was the popularizer of the mind map.
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So mind maps begin with a core,
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which with Emacs is the Emacs core,
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which now includes Org.
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They extend outwards from the core
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through relational codes.
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And then through keywords and cycling,
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mind maps function to bring out
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further ideas, and this may be
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the experience you've already had
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with your Emacs. Then finally,
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these mind maps extend outwards
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at the periphery.
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In thinking about how this applies to Emacs,
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we can think about how yes, indeed,
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we all share the same core,
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but then we extend this core outwards
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into our personal configurations.
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So this is the social moment,
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but this social moment
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is integral to Emacs
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because Emacs fully achieves its meaning
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when it is being applied, extended,
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and customized in this way.
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Further, these social branches
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are relevant to the continuation
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of learning how to learn how to use Emacs.
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So for example, we may have
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our first configuration file,
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and then we might want to compare it
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with other people's configuration files,
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not only to see what code they're using,
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but also to see how it is that they are
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implementing certain functionalities
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within their workflow.
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So along these lines, then,
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descriptive configuration files
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are extremely helpful.
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This map, then, of Emacs
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can be considered as a
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frontierless heuristic schema,
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borrowing from Trocmé-Fabre.
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Frontierless, because we can extend
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our use of Emacs as far as we want.
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Heuristic, again, because we're using it
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to solve problems, etc.
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This is a free system that extends
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following our own 'paths of desire',
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if I can use that phrase from design.
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So it's following our own 'paths of desire',
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but yet it is a shared tool,
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so this is an idea of the convivial tool
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to draw on Ivan Illich.
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Emacs is itself
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a design pattern framework,
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so we can visualize this
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through the mind map,
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but we can also go back to thinking about
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how Christopher Alexander's work
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inspired Richard Gabriel
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to think about systems of systems
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within software. And he,
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drawing on Alexander,
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says, well, there is such a thing
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as a "being" of successful software,
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if it succeeds in being
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a center of centers,
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as we saw before.
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So in Emacs, then, we have a system
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that's made up of other systems
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of 'communicating components
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that work together
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to provide a comprehensive set
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of capabilities that can be customized,
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specialized, and extended
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to provide more
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or slightly different capabilities' [Gabriel].
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So if we're not finding what we need
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within the core, we can look for packages
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that allow us to extend in a certain way,
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or we write our own,
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or we begin to write in Emacs Lisp.
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And speaking of personal customizations,
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Emacs can be considered as an extension
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of the as yet unfulfilled promise of
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general computing.
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In the 1980s, Michael Crichton wrote
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that it's easy to use computers, which is
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fortunate because everyone's going to
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have to learn.
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It's not easy to use computers wisely,
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which is unfortunate because
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everyone's going to have to learn.
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Emacs is wise computing
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because everyone's Emacs is their own.
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We see that it is an exercise
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in heuristics, but while it is complex,
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at on some level, we want to remember
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that it can be used easily by anybody,
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as often or as seldom as they want,
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for the purpose that they are choosing,
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and shaped according to their own taste.
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So again I'm drawing on Ivan Illich here.
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Emacs then champions the human place
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and is a support in our learning
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how to learn.
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So now I want to think about
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being inspired by the Emacs design pattern
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and comparing what I think
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I've learned about how Emacs works
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with some research that has been done
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by Philip Guo and his colleagues
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about how technology is being used
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in certain online teaching contexts.
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Researchers continue to note
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how the modes of delivery of content
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continue to change in terms of
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what is considered effective
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and what is not.
13:59.600 --> 14:02.000
The talking head was considered effective,
14:02.000 --> 14:05.360
for example. Lectures needed to be
14:05.360 --> 14:07.760
broken down into shorter segments.
14:07.760 --> 14:11.360
But I would say that by using Emacs
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and by working within the Emacs ecosystem,
14:14.320 --> 14:16.519
one is already used to
14:16.519 --> 14:18.959
're-presenting' one's knowledge
14:18.959 --> 14:20.800
in a variety of different ways.
14:20.800 --> 14:22.320
So if we are called tomorrow
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to deliver in a different way,
14:24.240 --> 14:26.240
we're already used to
14:26.240 --> 14:28.399
thinking about this within Emacs.
14:28.399 --> 14:30.639
So, for example,
14:30.639 --> 14:32.399
merely by changing a header argument,
14:32.399 --> 14:34.880
one can change the way in which
14:34.880 --> 14:36.480
text in a file is executed,
14:36.480 --> 14:39.600
so we see then this easy iteration
14:39.600 --> 14:42.160
within Emacs. We can also think about
14:42.160 --> 14:45.760
how Emacs can be considered in terms of
14:45.760 --> 14:49.839
a help for developing rhetorical 'topoi',
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'topoi' being places where we find things,
14:52.240 --> 14:54.480
places where we find ideas,
14:54.480 --> 14:56.320
because we can circulate
14:56.320 --> 14:58.959
among the different tasks and texts
14:58.959 --> 14:59.920
that we are working on
14:59.920 --> 15:01.920
within Emacs seamlessly.
