{"id":6635,"date":"2006-10-17T23:20:39","date_gmt":"2006-10-17T23:20:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/"},"modified":"2006-10-17T23:20:39","modified_gmt":"2006-10-17T23:20:39","slug":"information-pic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/","title":{"rendered":"Information Pickup"},"content":{"rendered":"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> min<\/span><\/span>

I was reading for exams when I came across "The Theory of Information Pickup
\nand Its Consequences," Ch. 14 in James Gibson’s The Ecological Approach to
\nVisual Perception<\/i>. Gibson writes about ecological optics; a version of his
\ntheory of affordances appears in ch. 8. He’s a small piece of what he writes
\nabout information pickup:<\/p>\n

The act of picking up information, moreover, is a continuous act, an
\n activity that is ceaseless and unbroken. The sea of energy in which we live
\n flows and changes without sharp breaks. Even the tiny fraction of this energy
\n that affects the receptors in the eyes, ear, nose, mouth, and skin is a flux,
\n not a sequence. The exploring, orienting, and adjusting of organs sink to a
\n minimum during sleep but do not stop dead. Hence, perceiving is a stream, and
\n William James’ description of the stream of consciousness (1890, Ch. 9),
\n applies to it. Discrete percepts, like discrete ideas, are "as mythical as the
\n Jack of Spades." (240)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

What I find interesting is how the idea of constant<\/i> information pickup
\nhelps us move toward more nuanced understandings of attention and attention
\nstructures (more like Linda Stone’s
\n
\n"continuous partial attention"<\/a> than a reductive two-type alternative: focus
\nand digression). Much in this
\nalways-on<\/a> "sea of
\nenergy" will be noise. But if we accept the persistence of "exploring,
\norienting, and adjusting," even during sleep, then the polar extremes of focus
\nand digression have a whole lot of messiness and richness going on between them.\n<\/p>\n

