APPENDICES APPENDIX 1. TABLES OF ASPECTS Aspect: Functioning Example Repercussions To do with Good/ / Bad Benefit / Detriment MATHEMATICAL ASPECTS 1 Quantitative aspect Being-amount Numeric order Discrete amount. 2 Spatial aspect Spreading Simultaneity Continuous extension. 3 Kinematic aspect Moving Dynamism Flowing movement. PRE-HUMAN ASPECTS 4 Physical aspect Causality Persistence Fields, Energy, mass. 5 Biotic/organic aspect Living Health, Growth, Reprod. Life functions, organism Ill-health, Disease 6 Sensitive/psychic Sensitivity Interaction with world Sensing, feeling and emotion. Sensory deprivation HUMAN ASPECTS 7 Analytical aspect Distinction Clarity Distinction, concepts Blurring Confusion Abstraction, logic 8 Formative aspect Industry Achievement Deliberate shaping, Laziness Mess Technology, skill, history 9 Lingual aspect Truth-saying Understanding Symbolic signification. Deceit Misunderstanding SOCIAL ASPECTS 10 Social aspect Respect Friendship; Organisations Relationships, roles Hostility Enmity 11 Economic aspect Frugality Prosperity Frugality, resources; Profligacy Superfluity / destitution Management 12 Aesthetic aspect Harmonising Beauty, Fun, Interest Harmony, delight Frenzy Grotesqueness, Boredom SOCIETAL ASPECTS 13 Juridical aspect Responsibility Just society 'Due', appropriateness; Oppression Injustice Rights, responsibilities 14 Ethical aspect Generosity Goodwill Attitude Selfishness Defensiveness Self-giving love Greed More greed 15 Pistic/Faith aspect Faithfulness Trust, Dignity Faith, commitment, belief; Disloyalty Distrust Vision of who we are Idolatry Decline Aspect: Properties Some Things To do with (Examples) (Examples) MATHEMATICAL ASPECTS 1 Quantitative aspect Much, few Numbers, Ratios Discrete amount. More, less Fractions 2 Spatial aspect Near, far Shapes, Overlaps Continuous extension. In/outside Dimensions 3 Kinematic aspect Fast, slow Path/Route Flowing movement. PRE-HUMAN ASPECTS 4 Physical aspect Heavy, Hard Atoms; Causes Fields, Energy, mass. Hot, Soluble Solids, liquids, gases 5 Biotic/organic aspect Healthy, ill Organism, body, organs Life functions, organism Old, young Food, Species 6 Sensitive/psychic Blind, deaf Stimulus, response Sensing, feeling and emotion. Afraid, happy Memory, Neurone HUMAN ASPECTS 7 Analytical aspect Clear, confused Categories Distinction, concepts (In)consistent Abstraction, logic Logical 8 Formative aspect Skilled, lazy Plans, goals Deliberate shaping, Structured Techniques, control Technology, skill, history Out-of-date Technology 9 Lingual aspect Understandable Languages, vocabulary Symbolic signification. Phrases, paragraphs SOCIAL ASPECTS 10 Social aspect Polite, rude Friends Relationships, roles Condescending Organisations 11 Economic aspect Careful, Cost, Budget Frugality, resources; Spendthrift Money Management Excessive Waste 12 Aesthetic aspect Delicate, ugly Art, fashion, Games Harmony, delight Funny, boring Nuance, allusion Stylish SOCIETAL ASPECTS 13 Juridical aspect Appropriate Laws, policy 'Due', appropriateness; Legal Police, judges Rights, responsibilities Just, unjust Rights, Contract 14 Ethical aspect Generous, mean Gift, Covenant Attitude Selfish Love Self-giving love 15 Pistic/Faith aspect Divine God, idol Faith, commitment, belief; Faithful Belief, ideology Vision of who we are Certain Hope, Dignity APPENDIX 2. CASE STUDIES X2.1 A Major IS Failure Mitev [1996], [2001] discussed the failure that was the early SNCF (the French national railways) Socrate rail ticketing system. The following paragraph from [2001] summarises her findings succinctly: "Technical malfunctions [fv], political pressure [jr], poor management [ec], unions and user resistance [pis] led to an inadequate [fv] and to some extent chaotic [aes] implementation. Staff training [fv] was inadequate and did not prepare [fv] salespeople to face tariff inconsistencies [an] and ticketing problems [fv]. The user interface [lg] was designed using the airlines logic [an] and was not user-friendly [soc]. The new ticket [lg] proved unacceptable to customers [psy]. Public relations [soc] failed to prepare the public [lg] to such a dramatic change [aes]. The inadequate database information [lg] on timetable and routes of trains [kin], inaccurate fare information [qv], and unavailability of ticket exchange capabilities [eco] caused major problems [fv] for the SNCF sales force [soc] and customers [soc] alike. Impossible reservations [jr] on some trains, inappropriate prices [jr,eco] and wrong train connections [kin] led to large [qv] queues of irate [psy] customers in all major stations [sp]. Booked tickets [jr] were for non-existent trains [eco] whilst other trains ran empty [eco], railway unions went on strike [eco], and passengers' associations sued [jr] SNCF." {Mitev's referencing removed} Though brief, this analysis shows clearly the diversity of impacts an IS can have when in use - not just managerial or technical, but personal, social and legal. The impacts were not just on the formal aspects of SNCF such as efficiency but on the everyday life of people - who were many and of wide diversity. Mitev's description of the Socrate failure has an everyday feel because many aspects are recognised, as indicated by the abbreviations in [square brackets]. A strong normativity is clearly evident here, by which certain things (all, as it happens) are deemed negative and to be avoided while others (none in this case) are deemed positive and to be sought. More from the tone of her writing rather than from any explicit statements, it is clear that this normativity is to be treated, not as mere subjectively-experienced discomfort, but as something about which action should be taken. This suggests that a framework should provide a basis for understanding normativity without reducing it to mere description. Even though only a single paragraph has been analysed - even though this picture will be misleading - several things become clear: that this failure involved negative functioning in many aspects, not just the technical (formative), that the aspects in which the significant negative repemcussions occur might not be those in which the negative functioning occurs, and that