diff options
Diffstat (limited to '')
| -rw-r--r-- | 2021/captions/emacsconf-2021-pattern--emacs-as-design-pattern-learning--greta-goetz--main.vtt | 1876 |
1 files changed, 1876 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/2021/captions/emacsconf-2021-pattern--emacs-as-design-pattern-learning--greta-goetz--main.vtt b/2021/captions/emacsconf-2021-pattern--emacs-as-design-pattern-learning--greta-goetz--main.vtt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..e070864a --- /dev/null +++ b/2021/captions/emacsconf-2021-pattern--emacs-as-design-pattern-learning--greta-goetz--main.vtt @@ -0,0 +1,1876 @@ +WEBVTT + +00:01.040 --> 00:03.520 +Welcome to this EmacsConf 2021 talk + +00:03.520 --> 00:06.160 +on Emacs as Design Pattern Learning. + +00:06.160 --> 00:08.400 +I'm Greta Goetz, and this talk + +00:08.400 --> 00:10.080 +is for people who are interested + +00:10.080 --> 00:11.679 +in thinking about Emacs + +00:11.679 --> 00:13.840 +as a tool that's sophisticated enough + +00:13.840 --> 00:17.680 +not only to cope with activities and tasks, + +00:17.680 --> 00:19.760 +but also sophisticated enough + +00:19.760 --> 00:22.560 +to cater to a complex assemblage + +00:22.560 --> 00:24.000 +of [not just] tasks and activities, + +00:24.000 --> 00:26.160 +but also people, outcomes, + +00:26.160 --> 00:27.760 +as well as tools. + +00:27.760 --> 00:31.039 +This is a definition of epistemic fluency + +00:31.039 --> 00:33.440 +from a work by Markauskaite and Goodyear + +00:33.440 --> 00:35.040 +that is relevant to us + +00:35.040 --> 00:36.320 +if we're interested in + +00:36.320 --> 00:37.600 +learning how to learn [and] + +00:37.600 --> 00:39.840 +how to continuously iterate knowledge + +00:39.840 --> 00:44.480 +to fit changing complex specific contexts. + +00:44.480 --> 00:46.719 +Some software oversimplifies. + +00:46.719 --> 00:49.039 +Emacs both helps users + +00:49.039 --> 00:50.559 +implement design pattern learning + +00:50.559 --> 00:53.360 +that can cope with complexity, + +00:53.360 --> 00:57.360 +and it models complex design pattern learning. + +00:57.360 --> 00:59.920 +So, what do we mean by design patterns? + +00:59.920 --> 01:03.120 +The term comes from design theorist and + +01:03.120 --> 01:05.199 +architect Christopher Alexander, + +01:05.199 --> 01:06.400 +whose work influenced + +01:06.400 --> 01:08.479 +a broad variety of disciplines. + +01:08.479 --> 01:11.680 +I'll be drawing on a work in programming + +01:11.680 --> 01:14.240 +by Richard Gabriel, and in pedagogy, + +01:14.240 --> 01:16.239 +by Peter Goodyear. + +01:16.240 --> 01:17.920 +What are design patterns? + +01:17.920 --> 01:20.159 +They are patterns of micro solutions + +01:20.159 --> 01:22.560 +combining method and artifact, + +01:22.560 --> 01:24.080 +and macro solutions + +01:24.080 --> 01:25.680 +of these micro patterns + +01:25.680 --> 01:27.680 +when viewed together. + +01:27.680 --> 01:29.280 +This approach allows for the + +01:29.280 --> 01:31.840 +specialization, customization, + +01:31.840 --> 01:35.600 +extension, and reuse of patterns. + +01:35.600 --> 01:37.360 +This is useful if we're seeking to + +01:37.360 --> 01:40.079 +deal with complexity. It helps extend + +01:40.079 --> 01:42.560 +the assemblage of learning components + +01:42.560 --> 01:45.040 +that we have, without having to build + +01:45.040 --> 01:46.640 +from scratch. + +01:46.640 --> 01:48.320 +Another important feature + +01:48.320 --> 01:49.520 +of design patterns + +01:49.520 --> 01:51.759 +and their relevance to Emacs + +01:51.759 --> 01:54.799 +is the human-centeredness. + +01:54.799 --> 01:57.360 +Christopher Alexander critiqued + +01:57.360 --> 01:58.320 +the mechanical + +01:58.320 --> 02:00.880 +and championed the human place. + +02:00.880 --> 02:03.439 +Emacs, too, champions the human place. + +02:03.439 --> 02:06.079 +So