The Leader of the Luddites, engraving of 1812

The Luddites were a social movement of 19th-century English textile artisans who protested – often by destroying mechanized looms – against the changes produced by the Industrial Revolution, that replaced them with less-skilled, low-wage labour, and which they felt were leaving them without work and changing their way of life. Eric Hobsbawm called machine wrecking: "collective bargaining by riot". It had been used in Britain since the Restoration as, due to the scattering of manufactories throughout different regions, large-scale strikes were impractical.^[1] The movement was named after Ned Ludd, a youth who had allegedly smashed two stocking frames thirty years earlier, and whose name had become emblematic of machine destroyers.^[2][3][4] The name evolved into the imaginary General Ludd or King Ludd, a figure who also, like Robin Hood, was reputed to live in Sherwood Forest.^[5]

Background[link]

The movement emerged in the harsh economic climate of the Napoleonic Wars and difficult working conditions in the new textile factories. The principal objection of the Luddites was to the introduction of new wide-framed automated looms that could be operated by cheap, relatively unskilled labour, resulting in the loss of jobs for many skilled textile workers. The movement began in Nottingham in 1811 and spread rapidly throughout England in 1811 and 1812. Mills and pieces of factory machinery were burned by handloom weavers, and for a short time Luddites were so strong that they clashed in battles with the British Army. Many wool and cotton mills were destroyed until the British government suppressed the movement.

Formation of movement[link]

The Luddites met at night on the moors surrounding the industrial towns, practising drills and manoeuvres, and often enjoyed local support. The main areas of the disturbances were Nottinghamshire in November 1811, followed by the West Riding of Yorkshire in early 1812 and Lancashire from March 1813. Battles between Luddites and the military occurred at Burton's Mill in Middleton, and at Westhoughton Mill, both in Lancashire. It was rumoured at the time that agents provocateurs employed by the magistrates were involved in provoking the attacks.^{[citation needed]} Magistrates and food merchants were also objects of death threats and attacks by the anonymous King Ludd and his supporters. Some industrialists even had secret chambers constructed in their buildings, which may have been used as hiding places.^[6]

Government response[link]

Frame breaking (1812)

Measures taken by the British government to suppress the movement included a mass trial at York in January 1813 ^[7] that resulted in many executions and penal transportations. The Luddite movement can also be seen as part of a rising tide of English working-class discontent in the early 19th century (see also, for example, the Pentridge or Pentrich Rising of 1817, which was a general uprising, but led by an unemployed Nottingham stockinger and probable ex-Luddite, Jeremiah Brandreth.) An agricultural variant of Luddism, centring on the breaking of threshing machines, was crucial to the widespread Swing Riots of 1830 in southern and eastern England.^{[citation needed]} Research by Kevin Binfield^[8] is particularly useful in placing the Luddite movement in historical context – as organised action by stockingers had occurred at various times since 1675, and the present action had to be seen in the context of the hardships suffered by the working class during the Napoleonic Wars.^{[citation needed]}

"Machine breaking" (industrial sabotage) was subsequently made a capital crime by the Frame Breaking Act, 52 Geo. 3, c. 16^[9] and the Malicious Damage Act of 1812, 52 Geo. 3, c. 130^[10] – legislation which was opposed by Lord Byron, one of the few prominent defenders of the Luddites – and 17 men were executed after an 1813 trial in York. Many others were transported as prisoners to Australia. At one time, there were more British soldiers fighting the Luddites than Napoleon I on the Iberian Peninsula.^[11] Three Luddites, led by George Mellor, ambushed and assassinated a mill owner (William Horsfall from Ottiwells Mill in Marsden) at Crosland Moor, Huddersfield, Mellor firing the shot to the groin which would prove fatal. Horsfall had remarked that he would "Ride up to his saddle in Luddite blood". The Luddites responsible were hanged in York, and shortly thereafter "Luddism" began to wane.^{[citation needed]}

In contemporary thought[link]

Many of the ideas that were encompassed within the Luddite Movement have been studied and evaluated in modern economics literature. The concept of "Skill Biased Technological Change" (SBTC) posits that technology contributes to the de-skilling of routine, manual tasks.^[12]A changing world and new technologies are usually the blame for the world's worries.