the most serious repemcussions (that Mitev was interested in) were in the juridical aspect. That Mitev was not aware of Dooyeweerd's aspects, but merely adopted a lifeworld stance, is testimony to the power of this approach. X2.2 Unexpected Impacts Eriksson [2006] discusses the case of a stock control system installed by a Swedish vegetable wholesaler in the hope of enhancing profitability via IT-assisted business process re-engineering. Specifically, a middle-man between wholesaler and retailer was replaced by a computer ordering system in the hope of increasing both flexibility and profits. To their dismay, the wholesaler found profits fell rather than rose. The reason was that, under the original regime, the middleman would offer both a friendly contact for the retailer and also nuanced advice about the quality of the day's stock and, based on a sympathetic awareness of the retailer's situation, proactively suggest alternatives. All this disappeared under the new regime. Walsham [2001] shows unexpected impacts even more clearly. He discusses the problems of the EPS (electronic placing system, used in insurance market trading) (described later). Degree of use of the system was still low several years after its launch. The study found a number of reasons for this, but a key one was that "the EPS system ... undemcined the Lloyd's rule of Utmost Good Faith. This rule essentially states that a broker must display all known relevant information about the client and the insurance risk to underwriters upon presentation of the risk to them." [p.155] But the system did not facilitate this. "Trust comes out as a crucial element that must be successfully created and maintained throughout the negotiation process in the insurance chain." [p.158] Use of the system hindered the building of such trust, so its use remained low. In both cases, while the original objectives of the ISs may have been met, those objectives themselves did not adequately reflect vital aspects of the everyday life of its use, and so unexpected impacts occurred. These examples suggest that a framework should provide a basis for thinking about such complex issues as unexpected, indirect impacts of use as well as those we might anticipate. X2.3 The Case of Elsie: A Small IS Success? Those three examples show failure. The Elsie knowledge based system (KBS) [Brandon, Basden, Hamilton and Stockley, 1988] was a success, albeit a rather smaller IS. Perhaps because failures are more newsworthy than successes, good, penetrating discussion of successes is rare in the literature, and where it occurs, is rather narrow in focus. Seldom are all the everyday aspects of successes discussed, because success is usually understood as fulfilling narrow objectives. The author was intimately involved in creating Elsie and can recall many of the everyday aspects, including some not published. So the account of Elsie will be rather longer, in order to provide sufficient material for later discussion. X2.3.1 Overview of Elsie Elsie was developed to assist quantity surveyors in giving advice to their clients who were at an early (pre-architect) stage in considering the construction of new office developments. Many hundreds of copies were sold to surveyors in the U.K. and came into use. Its use was studied by Castell, Basden, Erdos, Barrows and Brandon [1992]. Of its four modules, the budget module was the most widely used, which would help the surveyor in setting an appropriate budget for a client who wished to consider building office space. Elsie operated by asking the user a sequence of questions about the proposed office development (such as the number of staff, whether it was a head office or a regional administrative office, or characteristics of the site). From the answers received, it made expert inferences (about size, number of floors, number of lifts, quality of materials and fittings, type of foundations needed, and so on), and on the basis of these it would calculate what the building might cost to construct. The budget module would ask around three dozen questions, but their number and order varied from session to session because the next question to put is always dynamically selected by the backward chaining [see Brandon, et al., 1988] that is characteristic of KBS technology. This results in redundant or unnecessary questions being suppressed. Forward chaining, by which each answer is immediately propagated throughout the network of inferences to see if any inference goals have now been satisfied, give the KBS a responsive feel. Such technical features made Elsie feel very friendly (even though it was driven via keyboard). At any time the user (usually a quantity surveyor) could obtain explanation of questions. To some questions a degree of uncertainty could be accepted in the user's answers. At the end, the budget module would present its estimate of what the building might cost to construct, and invite the user to explore and even critique this result. The user could request a breakdown of costs per major element of building (walls, foundations, services, fittings, etc.). If any element-cost was deemed excessive, the reason for this could be explored to ascertain on which information it depended, and this could then be varied to see what difference it made to the cost. The user could even override Elsie's reasoning, for example, if the cost of bricks available differed from that assumed by Elsie, or the aesthetic-amenity quality factor needed to be raised or lowered. X2.3.2 Elsie in use In the survey of use [Castell, et al., 1992], from which the quotations below come, it was found that features valued most by the users were not the technical ones like the reasoning algorithms employed, but such things as the pemceived accuracy of the system, its flexibility (for example, though designed for commemcial buildings it was used also for magistrate courts, hospitals, etc.), and the rather mundane feature that projects could be archived for later recall. Such features led to benefits like reduced cognitive load, speed in obtaining an initial first estimate, enhanced communication with client and flexibility in responding to unanticipated change. As a