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<P>Hi all, <BR>
<P>I'm new on the list. I have recently finished my PhD in Communications at
Universidade Nova, Lisbon, Portugal. My PhD is about Erving Goffman's
concept of "frame" and its relations to cognition and the formal features of
human interaction. Parts of my research have been summarized in an article,
"Framing and Cognition", in the book "Goffman's Legacy", published in the US by
Rowman & Littlefield. </P>
<P>At the moment, my research interests include what I call "logotechnics" or
"linguistic technologies": the development of systems which reproduce what,
according to Noam Chomsky, is the most important characteristic of human
language, its "discrete infinity" (the production of an infinite number of
structures by the recursive combination of a finite number of elements). </P>
<P>Each "logotechnique" could be understood as a set of procedures for
developing specific kinds of "cognitive artifacts". Writing would be the
fundamental "logotechnique", giving rise to printing (its mechanization) and
computing (its automatization). I believe a proper understanding of the latter
must take into account the effects of the former. For instance, as regards the
Internet and the spread of digital media, the so-called "digital revolution" is,
in a sense, the process of "generalization of writing" - since, for the first
time, almost every form of human representation can be "translated" to digital
form through programs written, in the last instance, in binary code. </P>
<P>I hope this stuff makes sense to you. Anyway, it's still in an earlier phase,
open to comments, criticisms and developments. Best regards, <BR>
<P><FONT face=Verdana size=2>Luiz Carlos Baptista <BR></FONT><A
href="mailto:lucabaptista who-is-at sapo.pt?Subject=Re:%20research%20-%20writing,%20printing,%20computing&In-Reply-To=<005d01c386b8$a9d02200$1a2ac151@luca>"><FONT
face=Verdana size=2>lucabaptista@sapo.pt</FONT></A><FONT face=Verdana size=2>
<BR></FONT><A
href="mailto:lucabaptista who-is-at hotmail.com?Subject=Re:%20research%20-%20writing,%20printing,%20computing&In-Reply-To=<005d01c386b8$a9d02200$1a2ac151@luca>"><FONT
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