why Emacs and design learning? + +02:06.079 --> 02:09.679 +One reason is indeed this extensibility + +02:09.679 --> 02:13.360 +through Emacs, which allows a person + +02:13.360 --> 02:16.720 +to extend their learning and use of Emacs + +02:16.720 --> 02:18.800 +as far as they wish to take it. + +02:18.800 --> 02:22.959 +This is thanks to its free software core, + +02:22.959 --> 02:24.720 +and this permits what we call + +02:24.720 --> 02:25.843 +in networked learning + +02:25.843 --> 02:27.040 +'e-quality' [cf. Beaty et al.], + +02:27.040 --> 02:28.160 +which is to say, + +02:28.160 --> 02:31.120 +the opportunity to co-create knowledge. + +02:31.120 --> 02:32.959 +So if one wishes to extend + +02:32.959 --> 02:35.120 +their learning trajectory with Emacs + +02:35.120 --> 02:37.120 +such that they're able to + +02:37.120 --> 02:38.560 +write packages for Emacs, + +02:38.560 --> 02:41.040 +if these packages become part of the core, + +02:41.040 --> 02:43.440 +they're really co-creating knowledge + +02:43.440 --> 02:44.879 +within the community + +02:44.879 --> 02:48.800 +and extending the capabilities of Emacs. + +02:48.800 --> 02:50.480 +Emacs can also be considered + +02:50.480 --> 02:52.319 +in terms of design pattern learning, + +02:52.319 --> 02:53.440 +because it can be used + +02:53.440 --> 02:54.800 +for different purposes. + +02:54.800 --> 02:57.280 +This is true even at the very basic level + +02:57.280 --> 02:58.959 +of Emacs functionalities, + +02:58.959 --> 02:59.920 +which is a point + +02:59.920 --> 03:01.280 +that should really be stressed. + +03:01.280 --> 03:03.680 +So even newcomers coming to Emacs + +03:03.680 --> 03:04.879 +who don't know programming + +03:04.879 --> 03:07.040 +can do a very broad variety + +03:07.040 --> 03:09.040 +of different things with their Emacs, + +03:09.040 --> 03:11.760 +using these basic functionalities: + +03:11.760 --> 03:14.800 +for example, simply by customizing + +03:14.800 --> 03:15.840 +the language variable + +03:15.840 --> 03:17.923 +in the initialization file. + +03:17.923 --> 03:20.879 +This, thanks to the powerful Emacs Lisp + +03:20.879 --> 03:22.640 +interpreter, makes it possible for one + +03:22.640 --> 03:24.640 +to do a wide variety of different things + +03:24.640 --> 03:26.560 +within Emacs: from making graphs + +03:26.560 --> 03:29.360 +to exporting in LaTeX. + +03:29.360 --> 03:32.000 +And also part of the Emacs basic + +03:32.000 --> 03:34.239 +functionalities are + +03:34.239 --> 03:36.159 +how we can cycle through + +03:36.159 --> 03:38.400 +different tasks and texts very easily + +03:38.400 --> 03:40.000 +through buffer cycling, + +03:40.000 --> 03:44.640 +or how within Org we can use tree outlines + +03:44.640 --> 03:48.159 +that can hierarchize the material + +03:48.159 --> 03:49.519 +that we're working with + +03:49.519 --> 03:52.080 +and even change a headline + +03:52.080 --> 03:54.799 +into a to-do. So we see this extensibility, + +03:54.799 --> 03:57.280 +this flexibility. Also, within Org, + +03:57.280 --> 03:58.799 +we can see how by writing + +03:58.799 --> 04:00.159 +just a few lines of code + +04:00.159 --> 04:02.239 +such as through header arguments + +04:02.239 --> 04:04.879 +or code blocks, we can change the way + +04:04.879 --> 04:06.159 +in which a file, + +04:06.159 --> 04:08.480 +or part of a file, is executed. + +04:08.480 --> 04:10.239 +An illustration of what this means + +04:10.239 --> 04:12.720 +to the beginner would be how easy it is + +04:12.720 --> 04:15.280 +to export a LaTeX file, + +04:15.280 --> 04:17.040 +so one doesn't even need to know + +04:17.040 --> 04:19.199 +all of LaTeX to be able to implement + +04:19.199 --> 04:23.360 +parts of LaTeX within Org. So this + +04:23.360 --> 04:25.280 +variety of different purposes, then, + +04:25.280 --> 04:27.600 +can be experienced by the