In modern usage, "Luddite" is a term describing those opposed to industrialisation, automation, computerisation or new technologies in general.^[13]

See also[link]

• Luddite fallacy
• Neo-Luddism
• Development criticism
• Technophobia
• Simple living

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Archer, John E. (2000). "Chapter 4: Industrial Protest". Social unrest and popular protest in England, 1780–1840. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-57656-7. http://books.google.com/books?id=pb0RzCN-ipMC. 
• Bailey, Brian J (1998). The Luddite Rebellion. NYU Press. ISBN 0-8147-1335-1. 
• Binfield, Kevin (2004). Writings of the Luddites. JHU Press. ISBN 0-8018-7612-5. http://books.google.com/books?id=NG6ABlDQ10MC. 
• Fox, Nicols (2003). Against the Machine: The Hidden Luddite History in Literature, Art, and Individual Lives. Island Press. ISBN 1-55963-860-5. 
• Grint, Keith & Woolgar, Steve (1997). "The Luddites: Diablo ex Machina". The machine at work: technology, work, and organization. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978-0-7456-0924-9. http://books.google.com/books?id=HjijdK2VwWQC&pg=PA39. 
• Jones, Steven E. (2006). Against technology: from the Luddites to Neo-Luddism. CRC Press. ISBN 978-0-415-97868-2. http://books.google.com/books?id=YwPP4pGRAwgC. 
• Randall, Adrian (2002). Before the Luddites: Custom, Community and Machinery in the English Woollen Industry, 1776–1809. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-89334-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=6P_B2TeiPeYC. 
• Rude, George (2005). "Chapter 5, Luddism". The crowd in History, 1730-1848. Serif. ISBN 978-1-897959-47-3. 
• Sale, Kirkpatrick (1996). Rebels against the future: the Luddites and their war on the Industrial Revolution : lessons for the computer age. Basic Books. ISBN 0-201-40718-3. http://books.google.com/books?id=kNnmrkJFQ5cC. 

External links[link]

Look up Luddite in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

• The Luddite Link - Comprehensive historical resources for the original West Yorkshire Luddites, University of Huddersfield.
• [http://www.uprisingevents.org The Uprising Series, a series of creative events marking the bi-centenary of the Luddites uprisings in West Yorkshire, led by the Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield.
• Is it O.K. to be a Luddite? by Thomas Pynchon
• Luddism and the Neo-Luddite Reaction by Martin Ryder, University of Colorado at Denver School of Education
• The Luddites and the Combination Acts from the Marxists Internet Archive

Steve Mann
Born	Hamilton, Ontario
Known for	Wearable computers, High dynamic range imaging, Chirplet transform, Hydraulophone

Steven Mann (born in Hamilton, Ontario),^[1] is a tenured professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with cross-appointments to the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, and Faculty of Forestry, at the University of Toronto.

Education[link]

Mann holds degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD in Media Arts and Sciences '97) and McMaster University, where he was also inducted into the McMaster University Alumni Hall of Fame, Alumni Gallery, 2004, in recognition of his career as an inventor and teacher.^[2] While at MIT, in then Director Nicholas Negroponte's words he "brought the seed" that founed the Wearable Computing group in the Media Lab.^[3] In 2004 he was named the recipient of the 2004 Leonardo Award for Excellence for his article "Existential Technology," published in Leonardo 36:1.^[4]

Ideas and inventions[link]

Many of Mann's inventions pertain to the field of computational photography.

