Seminars, Readings, Mentoring etc

[backspaces]

[I sent this to wedtech .. sorry for repeats]

Several of us are looking into "higher education" in Santa Fe ..  
education not available in the current schools & institutions like SFI  
or SAR.

Nick is finishing up his successful Emergence seminar in a couple of  
weeks, and is planning future seminars.  One idea is to have two  
parallel seminars .. one in the technical/scientific area, and one  
continuing in the humanities, much like the Emergence reading.  This  
is especially in line with the CUSF (City University of Santa Fe)  
direction, creating diverse sets of seminars.

Steve and I are looking into the complexity area for a seminar, partly  
because we are planning on taking classes at UNM.  A couple of ideas  
are being considered.
- Readings in complexity related topics.  Exmaples would be
        - Non-linear Dynamics & Chaos
        - Graph Theory
        - Algorithms
        - Data analysis
        - Probability/Statistics; Inference; Stochastic processes
.. and lots more.
- Foundational topics like:
        - Computation Theory (Automata, Computability, Algorithmic Complexity)
        - Discrete Math: Algebraic Structures (Group, Rings, Fields, ...)
        - Continuous Math: Analysis/Calculus. (Z, Z+, Q, R, C; Calculus)
.. and again lots more.
- Basically the first is built upon the second, and more goal oriented.
- We could use books for this, or we could use seminal papers and  
tutorials created by luminaries in complexity.  Mark Newman's readings  
in graph theory for example.  The idea of identifying, reading and  
discussing key papers has appeal.  We could also use legally available  
books like Cris Moore's Nature of Computation, which happens to be the  
UNM class we're planning on taking.

The time/place is flexible so as to include those of us with "day  
jobs".  Nick, for example, uses a very pleasant room in the public  
library in the late afternoon Thursdays .. making it more accessible  
for working folks who can take off a bit early at end of work day yet  
not interrupt meal times at home.

Would anyone be interested in this?  We're free to choose the topics  
that are of general interest to our technical community.

We do, however, need to be pretty structured in how we do it,  
otherwise it falls apart.  The Emergence seminar was book-based  
(Bedau) and each week a couple of chapters are assigned to "readers"  
who present the material for their chapter.  We focus on understanding  
the material for roughly 2/3 of the seminar, then get into .. ahem ..  
"discussions" which at least never came to blows!

It certainly has been refreshing.  And I think many of us would like  
to push ourselves a bit into areas we'd like to know more about but  
just haven't had the time for.

What do you think?

    -- Owen


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