beginner. + +04:27.600 --> 04:30.400 +Emacs is also an example + +04:30.400 --> 04:32.080 +of design pattern learning + +04:32.080 --> 04:34.320 +because it is a design pattern + +04:34.320 --> 04:35.919 +of learning itself. + +04:35.919 --> 04:39.040 +Here we're thinking about design patterns + +04:39.040 --> 04:41.919 +as a visual representation. + +04:41.919 --> 04:44.320 +We can think of how systems of systems, + +04:44.320 --> 04:47.680 +which Emacs is an example of, + +04:47.680 --> 04:50.560 +stem from a successful center, + +04:50.560 --> 04:53.280 +and 'this center is surrounded + +04:53.280 --> 04:55.440 +by a boundary which is itself + +04:55.440 --> 04:57.040 +made up of centers' [Gabriel]. + +04:57.040 --> 04:59.440 +So, where we have Emacs at the center, + +04:59.440 --> 05:02.720 +we also have packages such as Magit. + +05:02.720 --> 05:04.800 +Magit can be viewed as a center + +05:04.800 --> 05:07.120 +unto itself. However, this center + +05:07.120 --> 05:09.520 +only exists thanks to the center + +05:09.520 --> 05:11.759 +of the center, which is Emacs. + +05:11.759 --> 05:14.320 +And thus we speak of Emacs + +05:14.320 --> 05:17.039 +as being a successful design pattern + +05:17.039 --> 00:05:18.799 +implementation [cf. Gabriel]. + +00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:20.880 +And why do we care about + +05:20.880 --> 05:25.5 +design pattern approaches? Here, well, + +05:25.520 --> 05:28.560 +what I'm trying to say is that + +05:28.560 --> 05:30.080 +this is useful to the person + +05:30.080 --> 05:32.240 +who is interested in being able to + +05:32.240 --> 05:34.000 +more efficiently cope with + +05:34.000 --> 05:36.639 +complex and specific situations, + +05:36.639 --> 05:40.240 +and this design pattern allows for this + +05:40.240 --> 05:43.039 +because of its extensibility, + +05:43.039 --> 05:46.400 +because we can find these specializations + +05:46.400 --> 05:50.000 +or customizations that are able to reach + +05:50.000 --> 05:52.880 +these changing contexts [that we seek to interact with]. + +05:52.880 --> 05:55.039 +This can be compared with + +05:55.039 --> 05:56.479 +other software applications + +05:56.479 --> 05:58.000 +that are prefabricated + +05:58.000 --> 05:59.680 +so they already decide + +05:59.680 --> 06:01.600 +what it is a person is going to do + +06:01.600 --> 06:02.800 +when they use them. + +06:02.800 --> 06:04.319 +This also means that what they're doing + +06:04.319 --> 06:05.520 +within these applications + +06:05.520 --> 06:06.639 +can get stranded there, + +06:06.639 --> 06:08.479 +that it's harder to integrate + +06:08.479 --> 06:10.319 +their knowledge or their texts + +06:10.319 --> 06:12.240 +or their activities + +06:12.240 --> 06:13.440 +with each other. + +06:13.440 --> 06:15.759 +A lot of software also makes assumptions + +06:15.759 --> 06:18.240 +on who their users are. We know that + +06:18.240 --> 06:20.160 +we speak in user experience design + +06:20.160 --> 06:23.120 +of the 'customer journey' or of 'personas', + +06:23.120 --> 06:24.720 +and very often, then, + +06:24.720 --> 06:27.840 +the customer journey is pre-designed. + +06:27.840 --> 06:29.680 +But within Emacs, we can be + +06:29.680 --> 06:32.079 +our own persona. + +06:32.079 --> 06:33.440 +Practical use of Emacs + +06:33.440 --> 06:35.680 +can also make non-programmers + +06:35.680 --> 06:36.720 +into programmers. + +06:36.720 --> 06:38.400 +So this is to say that + +06:38.400 --> 06:40.240 +as we are using Emacs, + +06:40.240 --> 06:41.840 +we can continue to develop + +06:41.840 --> 06:44.479 +as far as we wish. + +06:44.479 --> 06:46.240 +Therefore we are not only users + +06:46.240 --> 06:48.720 +within Emacs, but we are also + +06:48.720 --> 06:51.280 +creative persons and producers. + +06:51.280 --> 06:54.400 +So here I am citing work by ivan