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A person known as K.C. has contributed significantly to understanding narrative and sense of presence of another. In 1981, at age 30, K.C. received a major head injury in a motorcycle accident. Despite his injury, K.C. retained normal human adult language skills. He also retained common knowledge about the world and knowledge about causal relations between actions and events. K.C.'s well-functioning memory of objective facts and procedural skills allowed him to continue, post-injury, with "effortless functioning in his everyday environment" in a way that is "comparable to most of his age mates."[1]

K.C., however, lost the ability to remember and construct personalized narratives. Persons who knew K.C. observed that he no longer remembered his personal interactions with them. K.C. has no first-person, emotional memory of his own experiences:

K.C.’s younger brother from whom he was once inseparable met accidental death a few years prior to his own head injury. K.C. remembers nothing of the circumstances in which he had learned of this shocking news, including where he was at the time, who told him of the event, and how he reacted emotionally. Likewise, the events of a potentially lethal chemical spill from a train derailment that forced him and his family to evacuate their home for over a week have been reduced to a dry fact of the world.[2]

For K.C., "details of personal occurrences continue to exist only in the present, vanishing from K.C.’s reality the moment his thoughts are directed elsewhere."[3] While K.C. understands objective causal reasoning, he cannot imagine himself in the future. In the language of biological science, K.C. lost the functioning of his episodic memory. In terms better understood within the humanities and within study of communication, K.C. lost the ability to remember and construct personalized narratives

K.C. shows that the world really isn't just constructed from narratives. In an influential 1983 law review article entitled "Nomos and Narrative," a prominent legal scholar declared:

No set of legal institutions or prescriptions exists apart from the narratives that locate it and give it meaning. ... Once understood in the context of the narratives that give it meaning, law becomes not merely a system of rules to be observed, but a world in which we live.[4]

K.C. understands much about the world that others recognize. Persons who interact with him would not conclude that he is living in a different world from them. Narrative might be understood as causal reasoning, as recognizing that this leads to that, as understanding that this law implies that behavior or else that punishment. Personalized narrative is not necessary for understanding such a system of rules or for living in a common world. One also might suspect that eloquently telling an attractive tale, or endless repeating silly ones, doesn't make true, bountiful reality.

More significantly, at least for those not confined under non-scientific disciplines, K.C shows that making sense of presence of others doesn't required remembering and constructing personalized narratives. In laboratory tests, K.C. is not distinguishable from ordinary persons in ability to infer another person's mental state (known as Theory of Mind tests).[5] With respect to lower-level, more tightly synchronized processes for making sense of presence of another, K.C. also appears to be similar to ordinary persons. K.C. retains the ability to attune sensitively to others in real-time interaction. He's characterized as "always agreeable, courteous, and attentive," with an appreciation for sarcasm and humor. Although he has no personal emotional memory, his real-time experience of emotions is appropriate for someone with his memory: "Each time he is told of September 11, he expresses the same horror and disbelief as someone hearing of the news for the very first time."[6]

K.C.'s interactions with others suggests the importance of sub-conscious attunement to others. A psychologist who did research with K.C. observed that K.C.:

guesses that he has never met one of the authors (R.S.R.) who has, in fact, visited him at his home approximately eight times a year for the past 5 years, though there is a certain level of familiarity and comfort that he demonstrates, particularly in a greater willingness to initiate conversation and to ask questions.[7]

Familiarity and comfort suggest ease in diffuse, sub-conscious patterns of interaction. Just like teammates on a sporting team acquire skills of tacit knowing by playing together, so too do persons in communication.

Notes:

[1] Rosenbaum et. al. (2005) p. 994. This source provided the the quoted phrases and facts included in the paragraph.

[2] Id. p. 993-4.

[3] Id. p. 994.

[4] Cover (1982) p. 4. This work is at the sophisticated end of discourse about discourse, narrative analysis of narrative, the social construction of reality, pre-post-post-modernism, and (para)-en/thesis. Hamlin, Wynn, and Bloom (2007) suggests that 6-month-old, preverbal infants engage in normative "social evaluation," evaluating other purposive, animate agents as appealing or aversive. "Social evaluation" suggests evaluation of peers. However, 12-month-old infants show relatively little interest in other infants. Infants, for good instrumental reasons, are mainly interested in adults. An alternate interpretation of Hamlin, Wynn, and Bloom (2007) is that infants as young as 6-months-old engage in rudimentary, positive instrumental reasoning.

