Texts:1986 The Stimmir: Difference between revisions

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What defines a stimmir, like a book, is its content, what the stimmir is about. Each particular stimmir, like each particular book, will have a material form, but its subject, its content, will actually determine what it is. The material form of books is variable—some are very small, folios are very large; bindings differ, as does the paper, ink, typeface, layout, and the like. A few bibliophiles may care more that a book is bound in such and such leather, stitched in one or another way, set in an esteemed type, printed on a renowned stock, and so on, but most real readers care whether it is Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Emile or Voltaire's Candide and they would distinguish between those two works not merely by their physical attributes, but far more profoundly by their differences of substance, tone, import, scope, style, and significance. So too, stimmirs will be distinguished, one from another, according to their content, not according to the peculiar combination of technologies used in each.

<ref>In physical size, one stimmir will be a lot bigger (and much more complex) than a single book, but a set of books with a content equal in size to that of the single stimmir may prove to be much the bulkier.</ref>

One can, of course, describe the physical attributes of a typical book, and the writer needs to have these somewhat in mind as he or she sets about to create a work. We can do the same with a typical stimmir. First off, a stimmir will be a lot "bigger" than the average book, and here "bigger" really describes content more than physical size.<ref>In physical size, one stimmir will be a lot bigger (and much more complex) than a single book, but a set of books with a content equal in size to that of the single stimmir may prove to be much the bulkier.</ref> The quantity of information in a stimmir will greatly exceed the quantity of information in a book. With a stimmir, a personal computer controlling diverse mass storage devices will be like the cover, binding, and pages of a book. The typical stimmir will include an extensive collection of video and other visual materials, all of which will be carefully indexed for management with the computer. By extensive collection of visual materials, think here, not of one interactive videodisk with its half-hour of video to a side; think instead of a collection of two-hour video tapes, say fifty or more of them, each time-coded with its contents carefully indexed in a computer database. The stimmir may include also lots of stills and short videos on a videodisk and recordings on compact disk or tapes—the important part is that all be indexed and easily controllable through the computer. In addition to such a video collection, the stimmir will also include, thoroughly referenced in the same index, an extensive collection of written materials, texts, statistics, what-have-you. By extensive collection of written materials, think here, not of a single handbook; think instead of an assemblage of materials more extensive than that of the most comprehensive encyclopedias. And as with the visual materials, the key to the textual part of a stimmir will be powerful indexing so that the reader can control it for easy retrieval and intelligent navigation through it substantively.

One can, of course, describe the physical attributes of a typical book, and the writer needs to have these somewhat in mind as he or she sets about to create a work. We can do the same with a typical stimmir. First off, a stimmir will be a lot "bigger" than the average book, and here "bigger" really describes content more than physical size.<~~span class="cite"~~></~~span~~> The quantity of information in a stimmir will greatly exceed the quantity of information in a book. With a stimmir, a personal computer controlling diverse mass storage devices will be like the cover, binding, and pages of a book. The typical stimmir will include an extensive collection of video and other visual materials, all of which will be carefully indexed for management with the computer. By extensive collection of visual materials, think here, not of one interactive videodisk with its half-hour of video to a side; think instead of a collection of two-hour video tapes, say fifty or more of them, each time-coded with its contents carefully indexed in a computer database. The stimmir may include also lots of stills and short videos on a videodisk and recordings on compact disk or tapes—the important part is that all be indexed and easily controllable through the computer. In addition to such a video collection, the stimmir will also include, thoroughly referenced in the same index, an extensive collection of written materials, texts, statistics, what-have-you. By extensive collection of written materials, think here, not of a single handbook; think instead of an assemblage of materials more extensive than that of the most comprehensive encyclopedias. And as with the visual materials, the key to the textual part of a stimmir will be powerful indexing so that the reader can control it for easy retrieval and intelligent navigation through it substantively.