15:01.920 --> 15:04.000
This increases the likelihood
15:04.000 --> 15:07.519
that we can gain inspiration
15:07.519 --> 15:11.440
from the collage of different ideas
15:11.440 --> 15:14.079
that bring out new ideas.
15:14.079 --> 15:14.959
At least this is how
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I've experienced Emacs,
15:16.160 --> 15:19.279
if I may add that anecdotal observation.
15:19.279 --> 15:22.480
And speaking of bringing out ideas,
15:22.480 --> 15:26.079
we see how changing Emacs functionalities
15:26.079 --> 15:27.680
can help us bring out ideas
15:27.680 --> 15:30.079
for example, through how we can
15:30.079 --> 15:32.000
use PlantUML easier today
15:32.000 --> 15:35.519
than ever before, so we can now include
15:35.519 --> 15:38.880
mental maps within our Emacs files
15:38.880 --> 15:40.800
if we want to, but also
15:40.800 --> 15:45.120
if we're thinking about Emacs helping us
15:45.120 --> 15:47.600
both remember the material
15:47.600 --> 15:48.719
that we're working with
15:48.719 --> 15:50.000
and 're-present' it,
15:50.000 --> 15:51.040
we can think of it
15:51.040 --> 15:53.120
in terms of its archival functions,
15:53.120 --> 15:54.880
So we can see an example of this
15:54.880 --> 15:57.040
in Sacha Chua's init,
15:57.040 --> 15:59.120
where she is using Emacs
15:59.120 --> 16:02.399
to manage her recent sketches.
16:02.399 --> 16:03.839
This would be really useful
16:03.839 --> 16:06.000
for implementation
16:06.000 --> 16:08.160
in terms of what the researchers
16:08.160 --> 16:10.480
(Philip Guo and his colleagues) discovered
16:10.480 --> 16:12.656
with regards to how today
16:12.656 --> 16:14.880
Khan-style slides are considered
16:14.880 --> 16:17.920
more effective than traditional slides,
16:17.920 --> 16:20.160
because if one is able to integrate
16:20.160 --> 16:21.519
the other kinds of sketches
16:21.519 --> 16:23.680
that one has been doing within Emacs -
16:23.680 --> 16:25.999
and therefore have them at hand
16:25.999 --> 16:27.999
more easily, it would be easier to
16:27.999 --> 16:30.800
're-present' this material as needed
16:30.800 --> 16:33.600
in the ever-changing context of the classroom.
16:33.600 --> 16:35.519
We can see from this example
16:35.519 --> 16:38.320
of Sacha Chua's init that we learn
16:38.320 --> 16:39.999
by following the traces
16:39.999 --> 16:41.998
left by others in the community.
16:41.999 --> 16:43.279
So we were saying then that
16:43.279 --> 16:45.040
Emacs extends outwards
16:45.040 --> 16:46.479
through these social branches,
16:46.479 --> 16:48.560
and indeed we can speak
16:48.560 --> 16:50.640
of the grammar of interaction,
16:50.640 --> 16:52.320
that we benefit from by being
16:52.320 --> 16:54.720
a member of the Emacs community.
16:54.720 --> 16:56.960
And this wonderful phrase comes to us
16:56.960 --> 16:58.880
from a book that was co-edited
16:58.880 --> 17:01.736
by our very own former Org father,
17:01.736 --> 17:03.680
Bastien Guerry, in an interview
17:03.680 --> 17:05.359
that he led with Nicolas Gaume [Andler & Guerry].
17:05.359 --> 17:07.040
Nicolas Gaume was explaining
17:07.040 --> 17:10.640
how in video games, we see our character
17:10.640 --> 17:12.160
and compare our character
17:12.160 --> 17:14.160
to other characters,
17:14.160 --> 17:16.080
and we watch how other characters
17:16.080 --> 17:17.040
make decisions,
17:17.040 --> 17:19.040
and the outcomes of these decisions,
17:19.040 --> 17:21.440
and their trajectories in the game,
17:21.440 --> 17:23.119
and then we compare where we are
17:23.119 --> 17:24.720
with respect to this,
17:24.720 --> 17:27.119
and by having this comparison,
17:27.119 --> 17:29.840
it helps us chart out our own path.
17:29.840 --> 17:31.280
So we can experience
17:31.280 --> 17:32.800
this grammar of interaction
17:32.800 --> 17:35.200
within Emacs every time we compare
17:35.200 --> 17:38.720
our config with that of others.