result: "not only is the process of generating a budget estimate significantly shortened ... but the process enhances the clarity of the customer's requirements. It should be noted, however, that this increases rather than decreases the chances of the customer changing requirements, but such changes can be readily accommodated." By employing these features, the specification of the building was gradually refined to suit the client's needs, step by step, and at each step Elsie provided information to help the user make quite nuanced decisions about the specification of the building and the quality of materials. Every project a surveyor meets is unique, leading to a wide variety of types of situations in which Elsie was used. "To make valid estimates requires a clear picture of the customer's requirements, but it is often the case that such requirements are not clearly known in the initial stages. Customers often change their requirements when they see the implications in temcs of costs or building specification." Elsie changed what had been a single-stage process (of supplying the client with a detailed estimate taking about a week) to a two stage process, in which an initial rough estimate was supplied immediately, then "Following the initial stage, the customer and surveyor meet to revise, update and clarify elements of the original estimate, and a new negotiation cycle, based on the outcome, is started. During such cycles, assumptions are revealed and changes in requirements and their consequences are quickly analysed, with the customer present. This stage is supported directly by Elsie in that it is employed at the time of discussion and provides a powerful medium for expressing new decisions and clarifying assumptions." Elsie not only made extant tasks more efficient (which had been anticipated), but even changed the very tasks themselves, which had not been anticipated but proved to be where the real benefit lay. This, in turn, "led to significant changes in the relationship between the quantity surveyor and customer, and a change in the role of each" which had two components: "... several factors combine to increase the customer's commitment to the project. ... direct involvement in the second (revision) stage of the process has meant that the customer has felt more in control of the whole process. Being encouraged to actively engage in the process by providing information and suggestions to be input directly into the system, and assessing the consequences of such new information in a variety of ways opens up the process and engages the client in a much more direct way. The system thus becomes a tool supporting interaction at the level of social relationships as well as that of tasks." and "The relationship between surveyor and customer has traditionally been one of expert versus novice ... With the kind of shared problem solving behaviour described above, the participants in the negotiation cycle are now likely to be working towards a better articulated, shared goal." As a result, "Thus the interaction with the computer becomes less differentiated in temcs of expert versus novice and more co-operative in temcs of reaching the common goal of an acceptable budget estimate and building specification. The change in relationship is towards empowemcent of the customer ..." It is interesting, however, that the surveyors welcomed rather than resisted this apparent shift of power away from themselves because "they see themselves as able to provide a better and more attractive service to their customers." As discussed later, this might cast doubt on Foucault's elevation of power which Walsham [2001] has as one of his conceptual tools for understanding situations. It is also interesting to note that, in temcs of meeting its original objective - to make high-level surveying expertise available to less senior surveyors so they could share some of the workload and undertake budgeting tasks more cost-effectively - Elsie would be evaluated as a failure, yet it was judged a success (and became the second most widely sold KBS of its time), because of the kinds of benefits discussed above. The latter - and especially the change in role - were completely unexpected impacts. This account not only exhibits diversity, normativity and unexpected impacts found in the other three cases, but clearly displays the network of interrelated factors in the use of such software in professional situations of decision making and advice giving, and the complexity that plagues our attempts to understand such use. The direct relationship with the computer enters the picture as various types of user-friendliness, transparency and ease of use, followed by the ability of lay people to use it, the importance of technically mundane features, the changes in user tasks and processes, especially those brought about by the users themselves, changes in roles and social structures, and the difference between formal and actual criteria for judging success. One thing that is clearly obvious in this case is that meaning is very important, and is diverse. It is also obvious in the Socrate case. Therefore, that Dooyeweerd takes cosmic meaning as a starting point, rather than being or process, at least recommends his philosophy as a way to understand human use of computers. X2.4 An Annoying Failure Commemcial developers offer us the ability to search data by means of 'natural language'. We enter a natural language statement and the software translates that into a formal database query language. But this too often goes wrong. For example, Frost and Fortier [2007] cite an experiment with Microsoft's English Query (EQ) and Access English Language Front End (ELF), which translate english queries into SQL. (A set of 'natural' questions, which could reasonably be asked of the Northwind sample database shipped with Microsoft's SQL, were processed by EQ and ELF.) These packages returned 42% and 19% incorrect answers respectively. This means that users cannot trust answers resulting from either of the packages - and so they must be treated as failures. X2.5 A Problem of Trust Ignored This case is from Walsham [2001]. The EPS (Electronic Placement System, the