Because stimmirs serve to sustain study, they must be extensive. Training materials are designed by circumscribing and closely defining what is to be learned and concentrating astutely on imparting those particulars. Study environments must encompass much more than any single student can master, short of becoming a renowned authority. To study a matter is to explore it, to reflect on different aspects of it, to inquire into those dimensions that peculiarly strike one's interest, to wonder about it, to be curious, to draw connections, ultimately to form views of it that are all one's own. Hence, well-designed study environments, stimmirs, should invite different people to chart unique, unfolding itineraries of inquiry through them.

<ref>Michel de Montaigne, "Of the Education of Children", Montaigne: Selected Essays, Blanchard Bates, ed., New York: The Modem Library, 1949, p. 22. My distinction between study and instruction is developed at greater length in my essay "Toward a Place for Study in a World of Instruction", Teachers College Record, Vol. 73, No. 2, (December 1971), pp. 161-205.</ref>

<blockquote>Bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they then make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme and marjoram; so the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and blend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment. His education, labor, and study aim only at forming that.</Bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they then make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme and marjoram; so the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and blend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment. His education, labor, and study aim only at forming that.<ref>Michel de Montaigne, "Of the Education of Children", Montaigne: Selected Essays, Blanchard Bates, ed., New York: The Modem Library, 1949, p. 22. My distinction between study and instruction is developed at greater length in my essay "Toward a Place for Study in a World of Instruction", Teachers College Record, Vol. 73, No. 2, (December 1971), pp. 161-205.</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>Bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they then make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme and marjoram; so the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and blend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment. His education, labor, and study aim only at forming that.</Bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they then make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme and marjoram; so the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and blend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment. His education, labor, and study aim only at forming that.<~~span class=~~"~~cite~~"></~~span~~></~~blockquot~~>

Stimmirs should be flowered fields to sustain such labor, and to so serve study, they need to be copious collections, less like a single text and more like a well-chosen topical library.

