tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post115243690961473241..comments2023-11-12T13:22:30.358+01:00Comments on andrewjshields: FragmentAndrew Shieldshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-1153948666873914842006-07-26T23:17:00.000+02:002006-07-26T23:17:00.000+02:00Thanks for the question about the background of th...Thanks for the question about the background of the project. I probably unconsciously stole it from Pirsig, but it was just an idea I had when preparing a course on the topic of "Quality" in the summer of 2005. In fact, considering the importance of that word to Pirsig, and the project of his that you mentioned, and the fact that I read that book a lot in the early eighties (and even used Phaedrus as my air name on the radio at first, before switching to the less dramatic Andrew)—I surely stole it from him without realizing it.Andrew Shieldshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02804655739574694901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20782819.post-1153921261902188612006-07-26T15:41:00.000+02:002006-07-26T15:41:00.000+02:00I don't know the full genesis of the Daily Poem pr...I don't know the full genesis of the Daily Poem project, but it reminds me of Robert Pirsig's quality polls in "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance."<BR/><BR/>He tries an experiment with his class, asking them to vote on which papers they individually believe are good, as a way of demonstrating that most of us have a consensus on what constitutes quality, although it can be hard to put into words.<BR/><BR/>Likewise interesting to see where a somewhat self-selecting audience finds consensus on which poems (of a set already selected for quality) make us want more.mrjumbohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00564375101442753257noreply@blogger.com