David Rothenberg: The Bug Music Interview

[This is an early release of the first Queries podcast that will formally be released later this year]

Bug Music

I caught up with David Rothenberg just after the release of his new book Bug Music: How Insects Gave Us Rhythm and Noise and discussed the music that animals make, electronic music, the role of music in our lives, and what it it takes to be a good technology.

I spoke with David over skype and Just before our interview his Internet went down so he walked down the street and stood outside of the public library and used their Internet. Because of that you’re going to hear some ambient noise that you might not expect, but that actually contributed to the conversation.

Scapple: Mind Mapping Software for Scrivener

Literature and Latte has released the beta of a new app called Scapple, and being a mind map/idea map junky I had to try it out.

Scapple Screen Shot

Scapple is mind mapping software that’s designed to map your ideas out on your computer the way you would on a piece of paper. Most mind map apps that I’ve used start with a central theme in the center and then have branches (better thought of as themes) radiating out. That’s great if you think that way, but for those of us who find the creative process more messy, such a regimented approach can be a drag.

Scapple does things differently. Instead of a central idea in the center, Scapple makes it easy to write a bunch of small ideas spread throughout the page, and then find their connections. Although there are key commands for creating new connected notes, I found myself creating unconnected notes, and letting them hang out until I was willing to connect them later. That satisfied my need to write the idea down without forcing me to categorize it prematurely. (The easiest way to connect them is to drag one idea onto the other. Repeat to disconnect ideas)

What I like most about Scapple is that it’s dead simple to use, and the graphics are minimal. That means that the app fades into the background while my ideas remain forward.

Although it can be used as a stand-alone program, I find that Scapple’s real strength lies in its integration with Scrivener.  Once I finished generating ideas in Scapple, I was able to drag them into a beta version of Scrivener and organize my paper. This is very useful, and I assume that the Scrivener update will arrive around the time that Scapple goes on sale.

So far, I only have two gripes about Scapple. First is its platform. I had pretty much settled on writing on my iPad, but Scapple has pushed me back towards my MacBook Air. I’ve long wanted a writing app that elegantly integrated mind mapping, and the Scrivener/Scapple combination looks to finally be it.

Second, I’d like Literature and Latte to add tabs so that I could switch between projects easily. That’s a small gripe and one that won’t slow me down for an instant from buying the final release once it’s available. You can download the free Scapple beta here.

Minor White: A Living Remembrance (Aperture 95 )

I’ve been enjoying the recently released Aperture Magazine Anthology: The Minor White Years, 1952-1976. This isn’t a collection of just Minor White’s writing (though that was the main reason I bought it), but more of a sampling of what editor Peter C. Bunnell felt were the key writings in the journal during that period. But I’ll save my review of the book for later.

Aperture 95

While reading the Anthology, I was reminded of an issue of Aperture I’d bought years ago but hadn’t read. Aperture 95, published in 1984, is entitled Minor White: A Living Remembrance, and includes essays by White himself, along with his students and friends, and examines the concept of the “equivalent”, White as photographer, and White as teacher. I’ve found that this issue of Aperture acts as a strong companion to the anthology.

Authors include:

  • Ansel Adams
  • Robert Adams
  • Carl Chiarenza
  • Arthur Freed
  • Arnold Gassan
  • William Giles
  • Barbara Morgan
  • Minor White

Although I initially bought the issue to understand White’s approach to the equivalent more fully, the writing that resonates most deeply with me is a paragraph in Roger Lipsey’s “A Tribute to Minor White.” Lipsey reads White’s image “Bristol, Vermont, 1971” (the same image used as a US postal stamp) as

A classic image of two worlds: below, the horizontal world of time, change, and motion, appearance and disappearance; above, the world of permanence, of light shining from the darkness, of vertical ascent and the holy mountain. Below, a world trafficked in both senses by man; above, a pristine world that invites him. While stating this immemorially old proposition, the photograph remains a landscape vignette of the American Northeast and so is an image of two worlds in this sense also. The physical presence and familiarity of this landscape protect the viewer from an excess of abstraction, from thoughts that start solid with the memory of the two worlds and quickly dissipate into footnotes. Every element of the photograph functions sensuously and, as medieval thinkers put it, supersensually: for example the trees and bushes that partially obscure the boulder add variety as line and texture but also communicate a sense of the mountain’s distance and relative inaccessibility – a thought that Minor expressed in other terms in his introductory discussion of prayer.

The above paragraph sums up White’s role as artist and instructor – not only to make profound images, but to teach the language and syntax of reading images as well.

Aperture 95 is no longer in print, though I see it occasionally on eBay and in used book stores.

Notability’s Killer Feature: Text Boxes

There are several iPad apps in my arsenal which the developers regularly update, improving their value to users. Notability, by Gingerlabs, is one of those apps. I first bought the app about a year ago, but switched to something else because it was too sluggish on my iPad 1. A recent update changed that.

Notability falls into a category we used to call a decade ago the “super-outliner.” The origin of super-outliners on the Mac can be traced to two apps – Circus Ponies’ Notebook, and Aquaminds’ Note-Taker. For years I used Circus Ponies’ Notebook, though with updates the app has seemed to lose its way.

