blog

"Small problems" in the humanities?

Quinn — Sat, 07 Apr 2012 19:51:00 +0000

I am someone who knows my way around a keyboard, but isn’t really invested in computer science, hacking, or computer and electrical engineering—I’ve often been fascinated with the idea of “small problems” in the practice of computing. I’m here referring to the ubiquitous weekend projects and semi-organized hackathons. Not only do these (very) occasionally lead to important theoretical insights, they frequently contribute to the practice. We’ve seen all sorts of feats of implementation, development, reverse engineering, and integration.

While the humanities are a decidedly less practice-oriented field, there still are enclaves of practice, such as in digital humanities, book history, and of course, actual writing. If we were to find areas of practice, or small areas of theory, what would the humanities take to be a “small problem”, accomplishable in a weekend or a hackathon?

The student's (and faculty's) guide to computer security

Quinn — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 16:03:08 +0000

[N.B. I’ll be discussing Mac software exclusively, but basically the rules apply to other operating systems.]

A friend of mine recently had his laptop stolen from school, and he came to me asking if there is any way to track the device. Basically, that answer is a sad “no”, but there are some things you can do before your laptop is stolen.

A word about “security”. I’m using this in the broadest sense possible, and will be offering a kind of “best practices” approach. The things that you’ll want to “secure” are: data, privacy, and physical device recovery. Let’s start with the easiest.

Data security

“If it isn’t in at least two places, it doesn’t exist” ~ a paraphrase from an unknown Internet source

It’s simply not enough to occasionally move your important files over to a USB key or external hand drive every now and then. Likewise, emailing your files to GMail probably isn’t good enough either. Here’s what I do, and you should too:

Automatic offsite backup. It may cost you $50/year but the various (secure) cloud backup services may save your butt, and if you should have irrecoverable data corruption, or if your device is stolen, you would gladly spend that $50/year to recover all of your data. In the event of a disaster it will save you a lot of time to get back up and going too, since most services will allow you to either download all your files or (for a fee) ship you a hard drive of all your data. These services run continuously or nightly (the prior is much preferred) and will save every file on your computer. This includes those intangibles that would never be saved with your current “email” backup strategy, like your holiday pictures and your large music collection. Sure, saving your dissertation-in-progress is important, but how sad would it be to lose the pictures of your children, your ex-lovers, your holidays, and your family? I use Backblaze (Mac or Windows), which I really enjoy. After some experimentation, I discovered that it hits all the criteria for me: unlimited backup, continuous (“smart”) backup, and encrypted data prior to uploading.
Automatic onsite backup. If you use automatic cloud backup you might not need this one, but still, it’s an extra layer of protection and can help recover particular versions of your data, or allow for very fast data recovery (if your onsite data is good, then no need to recover from the cloud). All you need is a cheap external hard drive or (better) an Apple Time Capsule for automatic over-the-air backup. Turn on OS X Time Machine and it takes care of the rest. It’s a few hundred dollars well spent.
Automatic cloud syncing. A third data backup!? I know, it might be overkill, but it’s easy to do and offers other benefits also. If you use a service like Dropbox (2GB free) and keep all of your more important documents in the Dropbox folder, you’ll get automatic versioning for every single save, and you’ll be able to access your files from anywhere using the web interface. Ever find yourself at school without your laptop, and you forgot to print that important document? Log in to Dropbox and view all your documents. The backup solutions described above don’t backup your data as frequently, so if a program crashes and corrupts your data you might lose an hour or a day’s worth of work, but so long as you click Save every few minutes (and you should), you’ll be safe with Dropbox. [OS X Lion has automatic backup and versioning capabilities, but until they are fully supported by all your applications this isn’t really an answer. Microsoft Word, notably, does not support system-level versioning.]