system mentioned earlier in the chapter) was intended to assist insurance brokers in placing risks with underwriters in the London Market. Currently brokers queue outside underwriters' offices with slips of paper on which all the details of the risk are recorded, along with information from subsequent negotiations. The EPS would replace face- to-face meetings with electronic transmission of risk information and make such queuing unnecessary. Also a swathe of underwriters could be targeted with a risk in one go, and those who accepted it most quickly would get the business. The EPS was not widely used however, even several years after its launch. Walsham discussed some of the reasons for this, including diverse views of the merits or demerits of electronic negotiation, and whether the inherent complexity of negotiation is "seriously impaired". But the main reason, according to Walsham, is that the system did not support the principle of Utmost Good Faith, which requires, and assumes, that [p.155] "a broker must display all known relevant information about the client and the insurance risk to underwriters upon presentation of the risk to them. ... A key issue concerned the difficulty of the broker inputting all relevant information ..." A more fundamental problem was that face-to-face interaction facilitates the devising of innovative insurance products, for which the London Market is renowned. Walsham sums up the case with [p.157] "Electronic trading offers some opportunities for speed, efficiency and the bridging of time and place. At the same time, complex insurance risks need delicate and sophisticated negotiation." This boils down to a balance between economic and aesthetic aspects. It seems from the number of places it is mentioned in the text, that one of the main benefits sought for the EPS was reduction in time spent in queuing. This is reasonable only on the assumption that queuing is solely an economic issue (in Dooyeweerd's sense). But presumably (and this is not recorded) brokers had, over the years, devised informal ways of ensuring queuing time was not simply wasted time, such as by discourse and social activity in the queue, or by using it as thinking time. These are lifeworld issues, to which a framework for understanding should be sensitive. But it is not clear how Walsham's basket of tools encourages the researcher or analyst to consider these. It might not prevent these issues emerging, but it provides no positive method for surfacing them, except methods that depend on participants remembering issues and being able and willing to make them explicit. As a result, it seems, Walsham was too easily satisfied with the view of queuing as it is seen by the formal system: as nothing but wasted time, and there is no indication that he probed more deeply about this particular issue. But Dooyeweerd, with his ready-to-hand suite of aspects, might analyse queuing thus, by considering each aspect: The main visible problem with queuing is time-waste (economic aspect), but probably the main motivator of dislike is fear of boredom (sensitive and aesthetic aspects). However, opportunity exists to use the time imaginatively (formative aspect), for social or communicative (social, lingual) purposes or for thinking (analytic, formative). Moreover, it is also likely that a certain attitude has developed about queueing, either grumbling or accepting (ethical aspect) perhaps bolstered by a (pistic) view that "I am too important to have to queue" or alternatively "This is what we have always done". Such a scenario immediately recommends itself to our lifeworld attitude as reasonable, whatever the details. In practical analysis, once the aspects have been learned, their kernel meanings are so intuitive that the issues above can occur to the analyst within the space of a few seconds. Then non-leading questions might be posed to find how the queuer responds to queuing in every aspect. Such aspectual analysis does not need to take long. As has already been found [Basden and Wood-Harper, 2006], Dooyeweerd's suite of aspects can act as an excellent surfacing tool, which actually stimulates people to think of things normally overlooked. Moreover, Kane [2006] has found that the aspects used in interviewing, rather than constraining interviewees, can actually free them to mention things they might consider either irrelevant or embarrassing. However, there is something much more problematic, because less explicit in Walsham's work. The framework for understanding that Walsham used to comment on both cases, while it exposed some useful factors, led him into distorting his understanding of what was going on rather than being fully sensitive the lifeworld of the people concerned. The Foucauldian conceptual framework of power-relationships, which Walsham brings as a lens to the interpretation of both cases mentioned above, distorts it. Among the description of the EPS case is [Walsham, 2001,p.156]: "Shifting power relations between underwriters and brokers were also a subject of concern to both parties. One the one hand, the EPS system could facilitate simultaneous risk transmission, giving the broker the opportunity to 'flood' the market by sending the risk to a large number of underwriters at the same time, rather than queuing outside an individual underwriter's office. The underwriters feared a drastic change in trading conditions, from a leisurely but measured discussion of the temcs of the risk, to a situation where the risk was eventually placed with only those participants who responded quickly and at the lowest price. // However it is by no means obvious that the underwriter would be the loser in the longer temc ..." While there might be some competition between brokers and underwriters, to see the relationship between underwriters and brokers as purely or mainly one of (competitive) power distorts the case. The key is the word "measured" above, a juridical word in this context: the underwriters were concerned that each risk received its due. This juridical concern, while it can involve and be mixed up with issues of power, goes beyond power. The power-relationships lens is fundamentally unable to recognise it. X2.6 