• Chirplet transform, 1991: Mann was the first to propose and reduce to practice a signal representation based on a family of chirp signals, each associated with a coefficient, in a generalization of the wavelet transform that is now referred to as the chirplet transform.
• Video Orbits, 1993: Mann was the first to produce an algorithm for automatically combining multiple pictures of the same subject matter, using algebraic projective geometry, to "stitch together" images using automatically estimated perspective correction. This is called the "Video Orbits" algorithm.^[5] See also patent US 5828793 , Method and apparatus for producing digital images having extended dynamic ranges.^[6]
• Comparametric Equations, 1993: Mann was the first to propose and implement an algorithm to estimate a camera's response function from a plurality of differently exposed images of the same subject matter. He was also the first to propose and implement an algorithm to automatically extend dynamic range in an image by combining multiple differently exposed pictures of the same subject matter.^[7] See also patent US 5706416 , Method and apparatus for relating and combining multiple images of the same scene or object(s).^[8]
• Inverse kinematics, e.g. principles of negative derivatives (integrals) of displacement, such as absement (the area under the displacement-time curve), as embodied by hydraulophones (water-based instruments)^[9]. This work has been built-upon by others, and also forms the basis for a new way of understanding electrical engineering, based on using the electrical analog of absement as the base unit.^[10]
• Hydraulophone: Mann invented an experimental musical instrument that uses pressurized hydraulic fluid, such as water, to make sound. The instrument is played by placing the fingers in direct contact with the sound-producing hydraulic fluid, thus giving the musician a high degree of control over the musical expression in the sound.^[11]
• Telepointer, a wearable computer based on a pendant that contains a webcam and laser-based infinite depth-of-focus projector.
• Sousveillance and cyborg-logging

Mann also works in the fields of computer-mediated reality. He is a strong advocate of privacy rights, for which work he was an award recipient of the Chalmers Foundation in the fine arts. His work also extends to the area of sousveillance (a term he coined for "inverse surveillance"). Mann and one of his PhD students, James Fung, together with some of his other students, have been building a cyborg community around the cyborg-logging concept.^[12]

• Mann, together with Professor Ian Kerr at the University of Ottawa, have written extensively on surveillance, sousveillance, and equiveillance. "Sousveillance", a term coined by Mann, along with the concepts that he and Kerr have developed around these ideas, have created a new dialog for cyborg technologies, as well as related personal information gathering technologies like camera phones. He has created the related concept of Humanistic Intelligence.^[13]
• Joi Ito, a leading researcher in moblogging, credits Mann with having initiated the moblogging movement by creating a system for transmission of realtime pictures, video, and text. In particular, from 1994 to 1996, Mann continuously transmitted his life's experiences, in real time, to his website for others to experience, interact with, and respond to^[14]

His CyborGLOGS ('glogs), such as the spontaneous reporting of news as everyday experience,^[15] were an early predecessor of 'blogs and the concept of blogging, and earlier than that, his pre-internet-era live streaming of personal documentary and cyborg communities defined cyborg-logging as a new form of social networking.

Mann as cyborg[link]

Mann has been described as "the world's first cyborg" in the popular press such as NOW, The Globe and Mail, National Post, and Toronto Life, and as the "father of wearable computing^{[16] [17][18]}, but has himself rejected the term "cyborg" as being too vague^[19].

Mann's publications include the book Cyborg: Digital Destiny... and the textbook Intelligent Image Processing, describing his early adoption of an alternative life style with significant and interesting ideas. In 2001, filmmaker Peter Lynch directed Cyberman, a film about Mann's life and inventions.

While some describe him as the founder of the field of wearable computing based on his early work in personal imaging, there is controversy surrounding the exact definition of wearable computing, and whether any one person can be considered to have invented it. For example, wearable computer imaging systems were described, hypothetically but not actually reduced to practice (i.e., not actually invented) by Vannevar Bush in his essay "As We May Think" in the Atlantic Monthly in July 1945. Wearable devices for timing the trajectory of the balls on a roulette table were built and used by Ed Thorp and Claude Shannon who first published their work in 1966, but it is uncertain whether these devices could be considered computers, in the modern-day interpretation of a computer as a general purpose device (any more than one might consider a windup wristwatch to be a computer, i.e., although it computes and displays time, what makes something really a computer is its generality of purpose). Likewise, an abacus worn around the neck on a string could be called a wearable computer, but it's not quite in the spirit of Mann's idea of a general purpose device worn during all waking moments. Predecessors like the wristwatch, the shoe-based gambling timers, etc., were used for computation of specific tasks, whereas Mann's invention was a general-purpose field programmable computer inserted into the visual reality stream of all day-to-day tasks.^[20]

