About this Issue

About This Issue...

The April-May issue of Interface is live and on the web at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/ As this is our last issue of this academic year we have chosen to end with a flourish and an exceptionally varied selection of articles.

Our feature article is by Gaming Editor Chris Pruett. In "The Rise of Manipulatives in Video Games" found at http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/pruett.php. Chris, a software engineer at Google, is just back from Japan. With both fluent Japanese and expertise in game development, Chris offers a unique perspective on where gaming is in Japanese arcades at present. And so often, where Japanese technology is now, American technology will be in six months to a year.

Tom Cockburn discusses the intersection at which artistry and action learning interact in: "The Intuitive Artistry of Action Learning in Organizations" found at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/cockburn.php.

Our Legal Editor, Leonard DuBoff, at http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/duboff.php presents: "Do You Understand Representations, Warranties and Boilerplate Clauses?" We often have requests from various legal organizations to link to Leonard's work, so we are well aware of the respect with which he is held in his profession, as an expert on many aspects of the Internet, but particularly upon Intellectual Property rights. Leonard will also be a featured speaker at this summer's Berglund Institute, see the conference pages at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/summerinstitute/

Our Technology Editor, Michael Geraci, offers us "Something's in the Air: Adobe's New Software Platform" found at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/geraci.php. As Michael concludes: "...Adobe's AIR platform is a harbinger of what is to come; it's the next generation of software development working in concert with Web technologies that, even at this early stage, shows lots of promise for developers and users alike."

Another contribution to our understanding of technology comes from our graduating Systems Operator, Benjamin Elliot, who recently oversaw the conversion of our Berglund lab computers into "thin clients." These machines are much cheaper to purchase and offer many advantages to an office or lab operation with frequent turnovers in staff or a large number of part-time staff. See http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/elliot.php.

In my capacity as editor of Interface, I review two recent books. First, Nicholas Carr's The Big Switch at http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/carr.php. Carr is regarded by many as a contrarian thinker. In this book he compares the development of electricity from a locally produced limited good to a ubiquitous service, to computing. Not only is the book very interesting, but highly provocative and educational as well. If Carr is right, as he so frequently has been, we are in for a period of very rapid and somewhat discontinuous development in the impact of the Internet.

Secondly I review, Tarleton Gillespie, Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture. Gillespie puts a whole new face on the issue of piracy and copyright by examining the issue of cultural production. He argues that the desire on the part of many to "lock down" digital content through various forms of DRM (Digital Rights Management) is a threat to both productivity and to culture itself. See the review at: http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/gillespie.php.

In my editorial, "Confucius says: Privacy is Dead; Get over it..." I consider the recent problems of former Governor of New York Elliot Spitzer within the context of both privacy and Chinese culture. See it at http://bcis.pacificu.edu/journal/2008/02/edit.php.

As always, we hope that you will find this issue of Interface both useful and entertaining, and that you will look for our next posting, in August.

Jeffrey Barlow
Editor, Interface