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 <p>What defines a stimmir, like a book, is its content, what the stimmir is about. Each particular stimmir, like each particular book, will have a material form, but its subject, its content, will actually determine what it is. The material form of books is variable—some are very small, folios are very large; bindings differ, as does the paper, ink, typeface, layout, and the like. A few bibliophiles may care more that a book is bound in such and such leather, stitched in one or another way, set in an esteemed type, printed on a renowned stock, and so on, but most real readers care whether it is Jean-Jacques Rousseau's <i>Emile</i> or Voltaire's <i>Candide</i> and they would distinguish between those two works not merely by their physical attributes, but far more profoundly by their differences of substance, tone, import, scope, style, and significance. So too, stimmirs will be distinguished, one from another, according to their content, not according to the peculiar combination of technologies used in each.</p>
-<ref>In physical size, <i>one</i> stimmir will be a lot bigger (and much more complex) than a single book, but a set of books with a content equal in size to that of the single stimmir may prove to be much the bulkier.</ref>
+<p>One can, of course, describe the physical attributes of a typical book, and the writer needs to have these somewhat in mind as he or she sets about to create a work. We can do the same with a typical stimmir. First off, a stimmir will be a lot "bigger" than the average book, and here "bigger" really describes content more than physical size.<ref>In physical size, <i>one</i> stimmir will be a lot bigger (and much more complex) than a single book, but a set of books with a content equal in size to that of the single stimmir may prove to be much the bulkier.</ref> The quantity of information in a stimmir will greatly exceed the quantity of information in a book. With a stimmir, a personal computer controlling diverse mass storage devices will be like the cover, binding, and pages of a book. The typical stimmir will include an extensive collection of video and other visual materials, all of which will be carefully indexed for management with the computer. By extensive collection of visual materials, think here, not of one interactive videodisk with its half-hour of video to a side; think instead of a collection of two-hour video tapes, say fifty or more of them, each time-coded with its contents carefully indexed in a computer database. The stimmir may include also lots of stills and short videos on a videodisk and recordings on compact disk or tapes—the important part is that all be indexed and easily controllable through the computer. In addition to such a video collection, the stimmir will also include, thoroughly referenced in the same index, an extensive collection of written materials, texts, statistics, what-have-you. By extensive collection of written materials, think here, not of a single handbook; think instead of an assemblage of materials more extensive than that of the most comprehensive encyclopedias. And as with the visual materials, the key to the textual part of a stimmir will be powerful indexing so that the reader can control it for easy retrieval and intelligent navigation through it substantively.</p>
-<p>One can, of course, describe the physical attributes of a typical book, and the writer needs to have these somewhat in mind as he or she sets about to create a work. We can do the same with a typical stimmir. First off, a stimmir will be a lot "bigger" than the average book, and here "bigger" really describes content more than physical size.<span class="cite"></span> The quantity of information in a stimmir will greatly exceed the quantity of information in a book. With a stimmir, a personal computer controlling diverse mass storage devices will be like the cover, binding, and pages of a book. The typical stimmir will include an extensive collection of video and other visual materials, all of which will be carefully indexed for management with the computer. By extensive collection of visual materials, think here, not of one interactive videodisk with its half-hour of video to a side; think instead of a collection of two-hour video tapes, say fifty or more of them, each time-coded with its contents carefully indexed in a computer database. The stimmir may include also lots of stills and short videos on a videodisk and recordings on compact disk or tapes—the important part is that all be indexed and easily controllable through the computer. In addition to such a video collection, the stimmir will also include, thoroughly referenced in the same index, an extensive collection of written materials, texts, statistics, what-have-you. By extensive collection of written materials, think here, not of a single handbook; think instead of an assemblage of materials more extensive than that of the most comprehensive encyclopedias. And as with the visual materials, the key to the textual part of a stimmir will be powerful indexing so that the reader can control it for easy retrieval and intelligent navigation through it substantively.</p>
 <p>Because stimmirs serve to sustain study, they must be extensive. Training materials are designed by circumscribing and closely defining what is to be learned and concentrating astutely on imparting those particulars. Study environments must encompass much more than any single student can master, short of becoming a renowned authority. To study a matter is to explore it, to reflect on different aspects of it, to inquire into those dimensions that peculiarly strike one's interest, to wonder about it, to be curious, to draw connections, ultimately to form views of it that are all one's own. Hence, well-designed study environments, stimmirs, should invite different people to chart unique, unfolding itineraries of inquiry through them.</p>
-<ref>Michel de Montaigne, "Of the Education of Children", Montaigne: <i>Selected Essays</i>, Blanchard Bates, ed., New York: The Modem Library, 1949, p.  22.  My distinction between study and instruction is developed at greater length in my essay "Toward a Place for Study in a World of Instruction", <i>Teachers College Record</i>, Vol.  73, No.  2, (December 1971), pp.  161-205.</ref>
+<blockquote>Bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they then make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme and marjoram; so the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and blend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment. His education, labor, and study aim only at forming that.<span class="cite"></span></Bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they then make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme and marjoram; so the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and blend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment. His education, labor, and study aim only at forming that.<ref>Michel de Montaigne, "Of the Education of Children", Montaigne: <i>Selected Essays</i>, Blanchard Bates, ed., New York: The Modem Library, 1949, p.  22.  My distinction between study and instruction is developed at greater length in my essay "Toward a Place for Study in a World of Instruction", <i>Teachers College Record</i>, Vol.  73, No.  2, (December 1971), pp.  161-205.</ref></blockquote>
-<blockquote>Bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they then make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme and marjoram; so the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and blend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment. His education, labor, and study aim only at forming that.<span class="cite"></span></Bees pillage the flowers here and there, but they then make honey of them which is all their own; it is no longer thyme and marjoram; so the fragments borrowed from others he will transform and blend together to make a work that shall be absolutely his own; that is to say, his judgment. His education, labor, and study aim only at forming that.<span class="cite"></span></blockquot>
 <p>Stimmirs should be flowered fields to sustain such labor, and to so serve study, they need to be copious collections, less like a single text and more like a well-chosen topical library.</p>