The Shallows

Deeper than you might expect.

The idea that our computers and smartphones have become an “ecology of interruption technologies” is not brand new. If you’ve made an attempt to get some actual work done on a computer recently, you should be all too aware of the potential for procrastination provided by the internet. With the array of inviting distractions before us, it’s becoming more and more difficult to concentrate for prolonged periods, and we are increasingly using computers and phones to multi-task.

‘The Shallows’ starts with the premise that the internet not just changing how we work, but that it is actually changing the way we think. The author – Nicholas Carr – attempts to break down exactly how it could be possible for these emerging technologies to rewire our brains, and examines the impact this change could have on the individual and on culture at large.

Braains…
On the workings of the brain, Carr describes the fascinating idea of neuroplasticity, or how the brain quite literally re-wires itself, depending on the habits of its owner. Additionally, a later section provides a quite detailed account on the workings of memory, but this piece is written in a style more befitting a medical journal than a book on technology, and is duller as a result.

On the development, impact and philosophy of technology, Carr is on safer ground. He draws interesting parallels between comments made about the ‘dumbing-down‘ effects of a number of technologies throughout history, and the contemporary idea that the web is also making us dumber. For example, maps reduced our spatial awareness and clocks imposed a more mechanical breakdown of time, making people increasingly slavish to schedules. Also, the introduction of the book reduced our need to commit swathes of information to memory, and signalled the end of the oral tradition, where knowledge was shared verbally.

So his point is…
Various technologies have been introduced throughout human history that have changed the way our brains work, and the internet is no different. ‘The Shallows’ provides objective analysis of the phenomenon applied to modern web technologies, but doesn’t condemn the relentless march of the web’s progress. Instead, Carr is simply cautioning us to be aware of what we are sacrificing through continued exposure to the medium. In his own words “we shouldn’t allow the glories of a technology to blind our inner watchdog to the possibility that we’ve numbed an essential part of our self.”

Personally, I enjoyed the book. The subject matter is relevant and interesting, and Carr’s research is consistently pertinent and vibrant. In a society that prizes the shiny and the new, and where people interact more and more through web-enabled ‘social’ media, it’s both healthy and wise to be cautious about the impact all this might have. Carr’s sober analysis in The Shallows provides this, and makes the book worth a read for me.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve some work to do. Actually, I might just check the sports news.. Oh wait, I have an email! Oh hey, someone commented on my status update! Lol, like that! Now, who’s been blogging…

References
Paul Graham’s essay: Disconnecting Distraction

Wikipedia: Neuroplasticity

Readability: Great tool to remove the dross from a web page.

Nicholas Carr’s blog: Rough Type

Clay Shirky’s essay upon which he based his book ‘Cognitive Surplus: Creativity and Generosity in a Digital Age’.

SCJP? You must be Certifiable

I passed the SCJP exam this week. Hooray me!!

From the initial idea to the taking the exam, I’d say the SCJP was on my mind for around 18 months, so the main emotion after passing it is definitely one of relief! On reflection though, I do think it could be done in far less time, so hopefully this post can be a resource for procrastinators like me, who would like to do the SCJP, but in as realistically brief a timeframe as possible.

Why Study the SCJP?
The main reason for me was proof of competence: certification gives a recognised benchmark of development ability, at least in the fundamentals.

A little personal history: I started my programming career in COBOL, and made the switch to Java about four years ago. Soon after switching disciplines, I passed the SCJA exam (don’t sneer!), and found it a genuinely useful way to get my foot in the door to the object-oriented party. However, based on my own experience, and also the reactions of more experienced colleagues to the SCJA and SCJP, I still feel that the SCJP gives a better external validation of Java fundamentals.

In the early weeks and months of studying the SCJP syllabus, I was energised by how much I was learning, and by how much was immediately applicable in my day-to-day coding at work – the standard of my work definitely improved as a result.

Why take the Exam?
However, as I got bogged down in the – let’s be honest here – somewhat dreary SCJP syllabus, I needed more motivation to help me reach the goal of the exam. I understand that it’s worth studying, but why take the exam? Well, the main reason for me is still that passing the SCJP exam unlocks the next level to the Web Component Developer and Web Services Developer exams.

