Memory Palace
Jan. 16th, 2005 11:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
avadI've been Moving towards something. Catching glimpses in the fog, chasing.
In dreams, in art, in words.
It has felt oh so Important...yet I'd had great trouble putting it into words.
B would sometimes lose patience with my enthusiastic yet scattered talk. "I'm sorry, I just don't see what you're getting at...why recreate your grandmother's house..(online/3D) or the house you grew up in...sure you can imbed the objects with text/links/filefolders as you say..but why would someone..a stranger..visit?" And I couldn't answer...I just knew it was a sample..of a type of mapping..a type of organization ...that would change the way the web is experienced...make us capable of accessing and Experiencing and in a way Integrating the memories of the Others more intuitively. And something about when we really and truly do that consistantly..we are Remembering...and zooming towards..._________. I would throw my hands up..frustrated..so much wanting to come through..but garbled at the gate.Blueprints!...mandalas!..familiar steps/memories..virtual worlds..billions of users...Enlightenment!REintegration!GUrglegaaa!!
I had come upon the term Memory Palace in my reading and it seemed/felt the perfect word. But he didn't like it. "But it IS the word!!" I whined.
And now, with a bit more prodding inside this web of information, swimming...diving, I come up with relevant Pages in my teeth...spit them out on the rug at his feet and growl, self-satisfied.
Take that. Does it make more sense now? RRRUFF!!!!! (I'm odd to live with, certainly)
Seems they're working on similar at Columbia:
"..Architects are used to asking what digital technologies can bring to the profession. At the Digital Design Lab (DDL) at the Graduate School of Architecture, we are asking what architecture and virtual space can contribute to the online and multimedia experience.
Several research projects at the DDL have investigated the role of 3D space in memory, by examining how architectural metaphors can affect information retention and retrieval. The art of memory was a necessity before the era of cheap paper and printing. To a Greek or Roman orator, memory was power, and the most powerful memory techniques were spatial. The ancient technique of spatial memory is surprisingly straightforward. One systematically plants memory objects in memory locations along a familiar route that can be visited in the mind's eye. Later, these objects are recalled in sequence, forward or backwards, as one mentally revisits the route. Precise instructions for constructing a personal memory palace appear in three classical sources: Ad Herrennium (anonymous), Quintilian's Insitutio oratorio, and Cicero's De Oratorio.
These ancient techniques were tested recently at the DDL, in an effort to see they could play a role in 3D multimedia. In one experiment, a long list of randomly selected names and topics was compiled and shown to test groups. The goal was to quickly memorize the list and to be able to recite the list from any point, backwards and forwards. This appeared at first to be impossible, but despite initial skepticism, almost everyone was able to complete the task in a few minutes, using a multimedia memory technique.
First, the Columbia campus was selected as a memory palace. The chosen route lead from Broadway, past Low Library, to Avery Hall. This path generated a series of memory loci at roughly 30 paces from each other, which were documented photographically. Memory objects were selected, according to the ancient criteria. Meant to jar the memory by association, humor, contrast, or alliteration, these objects were photo-montaged into the memory loci. The route was rehearsed on screen as an empty memory palace, then replayed, as a space filled with its memory objects. Later, the memory palace was "revisited" and the memory objects triggered a recollection of the actual name or topic. Months after the experiment, many reported being able to recite the list perfectly, forwards or backwards.
Architects know intuitively that one becomes deeply involved with information that is presented in a rich three-dimensional experience. Design a memorable space as a gateway to information and the Roman orator, the modern student, or the Internet or CD-ROM game enthusiast will remember how to access that information.
Other DDL experiments, including the HyperHouse, the Information Corridor, and the Amiens Trilogy are described in the DDL Research Report and are documented at the DDL Web site (http://www.arch.columbia.edu) Common to all these projects is an investigation of the possibilities of embedding information within a computer-generated virtual space.
These DDL experiments suggest that there are profound and ancient reasons why we are drawn to 3D. Our mental hardware is optimized for 3D. The flat, desktop metaphor popularized by the Macintosh served us well during the first decade of personal computing when processing power was too precious to squander on 3D effects, but 3D is no longer a luxury. In fact, because of digital information overload in our globally networked future, it may become a necessity. .."
from www.arch.columbia.edu/DDL/research/ddl.human.html
And here are two great links
mappa.mundi.net/cartography/Palace/
and the ancient Method of Loci
In dreams, in art, in words.
It has felt oh so Important...yet I'd had great trouble putting it into words.