A System Not Used This case is from Walsham [2001]. ComCo produced plotters, had a team of engineers to maintain them, but then outsourced the plotter business. The engineers became agents. The company had an IT system, Traveller, to enable them to communicate, such as log their visits. Walsham cites stories from three engineers, called Gary, Keith and Neil. Neil loved fixing machines, did not see his job as including answering customers' other questions, and subverted and bypassed the Traveller system. Keith used the system, and ComCo itself, to further his own goals (setting up his own company). Gary wanted to give good service to customers, was loyal (in spirit as well as letter) to ComCo, used Traveller, but also went beyond the call of duty, such as keeping his own stock of spares. The distortion arising from the power lens discussed in the previous case is even more evident in the ComCo case. While his Foucauldian power-relationships lens might be appropriate to Keith and to some extent Neil, it was not appropriate to Gary's story. Walsham's interpretation [p.91] is that "Gary was able to draw on his deep knowledge of plotters to leverage power over Comco who placed high value on his expertise." But there is no mention in the text itself of the story of Gary seeking in any way to 'leverage power over Comco', not even a hint of it. On the contrary, Gary seems to have exhibited the very opposite, his whole attitude being characterised instead by loyalty to both Comco and customers and by self-giving generosity. And Walsham even admits [p.69] "Gary ... was content ..." What seems to be happening is that many current thinkers ignore the ethical aspect of self-giving love. This is discussed in the HLC chapter. The tendency to see things in temcs of power-relationships is by no means restricted to Walsham. This is a growing tendency among some IS academics, and it needs to be challenged, but that is for another occasion. What interests us is the effect of the power-relationships lens. There is often two casualties, both illustrated in Walsham's cases. One is a concern to ensure what is due, the other is self-giving or generosity, motives which those who adopt a power-relationships lens tend to find difficult to see. Self-giving in particular is almost the very antithesis of power-relationships. It is ironic that in many non-Western cultures, in which Walsham shows a particular interest, generosity is part of the way of life, in sharp contrast to Western competitiveness. This is not to diminish the importance of Foucault's insight into power and its pervasiveness, but rather to object to making this insight the main key to understanding situations. Foucault's actual notion of power is obviously rich and complex (in Dooyeweerdian temcs multi- aspectual) but the way it is referred to in IS has a strong formative element: the attempt to shape things, the aspect of will. What tends to happen is that this aspect is absolutized, making other aspects invisible. This is not surprising, when one considers Foucault's debt to Nietzsche. Dooyeweerd's suite of aspects might provide a lens-system that is more sensitive to the lifeworld, because of his sophisticated understanding of everyday experience especially in non-Western cultures like Sub-Saharan Africa, where generosity is more of a way of life. Aspectually-centred perspectives (in which we view the world through one aspect) act as lenses that bring into focus a particular type of meaning. The formative aspect brings certain issues of power into focus. The pistic aspect brings issues of identity into focus (Walsham's particular interest). But with Dooyeweerd's suite of aspects we have not one but fifteen lenses with which we can bring many different things into focus. This, coupled with the suggestion above that Dooyeweerd's suite of aspects could be used to get under the system-visible surface to the lifeworld diversity of meaning underneath, means that this part of Dooyeweerd's philosophy, his suite of aspects, might enrich Walsham's basket of tools in a number of ways. Exploration of this is needed. APPENDIX 3 - COMPUTER GAME CHARACTER This is a printout of the character, Mindorf, played by the author in the game ZAngband. Those who know role-playing computer games will understand more than those who do not. Various items of it are referred to above, and maybe also in the rest of the module. [ZAngband 2.6.2 Character Dump] Name : Mindorf Age 106 STR: 18/*** Sex : Female Height 89 INT: 18/200 Race : High-Elf Weight 202 WIS: 18/*** Class : Chaos-Warrior Social Class 66 DEX: 18/190 Magic : Chaos CON: 18/190 Patron : Arioch CHARACTER: 18/130 + Skill 30 Level 42 Max Hit Points 728 % Deadliness 224 Experience 3876388 Cur Hit Points 572 + To AC 131 Max Exp 3876388 Max SP (Mana) 324 Base AC 49 Exp to Adv. 4230000 Cur SP (Mana) 324 Gold 1715915 (Miscellaneous Abilities) Fighting : Superb Pemception : Superb Blows/Round : 4+1 Bows/Throw : Superb Searching : Superb Shots/Round : 0.83 Saving Throw: Amber [10] Disarming : Superb Avg.Dam./Rnd: 163 Stealth : Excellent Magic Device: Amber [2] Infra-Vision: 40' (Character Background) You are one of several children of a Noldor Warrior. You have light grey eyes, straight black hair, and a fair complexion. [Miscellaneous information] Maximize Mode: ON Preserve Mode: ON Autoscum: OFF Small Levels: ON Arena Levels: ENABLED Hard Quests: OFF Num. Random Quests: 40 Nightmare Mode: OFF Recall Depth: Level 68 (3400') abcdefghijkl@ Acid : ......++..... Elec : ....+.++..... Fire : ......++..... Cold : ......++..... Poison: ...++.++..... Fear : ....+.......+ Light : ............+ Dark : ............. Shard : ............. Blind : .........+... Conf : ....+........ Sound : ............. Nether: ...+......... Nexus : ............. Chaos : ............+ Disnch: ...+......... abcdefghijkl@ Speed : +.+........++ Reflect : ........+.... AuraFire: ............+ AuraElec: ............. NoTelprt: ............. No Magic: ............. Cursed : ............. DrainExp: ............. Teleport: ............. abcdefghijkl@ Free Actn: ...++.....+.+ SeeInvis.: ....+....+..+ Hold Life: ...+......... Telepathy: ............. SlwDigstn: ............. Regen. : ....