No. 93 — Recently returned ⫶ The Language of Computation ⫶ Cursor Park
The shelf is, essentially, a living recommendation algorithm
My name is Linda. I write a bi-weekly newsletter about computer science, childhood, and culture.
After getting the year in review out of the way, I feel light. The French children have a two-week vacation every six weeks, so it’s a final plouf in Paris and then back to Helsinki. BBC featured the playground through a short segment and I’ve been having many lovely discussions on future playgrounds around the world. FIP, the radio station that blends medieval chant with cosmic jazz, has been the background to everything I do ever since discovering it.
It’s Risshun—the start of spring.
The ground thaws, and fish appear under the ice.
One of the first books I read this year was by Elisa Gabbert. Any Person Is the Only Self is a beautiful collection of essays about reading, identity, and the shifting nature of thought. The opening story is one I first read back in 2018 in The New York Times and loved then, too. It’s about a recently returned books shelf in Gabbert’s local library. She writes:
"This shelf houses a smallish selection of maybe 40 to 60 books — about the number you might see on a table in the front of a bookstore, where the titles have earned a position of prominence by way of being new or important or best sellers or staff favorites."
The shelf is, essentially, a living recommendation algorithm. Gabbert’s observation made me think about other alternative algorithms circling just under our eyes. What could a Lost & Found sorting algorithm look like? Or a Real-world Nearest-neighbor algorithm that takes recommendations only from the circle of proximity I decide? I’ve found I almost always love fiction books that, as part of the storyline, explore real modern art pieces—whatever the genre. Why is there not an algorithm for this? (Or: why haven’t I built one?) My son is doing Plouf, plouf, ce sera toi qui sortiras au bout de trois, essentially eeny-meeny-miny-moe, an algorithm too.
By paying attention to the mechanics of small, human-made systems, we can find inspiration for the algorithms we want to create.
Luckily, Elan Ullendorf is teaching a course on just this. Escaping the Algorithm argues that while we can’t escape the algorithm altogether, we can escape, subvert, or change them to our liking. Elan’s channel offers some lovely ideas: surface old, forgotten content, highlight glitches in platforms, make Google Maps do civic engagement, use YouTube not just as a video site but as a source for nostalgia through comments, and browse Wikipedia in other languages for unexpected discoveries.
But starting with the physical world. Last week, I chose all of my kid’s picture books from the returned shelf and discovered a lot of random books, but also two new favorites: Chirri & Chirra: The Rainy Day by Kaya Doi and Snow by Sam Usher.
P.S. I switched on paid subscriptions! The experience here remains mostly the same. The only thing I changed is that I paywalled the archive, so posts over a year old are available only to paying subscribers. If you really need access to something, send me a message, and I’ll grant it.
It’s been a slow year, so if you’ve enjoyed these letters, any support is appreciated. I’d be curious to explore some members-only ideas—there are newsletters I absolutely love that do this beautifully.
Linked List
In computer science, a linked list is a linear collection of data elements whose order is not determined by their physical placement in memory. But here, it’s a selection of things I’ve been reading lately.
"The Language of Computation: CMK in Reggio" looks amazing. Run April 14-17th in Reggio Emilia, the conference “is rooted in the belief that the future is computational, children are natural mathematicians, and that computation enriches the learning possibilities for all.” Ahh.
Too many cursors running amuck in your shared docs? Perhaps you need a Cursor Parking Lot
I’m always asked what to do in Helsinki with kids. Now MyHelsinki published a guide, written by Pienten Helsinki. It’s going to be the guide I recommend going forward!
Classroom
I’m hoping to surface and share stories from all of you, and I’d love to see your creations! Here are a few teachers using Ruby in creative, fun, and inspiring ways.
From 37:30ish, you can catch my little talk.