This effectively means you can learn more interesting stuff, and also push for roles that apply this stuff in the real world. My employer would probably not have the budget or the interest to send me on a web services course, so I can choose to brood and wait for a change of heart, or I can go and get certified in the next level stuff under my own steam. (And then send work the bill for the exams 😉 )

SCJP Resources
The SCJP toolkit is:

  • Study guide
  • Sample exams
  • Hands-on coding

I used the official study guide, and would give it a reasonable rating. However, be prepared: the exam questions at the end of each chapter do not just test your knowledge of what you have read: they often introduce new material not covered in the chapter! For this reason, you should be doing all the exam questions while you cover the chapter, and going through each answer set afterwards, even the ones you get right. It’s a laborious process, but it’s the only way to fully cover all the material in the book.

The book alone isn’t enough. Sample exams, and as many as you can find, are also essential. To put the importance of sample exams into context, the book covers about 80% of the material, but sample exams cover the additional 20%. (And yes, the 80/20 rule applies here.) Javaranch has some good introductory ones, and Certpal is also good, but ExamLab is head and shoulders above the rest, definitely the best resource I found. (And it’s free!)

Taking the jump from learning the syllabus to preparing for the exam took me some time, but when I found the ExamLab software, my progress quickened pretty rapidly. If you already know the SCJP syllabus reasonably well, then working through all of the ExamLab sample exams – by that I mean taking the exam, and then reviewing all answers – will make you exam-ready.

This takes time, and requires hands-on coding. So, you might be horrified at the thought of installing Eclipse on your home PC, but get over it. You’ll need to write code – a lot.

Just Do It
Overall, I feel like a more capable developer since doing all the work for the SCJP. More to the point though, I feel ready to do more, so I’ve set myself the new goal of passing the Web Component Developer exam this year. However, I’m following my own advice, and getting the study guide and sample exams up front! Hopefully I’ll procrastinate less this time, but will post on progress and results here.

If you’re thinking of taking the SCJP exam, my advice to you is:

  • Give yourself somewhere between three and six months. You have to be realistic with the timeframe, especially if you’re working and want to continue having a life!
  • Get the book and the ExamLab software straight away.
  • Write code. Work with as many of the sample programs as you can, and don’t be afraid to spend time writing your own programs.

127 Hours

Also Starring The Rock

Recommend you catch this one on the big screen if you can, it’s the latest from Danny Boyle, and features a genuinely winning performance by James Franco in the lead. (He needs to be good, because his mush is in extreme close-up in almost every scene!)

If you already know this story, you could be forgiven for thinking that this movie could be as blunt as Aaron Ralston’s pocket knife, and play for the gross-out factor. However, ‘127 Hours’ is actually absorbing, warm and surprisingly uplifting, especially considering the subject matter.

There’s no doubt though, the film does trundle relentlessly towards that scene. I squirmed during it, no doubt, and I challenge anyone to sit still while it plays out! That aside though, Franco is great, the movie looks and sounds fantastic – like all Danny Boyle’s movies – and I’d heartily recommend it.

P.S. you’ve probably already seen ‘Slumdog Millionaire’ and ‘Trainspotting’ (you haven’t? shame on you!) but I’d also recommend Danny Boyle’s admirable stab at science-fiction: ‘Sunshine’

The Century of the Self: 4 of 4

8 People Sipping Wine in Kettering

Episode 4 – the final episode of this brilliant series – looks at how those in political power have used Freud’s theories as a means of controlling the masses. Earlier episodes looked at how big business used Freud’s theories to sell. Paradoxically, by appealing to a sense of individualism, businesses were able to sell larger volumes of their products to more and more people. Through the use of quasi-psychological techniques such as the focus group, marketers learned more about consumers’ irrational needs and desires, and how to target them in their messages.

In the late 20th Century, politicians began employing the same techniques to appeal to the desires of the individual. By using focus groups composed of small gatherings of swing voters, John Major in the UK and then Bill Clinton in the US both used focus groups to inform their main electoral messages, and ultimately get elected. In this manner, politics became less like ideology, and more like a la carte consumerism, with politicians first learning what the voters want, and then setting their policies accordingly. Obviously, this begs the question, shouldn’t politics be more than that? Awesome stuff.

Small Things Make a Big Difference

The Devil’s In The Details
Working in software development, at a level of an organisation that is completely concerned with details, I’ve sometimes had the nagging feeling that those in power weren’t really in touch with what happens ‘on the ground’, or in the real world of so-called ‘low-level’ detail. This entertaining TED talk from Rory Sutherland tackles this sentiment eloquently, while touching on themes of behavioural economics, marketing and business strategy.

