Memory Palaces 2
I'm moving some of my older files/texts/writings onto LJ for mirror keeping, tagging.
........2005
"I bring up [http://mappa.mundi.net/cartography/Palace/ Memory Palaces] not to necessarily encourage a return to the ancient art in its same form.
The Art of Memory and the Method of Loci (back in the days) was really quite an immense visualization trick...and a feat I think that few people today would consciously use. What I'm very excited about is the probability that we're entering a new phase in the internet and a new form of memory retention (which traces back to this concept of memory palaces) will become second nature to the masses:
What we're seeing happen here...is that 'memory palaces' are, can and will be made in 3d graphic interface. You don't as much need to 'hold' the whole building in your mind...as you BUILD the building and return to it over and over.
Think of computer games....the addictive warring kind even...those who play them regularly come to KNOW all the aspects of the various environments...they know that over 'here' are power-point giving thingies...and that at this point some flying bad guys will come out of that door to the right..and they have to jump to that stone and click on that button and whatever whatever to keep going... They learn how to move from room to room, landscape to landscape, level to level of the game, just by playing it...by tracing the steps and gathering a sort of 'memory-skill'.
Now what I'm terribly excited about and see happening...is a gradual reordering of the internet in just this way. Our ways of storing information for retrieval are just not cutting it anymore. I have tons of information stored in 'files' but the accessibility is diminishing with each new folder.
All of our 'home-pages' are attempts at organizing the information we find relevant enough to share with others. Now try to imagine them in a more spatial 3d format...where instead of our an intro page...you land at a house or environment of the user's design...with information embedded (clickable) within objects in a very intuitive way. Think of all the connectivity possible...the portals..:)And by returning to this place over and over we naturally learn/remember where to find various information. Multiple searching tools can and will be utilized as well... ok, so the designing of 'home-pages' (see the term, eh?) becomes more and more immersive. ...
"A hypertext with its clickable icons and images is like a memory palace and each link is a locus .When you click, the idea stored there appears as a new document.The only difference is that you don't have to memorize the structure . From this point of view hypertext is much more like the Camillo Theatre (http://cotati.sjsu.edu/spoetry/folder6/ng6211.html)- a physical space where you learn by walking. Virtual Reality is essentially a 3D hypertext.You now navigate not only with the mouse but with all your body:the dream of Camillo becomes true.We can now build a place where you learn only by walking."
-from [http://www.ba.infn.it/~zito/loci.html Giuseppe Zito's page on the Method of Loci.])
I think that virtual worlds like [http://secondlife.com/islands.php SecondLife.com] offers a wonderfully fertile experimental platform for us..in that we can explore the building our own personal 'memory palaces' and connecting them with others in a shareable 3d realm...
(now you see my [http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL78/135657/1415718/24509342.jpg 'Connecting Islands'] artwork tell its lil secret story/prophecy..;):
Aspects of your memory palace can remain public, 'private' or 'friends only' as you choose. So much to think about here. Will be watching hoping for more 3d building and/or architecture students experiments with this sort of thing!
update: here we Goooo!! beginningsss: Tesseract House in SecondLife
........2005
"I bring up [http://mappa.mundi.net/cartography/Palace/ Memory Palaces] not to necessarily encourage a return to the ancient art in its same form.
The Art of Memory and the Method of Loci (back in the days) was really quite an immense visualization trick...and a feat I think that few people today would consciously use. What I'm very excited about is the probability that we're entering a new phase in the internet and a new form of memory retention (which traces back to this concept of memory palaces) will become second nature to the masses:
What we're seeing happen here...is that 'memory palaces' are, can and will be made in 3d graphic interface. You don't as much need to 'hold' the whole building in your mind...as you BUILD the building and return to it over and over.
Think of computer games....the addictive warring kind even...those who play them regularly come to KNOW all the aspects of the various environments...they know that over 'here' are power-point giving thingies...and that at this point some flying bad guys will come out of that door to the right..and they have to jump to that stone and click on that button and whatever whatever to keep going... They learn how to move from room to room, landscape to landscape, level to level of the game, just by playing it...by tracing the steps and gathering a sort of 'memory-skill'.
Now what I'm terribly excited about and see happening...is a gradual reordering of the internet in just this way. Our ways of storing information for retrieval are just not cutting it anymore. I have tons of information stored in 'files' but the accessibility is diminishing with each new folder.
All of our 'home-pages' are attempts at organizing the information we find relevant enough to share with others. Now try to imagine them in a more spatial 3d format...where instead of our an intro page...you land at a house or environment of the user's design...with information embedded (clickable) within objects in a very intuitive way. Think of all the connectivity possible...the portals..:)And by returning to this place over and over we naturally learn/remember where to find various information. Multiple searching tools can and will be utilized as well... ok, so the designing of 'home-pages' (see the term, eh?) becomes more and more immersive. ...
"A hypertext with its clickable icons and images is like a memory palace and each link is a locus .When you click, the idea stored there appears as a new document.The only difference is that you don't have to memorize the structure . From this point of view hypertext is much more like the Camillo Theatre (http://cotati.sjsu.edu/spoetry/folder6/ng6211.html)- a physical space where you learn by walking. Virtual Reality is essentially a 3D hypertext.You now navigate not only with the mouse but with all your body:the dream of Camillo becomes true.We can now build a place where you learn only by walking."
-from [http://www.ba.infn.it/~zito/loci.html Giuseppe Zito's page on the Method of Loci.])
I think that virtual worlds like [http://secondlife.com/islands.php SecondLife.com] offers a wonderfully fertile experimental platform for us..in that we can explore the building our own personal 'memory palaces' and connecting them with others in a shareable 3d realm...
(now you see my [http://pic5.picturetrail.com/VOL78/135657/1415718/24509342.jpg 'Connecting Islands'] artwork tell its lil secret story/prophecy..;):
Aspects of your memory palace can remain public, 'private' or 'friends only' as you choose. So much to think about here. Will be watching hoping for more 3d building and/or architecture students experiments with this sort of thing!
update: here we Goooo!! beginningsss: Tesseract House in SecondLife