Nick, That sounds like a cool "big data" research project. There are solutions at the command-line level to some of your problem - scripts and lexical analyzers can extract the "meat" of the medium, but that just gives you a pile of random cuts of meat. Big data may be able to recognized different cuts and sort them into a butcher shop display case (like my local Sprouts or Kellers).
However, as Robert pointed out - the majority of comments are frequently questions without answers in technical forums. A display case of nothing but hamburger is not very useful - so there needs to be something more. Frequently, the most frustrating aspect is that one has to look at every possible thread to find the one thread where the correct answer is given. The question and answer section of Amazon's product pages seems like a successful model - they simply ask the question of every person whose ever bought the item in question. Ray Parks Consilient Heuristician/IDART Program Manager V: 505-844-4024 M: 505-238-9359 P: 505-951-6084 NIPR: rcpa...@sandia.gov<mailto:rcpa...@sandia.gov> SIPR: rcpar...@sandia.doe.sgov.gov<mailto:rcpar...@sandia.doe.sgov.gov> (send NIPR reminder) JWICS: dopa...@doe.ic.gov<mailto:dopa...@doe.ic.gov> (send NIPR reminder) On Jul 17, 2014, at 7:43 AM, Nick Thompson wrote: Arlo, As you may remember, I have been frustrated by a possibly related problem. I have thought or years that academic fora could be used for the development of publishable text. When I was teaching, I tried to move undergraduates down what I hoped was a slippery slope from arguing a point of view in a forum to writing a paper, collaboratively. Since any convincing presentation of an argument includes thorough presentations of opposing arguments, your opponents in an argument can help you generate a lot of your text. Later, when I came to Santa Fe, I tried to get groups of us to write together by pouring rich material into an internet forum and then gradually turning it to drafts of text, and finally finished publishable work. I have had two successes, but given the amount of rich material that has been generated, that seems chump change. For my purposes, the trouble is the FORM of internet correspondence. It is terribly difficult to get an internet exchange into editable form, partly because of all the headers, partly because of the quotation, partly because of the order, and partly because it’s hard to get it into one file. Now, I am sure you will say (because that’s what I kept saying), “Oh, you old dummy, that’s easy!”. And if it is easy for you, please tell me how. I have spent weeks at it, and failed every time. What I think I need is a forum that is designed to produce one continuous, temporally ordered document. Now, the correspondence utility in Research Gate seems to do that. But its drawback is that only two people can correspond at a time. So, if you – or anybody else -- know of a forum utility that produces a continuous, temporally ordered document for many authors, please let me know. Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Biology Clark University http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ From: Friam [mailto:friam-boun...@redfish.com] On Behalf Of Arlo Barnes Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2014 1:23 AM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Smart Forums Well, I generally think of the improvement of forum interactions as a community phenomenon, eased or impeded by the structure of communication and interaction with the site infrastructure*, rather than as a computational dilemma per se; but I would be interested to hear what ways you think fora could be improved by AI. A general forum for thinking about internet fora (or forums, depending on your preference) is here<http://www.reddit.com/r/TheoryOfInternet/top/>. -Arlo James Barnes *For software support, it is that interaction with the site is very limited - mostly, people are only there for the duration of the time they need assistance, and during that time are more interested in getting help than giving help. There is no time for the structure, mores, and history of the site to become clear, and so communication is weakened. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
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