A group of people take turns creating Japanese characters on large papers, elevated on a large platform in the center of a room. The calligraphers are surrounded by a group of people watching the events.

A group of people, sitting on a mat in the center of a room, takes turns creating Japanese characters on large paper. The calligraphers are surrounded by a group of people watching the events.

An interview with two calligraphers takes place in Japanese. A group of people are videotaped as they pose for a group picture with Japanese being spoken in the background. A woman interviews a man, in English, about Japanese calligraphy which he refers to as a “spiritual practice.” The speaking man describes the importance of genealogy in calligraphy masters, as well as a broader discussion of calligraphy traditions, styles, and dialects in Japanese culture.

Experimental videography on a New York City public access channel. Includes the short film Sleep.

These items are four pieces collected on a single tape.

Narration over dancers stretching and dancing in a white room. Narrator explains the basics of what goes into preparing to dance, and provides some tips for particular stretches. Focus on bodily awareness and openness. The dancers continue to stretch and free form dance without narration, accompanied by movement.

Martha Graham discusses the preparation of this dance, focusing on Aaron Copland’s score and the importance of minimalism in Isamu Noguchi’s set design. The story of the dance revolves around a newlywed couple, a small town’s pastor who proclaims the potential evils of love, and the townspeople who follow him.

John Cage is interviewed by phone about his Crown Point project.

These items include demonstrations by Bill Ritchie as well as by other artists with Ritchie acting as a commentator or host.

Narration over various library scenes covers problems faced in book preservation. Focuses on personal and environmental issues that can lead to book degradation over visual examples, including the crumbling of an old book.

Narration discusses examples of various disasters, the responses to them, and their impact on books. Resources for book repair and a guide to both pre- and post-disaster action are shown. A major focus of the discussion is the freezing of books, going over both the protocol and benefits.

The host, Ken Schram, leads a discussion between Cal Thomas, Vice-President of Communications for the Moral Majority, and Judith Krug, Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association. Thomas is concerned with libraries across the nation not carrying books representing conservative viewpoints and claims this lack of representation is deliberate censorship. Krug provides evidence of attempts to publish books and problems with the publishing channels used by conservative outlets. Audience members ask questions from a variety of positions. Librarians in the audience include Florence McMullin of King County Libraries and Larry Rumley, Book Editor for the Seattle Times.

This videotape contains an episode of The Phil Donahue Show, interviewing various people involved in the School Board of Island Trees book banning controversy. The show includes a list of the books banned for being “objectionable, vulgar, anti-Christian, anti-American, and just plain filthy,” which includes: Slaughterhouse Five, by Kurt Vonnegut ; The Fixer by Bernard Melamund ; The Naked Ape, by Desmond Morris ; Down these Mean Streets, by Piri Thomas ; Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous ; Soul on Ice, by Eldridge Cleaver ; A Hero Ain’t Nothin’ but a Sandwich, by Alice Childress ; A Reader for Writers, edited by Jerome Archer ; Best Short Stories by Negro Writers, by Langston Hughes. Vice President of the schoolboard, Frank Martin, explains why he stands by removing the books from the school library and states that he cannot discuss much of the questionable content due to television content standards, but does claim The Naked Ape includes normal and abnormal sexual behavior, and that Soul on Ice includes troubling language, ideas, and intentions. Donahue talks to Steven Pico, who took a case against the book banning to federal court. Donahue asks Martin whether he supports premarital sex, or if he thinks a book could debate the merits of socialism and capitalism. Richard Emery, lawyer for the New York Civil Liberties Union, and George Lipp, lawyer representing the school board, are introduced and interviewed. Lipp argues the school has a duty to “indoctrinate” students with community values, which in this case are “conservative.” Various members of the audience address questions and opinions to those involved in the case, with one woman mentioning Judy Blum’s Forever as a reason to support book banning.

Images of library employees; 3/4" U-Matic tapes and vinyl in the Media Center; students studying, working, and sleeping in Odegaard Library.

Nancy Gershenfeld, University of Washington iSchool librarian, provides a basic breakdown of what a special librarian is and how the field is growing along with technology. Cindy Romaine, Nike Design librarian, describes the philosophy of Nike's library and collections of technology, architectural materials, art, and sports pieces. Joel Summerlin, Corbis photo archivist, describes their digital cataloging process. Caroline Marr, Museum of History & Industry special collections librarian, discusses cataloging information, types of materials and the ephemera held by museum. Sandy Macomber, Oregonian Newspaper librarian, describes the collection's split between Oregonian materials and reference materials for journalists and speaks to the role of technology in her library. Becky Withinton, Sound Transit librarian, provides a breakdown of government and transportation collections. Nancy Gershenfield, provides conclusion.

A presentation given during the Spark Session lecture series, featuring Clifford Lynch, introduced by Paul Constantine. Clifford Lynch speaks to digitization methods and usages in library systems.

UW Libraries conference dedicated to using a Mellon Fellowship for digital culture and scholarship.

Anthony Pagden explains that much of his interest lies in the fictionalized Tahiti created by European romanticization of the island. The first section of Pagden’s speech is dedicated to Louis-Antoine de Bougainville’s voyage to Tahiti, his claim of the island for France, and the Tahitian man, Ahutoru, that he brought back to France. Pagden discusses French high society’s reaction to Ahutoru, the contemporary explanations for why he could not learn English, and his appreciation for opera. Pagden briefly discusses James Cook’s voyage to Tahiti and the man that he brought back to England to similar societal reception. Pagden returns to Bougainville and his book, Le voyage autour du monde, which Pagden identifies as planting the seeds for the conceptualization of Tahiti as a utopia populated with “noble savages” that appealed to the European desire to both return to nature and experience the state of being of Classical societies. Pagden ends by discussing Denis Diderot’s response to Bougainville’s book, Supplément au voyage de Bougainville. Pagden examines Diderot’s particular interest with the sexual culture of Tahitian people, using their non-monogamous and sexually open culture to criticize Christian values and restrictions and to point to a fulfillment of a society dedicated to achieving human pleasure.