Anonequity project (Mann, Kerr, and others)[link]

Mann is presently collaborating with a number of researchers including Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law & Technology, University of Ottawa, who teaches a course on "Cyborg Law" that uses Mann's book.^[21] Mann, together with Kerr and others, are doing a SSHRC-funded project to study the Ethics, Law & Technology of anonymity, authentication, surveillance, and sousveillance, in addition to issues related to cyborg-law. The anonequity project is ongoing, and collaborator Kerr has also researched and lectured widely on implantable technologies.^[22]

Self-portraits of Mann with wearable-computing gear from 1980s to 1990s.

Publications[link]

Mann is author of more than 200 publications, including a textbook on electric eyeglasses and a popular culture book on day-to-day cyborg living. Selected works:

• Intelligent Image Processing ISBN 0-471-40637-6
• Cyborg: Digital Destiny and Human Possibility in the Age of the Wearable Computer Randomhouse Doubleday 2001
• The Wireless Application Protocol (WAP): A Wiley Tech Brief ISBN 0-471-39992-2
• International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction 2003: Special Issue : Mediated Reality ISBN 0-8058-9604-X
• Advanced Palm Programming: Developing Real-World Applications ISBN 0-471-39087-9

See also[link]

• Kevin Warwick
• Ray Kurzweil
• Gordon Bell

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Steve Mann

• Mann's current web site as of 2009
• EyeTap Personal Imaging (ePi) Lab
• Mann's website (wearcam.org)
• Publications
• Eduardo Kac (first person to have microchip implanted)
• Psychology and Cyborgs (with reference to Steve Mann)
• Reviews and excerpts from the 35 mm motion picture film Cyberman
• Professor Experiments With Life As Cyborg
• Eyeglass-based computer vision systems based on the EyeTap principle – lecture given by Steve Mann at Stanford University (video archive).

Jesse Brown
2nd United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs
In office January 22, 1993 – July 3, 1997
President	Bill Clinton
Preceded by	Edward J. Derwinski
Succeeded by	Togo D. West, Jr.
Personal details
Born	(1944-03-27)March 27, 1944 Detroit, Michigan
Died	August 15, 2002(2002-08-15) (aged 58) Warrenton, Virginia
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	City Colleges of Chicago
Military service
Service/branch	United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1963 - 1965
Rank	Corporal
Battles/wars	Vietnam War

Jesse Brown (March 27, 1944 – August 15, 2002,) was the United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs under President Bill Clinton from 1993 to 1997.

Early life[link]

Jesse Brown was born on March 27, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, to Lucille Marsh Brown and David Brown but grew up in Chicago. He attended The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. and Roosevelt University in Chicago, and graduated from the City Colleges of Chicago.

Military service[link]

He enlisted in the United States Marine Corps in 1963, and served as a Marine in the Vietnam War, reaching the rank of Corporal. He was seriously injured in 1965 near Da Nang — his right arm shattered and partially paralyzed.

Veterans service[link]

DAV[link]

In 1967, Brown joined the staff of Disabled American Veterans (DAV), a service and advocacy organization. He served in various supervisory roles with the DAV in the 1970s and 1980s:

• 1973 — supervisor of National Service Office in Washington, D.C.
• 1976 — supervisor of National Appeals Office
• 1981 — Chief of Claims, National Service and Legislative Headquarters
• 1983 — Deputy National Service Director

In 1989, Brown became the DAV's first African-American director, serving until 1993.