Privacy

There are two senses of privacy in this scenario. The first is privacy while you use your computer. Some of the cloud services listed above (ahem, Dropbox) are very bad in terms of privacy and data security, but they may just be a necessary evil (that’s how I view it). Your web browser is the other obvious place for privacy, and using browser extensions like Ghostery will help protect you online. The second scenario is privacy if your laptop is stolen. Here’s some tips:

Always secure your laptop with a password. This may seem annoying but it is important (you’ll realize that when your laptop is stolen). OS X has made it relatively painless: System Preferences -> Security & Privacy and then set “Require password ___ minutes after sleep or screen saver begins” to a number that isn’t too annoying, but is relatively secure. Mine is set to 15 minutes.
Your email account is your skeleton key to online privacy, so treat it accordingly. Gmail offers enhanced security such as two-factor authentication and verification code requirements (if you have a mobile device). Likewise, Facebook can do two-factor authentication by sending you an SMS with a code every time a new device attempts to log in to your account. This won’t necessarily help you if your laptop is stolen and is password protected (and it is, right?), but it’s a good idea anyway. If your laptop is stolen and you do use Gmail (who doesn’t?), go in to your Google account settings and log out of all other sessions.

Physical device recovery

This is a trickier one. Step one is “don’t lose your laptop”, but assuming you’ve skipped step one, there are a few options.

Sign up for Apple’s free iCloud service, and turn on “Find my iPhone” for all your devices (yeah, they still haven’t changed the name to reflect the fact that you can locate any OS X and iOS device). If your laptop connects to a wifi location you’ll be able to track it on a map. The irony of the iCloud tracking is that it won’t work if you have password protected your laptop, but, you should definitely password protect your laptop if you don’t want your identity stolen and your life ruined. Leaving a “Guest” account on your OS X machine would permit a thief to log in but not access your information, thus increasing the possibility of this service working.
Sign up for a (free or paid) tracking service. Unlike Apple’s iCloud there are services that run at a “root” level on your machine and can track it even if it is password protected (so long as it can still automatically connect to a wifi location). You may still be out of luck (the thief may not connect to a wifi location), but it’s worth a shot. I use the (free) Prey service which allows you to gather information on the thief, and even take a photo of the person using your webcam.

So, there you go. Spend an afternoon securing your digital world and you’ll thank yourself later. If you are a n00b and can’t figure this stuff out, go talk to your local n3rd (who should be willing to help, for a beer), or even ask an Apple Genius to help you set up the configurations.

The deep, critical importance of Library.nu

Quinn — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 00:32:51 +0000

As I am sure has been heard around academic water coolers across the globe, the über pirate ebook site Library.nu shut down recently. The importance of this resource has been strongly stated by Christopher Kelty of UCLA; his argument is so cogent that I will not synthesize or summarize. Go read it, seriously.

I’ll add only two additional points to Kelty’s argument.

The academic publishing industry seems so retrograde and criminally capitalist that they are now worse than the music and movie industries (who have finally given up on suing grandmothers, war vets, and the like). Not only are most music releases, and many movies and TV shows, available for download (for free, or ad-supported), it is increasingly common to receive a digital download voucher when you purchase the shrink-wrapped version. So, e.g., if you really love some band enough that you will shell out cash for a audiophile-quality 180g vinyl edition, they often let you download an MP3 copy for free. Likewise for HD Blu-ray movie disks. Having dual paper and digital copies of books is enormously valuable for a researcher. Until Library.nu shut down I was in the habit of locating the (pirated) PDF version of any book I purchased on paper (a non-insignificant number). In addition to carrying around most of my home library on my laptop, electronic copies permit non-destructive annotations, bibliometric and textual analysis, and full text search.
Having an entire library of full-text searchable PDFs opens up a new kind of scholarship, especially valuable for interdisciplinary research. On my Mac I can enter a search term of interest, say, “representation” and I will be presented with a plethora of books and articles that I might not have ever thought to consult. Taking this to its logical conclusion, Library.nu performed full-text search indexing on all of their materials (where possible, given OCR limitations). When starting into a new field my first place of research would be Library.nu, where I would search for relevant keywords, and search returns come across the gamut of scholarship. This is powerful stuff, and opens up an entirely new type of research.