Illich. + +06:54.400 --> 06:56.079 +We can further contribute + +06:56.079 --> 06:58.880 +to the evolution of the rules of Emacs. + +06:58.880 --> 07:01.680 +To draw on Bernard Stiegler, + +07:01.680 --> 07:04.880 +if I may also make an analogy, + +07:04.880 --> 07:07.520 +within our inits, we contribute to + +07:07.520 --> 07:08.800 +the evolution of the rules + +07:08.800 --> 07:11.759 +according to which our Emacs works for us. + +07:11.759 --> 07:13.120 +But again, if we're extending + +07:13.120 --> 07:14.560 +our learning trajectory, + +07:14.560 --> 07:16.319 +and if we write a package, + +07:16.319 --> 07:18.400 +and the package becomes part of the core, + +07:18.400 --> 07:21.440 +we do indeed contribute to the evolution + +07:21.440 --> 07:23.840 +of the rules of Emacs. + +07:23.840 --> 07:25.359 +But because it stems + +07:25.359 --> 07:26.560 +from our personal use + +07:26.560 --> 07:28.479 +and our personal customizations, + +07:28.479 --> 07:30.000 +we can think of it as being + +07:30.000 --> 07:31.600 +a personal toolkit [cf. Stallman]. + +07:31.600 --> 07:35.840 +So this design pattern iteration approach + +07:35.840 --> 07:39.680 +to Emacs is the very reason + +07:39.680 --> 07:41.840 +why it is that we can customize it + +07:41.840 --> 07:43.440 +to our own liking, + +07:43.440 --> 07:46.160 +and using Emacs to extend our freedom + +07:46.160 --> 07:48.720 +then helps us to develop heuristics. + +07:48.720 --> 07:51.919 +It helps us develop our decision-making, + +07:51.919 --> 07:54.719 +our problem-solving + +07:54.719 --> 07:57.839 +and responsibility for what it is + +07:57.839 --> 07:58.880 +that we're doing, + +07:58.880 --> 08:00.640 +and these skill sets + +08:00.640 --> 08:02.480 +are extensible beyond Emacs. + +08:02.480 --> 08:04.240 +These can be considered as life skills + +08:04.240 --> 08:05.839 +that have relevance beyond. + +08:05.839 --> 08:07.520 +This is a very good example + +08:07.520 --> 08:10.560 +of why it is that being exposed + +08:10.560 --> 08:12.480 +to complex assemblages + +08:12.480 --> 08:14.320 +matter to us as human beings. + +08:14.320 --> 08:17.120 +It's good training ground for life. + +08:17.120 --> 08:19.680 +But it's also important + +08:19.680 --> 08:22.719 +for a very basic pedagogical point. + +08:22.719 --> 08:24.160 +So now I'm going to draw on work + +08:24.160 --> 08:26.560 +by Hélène Trocmé-Fabre, + +08:26.560 --> 08:27.839 +who explains that + +08:27.839 --> 08:30.719 +reduced and poor contextualizations + +08:30.719 --> 08:32.800 +flatten communication. + +08:32.800 --> 08:33.760 +So, for example, + +08:33.760 --> 08:35.279 +within the field of software, + +08:35.279 --> 08:37.680 +if we are using an application + +08:37.680 --> 08:40.640 +that only asks us to swipe left or right, + +08:40.640 --> 08:42.880 +this deprives us of our ability + +08:42.880 --> 08:45.600 +to respond in a more sophisticated way. + +08:45.600 --> 08:48.640 +By contrast, by being exposed + +08:48.640 --> 08:51.600 +to a rich contextualization within Emacs, + +08:51.600 --> 08:53.839 +we are learning to contextualize, + +08:53.839 --> 08:57.040 +which Trocmé-Fabre says is the first step + +08:57.040 --> 08:58.719 +in learning how to learn. + +08:58.719 --> 08:59.920 +So we can understand + +08:59.920 --> 09:01.760 +just how important it is + +09:01.760 --> 09:03.520 +to be exposed to complexity. + +09:03.520 --> 09:05.440 +It's not just a mere + +09:05.440 --> 09:06.719 +intellectual exercise, + +09:06.719 --> 09:08.719 +but it is indeed how it is + +09:08.719 --> 09:12.239 +that we begin to learn. + +09:12.240 --> 09:13.760 +If this sounds too abstract, + +09:13.760 --> 09:15.520 +maybe we can step back for a moment + +09:15.520 --> 09:17.520 +and think about visualizing Emacs + +09:17.520 --> 09:19.600 +as a mental map. So here, too, + +09:19.600 --> 09:21.839 +I'm going to draw on Trocmé-Fabre, + +09:21.839 --> 09:24.560 +and she is building her ideas + +09:24.560 --> 09:26.240 +on those of Tony Buzan, + +09:26.240 --> 09:29.120 +who was the popularizer of the mind map. + +09:29.120 --> 09:31.519 +So mind maps begin with a core, + +09:31.519 --> 09:33.760 +which with Emacs is the Emacs core, + +09:33.760 --> 09:36.320 +which now includes Org. + +09:36.320 --> 09:38.719 +They extend outwards from the core + +09:38.719 --> 09:40.800 +through relational codes. + +09:40.800 --> 09:44.399 +And then through keywords and cycling, + +09:44.399 --> 09:46.240 +mind maps function to bring out + +09:46.240 --> 09:48.320 +further ideas, and this may be + +09:48.320 --> 09:49.760 +the experience you've already had + +09:49.760 --> 09:52.640 +with your Emacs. Then finally, + +09:52.640 --> 09:54.800 +these mind maps extend outwards + +09:54.800 --> 09:56.480 +at the periphery. + +09:56.480 --> 10:00.240 +In thinking about how this applies to Emacs, + +10:00.240 --> 10:02.320 +we can think about how yes, indeed, + +10:02.320 --> 10:04.240 +we all share the same core, + +10:04.240 --> 10:07.360 +but then we extend this core outwards + +10:07.360 --> 10:09.680 +into our personal configurations. + +10:09.680 --> 10:11.360 +So this is the social moment, + +10:11.360 --> 10:12.480 +but this social moment + +10:12.480 --> 10:13.839 +is integral to Emacs + +10:13.839 --> 10:16.800 +because Emacs fully achieves its meaning + +10:16.800 --> 10:18.959 +when it is being applied, extended, + +10:18.959 --> 10:20.880 +and customized in this way. + +10:20.880 --> 10:23.279 +Further, these social branches + +10:23.279 --> 10:25.839 +are relevant to the continuation + +10:25.839 --> 10:28.560 +of learning how to learn how to use Emacs. + +10:28.560 --> 10:30.800 +So for example, we may have + +10:30.800 --> 10:33.279 +our first configuration file, + +10:33.279 --> 10:35.040 +and then we might want to compare it + +10:35.040 --> 10:37.440 +with other people's configuration files, + +10:37.440 --> 10:40.240 +not only to see what code they're using, + +10:40.240 --> 10:42.480 +but also to see how it is that they are + +10:42.480 --> 10:44.240 +implementing certain functionalities + +10:44.240 --> 10:46.000 +within their workflow. + +10:46.000 --> 10:48.080 +So along these lines, then, + +10:48.080 --> 10:50.160 +descriptive configuration files + +10:50.160 --> 10:53.360 +are extremely helpful. + +10:53.360 --> 10:56.160 +This map, then, of Emacs + +10:56.160 --> 10:57.519 +can be considered as a + +10:57.519 --> 11:00.399 +frontierless heuristic schema, + +11:00.399 --> 11:02.000 +borrowing from Trocmé-Fabre. + +11:02.000 --> 11:04.080 +Frontierless, because we can extend + +11:04.080 --> 11:06.320 +our use of Emacs as far as we want. + +11:06.320 --> 11:08.399 +Heuristic, again, because we're using it + +11:08.399 --> 11:10.640 +to solve problems, etc. + +11:10.640 --> 11:13.360 +This is a free system that extends + +11:13.360 --> 11:15.920 +following our own 'paths of desire', + +11:15.920 --> 11:18.640 +if I can use that phrase from design. + +11:18.640 --> 11:20.640 +So it's following our own 'paths of desire', + +11:20.640 --> 11:22.480 +but yet it is a shared tool, + +11:22.480 --> 11:26.880 +so this is an idea of the convivial tool + +11:26.880 --> 11:29.999 +to draw on Ivan Illich. + +11:30.000 --> 11:31.760 +Emacs is itself + +11:31.760 --> 11:33.440 +a design pattern framework, + +11:33.440 --> 11:35.279 +so we can visualize this + +11:35.279 --> 11:36.640 +through the mind map, + +11:36.640 --> 11:40.160 +but we can also go back to thinking about + +11:40.160 --> 11:42.399 +how Christopher Alexander's work + +11:42.399 --> 11:44.240 +inspired Richard Gabriel + +11:44.240 --> 11:46.640 +to think about systems of systems + +11:46.640 --> 11:49.040 +within software. And he, + +11:49.040 --> 11:50.240 +drawing on Alexander, + +11:50.240 --> 11:52.240 +says, well, there is such a thing + +11:52.240 --> 11:55.600 +as a "being" of successful software, + +11:55.600 --> 11:59.519 +if it succeeds in being + +11:59.519 --> 12:00.640 +a center of centers, + +12:00.640 --> 12:02.240 +as we saw before. + +12:02.240 --> 12:04.480 +So in Emacs, then, we have a system + +12:04.480 --> 12:06.880 +that's made up of other systems + +12:06.880 --> 12:08.719 +of 'communicating components + +12:08.719 --> 12:09.839 +that work together + +12:09.839 --> 12:11.600 +to provide a comprehensive set + +12:11.600 --> 12:14.399 +of capabilities that can be customized, + +12:14.399 --> 12:16.000 +specialized, and extended + +12:16.000 --> 12:16.959 +to provide more + +12:16.959 --> 12:18.959 +or slightly different capabilities' [Gabriel]. + +12:18.959 --> 12:21.200 +So if we're not finding what we need + +12:21.200 --> 12:25.120 +within the core, we can look for packages + +12:25.120 --> 12:27.519 +that allow us to extend in a certain way, + +12:27.519 --> 12:28.560 +or we write our own, + +12:28.560 --> 12:31.680 +or we begin to write in Emacs Lisp. + +12:31.680 --> 12:34.800 +And speaking of personal customizations, + +12:34.800 --> 12:37.839 +Emacs can be considered as an extension + +12:37.839 --> 12:40.079 +of the as yet unfulfilled promise of + +12:40.079 --> 12:41.600 +general computing. + +12:41.600 --> 12:44.000 +In the 1980s, Michael Crichton wrote + +12:44.000 --> 12:46.320 +that it's easy to use computers, which is + +12:46.320 --> 12:48.000 +fortunate because everyone's going to + +12:48.000 --> 12:49.040 +have to learn. + +12:49.040 --> 12:51.440 +It's not easy to use computers wisely, + +12:51.440 --> 12:52.880 +which is unfortunate because + +12:52.880 --> 12:54.719 +everyone's going to have to learn. + +12:54.719 --> 12:56.639 +Emacs is wise computing + +12:56.639 --> 12:59.600 +because everyone's Emacs is their own. + +12:59.600 --> 13:01.680 +We see that it is an exercise + +13:01.680 --> 13:05.760 +in heuristics, but while it is complex, + +13:05.760 --> 13:08.000 +at on some level, we want to remember + +13:08.000 --> 13:10.240 +that it can be used easily by anybody, + +13:10.240 --> 13:12.560 +as often or as seldom as they want, + +13:12.560 --> 13:15.200 +for the purpose that they are choosing, + +13:15.200 --> 13:17.519 +and shaped according to their own taste. + +13:17.519 --> 13:20.480 +So again I'm drawing on Ivan Illich here. + +13:20.480 --> 13:24.880 +Emacs then champions the human place + +13:24.880 --> 13:28.800 +and is a support in our learning + +13:28.800 --> 00:13:30.638 +how to learn. + +00:13:30.639 --> 00:13:32.000 +So now I want to think about + +13:32.000 --> 13:34.959 +being inspired by the Emacs design pattern + +13:34.959 --> 13:37.040 +and comparing what I think + +13:37.040 --> 13:40.480 +I've learned about how Emacs works + +13:40.480 --> 13:43.600 +with some research that has been done + +13:43.600 --> 13:46.240 +by Philip Guo and his colleagues + +13:46.240 --> 13:47.920 +about how technology is being used + +13:47.920 --> 13:51.120 +in certain online teaching contexts. + +13:51.120 --> 13:52.800 +Researchers continue to note + +13:52.800 --> 13:55.200 +how the modes of delivery of content + +13:55.200 --> 13:56.880 +continue to change in terms of + +13:56.880 --> 13:58.240 +what is considered effective + +13:58.240 --> 13:59.600 +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 + +14:11.360 --> 14:14.320 +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 + +14:22.320 --> 14:24.240 +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', + +14:49.839 --> 14:52.240 +'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 + +15:14.959 --> 15:16.160 +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] |