[5] Rosenbaum et. al. (2007). This article also documents that another test subject who also lost episodic memory from an injury also could not be statistically distinguished from control subjects on Theory of Mind tests. Descriptions of the Theory of Mind tests are available in online supporting material.

[6] Rosenbaum et. al. (2005) p. 993, 994.

[7] Id. p. 993.

References:

Cover, Robert M. (1983), "Nomos and Narrative," Harvard Law Review v. 97, pp. 4-68.

Hamlin, J. Kiley, Karen Wynn, and Paul Bloom (2007), "Social evaluation by preverbal infants," Nature v. 450 (22 November 2007).

Rosenbaum, R. Shayna, Stefan Köhler, Daniel L. Schacter, Morris Moscovitch,
Robyn Westmacott, Sandra E. Black, Fuqiang Gao, Endel Tulving (2005), "The case of K.C.: contributions of a memory-impaired person to memory theory," Neuropsychologia v. 43, n. 7. pp. 989-1021.

Rosenbaum, R. Shayna, Donald T. Stuss, Brian Levine, Endel Tulving (2007), "Theory of Mind is Independent of Episodic Memory," Science v. 318 (23 November 2007) p. 1257.

Tags: brain, injury, memory, narrative, presence, theory of mind

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In our continual efforts to increase appreciation for bureaucratic arts, we visited the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian American Art Museum. The art was generally well-labeled and neatly organized. The most important work in the Gallery was a wood cabinet entitled Bureau of Bureaucracy. The Bureau of Bureaucracy was large and intricately crafted, and included various hardwoods, a hierarchy of polished brass, and some gold-leafed sections. If you spent enough time with it, you could also recognize some mother-of-pearl.

We applaud the enormous amount of time that artist Kim Schmahmann obviously spent producing this work. But his work would have benefited from more time spent actually working in a bureaucracy, rather than merely working with bureaucracies. In short, his art is totally unrealistic. While Schmahmann clearly appreciates the importance of processing documents, his work lacks visible piles of documents. His artist's statement and work description indicates that one can interact in detail and in depth with the Bureau of Bureaucracy. But in actual Gallery operation, the Bureau is labeled "Please do not touch."

Another part of the label for the Bureau of Bureaucracy states:

A model of the main reading room in the Library of Congress represents the benevolent power of collected papers. On the adjacent panel, a collection of books invites us to reflect on the dangers of bureaucracy run amok: the titles Power and Rationality sit firmly on the shelf, while Humanity teeters on the brink.

If humanity is teetering on the brink, there's a need for government intervention. Government bureaucrats are here and ready to help.

As usual, the Carnival of the Bureaucrats received an array of submissions that did not conform to the carnival regulations. These included posts about presidential candidates (politicians are NOT bureaucrats), a "naughty little liberal" declaring his love for "conservative dominatrix" Ann Coulter (this is the Carnival of the Bureaucrats, NOT Facebook), and various posts about how to make or save money (while bureaucrats are generally underpaid, financial advice does NOT satisfy this Carnival's regulations). These posts have accordingly been tentatively rejected. Parties may file for reconsideration.

Among other submissions, Anna Farmery at the Engaging Brand Blog reports about a bureaucratic leader and declares, "Here is a leader with a strong track record.....and yet he found inspiration in a library." That's not at all surprising. Bureaucrats find collections of documents inspiring.

Leah Price posts at the NY Times Book Review about changing attitudes toward reading over the centuries. She writes:

The file, the list, the label, the memo; these are the genres that will keep reading alive. Whatever happens to the novel, we'll always need a rule book.

Absolutely true. We are pleased that bright young scholars are moving into the field of bureaucracy and administration. A grad student should think about the trend toward administration when thinking about her or his scholarly career.

The Ode Street Tribune reports that the officials had an excellent Bookjammin' Basketball Tournament. Without regulation, there is no game.

John in Carolina discusses responses to a recent journalism professor's proposal for the news industry to regulate online journalism. Most journalists work in organizations that have been outstanding bureaucracies for a half-century or longer. We have complete confidence in journalism school deans' abilities to arrange meetings. Nonetheless, we fear that traditional news organizations and supporting bureaucracies do not have sufficient staff to regulate bloggers around the world. We look forward to future reports addressing staff planning.

That's all for this month's Carnival of the Bureaucrats. Submit your blog article to the next edition using our carnival submission form. Submissions should conform to the Carnival regulations. Past posts and future hosts can be found on the Carnival index page.

