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M150
Unit 11
Computing in the Wild

The theme of this unit is that the computer is used to tame the wildness that exists in the world - for example the wildness associated with large amounts of unstructured data. However, in taming the wildness other problems emerge.

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wild

  • adjective 1 (of animals or plants) living or growing in the natural environment; not domesticated or cultivated. 2 (of people) not civilized. 34 uncontrolled; unrestrained. 5 not based on reason or evidence: a wild guess. 6 informal very enthusiastic or excited. 7 informal very angry. 8 (of looks, appearance, etc.) indicating distraction. (of scenery or a region) desolate-looking.

  • noun 1 (the wild) a natural state. 2 (also the wilds) a remote uninhabited area.
— PHRASES run wild grow or behave without restraint or discipline.
— DERIVATIVES wildly adverb wildness noun.
— ORIGIN Old English.

wild = unpredictable / uncontrollable / irrational

Human and Computer interactions
agency    purpose indentity autonomy

 agent
autonomous
identity

interactions (action by two or more agents):       currencies:data and  information

 human - human                                                information - information

human computer                                             information - data

computer - computer                                       data - data

computer - human                                            data - information
assigning responsibility for an agent's decisions

computer as an agent and responsibility
(Open University M150 Unit 11 page 27)
delegation and trust

We trust a tool (in this case a computer) to work correctly when we have experience of using it over a long time.
When it has a history in our relationship with it and the history shows reliability.
We feel we can delegate work to it whilst we are involved in other work
for example the use of a calculator or a spreadsheet
"trust is a relationship between two agents wherein one depends on the other
to behave in an anticipated (or predictable) way.
Trust is a necessary condition of delegation" page 29 unit 11

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agent

is an entity that is able purposely to bring about a change in itself or in the world




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autonomous

self governing - acting in accordance with it's own principles and in pursuance of one's own goals or assigned goals


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identity

refers to the set of characteristics that persist in a thing or individual and by virtue of which it can be recognised
as the thing or individual that it is.


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