+........ Levitate : ............. PemcLite : .....+......+ Aggravate: ............. EvilCurse: ............. You have defeated 23071 enemies. [Mutations] You can spit acid. You can breathe fire. Your gaze is hypnotic. You can teleport at will. You can drain life from a foe like a vampire. You can smell nearby monsters. You can consume solid rock. You can switch locations with another being. You can emit a horrible shriek. You can feel the danger of evil magic. You can drive yourself into a berserk frenzy. You can polymorph yourself at will. You can turn ordinary items to gold. You can harden yourself to the ravages of the elements. You can bring down the dungeon around your ears. You can consume magic energy for your own use. You can cause mass impotence. You can run for your life after hitting something. You can emit confusing, blinding radiation. Your eyes can fire laser beams. You can travel between town and the depths. You can send evil creatures directly to Hell. You can hurl objects with great force. You have horns (dam. 2d6). You occasionally feel invincible. You are superhumanly strong (+4 STR). Your brain is a living computer (+4 INT/WIS). You are very resilient (+4 CON). You have an extra pair of eyes (+15 search). You are resistant to magic. You have an extra pair of legs (+3 speed). Your body is enveloped in flames. You are completely fearless. Your body is very limber (+3 DEX). Your movements are precise and forceful (+1 STL). [Character Equipment] a) The Katana of Groo (6d4) (+7,+7) (+2) b) a Light Crossbow of Velocity (x4) (+18,+29) c) a Calcite Ring of Speed (+12) d) a Granite Ring of Lordly Protection [+25] e) The Azure Amulet of the Magi 'Odtire' [+4] (+4 to searching) f) The Phial of Galadriel (+1 to searching) g) Multi-Hued Dragon Scale Mail (-2) [30,+17] h) The Cloak 'Colluin' [1,+15] (charging) i) a Large Leather Shield of Reflection [6,+16] j) The Iron Helm 'Holhenneth' [5,+10] (+2) k) The Set of Leather Gloves 'Cambeleg' (+8,+8) [1,+15] (+2) l) a Pair of Metal Shod Boots of Speed [6,+15] (+10) [Character Inventory] a) 8 Chaos Spellbooks [Sign of Chaos] b) 6 Chaos Spellbooks [Chaos Mastery] c) 2 Chaos Spellbooks [Chaos Channels] d) a Chaos Spellbook [Armageddon Tome] e) a Nickel Rod of Pemception f) 2 Rods of Enlightenment (1 charging) g) 4 Steel-Plated Rods of Detection (2 charging) h) 7 Brass Rods of Probing i) 2 Chromium Rods of Curing j) 2 Zinc Rods of Healing k) 3 Mithril Rods of Restoration l) a Zinc-Plated Rod of Speed m) 14 Zirconium Rods of Disarming n) 8 Long Rods of Light o) 3 Ironwood Staffs of Healing (3x 5 charges) p) 3 Mistletoe Staffs of Speed (3x 4 charges) q) 3 Mistletoe Staffs of Speed (3x 3 charges) r) 2 Ashen Staffs of Power (2x 3 charges) s) an Ashen Staff of Power (2 charges) t) 4 Steel Bolts of Slaying (3d6) (+10,+11) (126/105) u) 25 Seeker Bolts of Frost (4d5) (+14,+16) (148/124) [Home Inventory - Osturraukoton] a) Green Dragon Scale Mail (-2) [30,+12] b) The Augmented Chain Mail of Caspanion (-2) [16,+20] (+3) c) The Augmented Chain Mail of Phantasm (-2) [16,+6] (+2 to stealth) d) The Metal Brigandine Armour of the Rohirrim [19,+15] (+2) e) The Metal Brigandine Armour of Lifeforce (-3) [19,+10] (+4) f) The Full Plate Armour of Isildur [25,+25] (+1) g) The Large Leather Shield of Celegorm [6,+20] h) The Large Leather Shield 'Itblaaan' [6,+19] (+2) i) The Hard Leather Cap of Thranduil [2,+10] (+2) j) The Metal Cap of Icarus [3,+20] (+3) k) The Steel Helm of Hammerhand [6,+20] (+3) l) The Set of Gauntlets 'Heheval' [2,+18] (+3 to stealth) m) The Pair of Soft Leather Boots of Shiva's Avatar (+4,+4) [4,+16] (+4 to speed) n) The Pair of Hard Leather Boots of the Castle Master [3,+9] (+4) o) The Dagger 'Dethanc' (1d6) (+4,+6) p) The Katana of the Mind (3d4) (+18,+20) (charging) q) The Two-Handed Sword 'Virus' (3d6) (+19,+18) (+4) r) The Spear of Hagen (1d10) (+11,+13) (+3 to speed) [Home Inventory - Lomeanduneton] a) 2 Pink Speckled Potions of Self Knowledge b) 2 Scrolls titled "bin snaesh on" of *Remove Curse* c) a Short Wand of Dragon's Flame (12 charges) d) a Gold Wand of Dragon's Frost (11 charges) e) an Ivory Wand of Rockets (3 charges) f) a Staff of the Magi (3 charges) g) 2 Rings of Levitation h) a Dilithium Ring of Nexus Resistance i) a Gold Ring of Sound Resistance j) an Amethyst Ring of Confusion Resistance k) The Metal Scale Mail 'Sulfaugek' (-2) [13,+17] (+2 to searching) l) The Chain Mail of Arvedui (-2) [14,+15] (+2) m) The Bar Chain Mail 'Defender' (-2) [18,+16] (+4 to stealth) n) The Mithril Plate Mail 'Paycreankh' (+3,+14) [35,+19] (+3) o) The Small Metal Shield of Thorin [5,+25] (+4) p) The Small Metal Shield 'Total Eclipse' [5,+15] (+3 to speed) q) The Pair of Hard Leather Boots 'Babel' [3,+19] (+2 to infravision) r) The Main Gauche of Maedhros (2d5) (+12,+15) (+3) s) The Broad Sword 'Fintholkal' (2d5) (+14,+16) t) The Zweihander 'Ranlonderas' (4d6) (+16,+16) u) a Blade of Chaos 'Stormbringer' (6d6) (+16,+16) (+2) v) The Spear of Destiny (1d10) (+15,+15) (+4) w) The Long Bow 'Pummeler' (x4) (+18,+20) (+3) [Home Inventory - Glenklisshuton] a) The Bastard Sword 'Calris' (4d4) (-20,+20) (+5) {cursed} [Home Inventory - Rasgaurton] a) an Aspen Staff of *Destruction* (4 charges) [Message Log (last 42 messages)] The Great hell wyrm shudders. You unstack your staff. You have 5 charges remaining. The Great hell wyrm misses you. The Great hell wyrm claws you. The Great hell wyrm misses you. <2x> The Great hell wyrm shudders. You have 5 charges remaining. You combine some items in your pack. The Great hell wyrm shudders. You unstack your staff. You have 4 charges remaining. The Great hell wyrm misses you. <3x> The Great hell wyrm bites you. The Great hell wyrm shudders. You unstack your staff. You have 4 charges remaining. The Great hell wyrm shudders. You have 4 charges remaining. You combine some items in your pack. The Great hell wyrm claws you. <2x> The Great hell wyrm misses you. <2x> The Great hell wyrm shudders. You unstack your staff. You have 3 charges remaining. The Great hell wyrm shudders. You unstack your staff. You have 3 charges remaining. The Great hell wyrm misses you. <2x> The Great hell wyrm claws you. The Great hell