Secretary of Veterans Affairs[link]

In January 1993, Brown was selected by President Bill Clinton to the post of Secretary of Veterans Affairs,^[1] serving until 1997. He was the first African American to hold that post. During his tenure, Brown expanded the services offered to female veterans, homeless veterans and veterans who were ill due to chemical exposures in Vietnam or the Gulf War. After he resigned as Secretary, Brown founded a consulting firm, Brown and Associates.^[2]

Death[link]

Brown died in Warrenton, Virginia on August 15, 2002 of lower motor neuron syndrome — being diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, commonly known as Lou Gehrig's Disease, since 1999.^[2][3] He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery.^[3]

See also[link]

	Biography portal
	United States Marine Corps portal

• Disabled American Veterans
• Vietnam Veterans of America

Notes[link]

References[link]

• "Jesse Brown - Corporal, United States Marine Corps - Secretary of Veterans Affairs". ArlingtonCemetery.net. 23 April 2006. http://www.arlingtoncemetery.net/jesse-brown.htm. Retrieved 2008-02-15. 

• "Jesse Brown, 58, Ex-Marine Who Headed Veterans Dept.". New York Times. August 17, 2002. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C05E5DB123DF934A2575BC0A9649C8B63. Retrieved 2008-08-19. 

• "Jesse Brown Memorial Youth Scholarship Program". Disabled American Veterans. http://www.dav.org/volunteers/jesse_brown_scholarship.html. Retrieved 2008-10-07. 

v t e United States Secretaries of Veterans Affairs Derwinski Brown West Gober (acting) Principi Nicholson Peake Shinseki

v t e Cabinet of President Bill Clinton (1993–2001)   Cabinet Secretary of State Warren Christopher (1993 – 1997) Madeleine Albright (1997 – 2001) Secretary of the Treasury Lloyd Bentsen (1993 – 1994) Robert Rubin (1995 – 1999) Lawrence Summers (1999 – 2001) Secretary of Defense Les Aspin (1993 – 1994) William Perry (1994 – 1997) William Cohen (1997 – 2001) Attorney General Janet Reno (1993 – 2001) Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Agriculture Mike Espy (1993 – 1994) Dan Glickman (1995 – 2001) Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown (1993 – 1996) Mickey Kantor (1996 – 1997) William Daley (1997 – 2000) Norman Mineta (2000 – 2001) Secretary of Labor Robert Reich (1993 – 1997) Alexis Herman (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Health and Human Services Donna Shalala (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Education Richard Riley (1993 – 2001) Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Henry Cisneros (1993 – 1997) Andrew Cuomo (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Transportation Federico Peña (1993 – 1997) Rodney Slater (1997 – 2001) Secretary of Energy Hazel O'Leary (1993 – 1997) Federico Peña (1997 – 1998) Bill Richardson (1998 – 2001) Secretary of Veterans Affairs Jesse Brown (1993 – 1997) Togo West (1998 – 2000) Hershel Gober* (2000 – 2001) acting secretary.   Cabinet-level Vice President Al Gore (1993 – 2001) White House Chief of Staff Mack McLarty (1993 – 1994) Leon Panetta (1994 – 1997) Erskine Bowles (1997 – 1998) John Podesta (1998 – 2001) Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency Carol Browner (1993 – 2001) Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Korbel Albright (1993 – 1997) Bill Richardson (1997 – 1998) Richard Holbrooke (1999 – 2001) Director of the Office of Management and Budget Leon Panetta (1993 – 1994) Alice Rivlin (1994 – 1996) Franklin Raines (1996 – 1998) Jacob Lew (1998 – 2001) Director of National Drug Control Policy Lee Brown (1993 – 1995) Barry McCaffrey (1996 – 2001) Trade Representative Mickey Kantor (1993 – 1997) Charlene Barshefsky (1997 – 2001) Director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency James Lee Witt (1993 – 2001)* Director of Central Intelligence John Deutch (1995 – 1996) George Tenet (1997–2001) Administrator of the Small Business Administration Erskine Bowles (1993 - 1994) Philip Lader (1994 – 1997) Aída Álvarez (1997–2001) took office in 1993, raised to cabinet-rank in 1996