gagan k | Laurentian University (original) (raw)
Papers by gagan k
The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifact... more The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifacts and is mediated by a weaving notation called talim. The script encodes entire design in practice-specific symbols. This encoded script is decoded and interpreted via designspecific conventions by weavers to weave the design embedded in it. The cognitive properties of this notational system are described in the paper employing cognitive dimensions (CDs) framework of Green (People and computers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989) and Blackwell et al. (Cognitive technology: instruments of mind-CT 2001, LNAI 2117, Springer, Berlin, 2001). After introduction to the practice, the design process is described in 'The design process' section which includes coding and decoding of talim. In 'Cognitive dimensions of talim' section, after briefly discussing CDs framework, the specific cognitive dimensions possessed by talim are described in detail.
Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 2019
Cognition is predominantly seen as information processing in multidisciplinary landscape of cogni... more Cognition is predominantly seen as information processing in multidisciplinary landscape of cognition studies, despite having had a formidable opposition from embodied and embedded perspectives in the last few decades. This paper analyses cognitive processes involved in different task domains of Kashmiri carpet weaving practice from the theoretical frameworks of cognitivism and situated-distributed cognition. After introducing the practice and its task domains (Section −1), paradigmatic cognitive activities involved in them are discussed and how these are explained by the two theoretical paradigms and why the latter framework explains these processes better (Section-2). During this discussion (Section – 3), a way via culture impacts the practice and resultant cognitive operations turns out to be workspace of the actors.
Journal of Material Culture, 2019
This article describes the process of transforming a symbolic code into weave actions of weavers ... more This article describes the process of transforming a symbolic code into weave actions of weavers in Kashmiri carpet weaving and how a trade-specific language features crucially in this transformation. The designs in Kashmiri carpet weaving are encoded in a symbolic code, called talim, which the weavers decode while weaving the design. This transformation from code-to-weave is achieved by subjecting the code to various interpretative frameworks, that is, modality and linguistic, and weaving actions are aligned in accordance with them. The transformation remains similar in single and multi-weaver settings, with an exception that, in the latter, the code is read aloud in practice-specific trade language among the team of weavers.
The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is a distributed process encompassing a number of a... more The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is a distributed process encompassing a number of actors and artifacts. These include a designer called naqash who creates the design on graphs, and a coder called talim-guru who encodes that design in a specific notation called talim which is deciphered and interpreted by the weavers to weave the design. The technological interventions over the years have influenced these artifacts considerably and triggered major changes in the practice, from heralding profound cognitive accomplishments in manually driven design process causing major alterations in the overall structure of the practice. The recent intervention is by the digital technology: on the one hand, it has brought precision and speedy processing in the design process, and on the other, it has eliminated some of the crucial actors from the practice. This paper, which forms part of a larger study on the situated and distributed cognitive process in Kashmiri carpet-weaving practice, describes the technological makeover of the design artifacts involved in this practice over the years and their resultant cognitive impact on the design process as well as on the practice
The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifact... more The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifacts and is mediated by a weaving notation called talim. The script encodes entire design in practice-specific symbols. This encoded script is decoded and interpreted via design-specific conventions by weavers to weave the design embedded in it. The cognitive properties of this notational system are described in the paper employing cognitive dimensions (CDs) framework of Green (People and computers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989) and Blackwell et al. (Cognitive technology: instruments of mind—CT 2001, LNAI 2117, Springer, Berlin, 2001). After introduction to the practice, the design process is described in ‘The design process’ section which includes coding and decoding of talim. In ‘Cognitive dimensions of talim’ section, after briefly discussing CDs framework, the specific cognitive dimensions possessed by talim are described in detail.
This article describes various ways actors in Kashmiri carpet weaving practice deploy a range of ... more This article describes various ways actors in Kashmiri carpet weaving practice deploy a range of artifacts, from symbolic, to material, to hybrid, in order to achieve diverse cognitive accomplishments in their particular task domains: information representation, inter and intra-domain communication, distribution of cognitive labor across people and time, coordination of team activities, and carrying of cultural heritage. In this repertoire, some artifacts position themselves as naïve tools in the actors’ environment to the point of being ignored; however, their usage-in-context unfolds their cognitive involvement in the tasks. These usages-in-context are shown through artifact analysis of their routine, improvised, and opportunistic uses, where cognitive artifacts like talim—the central artifact of this practice—are shown to play not only multifunctional roles beyond representation, but are also complemented by trade-specific skills bearing strong cognitive implications in a task.
