MA thesis

Memi: a tool for cultural democracy

Submitted byOwen KellyePedagogy Design – Visual Knowledge BuildingUniversity of Art and Design HelsinkiIn partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of

Master of Arts

November 2007Primary reviewer: Professor Stefan Sonvilla-Weiss,University of Art and Design, HelsinkiSecondary reviewer: Lars Lundsten, PhD,Director of R&D, Arcada University of Applied Science

Owen Kelly: Memi: a tool for cultural democracy Page 2

Owen Kelly: Memi: a tool for cultural democracy Page 3

Abstract

The thesis offers a view of the cultural and technical history of the last one hundred years that seeksto demonstrate the existence of recurring attempts to construct devices that will act as memoryextenders, and to use these devices in a form of constant self-learning and refocusing, of a kind thathas been moved to the sidelines by industrial capitalism.It proposes the creation of a software based tool to act as a “portable, personal, lifelong dataspace”for purposes of memory extension to be called a memi . This web site is intended as a working prototype of a memi , and is intended as a proof of concept, that will be developed later into a fullyfunctional version to be made publicly available.The thesis argues that cultural history, and the development of tools like the memi , to be used in‘the cloud’, will force a rethinking of pedagogy, and the move towards an epedagogy founded on a belief in mentored peer to peer learning. It concludes by showing how the ultimate goal of such anepedagogy will be cultural democracy, something that can be seen as another strand in the samelightly woven cultural history.It is important to note that this thesis is only a staging point in a longer process. It does not seek to

prove

the benefits of using a memi, nor even to articulate in authoritative detail what such a memishould consist of. Those steps are for later.At this stage I am trying merely to demonstrate a proof of concept, in order to be able to claim thatresearch in pursuit of the memi is likely to be a worthwhile and fruitful activity. This thesis thenseeks only to explore the idea of a memi, to place it in context, and to show the benefits such anidea might bring in its wake.

Key definition

The Little Book on Living

, Krishnamurti asked: “Why do you want to read others´ books whenthere is the book of yourself?” The memi can be seen as a way of rendering the book of yourself tangibly so that it can be studied whenever it is needed with a view to finding patterns that mightotherwise go unnoticed and learning lessons that be otherwise be unavailable.I have thus defined the memi asa portable, personal, lifelong dataspace, under the control of its user, and capable of publishing to, and subscribing to, a range of networks simultaneously. At its simplest itcan be seen as a combination of a diary, address book, aide memoire, personal library,expense sheet, notepad, and portfolio. Everything you might want to remember, or bereminded of, or reuse, can be found in one place, where it can be searched, sorted,linked and cross-referenced.The memi is intended to store a lifetime’s worth of data, from birth to death. It is not an “official”document, maintaining a log of data that has been taken from you. Rather it s a personal record of whatever data that you wish to keep for later use: data you may choose to share or not share, in aspirit of radical transparency .