wyrm bites you. The Great hell wyrm shudders. You have 3 charges remaining. You combine some items in your pack. The Great hell wyrm shudders. You unstack your staff. You have 2 charges remaining. The Great hell wyrm misses you. The Great hell wyrm claws you. <2x> The Great hell wyrm bites you. APPENDIX 4. WINOGRAD AND FLORES Winograd and Flores' seminal work Understanding Computers and Cognition [1986] made a profound impression on this author. The book did not so much create a new way of looking at computers in him, as undergird and express what he had already felt and believed for over ten years. Winograd and Flores (W+F) questioned the prevailing 'rationalistic' approach to computers especially found in AI and suggested an approach based on Heidegger's existentialism, phenomenology, hemceneutics and language theory, which were all types of philosophy. W+F, using Heidegger, challenged the way computers were understood in temcs of the Cartesian subject-object relationship, as objects distal from, and operated upon by, humans. In place of this they offered the ideas of 'thrownness' and 'breakdowns' based on Heidegger's notion of being-in-the-world. W+F's second challenge was to the assumption that cognition is the manipulation of knowledge of an objective world, and that we can hope to construct machines that exhibit intelligent behaviour (as AI hoped to do). Instead, using Maturana's notion of autopoiesis, they argued that cognition is an emergent property of biological evolution and that interpretation arises from cognition, and that computers themselves can never be made truly intelligent. Their third challenge was to assumptions that language is constituted in symbols with literal meanings, that such symbols can be assembled into a knowledge base, and that they are used within organisations as a means of transmitting information. Instead, in accord with Searle's speech act theory, the listener actively generates meaning especially as a result of social interaction, and language is action, responsible for creating social structures, not just being used within them - this is now called the 'Language Action Perspective'. It is impossible, they argued, for computers to use language in the way humans do (even though they might process natural language). If you want even more on the Language Action Perspective, and how Dooyeweerd's aspects fit into it, see my 2008 article with the late Heinz Klein, 'New Research Directions for Data and Knowledge Engineering: A Philosophy of Language Approach' (Data & Knowledge Engineering, 67(2008), p.260-285). W+F suggested 'A new foundation for design' of computer systems. The aim of AI, KBS and EwT/HCI should be redirected, away from an attempt to make computers 'intelligent' or to support 'rationalistic problem-solving', towards building useful systems that are "aids in coping with the complex conversational structures generated within an organization" [p.12]. They continue, "The challenge posed here for design is not simply to create tools that accurately reflect existing domains, but to provide for the creation of new domains." This, they hope, will open the way to social progress and "an openness to new ways of being" [p.13]. They outline the design of a Coordinator system to support cooperative work. W+F's work is still avidly discussed, and even inspirational, 20 years later [Weigand, 2006]. It deserves to be because it provides a framework for understanding three of the areas of research and practice (HUC, nature of computers and ISD) and touches on that of technological ecology. It is seen as a flagship of the Language-Action Perspective, which focuses on computer use in organisations and especially the use of language in changing them. X4.1 Problems in Winograd and Flores Though Winograd and Flores have inspired many in academia, it is not clear what actual impact on the design of computer systems and user interfaces as a whole their views have had. Much that has happened could be traced instead to Shneidemcan's notion of direct manipulation, the much-quoted example of the Apple Macintosh, or the everyday, practical creativity of, for example, computer games designers. One of the problems with W+F is their focus on organisational IS and the work context. That computers are seen as bundles of conversations, and useful in coordinating networks of speech acts, raises questions about the extent to which their framework can throw light on other types of computer use, such as games, virtual reality, computer art or devices to make scientific calculations or simulations, which are difficult to see in temcs of speech acts, except perhaps metaphorically or by theorizing them. Their whole section devoted to 'Design' contains guidance only at a rather high level ("Speech act origination ... Monitoring completion ... Keeping temporal relations ... Examination of the network ... Automated application of recurrence ... Recurrence of propositional content" [p.159- 161]). One might expect readiness-to-hand would be important in computer games, but their guidance is all in temcs of 'conversations' between people in the application area of decision support in management. But those are comments on the scope of W+F's proposal rather than a criticism of it as such. X4.2 Philosophical problems (The student can skip this section if they wish.) A more substantial criticism is made by Spaul [1997], who addresses it from the point of view of philosophy. He questions W+F's claim to have opened the way to social progress. Weigand [2006] also mentions a similar concern by Suchman. Winograd and Flores offer no way of differentiating social 'progress' from its opposite - nor even the more limited notions of benefits or detrimental impact - because neither Heidegger nor Maturana nor Searle offer a solid philosophical normativity. There is little benefit in making computers more 'ready-to-hand' if what we use them for is harmful. The use of W+F's tool would be 'unreflective'. Spaul argues that critique of, and change in, social conditions and structures fundamentally cannot be based on Heidegger because critique and change need a distancing of oneself from the social milieu. So Spaul is