RE: black dancebook

Johannes Birringer (orpheus2@t-online.de)
Sat, 30 Aug 97 20:47 +0100

Nik wrote

<but, whether a tool like this or any similar tools will mature into
<something really useful will depend not on technology, which requires some
<technical expertise but is no big deal. whether or not this database
<matures depends on the willingness of most dance people to submit and
<maintain info on themselves

<if everybody contributes a little, submits and maintains their data, then
<everyone benefits - the whole is greater than the sum.

I like this response.

thanks for the info on the way you constructed the archive (why is it called
"blackbook"?), the data base you used algorithmically; and actually this is an
interesting way to build an information archive that is becoming a hypertext
that will change with the input of those who use it, thus it will not remain
what the algorithms composed. The response you got from Mary-Lou (Australia) is
a good case in point (the narrow cast of the local algorithm), and may also give
us pause about our network (cf. earlier discussion on "universal access" to
webbed feats).

I am using the word 'algorithm' without actually knowing what this mathematical
term exactly does for us. Is it about calculation, a calculating curve? Is it
etymologically linked to rhythm? Does it bend? When composers like Richard work
with interactive design programming, do you use algorithms, and how?

sorry, my ignorance.

regards to all,
Johannes Birringer
AlienNation Co.