Whats going on here?

Gyre.org is a database of links, resources, and citations that track and explain the next technological and military revolutions. This project is also an attempt to expand the concept of the weblog beyond a linear, chronological collection of links and into a more useful research tool.

So what should I be doing?

I imagine that the typical Gyre.org visitor will have an interest in one of the technological focus areas such as "space expansion" or "biological warfare" and will visit periodically for the news updates. The site is updated daily with new articles and resources so a user could bookmark a category home page and use the site as a weblog of new articles and resources.

My hope is that visitors will take advantage of the relational database to explore topics in other realms. For example a user interested in India's plans to develop the moon would see links related to the effect the research into rockets would have on the current political situation with Pakistan. This link could then lead our user to investigate the effect it would have on Chinese space ambitions, or U.S. missile defense plans, or India's satellite efforts, etc. Its certainly not perfect and the resources are continually being refined and 'recoded' but I've found it very useful to explore.

For added fun, try the "Random 10 Articles" link in the top navigation.

What is the difference between a keyword and a topic? How is the database organized?

There are three different types of objects (news, resources, citations) in the system which can be related in three ways: by category, by keyword, or by framework.

• News items are short articles or news from major newspapers that I find interesting. I try to keep the signal to noise ratio high on news items so I'll focus more on the big breakthroughs and major developments rather then try and compile a complete record of news articles about a topic.
• Resources are links to other resources on the web- mailing lists, other sites, bibliographies, etc.
• Citations are just references to books or significant offline articles that might be helpful for understanding the topic, keyword, or framework better.

After I've entered an object into the database, I will then relate it to relevant categories, keywords or frameworks.

• Categories are the major topics on the left-side navigation.
• Keywords are sub-topics that appear in articles and are used to draw connections between the major categories. You can browse keywords within a category or across all categories.
• Frameworks are philosophical positions about a topic or technology in general. I like to think of these as the different "lenses" you can use when viewing a subject. Most authors assume one or more of these frameworks in their writing, I'm only relating an article to a framework if it specifically addresses these underlying assumptions.

All objects can also be sorted by either source (example, "New York Times") or by author (example, "Keay Davidson")

When I click on resources or bibliography, it says "There are no resources/citations for that search"?

I've just finished the code to integrate the resources and bibliography sections so its going to take some time to fill them. As always, if you have a suggestion for a resource or citation, please send it to me.

What's the story with the '* RANDOM *' articles on the home page?

Just a little social engineering. The home page will show the 10 most recent stories by date with one or two random stories from somewhere in the database marked as '* RANDOM *'. I'm experimenting with this as a way of counteracting the clustering tendency of news stories over a given range of time (ex. the current fixation with the Iraq war). I believe that the most interesting part of this project is the ability to take any 10 stories or events and map their connections to each other.

I'm trying to get in touch with Dr. Soand So about an article. Can you forward a message for me?

Sorry, I don't have the contact information for any of the authors listed in the database. Try linking to the actual article and looking for their contact information there, 99% of the authors make their email addresses available.

Part of the confusion probably lies in the way I have indexed this site. I've dynamically created a page for each author that lists all of the articles in the database by that author:

Example: http://www.gyre.org/news/author/Leonard+David/

These very specific pages naturally score highly in Google's page-ranking system when a user searches on an authors name and I receive lots of requests like this one. For now, I intend to keep these pages up. I find it very useful to be able to sort by authors, it helps identify the key authors (or primary filters as opposed to bloggers such as myself) to keep an eye on.

I'm writing a paper on X - please send me _everything_ you have on this subject, stat!

I get dozens of requests like this every week. I don't want to be mean-spirited about it but even responding with an "I can't help you" request takes too much of my time with the volume of email I recieve.

Few suggestions:

• All of the information I have on X is already in my database which I've toiled over for years in anticipation of your question. If thats not enough, there is another database with a broader mission that may be able to help. Ask it anything, it is very wise.
• Best advice available on how to ask for help on the internet: Eric S. Raymond's How To Ask Questions The Smart Way.

What do you use to find news or resources?

I scan through most of the major news and topical sites on a periodic basis to check for new articles of interest. To help manage my surfing, I've created another research tool called "Web Junkie" that you're welcome to try out. I also rely heavily on the 3 dozen listservs I'm subscribed to for any news that I may have missed.

How often is the site updated?

I try and update it at least once a day so I won't get to backlogged. There's a timestamp on the home page to let you know the last time it was updated if you want to keep me honest.

Do you provide an RSS feed for syndicating your site content?

Absolutely. I've got a standard RSS feed here:

http://www.gyre.org/rss/

that will show the 10 most current articles (same as the home page). More advanced and targeted feeds are possible, check out the RSS page for more information.

Who is behind this? Who provides your funding?

Just me (home page coming soon), a Washington, D.C. based policy wonk and web programmer. I started this project as a way of organizing my research about 5 years ago and its grown and mutated since. Server costs and site maintenance are all out of my own pocket.

Over time, I'd love to involve more people in this project. I'm working on building submission tools to allow visitors to submit news or resources and I'm investigating the idea of adding persistent comment areas to each object or topic.

Whats the signifigance of the name "gyre"?

The exact definition is "a circular or spiral motion or form; especially : a giant circular oceanic surface current" (which explains the hurricane imagery throughout the site). It is also used prominently in the famous poem "Second Coming" by W.B. Yeats:

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all convictions, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

Thats a rather pessimistic, apocalyptic view of our future, isn't it?

When I started this project, I had a very pessimistic perspective on technology and international security, always fearing the worst-case scenarios for every new development. For example, I was one of those people who was trying to convince all of his friends and relatives that the Y2K bug could cause mass disruptions or much worse. After Y2K fizzled, I had to rethink a lot of my assumptions (and eat all of that surplus canned food). I've since adopted a cautious optimism towards our future and have re-directed my research towards trying to understand the strategic and sociological frameworks that would allow us to determine which 'threats' are worthy of our attention. I like this quote from Antonio Gramsci, Italian political theorist and activist (1891-1937): "I'm a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will."

The dual-imagery of the gyre kinda works for the goals of this project: the chaotic "slouching beast" of Yeats and the violent gyre of the hurricane as it spirals towards order. This project is about understanding and tracking the maelstorm of technological change.

What software/package are you using to run this site?

Its entirely home-grown. I tried a dozen or so weblog or Slashdot style systems but they were all just variations of the same concept: publish stories one after the other by adding a new one on top of the others in the stack. Several of these systems allow administrators to create categories or sections but I needed a weblog tool more conducive to researchers who will not only want to see the stuff at the top of the stack but the related stuff in the middle or at the bottom of another stack entirely. I'm also really stubborn so building my own somehow seemed easier than trying to find an available solution.

I am planning on open sourcing the entire package at some point but its going to take some time to clean it up.

The topic lists looks like my debate backfiles! Did you compete in two-person debate?

Absolutely. I competed actively in competitive two-person debate on the national level in high school and college for almost 8 yrs and my favorite tub had an expando-file for every topic on the left-navigation. This site is a nicotine patch for my debate addiction - I can continue to keep up to date on all of my favorite debate topics without having to cut "bipart" cards all night in some god awful Motel 6 room. Its also helping me digitize my tubs of evidence so I can stop carrying around that dusty nuclear disarmament file from 1992 "just in case".

If you are actively competing in two-person debate (or if you understand what I mean by debate addiction), please drop me a line. I'm working on creating a special email update list for items that may be of interest to two-person debaters.

Page Last Updated on December 11, 2003