I once posted about making use of narrative objects.  In this blog, I will be discussing an algorithm that supports the creation of these objects.  I call it my “Infereferencing Algorithm”: this term is most easily pronounced with a slight pause between “infer” and “referencing.”  I consider this a useful and widely applicable algorithm although I don’t believe it operates well in a relational database environment.  Instead, I use “mass data files”:  these contain unstructured lumps of…

I have written in the past about the difference between market demand and operational capacity - and how difficult it is to determine what exactly is being measured in relation to either.  Has the demand for a product declined, or is the organization simply less capable of satisfying it?  For example, the fact there are no bananas in the grocery store does not mean that there is no demand for bananas; but the absence of revenues from the sale of bananas might be regarded, rather erroneously,…

At times it might be desirable to determine what storylines on a narrative database contain certain key elements.  In the example below, the object “Alien Allan” is used to compile a listing of titles on the database that are in thematic agreement.  But rather than simply provide the listing of titles, the algorithm tabulates the key elements contained in these titles.  Notice that the most important elements resulting from the search do not necessarily match the elements in the submitted…

A person will ordinarily search the contents of a database using matching keywords and tags.  Sophisticated databases might allow for filtering:  for example using NOT, AND, OR on a number of keyword strings such as both titles and product descriptions.  It is not normally possible to submit, say, a personality profile to a database - or a personality profile and a setting.  Searching for “serial murders subway terminals” might lead to event information about precisely this, apparent serial…

How might a person go about studying something elusive like serial murder or terrorism?  I have no formal exposure in this area.  Much of the technology that I mention in this blog is meant for another purpose.  That other purpose is to study characters in movies, which for me is a great diversion.  In particular, I like to map out where certain characters might be found (or lost - i.e. missing characters): the settings they occupy, their roles, their relationships.  It goes without saying…

I had some magical moments in my life. Perhaps the most magical was the summer I went to work wearing shorts and running shoes. Captain C. said to me, as I sat in our shared office, “If you want to work during the weekend, you can borrow the keys to the building.” It didn’t seem like a big deal at the time. I had already borrowed a military vehicle that, as per Captain C., I could park anywhere in Canada without receiving a parking ticket. So I borrowed the keys to the building. I went…

I will be using this blog to assemble a number of different concepts that I introduced over many years in previous blogs (indicated in bold); then I will explain where all of this will be going in the future.  I am turning 50 years old in a couple of weeks, and I find that I habitually take inventory of my belongings these days before beginning any lengthy mission or journey.  I recently acquired a fairly expensive device called a CPAP machine.  It resembles a small stereo with…

A theme in my blogs is how the "structure" of data - rather than just the "content" - affects what that data can say and is capable of doing. In particular, I suggest that certain structures tend to reinforce certain contents; this means that a structural imposition can have an effect similar to a contextual imposition. Structure is an interesting conversation…

Canada will soon be passing legislation to allow for physician-assisted suicide.  Sometime over the course of debate between our Parliament and Senate, I found what at the time seemed like a peculiar pattern of woodchips in the back of my pick-up.  It was such an interesting image, I thought I would share it here.  On closer inspection, I discovered that in fact I was looking at hundreds of tiny flower shafts and seeds.…

In recent blogs, I have been distinguishing between quantitative data and narrative data. I believe that I separated the two forms relatively well. Although I originally focused on the differences in data in order to give narrative "its own space," actually there can be a symbiotic relationship between the two types of data. In my last blog, I said that quantitative data can be incorporated into narrative data. In my submission today, I will be discussing how the narrative can be used to…

Codified narrative is the product of converting human-friendly narrative into computer-friendly code. In past blogs, I discussed my own approach towards this process of codification. Here, I will be covering the idea of spatial, temporal, and contextual distribution of codified narrative. I have never suggested that narrative can or should be used in place of quantitative data. However, I have reflected on how the quantitative regime has tended to dominate discourse; this has perhaps led to…

BERLIN stands for Behavioural Event Reconstruction Linguistic Interface for Narratives. I introduced BERLIN a few blogs ago - in my "final blog." Theoretically after one's final blog, no further blogs are forthcoming. However, I am now posting bonus blogs reflecting aspects of the same closing subject. Today, I will be elaborating on BERLIN's syntax and how its searches are facilitated. As a general rule, the objective of BERLIN is to convert human-friendly narrative into computer-friendly…