17:38.720 --> 17:41.760
Emacs further champions the social element
17:41.760 --> 17:43.920
through co-individuation, which is
17:43.920 --> 17:46.880
a term coined by Bernard Stiegler.
17:46.880 --> 17:48.720
This means the meaning that is known
17:48.720 --> 17:50.960
and shared by other individuals.
17:50.960 --> 17:52.560
What is it that we know and share
17:52.560 --> 17:54.560
within Emacs? It is how to
17:54.560 --> 17:55.600
improve our lives
17:55.600 --> 17:57.280
through customizing Emacs
17:57.280 --> 18:00.479
in specific ways. So if one person
18:00.479 --> 18:03.040
reaches the apotheosis
18:03.040 --> 18:04.239
of individuation,
18:04.239 --> 18:05.920
and they're living the life
18:05.920 --> 18:07.760
they dreamed of
18:07.760 --> 18:08.960
through their Emacs use,
18:08.960 --> 18:10.720
they can share this information
18:10.720 --> 18:11.680
with somebody else
18:11.680 --> 18:14.320
who too can come to realize themselves
18:14.320 --> 18:15.920
in this way.
18:15.920 --> 18:17.280
Without the social milieu,
18:17.280 --> 18:18.880
without this attention
18:18.880 --> 18:21.040
to the human element,
18:21.040 --> 18:23.600
the technical milieu inevitably becomes
18:23.600 --> 18:24.414
a negative externality
18:24.414 --> 18:25.760
[which is a philosophical problem].
18:25.760 --> 18:27.840
Here I'm drawing on Bernard Stiegler.
18:27.840 --> 18:29.680
What does this mean? This means
18:29.680 --> 18:32.400
where knowledge becomes automaticized,
18:32.400 --> 18:33.760
it becomes a closed
18:33.760 --> 18:36.560
and self-referential system.
18:36.560 --> 18:39.520
Because it's self-referential and closed,
18:39.520 --> 18:41.999
there is no need for any human input,
18:41.999 --> 18:43.600
so the human within this system
18:43.600 --> 18:46.080
turns into a servant.
18:46.080 --> 18:50.800
By contrast, by using human-centered Emacs,
18:50.800 --> 18:53.520
we are able to take care of our neighbors.
18:53.520 --> 18:55.840
We can write extensions for them.
18:55.840 --> 18:58.560
We can help each other on the forums.
18:58.560 --> 19:00.800
We can even teach just one more person
19:00.800 --> 19:02.640
how to use Emacs.
19:02.640 --> 19:04.880
And this idea comes from Ivan Illich
19:04.880 --> 19:06.800
who extends it to say
19:06.800 --> 19:08.880
that by taking care of our neighbors
19:08.880 --> 19:09.680
in this way,
19:09.680 --> 19:11.840
this enables us to excel
19:11.840 --> 19:13.999
at using the best available tools.
19:13.999 --> 19:16.239
The tool here being Emacs.
19:16.239 --> 19:19.200
The community aspect of Emacs
19:19.200 --> 19:20.320
can also be seen
19:20.320 --> 19:22.720
in how the core of Emacs itself
19:22.720 --> 19:25.040
is evolving. So just like we are
19:25.040 --> 19:27.119
configuring and programming Emacs
19:27.119 --> 19:28.720
while we are using it,
19:28.720 --> 19:32.239
Emacs, too, continues to develop
19:32.239 --> 19:34.560
as the core expands.
19:34.560 --> 19:36.880
So in this, too, we see how Emacs
19:36.880 --> 19:39.680
is a model of design pattern learning
19:39.680 --> 19:42.320
that we can be inspired from,
19:42.320 --> 19:44.960
and the fact that people
19:44.960 --> 19:46.320
from the Emacs community
19:46.320 --> 19:49.280
are able to contribute to the core
19:49.280 --> 19:52.720
brings emphasis to the community role
19:52.720 --> 19:53.999
in this design pattern.
19:53.999 --> 19:55.440
So at the beginning, we were saying
19:55.440 --> 19:56.239
we're interested
19:56.239 --> 19:57.680
in the complex assemblage,
19:57.680 --> 19:59.520
not just of activities and tools,
19:59.520 --> 20:00.960
but also of people.
20:00.960 --> 20:03.119
So here we are talking about
20:03.119 --> 20:04.720
an 'Emacs community'.
20:04.720 --> 20:06.880
This is also thanks to
20:06.880 --> 20:08.560
the selfless work of people
20:08.560 --> 20:11.999
like Sacha Chua, or blog rings
20:11.999 --> 20:13.760
such as Planet Emacs Life
20:13.760 --> 20:14.960
that bring us together
20:14.960 --> 20:16.880
so that we truly can say
20:16.880 --> 20:18.479
that there is a community.
20:18.479 --> 20:20.080
This conference is an example of this:
20:20.080 --> 20:23.440
and thank you to the conference organizers.
