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October 19th, 2006 2:58 pmEver want to know how to memorize a deck of cards? The article introduces a concept called a “memory palace” where you construct a palace — or a house or some other kind of physical structure — in your mind which would presumabely have many organized “rooms” or “compartments” in which to place items you want to remember.
A friend and I had an idea similar to this for a desktop GUI many years ago. Your desktop would be a physical representation of your desk (or office) and you could place file folders or applications anywhere on the desk or on shelves, etc in the office.
A while ago I was researching some alternatives to the common “desktop” metaphor in computer GUIs (Graphical User Interfaces). One of the things I came across was BumpTop. It’s not so much a new desktop concept as it is an (arguable) improvement on the existing desktop concept.
A workspace in the physical world typically has piles of documents, binders and other objects arranged in a way that provides considerable subtle information to the owner. For example, items are often casually placed but their spatial position and orientation are usually meaningful. Closer items can indicate urgency, and piles of items are “automatically” ordered chronologically because new items are typically placed on top. This casual organization, prevalent in the real world, differs greatly from the GUI desktop which forces users to immediately file their documents into a rigid hierarchy.
[In BumpTop] objects can be casually dragged and tossed around, influenced by physical characteristics such as friction and mass, much like we would manipulate lightweight objects in the real world. Using a pen as the primary input device can potentially enhance the feeling of realism and directness of manipulation since objects being acted upon are visible directly under the pen tip.
How cool would it be to take the concept of a “memory palace” and incorporate some of the concepts described on the BumpTop website (take a look at the demo video, I was pretty impressed), only on a much larger scale, to create a new kind of GUI? Your local computer (or network) would be represented by a 3D rendering of your house (or whatever physical structure you’d like to use) much like an FPS game. The different rooms would be representative of the type of data stored there, and the data and applications could take on the appearance of some real-world object.
For example, the study or library could be where you store all of your relevent text documents (“My Documents”, if you will). The documents take on the physical appearance of books and are stored on shelves. Each book would have a unique appearance, and you would be able to find most things by memory because the brain is very good at remembering the location of something based on its spatial surroundings. There could also be a “card catalog” that would amount to a Google Desktop search. “Books” that you are reading at any given time could be stacked on the desk for quick retrieval.
As another example, recipes, grocery lists, etc. could be stored in the kitchen, as pinups on the ‘fridge. Items could be moved throughout the house and dropped in any location (electronic bills could be left on the kitchen counter to remind you to pay them). The “house” would know the proper location for every item in it, so you could “clean up” any area of the house with a single click (or voice command) and they would be put back to their correct location (imagine the dining room table, for example).
If anyone knows of any projects (past or present) along these lines, I would be very interested in hearing about them.
"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain."
November 11th, 2006 at 7:00 pm
Crazy idea. A memory palace for your computer. Huh. It makes a lot of sense, though. Then the first place most people would go would be the mailbox to retrieve their email. Then you could read it and file it throughout the house depending on the type of email it is. Fun stuff.
November 13th, 2006 at 10:41 pm
I remember talking about this. The way the idea came up was with the Windows Plus! theme “Mystery” wallpaper. I still like that wallpaper. After you told me about active desktops, I think I misunderstood you to think that they could do a lot more than they really could. (btw, I don’t miss my active destop crashing and having to restart it, or whatever it would do). Anyways, I thought that all of those objects in the library could lead to places on one’s computer. For instance the books, when clicked, would make an animation that they were moved and then open up a file directory or something. Of course to stay in line with the mystery theme, there would be secret links here and there, like a book that would open up a secret staircase to the “skeletons on one’s harddrive”!
I think what you’re writing about takes it to a whole new level, which is pretty amazing.
November 14th, 2006 at 8:58 am
Heheh, that’s right! I remember now. I still have some of those 3d renders that I did in Bryce back then. That was a fun little exercise in out-of-the-box thinking. Of course, it never went anywhere (like most of our schemes!) but it was fun to think about.