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Only unpaired male nightingales sing at night.

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Drawing upon neuroscience research on multisensory processing, I suggested that new digital combinations of evidence should be required to be introduced within the evidentiary portion of trials. Here I further consider trial procedure and the actual operation of courts.

Under the proposed rule for digital presentation technologies, counsel would be allowed to present evidence in the media form in which the evidence was introduced, verbally talk about the evidence and verbally combine it in any way to make a case (subject, of course, to existing trial rules), but not, in closing statements, be allowed to use digital technology to combine evidence in new ways. That means that in the Skakel case the digitally combined voice recordings and photographs should not have been allowed in the closing rebuttal because that multimedia presentation was not already introduced in the trial.

In the Skakel case, the defense counsel didn't object at trial to the multimedia presentation in the prosecution's closing rebuttal statement. The trial court judge thus had no opportunity to rule on such an objection. On appeal, the defense alleged that the closing multimedia presentation was subliminal messaging and prejudicial. The appeals court ruled, "After viewing the audiovisual presentation, we are not persuaded that there is any reasonable likelihood that the state’s presentation confused the jury or prejudiced the defendant in any way."[1]

To me, the defense's claim on appeal of subliminal messaging was silly and it's claim of prejudice was too generic. At the same time, the appeals court judgment on this point seems to me to be overly emphatic and rationally unsatisfying. It doesn't provide reasons, but merely states a rather broad judgment. It seems to me uncontroversial that the multmedia presentation strongly communicated that the defendant was guilty. The question, as I see it, is whether the particular technological combination of evidence used in the closing portion of the trial was consistent with the defendant's right to a fair trial. The appeals court addressed that question with a non-specific judgment about confusion and prejudice. Specifically examining the effects of new technological combinations of evidence and ruling that such combinations of evidence must be introduced within the evidentiary portion of trial would better serve justice.

Moreover, it seems to me a mistake for appeals courts to defer strongly, implicitly or explicitly, to the process of objection and trial-court judgment in considering new technological combinations of evidence in closing arguments.[2] Media technologies are becoming cheaper, more powerful, and more prevalent. Media technology can be powerful tools for making cases. The process of objection and trial-court judgment for defining permissible digital presentations can create significant disparities in actual trail procedures across trial courts. Moreover, trial judges' rulings on objections aren't written, so they don't provide a written, case basis for precedent concerning the use of technology in trials.

A rule that new digital combinations of evidence must be introduced within the evidentiary portion of the trial does more than simply relocate objection and judgment at trial. Not allowing surprising use of new digital combinations of evidence in closing statements better places such combinations within adversarial case-making. If a digital combination of evidence is admitted in evidence, the opposing counsel has the opportunity to introduce alternative digital combinations of evidence. In addition, opposing counsel can prepare to prompt jurors to think about the construction and effects of particular digital combinations of evidence. In other words, they can prompt jurors to augment their low-level, subconscious processing of evidence with conscious reflection on how such evidence is created and how the human body processes it. Knowledge and high-level reasoning can help persons to understand their sub-conscious reactions and to overcome natural biases.

Moreover, trial procedures for types of case (civil or criminal) and jurisdictions (federal, individual states) have specific rules for the introduction of evidence. New digital combinations of evidence could be introduced under these rules. Moreover, institutions that maintain these rules provide low-transaction-cost paths for developing new evidentiary rules for digital combinations of evidence. The Daubert standard for the admissibility of expert witnesses' testimony, which has evolved operationally both through appellate court decisions and amendments to rules of evidence, provides an example that standards for digital combinations of evidence might follow.

Digital presentation technologies in trials deserves specific, sustained attention. Digital presentation technologies can have important effects on trials. They are not the same as words and hand gestures.

[1] Supreme Court of the State of Connecticut, State of Connecticut v. Michael Skakel, (SC 16844) (Jan. 24, 2006), p. 74.

[2] Id. p. 89, ft. 107 states:

We note, finally, that defense counsel raised no objection to the state’s rebuttal presentation. Apparently, defense counsel did not believe that the state’s use of the audiovisual aides was misleading or otherwise inappropriate. Although that fact is by no means dispositive of the defendant’s claim on appeal, as we have explained; see, e.g., State v. Stevenson, supra, 269 Conn. 576; we nevertheless consider that fact in reviewing the merits of an unpreserved claim of prosecutorial misconduct.