A woman introduces the Solomon Katz lecture series and provides background on Katz himself before introducing Marshall Brown. Brown introduces Lenn Goodman, providing an extensive personal story about Goodman’s engagement to his first wife. Goodman sets out the basic premise of his presentation as examining early interactions between Arabic culture and the cultures of those conquered or neighbored by Arabic empires. Goodman points to the need to understand Arabic encounters with sciences, math, and philosophy. He examines the incorporation of ideas from Judaism, Christianity, and classic philosophy into Islam, and how the Islamic understanding of these ideas was useful and important to people outside of Islam. The first section of the speech focuses on disrupting the idea of the “ineffable” nature of religious experience and the way Islamic thinkers engaged with Moses and Aristotle to put words to godly encounters and the value of using these encounters to put forth holy laws. The second section focuses on the concept of knowing one’s self to know God, and traces the evolution of that idea through Islamic thought, as well as the importance of individuation of the soul to this concept. The third section examines the importance of identifying consequences to the actions of man and the role of both God and individuals in their moral fate.

This video presents narration and interviews over images of Gig Harbor’s 1980 Midsommar Festival. Various people speak to the festival’s cultural importance, its tradition and history, and the creation of the green pole around which people dance. Depictions of traditional bands, food, and dances are included.

Each of these are episodes from Voices of Washington State, a series covering the history of Washington State. This series is comprised of four episodes spread over two videotapes.

Kelly Hughes introduces Daniel Dennett, author of Darwin’s Dangerous Ideas, a philosophical examination of science. Dennett seeks to defend the idea of evolution as an ongoing algorithmic process, given that evolution is aa mechanical process tha functions like a generate and test algorithm. Dennett directly responds to criticism by SJ Gould by using example algorithms of increasing complication to account for interference by outside events on the process of evolution. He plays a video for the lecture hall that depicts research conducted by Alda Holland. Holland was able to produce evolutionary results in a virtual world using a computer to randomly creates code that influences shapes moving in this virtual space. Another video Dennet plays focuses on a robot connected to a camera tasked with identifying shapes, whose optics are controlled by code on a computer that changes over time in an evolutionary manner.

The lecture begins with Donald Brownlee introducing James Head, a geologist on the Apollo 13 mission. Head explains his presentation’s goal of understanding Earth’s geology through the geology of other planets in the solar system, starting with an early reference to Star Trek: The Next Generation. Head offers a brief overview of Earth’s geology, including plate tectonics and the creation of land masses, but also the impact of a shifting surface on the ability to study Earth's past. Head explains theories behind the creation of the moon as well as its craters’ impact on various cultures. He questions the reason behind the density of Mercury and its relation to the Sun. Head also examines the formation of lava flows on Mars, its early magnetic fields, the role of water on the surface, and possible plate tectonics. He ends by talking about the moons of Jupiter, focusing on the volcanic eruptions on Io and the seas of Europa.

Barbara Warnick provides the introduction for Sherry Turkle, giving a brief overview of her background and current work. Turkle begins her presentation with a definition of subjective computing, which she defines as interactions with computers that change the humans engaged with them. She distinguishes this from instrumental computing, in which a computer performs a task for humans. Turkle examines the relevance of Freud in computing, and how computing has changed the interpretation of psychological terms for a younger generation. Turkle dedicates a large amount of time to the metaphor of “windows” in computing. She then plays a video of an upcoming toys: a computerized ball that moves itself and has an LED face and a robotic doll designed at MIT that reacts to various stimuli and displays simulated emotion. Turkle also includes video of an interview with Rodney Brooks who speaks to the effect of Hollywood on public perception of robotics. Turkle turns to focus on artificial intelligence possibilities, including the “Eliza effect,” in which people who know they are talking to an AI still emotionally respond to their conversation with it. Turkle ends by going into her work with children and computers, focusing on their reactions to Furby dolls and reading a number of quotes from children about what makes something alive.

A man discusses his willingness to try an experimental heart surgery, an early version of using a balloon to unclog arteries that is depicted in detail while the man is alive, but the procedure ultimately does not work. Narration is interspersed throughout, raising moral questions about experimentation and ethics, particularly around a concern for mortality rates. A large portion is dedicated to Nazis and human experimentation. A history of the polio vaccine is provided. Robert Veach, of the Kennedy Center, speaks to medical experimentation. Mortimer Lipsett discusses experiments by the National Institute for Health and the death of a patient in a sleep study. The piece also questions the potentially coercive nature of experimentation as participants may be incentivized by economic needs, furthering their career, or by high trust in doctors pushing these experiments. The last section focuses on the ethics of experimentation on dying children, examining cases in which the procedure presents useful data but will not prevent the child’s death.

The tape begins with following statement: "The material on this tape is for viewing by professional audiences." A family goes through extensive discussion of their experiences and relationships, talking to both Carl Whittaker and their family psychologist. They discuss corporal punishment, playing with explosives, differences in memories of youth, family cuddling, parental sexuality, and children with developmental delays.

Carl Whittaker and the family therapist debrief about the session included item 107. They discuss the sex lives of the parents, art therapy, diabetes trauma, and familial psychotherapy. Whittaker discusses his method of activating pathology and his behavior as a “loving provocateur." He also comments on a family member's potential sexual performance and his own unconscious skill as a psychologist.