Session 9

Episode 3(1) - Cognitive tools for the individual

Thursday, June 4, 2015 - 5:30 PM

CQU Building, Melbourne

Personal computers give individuals cognitive tools to convert thoughts into explicit electronically realized objects that can be independently stored, copied, communicated, retrieved, shared and even processed semantically.

• Word processors replace the paradigm of structured pigment on inert andponderous paper into durable but infinitely malleable electronic documents.
• Calculators and spreadsheets automate and give life to the structured patterns of numbers and symbols on paper.
• Databases extend and automate two dimensional tabular formats on paper into multiple dimensions
• The revolutionary differences between electronic documents and symbols and words on paper are still not fully understood by those who use them
• The paradigm of a structured document is even more revolutionary in that it enables external automation to understand syntax and semantics to cognitively process document content