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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.
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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