After abandoning Notebook, I moved to DevonThink. DevonThink is great for storing snippets and ideas, but its interface has a very German aesthetic that I don’t find visually inspiring. I use DevonThink for much of my creative work, but not at this early stage. When capturing idea snippets I like something like Curio’s List feature (with some custom coloring, which I detail here) so that I can see similar ideas at once, reorganize them, and explore how they interrelate with each other.

The closest iPad app I could find to Curio was MagicalPad, which uses the motif of an idea space, just as Curio does. But MagicalPad didn’t quite scratch my creative itch. Enter Notability, which fulfills the promise that the super-outliners made a decade ago and allows me to write papers, make outlines, audio notes, revise easily, and capture ideas, while also being visually exciting. Today I’ll focus on how I capture ideas.

With Notability I use two types of what I call concept pages – places where I store ideas. I use a general ideas page to store ideas that don’t have a theme yet – typically moments of inspiration – and a projects ideas page for more developed concepts. I could use an outline or even a text page, but I prefer something more visually interesting – the text box. A text box allows me to capture ideas, expand them, group them together, and move them around into a flow chart. I can also change the color of the text box to excite the eye and inspire imaginative thinking.

Here’s how I do it.

20121204-201642.jpg

To create a text box, hold your finger down on a blank part of the page until the contextual menu appears. Select + Text Box on the right.

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A box with boundaries will appear for you to type your idea inside.

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Next, select a background and format for your text box.

20121204-203037.jpg

Use the handles at each corner of the box to resize the boundaries of your note and eliminate dead space, and you’re finished.

That’s just the beginning. From here I can draw connections, circle and highlight words, or expand ideas with ease. I find the iPad’s touch screen more intuitive and responsive for making connections than Curio’s approach, so I’m more prone to play around with idea combinations in Notability to see how ideas gel or collide against each other (to learn more about the collision of ideas, take a look at Steven Johnson’s Where Good Ideas Come From: A Natural History of Innovation).

One of the challenges I have with the iPad, particularly with writing, is that it only allows me to have one window open at a time. This can make navigation difficult, especially if I have ideas sitting in other apps. Notability’s Swiss Army Knife approach, which allows me to write, outline, draw, and record audio in the same app makes it an ideal environment to develop ideas. The text box feature itself is so powerful that I’ve deleted my old outline and mind map apps from my iPad.

Veterans honored at Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Grove

Thank you to Taylor Dickinson and the Sonoma State Star for publishing this piece on the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Grove at SSU.

http://www.sonomastatestar.com/news/veterans-honored-at-vietnam-veterans-memorial-grove-1.2952138#.ULVVV6XIs21

My December 2012 Newsletter is Out

For five years, ever since I left Apple, I’ve been writing a newsletter for friends that discussed the goings on in the Apple world.  But, because of my commitment to my new journal Queries, I’ve decided to make this newsletter my final one.  You can read it at http://bit.ly/WsDyeq

SSU Vet Works to Make Vietnam War Memorials More Visible

Thanks to Jean Wasp of Sonoma State University for helping to bring attention to my Vietnam War Memorial Project and to the 30th Anniversary Celebration of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Grove at SSU.

http://www.sonoma.edu/newscenter/2012/11/post-168.html

 

The County of Sonoma Board of Supervisors’ Vietnam Veterans’ Grove Resolution

On October 23, 2012 the County of Sonoma Board Of Supervisors passed a resolution recognizing the 30th Anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Grove at Sonoma State University. Resolution No. 12-0497 reads:

Whereas, we honor all those who have served our country in the armed forces; and

Whereas, many of those veterans returned with physical and/or mental disabilities; and

Whereas, many of those veterans returning from Vietnam faced discrimination due to their participation in the war; and

Whereas, during his speech given on the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the Vietnam War, President Obama remarked that the way Vietnam veterans were treated when they returned “was a national shame, a disgrace that never should have happened”; and

Whereas, this Board wishes to express their gratitude and appreciation for the sacrifices Vietnam veterans made for our country by bringing attention to the 30th Anniversary of the Memorial Grove at Sonoma State University; and

Whereas, the Vietnam Veterans Memorial at Sonoma State University is inscribed with the names of the 78 men from Sonoma County and the five other counties that Sonoma State University serves, who made the ultimate sacrifice on behalf of our country; they are among the 58,000 from across the nation who lost their lives during the decade spanning 1965-1975.

Now, Therefore, Be It Resolved that the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors joins in the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Grove at Sonoma State University on November 11, 2012.

The resolution and video can be viewed at http://sonoma-county.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=2&clip_id=283

 

A Journal of the Arts is now Queries: A Journal of Art and Ideas

As often happens, the project initially envisioned evolves and matures as it’s being assembled. A Journal of the Arts, a great title to get us going, just didn’t quite describe the journal that we ended up with. So we’ve changed the name. Now our journal is known as Queries: A Journal of Art and Ideas. it comes out in January and we can’t wait. Visit queriesjournal.com to learn more.

My Presentation on the Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Grove at SSU

Steve Estes of Sonoma State’s History Dept., and Karen Brodsky of the university library invited me to speak about the history of the Sonoma State Vietnam Veterans’ Memorial Grove. I presented from 5-6PM in room 3001 and, although there was no recording of the preso, I do have my Keynote stack, which I’m embedding here.

Thanks to Steve and Karen for hosting the event.