This paper discusses situated problem solving accomplished in the three constituent domains of Ka... more This paper discusses situated problem solving accomplished in the three constituent domains of Kashmiri carpet weaving practice viz. designing, coding and weaving. While, the designers' problem relates to carving spatial regions on graph-sheets, the coders' problem relates to cognitively demarcating relevant coding area in those graphs while generating code. Likewise, the weavers' problem lies in demarcating weaving-territory on the loom, while the manufacturers' problem relates to determining a particular spatial area for quality assessment. The paper discusses how the actors create fixed, transient and negotiable boundaries on the graph, the loom and the carpet to solve this problem of area determination and demarcation. Section 1 introduces this practice, its task domains and the problem of area determination and demarcation, Section 2 discusses the methodology, Section 3 discusses in detail the problem of area-determination in each task domain and the problem solving strategies employed by the actors using material available in their task-environments itself. In addition, the problem and resolution of area determination as encountered by the manufacturers is discussed. The paper concludes with a discussion on findings of this study with larger findings in cognitive science and accentuates the role played by situated and distributed cognition in unearthing the findings reported in this paper.
The paper seeks to explore the theoretical foundations as well as lived experience of the users i... more The paper seeks to explore the theoretical foundations as well as lived experience of the users in ambient intelligence. The paper traces the journey of AmI from a ready-to-hand technology to background condition and makes observations regarding its key features viz. physical disappearance and anticipatory responding on the way and shows how this has implications for user as well as environment in the end. AmI is aimed to achieve its transparency by physically disappearing into the environment. In this contbxt, it is argued that it is rather its ability to pervade into those forms of behavior whereby the user accesses her world, i.e. through body and presence, rather than its infrastructural invisibility. The former rather blocks user's hermeneutic access to it and thereby pushes her to the periphery of her techno-environment. The proper way should be thus allowing AmI to gradually seep into concernful activities of user via learning its present-at-harrd features, concealed effectively at present.
Computational imagination (CI) conceives imagination as an agent's simulated sensorimotor interac... more Computational imagination (CI) conceives imagination as an agent's simulated sensorimotor interaction with the environment in the absence of sensory feedback, predicting consequences based on this interaction (Marques and Holland in Neurocomputing 72:743-759, 2009).
The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifact... more The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifacts and is mediated by a weaving notation called talim. The script encodes entire design in practice-specific symbols. This encoded script is decoded and interpreted via designspecific conventions by weavers to weave the design embedded in it. The cognitive properties of this notational system are described in the paper employing cognitive dimensions (CDs) framework of Green (People and computers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989) and Blackwell et al. (Cognitive technology: instruments of mind-CT 2001, LNAI 2117, Springer, Berlin, 2001). After introduction to the practice, the design process is described in 'The design process' section which includes coding and decoding of talim. In 'Cognitive dimensions of talim' section, after briefly discussing CDs framework, the specific cognitive dimensions possessed by talim are described in detail.
Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 2019
Cognition is predominantly seen as information processing in multidisciplinary landscape of cogni... more Cognition is predominantly seen as information processing in multidisciplinary landscape of cognition studies, despite having had a formidable opposition from embodied and embedded perspectives in the last few decades. This paper analyses cognitive processes involved in different task domains of Kashmiri carpet weaving practice from the theoretical frameworks of cognitivism and situated-distributed cognition. After introducing the practice and its task domains (Section −1), paradigmatic cognitive activities involved in them are discussed and how these are explained by the two theoretical paradigms and why the latter framework explains these processes better (Section-2). During this discussion (Section – 3), a way via culture impacts the practice and resultant cognitive operations turns out to be workspace of the actors.
Journal of Material Culture, 2019
This article describes the process of transforming a symbolic code into weave actions of weavers ... more This article describes the process of transforming a symbolic code into weave actions of weavers in Kashmiri carpet weaving and how a trade-specific language features crucially in this transformation. The designs in Kashmiri carpet weaving are encoded in a symbolic code, called talim, which the weavers decode while weaving the design. This transformation from code-to-weave is achieved by subjecting the code to various interpretative frameworks, that is, modality and linguistic, and weaving actions are aligned in accordance with them. The transformation remains similar in single and multi-weaver settings, with an exception that, in the latter, the code is read aloud in practice-specific trade language among the team of weavers.