Switching to Teksavvy DSL

Quinn — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 02:49:42 +0000

(At the risk of seeming like a corporate shill, here’s another, perhaps my last, technical suggestion for safe, effective P2P)

I recently switched away from Rogers (for the second time). I am now a Teksavvy customer and two weeks in, I’m pretty impressed. The service so far is as advertised: 25mb/s down and 7mb/s up. In real world usage, P2P connections go through my BlackVPN VPN, since while Teksavvy does not traffic shape or otherwise cause me any difficulties, they will surely respond to all legal requirements. I can easily get 2mb/s down on Bittorrent, and (here’s the exciting part), the same 2mb/s up. Additionally, Teksavvy has been a pleasure to do business with.

Check out my previous BlackVPN review for more information about VPNs.

Using Privacy Enhancing Technologies in the real world

Quinn — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 06:01:57 +0000

I’ve been consistently pleased with my BlackVPN service (see my previous reviews), which allows me to use a variety of VPNs geolocated around the globe and configured with a no logging policy. When connected (through the excellent Viscosity OpenVPN client) I can maintain an encrypted tunnel from my location to a high traffic, high bandwidth server that effectively obfuscates my Internet use, as well as tunnels past any malicious or privacy-impacting middlemen. As I discussed several years ago, Privacy Enhancing Technologies—like VPNs—may be an effective tool in the fight against bad laws (#sopa) and bad corporate policies (#rogers). If you sign up with BlackVPN use my promo code for a free month of service: ZQMCTCX

Foucault's analysis of Cartesian "progress"

Quinn — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 19:37:01 +0000

In a particularly difficult passage (pages 58 ff) in Order of Things, Foucault argues that Descartes engages in a critique of resemblance (in his Regulae). Instead of the orthodox argument, in which “sixteenth century thought becom[es] troubled as it contemplates itself”, Descartes excludes resemblance as a fundamental experience and primary form of knowledge. Descartes accomplishes this by universalizing the act of comparison in rational thought, thereby giving it its purest form. The challenge is, however, that according to Descartes true knowledge can only arise from intuition (as an act of “pure and attentive intelligence”) linked through deduction, but this excludes comparison almost by definition. Comparison exists in only two forms, but must be reconfigured: the comparison of measurement and of order. Measurement analyzes the world into units that establish relations of equality and inequality. Order analyses elements, the simplest possible that can be found, and arranges differences according to the smallest possible degrees. With Descartes, classical resemblance ceased to be the fundamental category of knowledge, and instead became an analysis of identity and difference.

The “progress” of the method is such that measurement is reduced to serial arrangement (as an act of order), which shows up in differences of degrees of complexity. This analysis progresses from the unit and relations of equality and inequality to an analysis of identity and differences (“differences that can be thought in the order of inferences”). This analysis of identity and difference no longer fulfilled its role in revealing how the world is ordered, since it now progresses according to the “order laid down by thought”. In the 16th century, kinships, resemblances and affinities, which are interwoven with thought, take on a new configuration, which can be summed up as “rationalism” (“if one’s mind is filled with ready-made concepts”). In the classical episteme knowledge was never complete and always open to fresh possibilities, based on similitude. The new system of comparison permits a “complete enumeration” with certain knowledge of identity and differences, as each point can be necessarily connected to the next. In this new system the action of the mind will no longer draw things together (establishing kinship, affinity, etc.), instead it will act by discriminating (establishing identities and making successive series of connections). Finally, history and science will become separated, because there is no common unit of measurement. Language, thus, is no longer one of the “figurations of the world”, and while it can translate truth if it can, it can no longer be considered the “mark of it”.

Foucault as Heideggerian

Quinn — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:36:42 +0000

From Professor Hubert Dreyfus:

Foucault’s comment on Heidegger in his last interview: For me Heidegger has always been the essential philosopher … My entire philosophical development was determined by my reading of Heidegger.

