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ANALYSIS 3 :: AFTER THE EXPERIMENT
I wondered if the paperairplane function was best conceived as an exception in Simon's sense, or whether it should be viewed as a rule that is added to the function of the algorithm. (Or whether this distinction has meaning in this case.) I don't know the answer to this but I think it might have to do with whether the deployment of the airplane is seen as a regular part of the algorithmic pattern or a response to an irregular event that the algorithm has been programmed to react to.
I suspect that the 'rule' in this case would be the instruction set, and the exception would be the specified response to a certain kind of obstacle. If this is a valid distinction, I think that the paper airplanes worked in a limited role during the event but that the airplanes might not be considered totally successful because they did not have much of an effect on the running of the algorithm overall. As it turned out, only one quarter of participating teams had a pattern that took them to the edge of the ocean.
After the experiment I also questioned my initial focus on standardization, wondering if the design of exceptions was more formally pertinent than repeatability. Although standardization is necessary to understanding the principle in programming - the computational aspect, the running of the loop - in this context the dynamic activity becomes the walking, the physical movement of participants. So standardization is less important, and instead design of exceptions is forefronted.
The parallel is between the function of an algorithmic derive and the constrained pattern that runs within a computer program: following one model into the other would mean deepening the function of the algorithm in order to press it further as an experiment. The design of this deepening function could either come from an individual who designs the event (and the constraints upon the event) or from the group during the function of the experiment, where each participating team might be understood to be designing their own reactions to each obstacle or outcome, and thus to be designing their own constraints.
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