The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is a distributed process encompassing a number of a... more The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is a distributed process encompassing a number of actors and artifacts. These include a designer called naqash who creates the design on graphs, and a coder called talim-guru who encodes that design in a specific notation called talim which is deciphered and interpreted by the weavers to weave the design. The technological interventions over the years have influenced these artifacts considerably and triggered major changes in the practice, from heralding profound cognitive accomplishments in manually driven design process causing major alterations in the overall structure of the practice. The recent intervention is by the digital technology: on the one hand, it has brought precision and speedy processing in the design process, and on the other, it has eliminated some of the crucial actors from the practice. This paper, which forms part of a larger study on the situated and distributed cognitive process in Kashmiri carpet-weaving practice, describes the technological makeover of the design artifacts involved in this practice over the years and their resultant cognitive impact on the design process as well as on the practice
The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifact... more The design process in Kashmiri carpet weaving is distributed over a number of actors and artifacts and is mediated by a weaving notation called talim. The script encodes entire design in practice-specific symbols. This encoded script is decoded and interpreted via design-specific conventions by weavers to weave the design embedded in it. The cognitive properties of this notational system are described in the paper employing cognitive dimensions (CDs) framework of Green (People and computers, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1989) and Blackwell et al. (Cognitive technology: instruments of mind—CT 2001, LNAI 2117, Springer, Berlin, 2001). After introduction to the practice, the design process is described in ‘The design process’ section which includes coding and decoding of talim. In ‘Cognitive dimensions of talim’ section, after briefly discussing CDs framework, the specific cognitive dimensions possessed by talim are described in detail.
This article describes various ways actors in Kashmiri carpet weaving practice deploy a range of ... more This article describes various ways actors in Kashmiri carpet weaving practice deploy a range of artifacts, from symbolic, to material, to hybrid, in order to achieve diverse cognitive accomplishments in their particular task domains: information representation, inter and intra-domain communication, distribution of cognitive labor across people and time, coordination of team activities, and carrying of cultural heritage. In this repertoire, some artifacts position themselves as naïve tools in the actors’ environment to the point of being ignored; however, their usage-in-context unfolds their cognitive involvement in the tasks. These usages-in-context are shown through artifact analysis of their routine, improvised, and opportunistic uses, where cognitive artifacts like talim—the central artifact of this practice—are shown to play not only multifunctional roles beyond representation, but are also complemented by trade-specific skills bearing strong cognitive implications in a task.
This paper discusses situated problem solving accomplished in the three constituent domains of Ka... more This paper discusses situated problem solving accomplished in the three constituent domains of Kashmiri carpet weaving practice viz. designing, coding and weaving. While, the designers' problem relates to carving spatial regions on graph-sheets, the coders' problem relates to cognitively demarcating relevant coding area in those graphs while generating code. Likewise, the weavers' problem lies in demarcating weaving-territory on the loom, while the manufacturers' problem relates to determining a particular spatial area for quality assessment. The paper discusses how the actors create fixed, transient and negotiable boundaries on the graph, the loom and the carpet to solve this problem of area determination and demarcation. Section 1 introduces this practice, its task domains and the problem of area determination and demarcation, Section 2 discusses the methodology, Section 3 discusses in detail the problem of area-determination in each task domain and the problem solving strategies employed by the actors using material available in their task-environments itself. In addition, the problem and resolution of area determination as encountered by the manufacturers is discussed. The paper concludes with a discussion on findings of this study with larger findings in cognitive science and accentuates the role played by situated and distributed cognition in unearthing the findings reported in this paper.
The paper seeks to explore the theoretical foundations as well as lived experience of the users i... more The paper seeks to explore the theoretical foundations as well as lived experience of the users in ambient intelligence. The paper traces the journey of AmI from a ready-to-hand technology to background condition and makes observations regarding its key features viz. physical disappearance and anticipatory responding on the way and shows how this has implications for user as well as environment in the end. AmI is aimed to achieve its transparency by physically disappearing into the environment. In this contbxt, it is argued that it is rather its ability to pervade into those forms of behavior whereby the user accesses her world, i.e. through body and presence, rather than its infrastructural invisibility. The former rather blocks user's hermeneutic access to it and thereby pushes her to the periphery of her techno-environment. The proper way should be thus allowing AmI to gradually seep into concernful activities of user via learning its present-at-harrd features, concealed effectively at present.
Computational imagination (CI) conceives imagination as an agent's simulated sensorimotor interac... more Computational imagination (CI) conceives imagination as an agent's simulated sensorimotor interaction with the environment in the absence of sensory feedback, predicting consequences based on this interaction (Marques and Holland in Neurocomputing 72:743-759, 2009).