This paper looks at the "Tower of Hanoi" puzzle, using it as a basis for exploring how technologies can structure our experience and attention in ways that are pedagogically significant. The "Tower of Hanoi" game, as it turns out, was developed at the heart of what art theorist Jonathan Crary has identified as a generalized "crisis of attention:" In the 1880's, in a Paris of panoramas, phonographs and pointillism.

The Tower of Hanoi represents paper as an early but powerful "technology of attention." The pedagogical significance of this puzzle is explored using phenomenology, and the puzzle is understood in this context in terms of what phenomenologists Gaston Bachelard and Bernhard Waldenfels refer to as the "phenomenotechnical:" A phenomenon that is "not simply found, but invented, that is, thoroughly constructed." Even though some of the methodological and historical context invoked in the paper may be somewhat complicated, its ultimate findings are not difficult to summarize: The structuring of attention provided by the Tower of Hanoi is at least as much emotional and affective as it is cognitive and intellectual. And the emotionally charged experience that this puzzle generally provides is essential to understanding its value for mathematics education.

I wrote this paper with Krista Francis-Poscente as a part of the learningspaces.org project, and we presented together at the International Human Sciences Research Conference in Rovereto, Italy.

I had the pleasure of participating in a one-day colloquium called "(Re)Inventing the Internet" in Vancouver in February. This presentation was sponsored by the ACT (Applied Communication Technology) Lab at SFU's school of communication. MP3s of the presentations have recently been posted, and this means that there are a number of great "academic" podcasts to be had now on the colloquium website. There are a number of links that are related to my presentation that I'd like to provide:

• The MP3 of the presentation (13.5 Mb; 23 min)
• The Powerpoint of the Presentation
• The original paper presented (MSWord Doc)

This paper is one that I developed with Andrew Feenberg and Learningspaces.org researcher Grace Chung over a year ago. It uses phenomenology as a way of investigating the ongoing colonization of the lifeworld by technological systems. One more item to link to in this connection is an interesting paper that applies some of the notions of surveillance to e-learning platforms (to the detriment of the WebCTs of this world). This is Screen or Monitor? Surveillance and disciplinary power in online learning environments by Bayne and Land. At least indirectly, this paper points out the merits of using "open" Web 2.0 technologies in education.