So it is noted. And tossed into the rock polisher, set to agitate until
\nsmooth against some other ideas about pickup, collecting: Katamari Damacy,
\nBenjamin’s unpacked library, Sirc’s box-logic, database v. narrative, filtering, aggregation, overload, and so on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u23f3 Approximate reading time: <\/span> < 1<\/span> min<\/span><\/span>I was reading for exams when I came across "The Theory of Information Pickup and Its Consequences," Ch. 14 in James Gibson’s The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Gibson writes about ecological optics; a version of his theory of affordances appears in ch. 8. He’s a small piece of what he writes about information pickup:…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[167],"tags":[418,590,419,588,589],"class_list":["post-6635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reading_notes","tag-attention","tag-digression","tag-focus","tag-gibson","tag-pickup"],"yoast_head":"\nInformation Pickup - Earth Wide Moth<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Information Pickup - Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: < 1 minI was reading for exams when I came across "The Theory of Information Pickup and Its Consequences," Ch. 14 in James Gibson’s The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Gibson writes about ecological optics; a version of his theory of affordances appears in ch. 8. He’s a small piece of what he writes about information pickup:...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Earth Wide Moth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2006-10-17T23:20:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Derek Mueller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Derek Mueller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/10\\\/17\\\/information-pic\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/10\\\/17\\\/information-pic\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Derek Mueller\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\"},\"headline\":\"Information Pickup\",\"datePublished\":\"2006-10-17T23:20:39+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/10\\\/17\\\/information-pic\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":297,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\"},\"keywords\":[\"attention\",\"digression\",\"focus\",\"Gibson\",\"pickup\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Reading Notes\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/10\\\/17\\\/information-pic\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/10\\\/17\\\/information-pic\\\/\",\"name\":\"Information Pickup - Earth Wide Moth\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2006-10-17T23:20:39+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/10\\\/17\\\/information-pic\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/10\\\/17\\\/information-pic\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/2006\\\/10\\\/17\\\/information-pic\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Information Pickup\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Earth Wide Moth\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b\",\"name\":\"Derek Mueller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480\",\"width\":1220,\"height\":480,\"caption\":\"Derek Mueller\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/i0.wp.com\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/04\\\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/www.derekmueller.net\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.facebook.com\\\/derek.mueller\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.instagram.com\\\/dereknmueller\\\/\",\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube.com\\\/user\\\/dnmueller\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.earthwidemoth.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/dmueller\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Information Pickup - Earth Wide Moth","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Information Pickup - Earth Wide Moth","og_description":"\u23f3 Approximate reading time: < 1 minI was reading for exams when I came across "The Theory of Information Pickup and Its Consequences," Ch. 14 in James Gibson’s The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Gibson writes about ecological optics; a version of his theory of affordances appears in ch. 8. He’s a small piece of what he writes about information pickup:...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/","og_site_name":"Earth Wide Moth","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller","article_published_time":"2006-10-17T23:20:39+00:00","author":"Derek Mueller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Derek Mueller","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/"},"author":{"name":"Derek Mueller","@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b"},"headline":"Information Pickup","datePublished":"2006-10-17T23:20:39+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/"},"wordCount":297,"publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b"},"keywords":["attention","digression","focus","Gibson","pickup"],"articleSection":["Reading Notes"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/","url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/","name":"Information Pickup - Earth Wide Moth","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#website"},"datePublished":"2006-10-17T23:20:39+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/information-pic\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Information Pickup"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/","name":"Earth Wide Moth","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"http:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/66fc5e80a62f53057760790b1cfeb24b","name":"Derek Mueller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480","width":1220,"height":480,"caption":"Derek Mueller"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/cropped-bmartwork.png?fit=1220%2C480"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.derekmueller.net\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/derek.mueller","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/dereknmueller\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/dnmueller"],"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/author\/dmueller\/"}]}},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7tdGk-1J1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7051,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/17\/gibson-the-ecol\/","url_meta":{"origin":6635,"position":0},"title":"Gibson, The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"October 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Gibson, James J. The Ecological Approach to Visual Perception. Hillsdale, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1986. In his discussion of the affordances of tools in the environment, Gibson up-ends commonplace distinctions between the objective and subjective and between the human being and the surrounds. That is, he describes affordances (a concept he\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tools-in-use"","block_context":{"text":"Tools-in-use","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/toolsinuse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7011,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/07\/27\/gibson-theory-o\/","url_meta":{"origin":6635,"position":1},"title":"Gibson, “Theory of Affordances”","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"July 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Gibson, James J. \"The Theory of Affordances.\" Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing. R.E. Shaw and J. Bransford, eds. Hillsdale, N.J.: Elrbaum, 1977. Gibson's seminal essay introduces the term, affordances, and articulates the nuances in its application to ecological psychology. An affordance, according to Gibson, is \"a specific combination of the properties\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tools-in-use"","block_context":{"text":"Tools-in-use","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/toolsinuse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7057,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/23\/heft-ecological\/","url_meta":{"origin":6635,"position":2},"title":"Heft, Ecological Psychology in Context","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"October 23, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Heft, Harry. Ecological Psychology in Context. Mahwah, N.J.: Erlbaum, 2001. Heft undertakes an ambitious project: to account broadly for the formation of ecological psychology as a viable and distinctive area of inquiry in the human sciences generally and in psychology more specifically. He reads the formation of ecological psychology through\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tools-in-use"","block_context":{"text":"Tools-in-use","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/toolsinuse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7086,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2007\/03\/08\/provisional-bib\/","url_meta":{"origin":6635,"position":3},"title":"Provisional Bibliography","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"March 8, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Below the fold, a provisional bibliography for the dissertation prospectus. Anderson, Chris. The Long Tail. New York: Hyperion, 2006. Ball, Philip. Critical Mass. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2004. Barabasi, Alberto-Laszlo. Linked. New York: Perseus, 2002. Bazerman, Charles. \"A Relationship between Reading and Writing: The Conversational Model.\" College English\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Dissertation"","block_context":{"text":"Dissertation","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/dissertation\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7045,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/10\/02\/cooper-the-ecol\/","url_meta":{"origin":6635,"position":4},"title":"Cooper, “The Ecology of Writing”","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"October 2, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Cooper, Marilyn. \"The Ecology of Writing.\" College English 48.4 (1986). 364-375. Setting out from Hairston's 1982 embrace of \"a process-centered theory of teaching writing\" to \"process, not product,\" what happens when writers write has been reduced, hazardously, to a simplistic cognitive process. The cognitive process model idealizes the solitary author,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tools-in-use"","block_context":{"text":"Tools-in-use","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/toolsinuse\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6492,"url":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/2006\/01\/24\/after-caffeine\/","url_meta":{"origin":6635,"position":5},"title":"After Caffeine","author":"Derek Mueller","date":"January 24, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Today makes three decaffeinated weeks. Well, besides two Cokes (one in a restaurant, the other on Sunday with lunch). I can't say that I've noticed a remarkable pickup in my productivity, but neither have I melted into a Caffeine Free puddle of lethargic goop, so that's promising. I suppose it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Under a Bushel"","block_context":{"text":"Under a Bushel","link":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/category\/under_a_bushel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6635"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6635\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.earthwidemoth.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}