B would sometimes lose patience with my enthusiastic yet scattered talk. "I'm sorry, I just don't see what you're getting at...why recreate your grandmother's house..(online/3D) or the house you grew up in...sure you can imbed the objects with text/links/filefolders as you say..but why would someone..a stranger..visit?" And I couldn't answer...I just knew it was a sample..of a type of mapping..a type of organization ...that would change the way the web is experienced...make us capable of accessing and Experiencing and in a way Integrating the memories of the Others more intuitively. And something about when we really and truly do that consistantly..we are Remembering...and zooming towards..._________. I would throw my hands up..frustrated..so much wanting to come through..but garbled at the gate.Blueprints!...mandalas!..familiar steps/memories..virtual worlds..billions of users...Enlightenment!REintegration!GUrglegaaa!!
I had come upon the term Memory Palace in my reading and it seemed/felt the perfect word. But he didn't like it. "But it IS the word!!" I whined.
And now, with a bit more prodding inside this web of information, swimming...diving, I come up with relevant Pages in my teeth...spit them out on the rug at his feet and growl, self-satisfied.
Take that. Does it make more sense now? RRRUFF!!!!! (I'm odd to live with, certainly)
Seems they're working on similar at Columbia:
"..Architects are used to asking what digital technologies can bring to the profession. At the Digital Design Lab (DDL) at the Graduate School of Architecture, we are asking what architecture and virtual space can contribute to the online and multimedia experience.
Several research projects at the DDL have investigated the role of 3D space in memory, by examining how architectural metaphors can affect information retention and retrieval. The art of memory was a necessity before the era of cheap paper and printing. To a Greek or Roman orator, memory was power, and the most powerful memory techniques were spatial. The ancient technique of spatial memory is surprisingly straightforward. One systematically plants memory objects in memory locations along a familiar route that can be visited in the mind's eye. Later, these objects are recalled in sequence, forward or backwards, as one mentally revisits the route. Precise instructions for constructing a personal memory palace appear in three classical sources: Ad Herrennium (anonymous), Quintilian's Insitutio oratorio, and Cicero's De Oratorio.
These ancient techniques were tested recently at the DDL, in an effort to see they could play a role in 3D multimedia. In one experiment, a long list of randomly selected names and topics was compiled and shown to test groups. The goal was to quickly memorize the list and to be able to recite the list from any point, backwards and forwards. This appeared at first to be impossible, but despite initial skepticism, almost everyone was able to complete the task in a few minutes, using a multimedia memory technique.
First, the Columbia campus was selected as a memory palace. The chosen route lead from Broadway, past Low Library, to Avery Hall. This path generated a series of memory loci at roughly 30 paces from each other, which were documented photographically. Memory objects were selected, according to the ancient criteria. Meant to jar the memory by association, humor, contrast, or alliteration, these objects were photo-montaged into the memory loci. The route was rehearsed on screen as an empty memory palace, then replayed, as a space filled with its memory objects. Later, the memory palace was "revisited" and the memory objects triggered a recollection of the actual name or topic. Months after the experiment, many reported being able to recite the list perfectly, forwards or backwards.
Architects know intuitively that one becomes deeply involved with information that is presented in a rich three-dimensional experience. Design a memorable space as a gateway to information and the Roman orator, the modern student, or the Internet or CD-ROM game enthusiast will remember how to access that information.
Other DDL experiments, including the HyperHouse, the Information Corridor, and the Amiens Trilogy are described in the DDL Research Report and are documented at the DDL Web site (http://www.arch.columbia.edu) Common to all these projects is an investigation of the possibilities of embedding information within a computer-generated virtual space.
These DDL experiments suggest that there are profound and ancient reasons why we are drawn to 3D. Our mental hardware is optimized for 3D. The flat, desktop metaphor popularized by the Macintosh served us well during the first decade of personal computing when processing power was too precious to squander on 3D effects, but 3D is no longer a luxury. In fact, because of digital information overload in our globally networked future, it may become a necessity. .."
from www.arch.columbia.edu/DDL/research/ddl.human.html
And here are two great links
mappa.mundi.net/cartography/Palace/
and the ancient Method of Loci
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Map art and elephants
Date: 2005-01-16 11:38 pm (UTC)Regarding the paper article, I think it's a good look at your work and I underlined a few passages, about 3D immersive environments for example.
I will make a .rb file out of your last posts and read it before I go to sleep... The elephant pictures are amazing, very inspiring... and I love to read about your dreams, so inspiring too. I told you I have seen a small object in the shape of an elephant in my dream about you last night, and I haven't read your posts about elephants yet. Strange connections.
Peace,
Julie
Re: Map art and elephants
Date: 2005-01-17 06:00 am (UTC)I actually forwarded it on to someone who I know who does elaborate paper cutout art as well. beautiful. of course I'm partial to the maps!;)
oh DO tell me about this dream?!!
Re: Map art and elephants
Date: 2005-01-17 06:03 am (UTC)