Chapter 5:
Chapter 5 is about the break down of organization. There are so many things, down to out silverware drawers that we keep organized in a traditional. However, with the availability to sites that allow miscellaneous-ness such as iTunes, the old systems of organization are beginning to break down and become irrelevant.
"Every time you organize matters in one way, you are disordering them in others. Sorting my dessert recipes into cakes, cookies, and pies obscures their carbohydrate order." p.88
"Tagging is one way the miscellaneous is coming into its own, but it's not the only way. Objects that used to be organized by individuals or institutions are rapidly becoming available to us free of their old structures." p.95
I though the explanation at the beginning of the chapter of how we arrange silverware was really funny, because the method he describes is exactly what I do. I throw all my silverware in a pile in the drawer, and it doesn't bother. Actually, I prefer it.
Chapter 6:
Chapter 6 talks a lot about the significance of the implantation on bar code technology in the 1960's. This technology helps stores run more efficiently by speeding up the check out process, but also by helping in the tracking of items. Bar codes are one way to make up for the miscellaneous-ness of our old classification system that is becoming obsolete.
"In 1974, at a Marsh Supermarket in Troy, Ohio, the first working system successfully identified a ten-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum that is now housed in the Smithsonian... Today there are about five billion items scanned every day, in more then 140 countries." p.107-108
"The digits of the Universal Product Code created a global system of information that has helped create a global system of commerce." p.109
"Businesses suffer from the effects of essentialism, as well, when they assume they know what their products are for-are you sure your company's "energy bar" is being eaten to help with a workout and not as candy? - and when they stick to closely and too long to their mission statements." p.116
I thought the Microsoft technology discussed in this chapter about taking a photo of a bar code on your phone, how you can get all the information about that product at your fingertips. To take this one step further, it would be really cool to create an iPhone application that employed this technology into a weigh watcher's type program. I know that I have a calorie tracker app on my phone, but it is so inefficient because I have to search for each item and the calories are never really accurate because they might not have the exact same product programmed into the app. If you could just sent the bar code and enter in the amount you had, the process would be much simpler.
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Oooh, cool point (the bar scanner app applied in different ways). This post is a bit more in depth and on point than the first, although I would've liked a bit more of the "so what" from Chapter 5 in particular. Chapter 5 is really dense, but there's a lot of key information in there. Yes, he does thin the old order of order is becoming irrelevant, but on top of that there are social implications for such changes. Thanks, Megan.
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