The presentation’s prescient message is deceptively simple: big strategies don’t always have a big impact, organisations don’t always need to spend big to implement big changes and yes, big changes can be implemented simply by getting the so-called ‘small things’ right. Malcolm Gladwell and Dan Ariely have made some of these themes causes célèbres, but Sutherland’s presentation is witty and entertaining in an idiosyncratically British kind of way, and his examples are great.

Also, watch out for his challenge at the end of the presentation to put a name on his idea..

References:
Rory Sutherland’s blog
Behavioural Economics
Dan Ariely’s ‘Predictably Irrational’
Malcolm Gladwell’s ‘The Tipping Point’

The Century of the Self: 3 of 4

There is a Policeman Inside All Our Heads, He must be Destroyed

This series is so great. If you have any interest in communication, advertising or public relations, I highly recommend taking the time to watch. The theme of the series is how Sigmund Freud’s theories have been appropriated by those in power to influence and control society.

The bizarre title of Episode 3 is taken from the slogan of American anti-consumerist student groups in the 1960’s. This episode further documents the rise of consumerism from the 60’s through to the 80’s, and describes how, counter-intuitively, businesses and governments controlled society by appealing to people’s sense of individuality. By incorporating values into their marketing strategies, they appealed to the individual’s sense of self. Operating in this manner, businesses could feed the infinite desires of the self and, therefore, create economic markets capable of limitless demand.

http://video.google.co.uk/videoplay?docid=-6111922724894802811&hl=en&emb=1

Links:
Episode Transcript
Wilhelm Reich
Esalen
Werner Erhard and EST
SRI
Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

We Live In Public

From reading Hacker News over the last few months, I’ve noticed a steadily growing backlash against Facebook. In particular, the new privacy settings, and the actions of CEO Mark Zuckerberg seem to be causing a stir (at least among the technorati.. FB’s user numbers don’t seem to be dramatically affected!)

Interestingly, Josh Harris predicted this backlash way back at the earliest days of the Internet, with a series of live-streamed experiments documenting how people deal with the reality of having every aspect of their lives displayed to the world. ‘We Live In Public’ documents two of these experiments: one a large scale, big-brother style deal, and another on a far more personal scale. Watching these experiments is often uncomfortable, but results are weirdly prescient, especially with the anti-facebook league in mind.

The movie’s directed by Ondi Timoner (Dig) and won the main documentary prize at Sundance 2009. I thought it was great – shocking in parts, but always entertaining, and one of those stories that you’ll be surprised you never heard before.

Trailer:

References:
‘Hacker News’ item about deleting Facebook Accounts
Diaspora: developing an alternative to Facebook
Jason Calcanis on Mark Zuckerberg (he also gathers some recent anti-Facebook stories)
Facebook User numbers
Josh Harris on Wikipedia
imdb We Live In Public
imdb Dig
Sundance 2009 Winners
Play.com: ‘We Live In Public’ on DVD

The Century of the Self: 2 of 4

The Engineering of Consent

Continuing from Part I, the central theme of Adam Curtis‘ excellent BBC series is how the theories of Sigmund Freud have been appropriated by governments (propaganda) and business (marketing and ‘public relations’) to influence and control the behaviour of large groups of people.

Part II focuses on Anna Freud, daughter of Sigmund. Anna Freud believed that people were fundamentally irrational, but that these irrational desires could be suppressed, controlled and managed. This perspective surged in popularity in the US during the inter-war period. Psychoanalysts such as Edward Bernays took this notion further, and propagated the view that democracy itself could only flourish as long as an Elite managed the irrational desires of the masses on their behalf.

The story of Guatemala, United Fruit, and an orchestrated coup d’état is invoked to graphically and chillingly illustrate this theory being put into practice.

Other highlights here are a succinctly brilliant speech by Arthur Miller, and an awesome piece of archive footage featuring Martin Luther King.

The Century of the Self: 1 of 4

‘The Century of the Self’ is a BBC documentary series by Adam Curtis. It’s “about how those in power have used Freud’s theories to try and control the dangerous crowd in an age of mass democracy.” – Adam Curtis’ introduction to the first episode.

Episode I describes the influence of Edward Bernays, the nephew of Sigmund Freud. After successfully working with Woodrow Wilson during WWI, Bernays became a pioneer of ‘public relations’ in the thirties and forties, and he was one of the first to use Freud’s techniques to stimulate irrational needs for products in people’s minds. The story is set against the context of inter-war politics, and graphically describes how big business and governments borrow similar techniques from one another in their various attempts to influence the masses.

This episode comes highly recommended – watch below, or jump to the google video for more, it’s well worth a look.