Currently reading

Quinn — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 03:10:34 +0000

In a nod to N+1’s excellent semi-regular N1BReading series, I’m going to attempt to detail quick, light, summaries and connections for my current readings. Leibniz’s Monadology

I am re-reading Andrew Feenberg’s excellent Questioning Technology. Going through this book for a second time has caused me to upgrade my opinion of it from masterful to nearly-or-quite-possibly desert island material. Feenberg’s approach—empirically dependent historical and philosophical analyses of technology—doesn’t have the kind of gravitas that I would normally accord to a desert island book, and it is far too light-hearted and readable to be so “serious”, but it did cause me to rethink my political heuristics. Since a re-reading necessitates greater depth and engagement, I’ve decided to read it alongside his Between Reason and Experience: Essays in Technology and Modernity (Inside Technology), a collection of essays from the last decade or so. Likewise, Feenberg engages quite regularly with Heidegger, a figure that I’ve been circling around for years now, and never taking straight on, so I’ve finally started seriously reading through Heiddegger’s oeuvre (Basic Writings).

For a soon-to-start reading group we are going through Jean-Luc Nancy’s The Birth to Presence, a collection of Nancy’s essays. Bewildering in rhetorical style (in the somewhat cloying style of Deleuze, Serres, and so on), Nancy tackles metaphysics straight away, and positions himself as a staunch anti-representationalist. Running through his work for a first time evokes many connections and themes, but no solid conclusions. Although he does not mention it, his metaphysics appear to require engagement with Parmenides’ Fragments (especially VII onwards). Annoyingly, Nancy forces the reader in to the depths of not-being, and through sleep and non-consciousness (with evident knowledge on the matter, despite the obvious impossibility of making these claims). Then, Nancy exhumes Descartes’ substance dualism with respect to sleep and dreaming, but never mentions Foucault and Derrida’s spirited debate (History of Madness) on this portion of the Meditations. I’m not confident on my interpretation, however, so I can’t tell if Nancy thinks madness is on the soul or the body. Perhaps it’s neither, given what seems to be a serious rationalist streak in the book, at times echoing Leibniz’s Monadology so loudly that I’ve decided to re-read it as a point of comparison.

Finally, I’ve just completed Siegfried Zielinski’s Deep Time of the Media, a kind of Kittler-esque exploration of media history. The book excels at being obscure, with foray’s into weird and wild Modern, Renaissance, and Medieval examples of seeing and hearing apparatuses. The scope and breadth of the content makes for a fun but somewhat unforgettable read.

My Open Questions for the Occupy Toronto movement

Quinn — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:16:41 +0000

Recognizing that “revolution is in the air,” but that Canadians have not suffered nearly as deeply or rapidly as Americans since the 2008 economic and mortgage meltdown, is the Occupy Toronto movement a show of solidarity? Opportunistic? Long overdue? (It’s no lapse of judgement to recognize that Canada does still have a semi-functional welfare state, yet that doesn’t mean many aren’t still suffering terribly.)
Parks and permanent structures have a long history of being integral to free speech (as Judge Brown remarked), but now that eviction has been served (and will surely commence) is “occupation” essential to the movement? How can the momentum continue without occupation?
What kinds of micropolitics are available to concerned individuals? Are they as effective?
Is it Marxist revolution, or radical democracy? Does it matter, and can it be both?

My worry is that since the 1999 Seattle WTO protests mass, non-violent protests are met with increasingly military oppression. Certainly the optics can be bad (viz. G20 or UC Davis more recently), but the effect rarely rattles the cage of democracy. At this point, are the protestors and the police merely acting out a high-stakes game? A kind of dance?(And in a cruel twist of irony, vindicating increased spending on militarized police weapons.)

The Occupy movement, with its creative appropriation of space, has made unprecedented traction as many (including those that are not young) have joined. The movement is now being met with (predictably) militarized force. What resistance is next? Have we been hemmed in?

Quick review of Dropbox (with promo code)

Quinn — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 19:10:34 +0000

I’ve been using Dropbox for almost two years now, and despite persistent difficulties and worries with security and privacy, it’s been a rock-solid product that it absolutely necessary to my personal workflow. In addition to providing set-it-and-forget-it backup (useful for all sorts of things), it syncs instantly and even offers basic web access to your files. I had tried SecretSync, an application with considerable promise, but found that despite offering much enhanced security to your Dropbox store, it is still far too flaky to use for critical data.

Earlier today I moved everything out of my SecretSync store into Dropbox, taking that leap (eyes closed!) into the world of personal and sensitive data in the cloud.

If you want to sign up with my promo code I get free space (maybe you do too?). At the very least, use my code.