Jacket 34 - October 2007

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Aesthetics in an Information System

How to play the Air Guitar, c.1728. Photo John Tranter.

How to play the Air Guitar,
circa 1728. Photo John Tranter.

Something to think about:

Information Technology and Aesthetics: Passive and Active Dimensions
John D Haynes, David Bryan Paradice

Abstract: This paper is concerned with examining and recognizing aesthetics in an Information System (an organization incorporating both humans and information technology). Aesthetics emerge from the wholeness of things, not from specific parts or components. As such, aesthetics may naturally be considered in ‘systems’, and we propose that an effective manner of thinking of aesthetics is to think in terms of ‘themes’. Humans have an extraordinary capacity to capture events thematically. In other words, human beings have a natural sense of aesthetics. To examine aesthetics in an information systems context, we argue that one must consider not only aesthetics that may be perceived by the senses (a passive dimension), but also aesthetics that may be conceived in the mind (an active dimension). This paper draws the conclusion that the benefits of aesthetics in relation to the study of Information Systems, has characteristics similar to the nature and importance of ethics in IS. Also, the study of aesthetics in IS has greater implications than simply recognizing and appreciating beauty and art. The very human capacity for recognizing and appreciating beauty and art is also the same capacity for effective creativity and happiness: the active aesthetic dimension. It follows that if an information system encouraged and provided the enabling circumstances for the human capacity of thematic recognition (as found in the human appreciation of art and beauty) it thereby also provides the ground and the necessary thematically recognizable stimulus for effective creative and visionary organizational management. — Australasian Journal of Information Systems, Vol 14, No 2 (2007). Full PDF is available at http://dl.acs.org.au/index.php/ajis/article/view/30

The Preservative Qualities of the
Martini Diet

When Schlesinger turned 60, he became more aware of his age. After a trip to the cathedral in Florence, he wrote: “As I went into the Duomo, it occurred to me that I have been visiting churches in Europe for 45 years, and that they have really done very little for me — my fault, not theirs, of course; but there it is. Why should I waste my declining years going into churches?… I will simplify life by abandoning the inspection of churches, as in earlier years I have abandoned ballet, metaphysics, linguistics and other subjects that, however estimable, are, alas, not for me.” A decade later, lunching with two younger men in 1987, Schlesinger observed, “I could not help noting the generational differences in diet. I had a martini and grilled double lamb chops. They had Perrier and chef’s salad. I suppose that their diet is better for them. But mine is more fun. I understand the disappearance of cigarettes these days; they are poison. But why has hard liquor, the staff of life, yielded to white wine and, heaven help us, Perrier?” In early 2007, Schlesinger died as he had lived: at work on a book... and out on the town (he was at a Manhattan restaurant on the night he was fatally stricken). [from the Washington Post, Sunday, October 7, 2007; Page BW03]

[Note: Arthur Schlesinger Jr. lived to the age of 89. I should be so lucky. — J.T.]

Aesthetics in an Information System

The Preservative Qualities of the Martini Diet

The Preservative Qualities of the
Martini Diet