#dtc356 Blog 2 [Cptr. 5 & 6]

#dtc356

** Chapter 5: Welcome to the jungle baby

Main Point: The system of how the things in the world are divided is similar to the jungle ecosystem. All information necessary regarding each thing is branched from a more general attribute. However, the overly organized system of classifying things can cause irregularity, miscellany, and confusion which lead to inefficient interconnection among knowledge or information.

Interesting Quotes: "Likewise, in classification systems, an overstuffed miscellaneous category can be a sign that the system isn't using all the relevant information" (87)
"The basic fact that order often hides more than it reveals has sometimes itself been hidden within the art and science of organizing our world" (88)
"Everything is metadata and everything can be a label" (104)

Connection to my life: I consider the family from my mom's side as a very determined and goal-oriented family line. Therefore, the generations are needed to follow the trace of the older's steps and ought to be successful in business. But I have a different opinion on life and I would prefer studying and improving my art and linguistic skill rather than focusing on family business. So, although I am a new generation of my mom's family line, but my attribute seems to be detached and my characteristic falls under the category of other family lines. So in conclusion, the system of connecting in one way is causing limitation for the other ways. Everything is miscellaneous and rather hard to interrelate systematically and perfectly.

** Chapter 6: Smart Leaves

Main Point: The ultimate identifiers allow the leaves to be disseminated in an organized way, yet smart leaves can be obtained through the smart choice of words that can identify things well so the order of the miscellaneous will be smarter, and will not be delayed for unnecessary things or leaves.

Interesting Quotes: "Leaves imply entities that are well-defined and knowable, that have edges and a persistence sufficient that we can count them or at least point at them" (123)

"The range of relationships is as broad as the human imagination. As we mix computers and human intelligence to rake together all sorts of leaves about books and their relationship, those leaves will be associated in more and more ways, perpetually building our miscellaneous pile of leaves in fits and starts" (124)

"When it's possible to identify leaves clearly and cleanly, the unique identifiers can enable an extraordinary distributed development of related ideas, making the individual leaves smarter and smarter. In such cases, meaningless IDs do a better job of postponing the ordering of the miscellaneous" (127)

Connection to my life: The distinctive majors (leaves) in college education are inherently divided into clear, names/calls for more general majors (idenfifiers). This smart classification is to help the students really understand the majors well so they can decide what field they are interested in and they will choose wrong by accident.