Tags: Daubert, digital, presentations, procedure, trials

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My favorite cousin invites me to dinner!

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Contemplating my future, I picked up yesterday the December issue of the (free) newspaper The Beacon ("in focus for people over 50"). It consisted of 80 tabloid-size pages, with some original articles, mainly syndicated content, and generously interspersed advertisements. The paper claims a readership in excess of 300,000 and won a 2006 General Excellence "Best of Show" Award from the North American Mature Publishers Association (NAMPA).[1]

The Beacon's front-page article reports about retirement-community members playing the Nintendo Wii virtual bowling game. Erickson Retirement Communities established a Wii bowling tournament across its retirement communities nation-wide, including the Riderwood retirement community. The article quotes Riderwood community members who participated in the Erickson tournament:

"Remember years ago when we used to bowl with our friends?" asked Jean Flanick, 74, another tournament participant. She was talking to her friends as they watched Claudia Davis knock down a last pin to nab a spare. "I haven't bowled in 30 or 40 years."

Subsequent text helps to convey the substance and tone of the article:

Flanick also mentioned how engaging the game was, thanks to the realistic sound effects, movements and visuals. Other players agreed that the game brought back nostalgic memories of bowling from their youth.

The article also reports comments from the public relations manager at Riderwood, the senior medical director for Erickson, an associate professor at the University of Maryland, Nintendo's director of corporate communications, and a Nintendo senior manager of public relations. The article concludes with a brief description of a YouTube video of the tournament and the URL for it. Erickson Retirement Communities produced this video, which incorporates promotional material for Erickson retirement communities. The video is quite entertaining and has attracted about 300,000 views on YouTube in two months.

Wii virtual bowling points to good prospects for growth in the gaming industry. Games that involve brain-stimulating choices, major muscle movements, and social interaction have health and happiness benefits that passive, stationary, solitary media don't. With innovative user interfaces and bright marketing approaches, digital games can greatly expand their user demographics. It's never too early to start planning for retirement. Get your game console today!

The Beacon also indicates some important media trends. The Beacon probably pleases most of its readers in a direct way (rather than depressing, horrifying, or infuriating them, to serve its sense of the public interest). It probably also provides some useful information for most readers. However, the paper clearly lacks the sophistication and claimed public position of large, for-profit news media. It also appears not to measure up to the authenticity, commitment to democratic deliberation, and genuine concern for the public interest that readers often find in largely ignored, wholly unprofitable citizen journalism. Unlike most newspapers, The Beacon has grown strongly since its founding in 1989. Organizations with commercial interests outside of media are likely in the future to provide more sponsorship of media that serves directly particular groups.

[1] The reported readership statistic is from the publisher information box on the bottom left corner of page 2, Dec. 2007 print edition. The home page of the paper's website states that the paper has "more than 250,000 active local readers." The top banner of the Dec. 2007 edition states, "More than 200,000 readers throughout Greater Washington." The website about page states: "Our two editions now total more than 130,000 copies each month, distributed free via more than 1,800 local distribution sites. We also mail more than 2,500 copies a month, many to subscribers living throughout the United States." The yearly subscription price for the monthly magazine is $12 (third-class mail) or $36 (first-class mail). With respect to well-established general circulation newspapers, newspaper industry analysts have emphasized the importance of carefully analyzing various circulation figures.

Tags: elderly, games, media, Wii

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A monumental stone building remains long beyond the form of its namer's dust. But the fragile, decaying matter of human lives, connected in ordinary ways, prevails. Not merely prevails, but grows.

Daniel M. Sachs, Princeton Class of 1960, was a mighty footballer and a top-honors student. He attended Worcester College, Oxford, on a Rhodes Scholarship, and then Harvard Law School, and then married and had a daughter. At age 28, he died of cancer.

At his death about forty years ago, Dan Sachs' friends and classmates established a fund to support Dan's family. They provided that, if Dan's family's needs were met, remaining funds would be for a scholarship in Dan's name. Thus the Daniel M. Sachs Class of 1960 Graduating Scholarship arose.

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To Charles and Emily Gillispie, thank you for so carefully remembering Dan Sachs.

Update: Congratulations to Pauline Yeung, recently selected as the Sachs Scholar from the Class of 2008. Fluent in Mandarin, Cantonese, Korean, Japanese and English, Pauline has studied globalization of international law at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School. She will attend Worcester College, Oxford, where she plans to pursue a graduate degree in Global Governance and Diplomacy.

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