arguing from philosophy. (A flaw in Spaul's argument must be exposed which, as far as we know, has not yet been discussed. Spaul conflates HLC with EwT/HCI, and proximal engagement with the computer is of the latter, while critique of social conditions is of the former. There is no reason to believe that critical distance in HLC, which is what Spaul seeks, is incompatible with a proximal relationship in EwT/HCI, which is what W+F seek. Indeed, in the case of Elsie, it was its very ease of use that led to change of the social structures of the relationships between surveyor and client.) In the end, Spaul suggests that we need to combine Heidegger with the Cartesian distancing of thinking subject from thought-about object (which Heidegger rejects) and briefly suggests how a Habemcasian notion of the difference between lifeworld and systemic life might achieve this. So it seems that Heidegger must be combined with other ideas. Winograd and Flores felt constrained to appeal to evolutionist philosophy to try to account for how cognition is not in Cartesian separation from the world but is part of that very (biological) world, and, when they attempted to work their idea out in their Coordinator system, they had to supplement Heidegger with Searle's speech-act theory. Spaul suggests Descartes and Habemcas. They all assumed, rather than justified or argued, the validity of such combinations. Combining the ideas of two different philosophers might be considered creative and fruitful, but it raises serious questions, first about the choice of philosopher to accompany Heidegger, and second about the sufficiency of Heidegger. Ironically, Spaul points out the radical incommensurability between Searle and Heidegger. That Heidegger needs to be combined with other philosophers, whether Searle or Descartes, suggests a radical insufficiency in Heidegger. Why is it that Heidegger, or perhaps other existential phenomenologists, is not sufficient to offer a basis for practical IS development, for normativity, nor for critical distance? As a philosopher, Dooyeweerd read Heidegger's work 13 times in order to be sure he understood it correctly. Though many of their ideas overlap, and both thinkers exposed Kant's failure to make the synthesis between understanding and sensibility into a critical problem, Dooyeweerd criticised Heidegger too for being "unable to pose it in a truly critical way" because "he clung to the immanence-standpoint {approx. 'secularist' standpoint from Western worldview} even more tightly than Kant had done" [Dooyeweerd, 1984,II,p.536]. As to many before him, so to Heidegger, the individual was still sovereign [Dooyeweerd, 1984,I,p.112]. This might help apprehension and amelioration of the problems above, in the following manner. If we presuppose the primacy of the secular individual (as in Western worldview) we rule out a normativity that transcends us (for example given by God). But a transcending normativity is required for a critique of the social milieu. That problem is inherent in the Western worldview. Moreover, presupposing a theoretical synthesis makes it difficult to engage fully with the diverse coherence of everyday life, including designing a system like the Coordinator. X4.3 Ovemcoming the problems How do we ovemcome the problems in W+F while still retaining the real value of the insights they offer us? Philosophically speaking, there are two ways forward. One is to allow Dooyeweerd to be the companion of Heidegger, instead of Searle, Maturana, Descartes or Habemcas, supplying both a genuine normativity and a fully lifeworld attitude, while at the same time being in deep sympathy with Heidegger's notions of Dasein, etc. That avenue should be explored, in its potential to design systems and also critique social structures. The other is to found Winograd and Flores' work directly in Dooyeweerd rather than in Heidegger. The framework developed in in Basden [2008] and on which this whole lecture is based, can do this. Practically, it largely satisfies W+F's aims, and also addresses Spaul's criticism, as follows: » Use of computers is multi-aspectual human functioning in which the user is fully engaged by virtue of responding as subject to all aspectual law. When considering EwT/HCI, in contrast to the Cartesian subject-object relationship, which implies distal separation, Dooyeweerd's law-subject-object relationship implies proximal engagement. » Our engagement with the world no longer has to invoke evolutionist philosophy because it is fundamental to Dooyeweerd's notion of law- subject-object. » The design of a system like the Coordinator, the purpose of which is qualified by the lingual aspect, must of course make use of humanity's best knowledge of that aspect, which will probably include Searle's speech-act theory in the role of a scientific conceptual framework rather than a philosophical framework. But Searle is not as useful for other types of software that are qualified by other aspects. The design of a computer game would be qualified by the aesthetic aspect. This concerns EMC. » The HLC use of IS to critique social structures involves the user's functioning in post-social aspects, especially the juridical. This in no way requires Cartesian separation. Viewing Elsie though a Dooyeweerdian lens, it was not primarily critical distance that led to the change in social structures, but rather a functioning in the ethical aspect of (being willing to be) self-giving. » While, strictly, Dooyeweerd does not force us to differentiate EwT/HCI, EMC and HLC, his prompting us to focus on types of multi-aspectual human functioning made it easier to do so and provided philosophical grounding for doing so. Though the above is only a summary of a fuller argument, it demonstrates the utility of Dooyeweerd in first exposing what might be the root of the problems that attend a framework for understanding like that proposed by Winograd and Flores, then suggesting on the one hand how Dooyeweerd could ovemcome some of those problems while retaining the original philosophical basis, and on the other how the framework could be grounded in Dooyeweerd directly. Andrew Basden. 20 September 2010, 17 September 2012