20:23.440 --> 20:24.880
But this community,
20:24.880 --> 20:28.640
because of the free core,
20:28.640 --> 20:30.160
allows for there to be
20:30.160 --> 20:31.119
different viewpoints
20:31.119 --> 20:32.320
within the community.
20:32.320 --> 20:33.440
One thing that I've noticed
20:33.440 --> 20:34.880
about the Emacs community
20:34.880 --> 20:36.320
is that there are sometimes even
20:36.320 --> 20:38.880
competing views within the community.
20:38.880 --> 20:40.160
This can be considered
20:40.160 --> 20:42.239
proof of concept of systems thinker
20:42.239 --> 20:44.479
and philosopher Edgar Morin's idea
20:44.479 --> 20:46.720
of a 'cognitive democracy',
20:46.720 --> 20:48.160
which is to say,
20:48.160 --> 20:50.880
a community that is nourished
20:50.880 --> 20:52.320
by antagonisms
20:52.320 --> 20:55.840
while also regulating them.
20:55.840 --> 20:57.280
The "being" of this
20:57.280 --> 20:58.560
very special community,
20:58.560 --> 21:01.119
then, very importantly,
21:01.119 --> 21:03.920
stems from how at the center,
21:03.920 --> 21:05.999
we have free software
21:05.999 --> 21:08.720
that allows for this range of difference
21:08.720 --> 21:11.440
and range of extensibility to exist
21:11.440 --> 21:13.599
even within the community.
21:13.599 --> 21:16.880
So, by way of a conclusion,
21:16.880 --> 21:18.080
we can think of Emacs
21:18.080 --> 21:21.359
as the center of centers that expands,
21:21.359 --> 21:24.160
that is relational and free.
21:24.160 --> 21:27.280
Only in some systems, we should add,
21:27.280 --> 21:28.720
does this "being" emerge.
21:28.720 --> 21:31.040
So going back to Richard Gabriel,
21:31.040 --> 21:32.960
just to champion Emacs one more time
21:32.960 --> 21:34.400
before we say goodbye:
21:34.400 --> 21:35.599
only in some systems,
21:35.599 --> 21:36.640
some software systems,
21:36.640 --> 21:38.960
does a system succeed
21:38.960 --> 21:40.080
in becoming the center
21:40.080 --> 21:41.680
of all of the other centers
21:41.680 --> 21:43.920
and become a framework
21:43.920 --> 21:45.520
that can be used and reused,
21:45.520 --> 21:47.840
which gives systems and objects
21:47.840 --> 21:48.720
their spirit.
21:48.720 --> 21:51.520
So Emacs is being used and reused
21:51.520 --> 21:53.599
through these packages,
21:53.599 --> 21:55.119
and it gives to them their spirit.
21:55.119 --> 21:56.320
The spirit, I would argue,
21:56.320 --> 21:59.040
is in part this extensibility,
21:59.040 --> 22:01.520
and sometimes even difference.
22:01.520 --> 22:03.120
Emacs values the value [cf. Stiegler]
22:03.120 --> 22:04.240
of the freedom to create,
22:04.240 --> 22:05.680
use, and share [cf. Illich],
22:05.680 --> 22:06.960
so we can be inspired
22:06.960 --> 22:09.119
by this design pattern.
22:09.119 --> 22:11.359
It is... It rallies
22:11.359 --> 22:14.320
an autonomous designer mindset
22:14.320 --> 22:16.800
and encourages and supports us
22:16.800 --> 22:18.400
on our path towards
22:18.400 --> 22:20.960
design pattern iteration.
22:20.960 --> 22:23.359
It is not a 'flattened' contextualization.
22:23.359 --> 22:25.359
It permits ongoing learning,
22:25.359 --> 22:27.040
reassembling contexts,
22:27.040 --> 22:29.520
and an adaptable design pattern
22:29.520 --> 22:31.520
extensibility.
22:31.520 --> 22:33.200
Ultimately, it helps us create
22:33.200 --> 22:35.520
circumstances where learning is coherent
22:35.520 --> 22:37.920
with what is valued in the rest of life:
22:37.920 --> 22:41.520
pleasure, growth, and transformation.
22:41.520 --> 22:43.200
So thank you, on that note,
22:43.200 --> 22:45.280
to all of the developers, maintainers,
22:45.280 --> 22:47.119
contributors, and community
22:47.119 --> 22:48.560
for championing our freedom
22:48.560 --> 22:51.760
to co-individuate complex design patterns
22:51.760 --> 22:54.320
the way we want to, so we, too,
22:54.320 --> 22:57.359
can leave original traces, if we want to.
22:57.359 --> 23:00.003
Thank you very much.
23:00.003 --> 23:00.920
[captions by sachac]
