More on Memory Palaces

[avad]

I bring up 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.

Or take for a good example LJ itself. Our entries are reverse chronological when accessed for the first time by a new visitor or even ourselves. A different sort of spatial organization is needed for me to be able to offer all entries relating to a certain topic etc. And that's what the 'memories' button is supposed to be for ...but I think we all know it is lacking....because it's still much too linear...too scroll-based...
Now try to imagine LJ in a more spatial 3d format...where instead of our user intro page...you land at a house or environment of the user's design...with information embedded (clickable) within objects in a more intuitive way...and think of all the connectivity possible...the portals..:)And by returning to this place over and over we naturally learn/remember where to find the information. And multiple searching tools can 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: 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 Giuseppe Zito's page on the Method of Loci.

I think that secondlife.com/islands is a perfect 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... (ha, now you see my 'Connecting Islands' artwork tell its lil secret story/prophecy..;)

And just like in LJ, aspects of your memory palace can remain public, 'private' or 'friends only' as you choose.
So much to think about here.
I think I want to solicit the help of a 3d builder or architecture student to speed up my process in this direction. So that I might offer you all specific visual examples sooner rather than later....:)

Comments

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I apologize for my earlier reticence. I used to be excellent at grasping complex conceptual problems, but a few years of serious depression really did a number on that part of my brain. It requires considerable concentration and the focus to keep returning to it again and again. I'm rediscovering these capacities nowadays, but sometimes I still lack the confidence.

This morning I explored another favourite question of mine: what is consciosness? And how can we explain the relationship between body and mind? This is related to the question of memory, don't you think? Although scientists can more easily explain how we store memories than how we experience things.

I've started storing links to articles at a website chrisglass pointed out: del.icio.us. The first time I used it, I thought, "This is interesting, but it's not much different from storing links in my IE favourites, and I don't travel enough to necessitate keeping my favourites portable, so the site is redundant for me." But today as I was reading articles and had this concept in the back of my mind, about creating a virtual space in which our experiences are connected like rooms along a corridor, I realized what an interesting platform del.icio.us provided. I can easily jump to see what other people are thinking about the same problems.

Your post reminds me of another experience I had when I was first online almost a decade ago. In January 1996 I came out of the closet, but I didn't know any gay people and was still quite homophobic. I knew I had to meet people, but was afraid to do so. One of my first steps was to connect through a gay talker, much like today's chat rooms, called Paradox. It functioned in telnet. It allowed me to meet queer people for the first time in a virtual space and move past some of my prejudices and misconceptions. That is another story altogether.

But one of the fascinating aspects of Paradox was its architectural virtual structure, which seemed lacking in the later chat room manifestations. Logging on, you would enter a public room that had a few rules of behaviour that were strictly enforced (making this queer space friendly for straight friends and underage people, too, which fostered a sense of community I never encountered in chat rooms afterward). Connected to the main room were a number of public rooms, also with certain rules of behaviour, dedicated to various purposes. When you entered a room, a descriptive paragraph would appear on the screen, and by typing various commands you could "see," "hear," or otherwise experience different aspects of that room through text. One room was an AIDS memorial. Others served as discussion forums.

Registered users could also construct private rooms. You could decorate these however you liked, creating an unique experience for whoever entered. Various commands allowed you to designate who your friends were, what degree of privacy they had, etc. You could construct portals between different rooms. Members could marry, designate children and so on. My first gay romantic and sexual experiences happened in the privacy and safety of Paradox, carrying me across a threshold to the point where I lost my fear of meeting gay men in person.

I don't use chat software anymore because I find it too distracting and time consuming. Besides, those experiences lack the creative richness I experiences on Paradox. Websites like Second Life must provide much more advanced interfaces for exploring and interacting with other people in virtual space. But I am still impressed with the way Paradox, using only text in relatively primitive history of the internet, created something fascinating, beautiful and (for me, at least) conducive to personal growth.

About five years ago when I wrote and posted articles on Themestream, I made much more use of hypertext to relate to other articles and ideas. Now that I'm contemplating renovating my personal website, all of these ideas provide nutritious food for thought.

[fragiletender.livejournal.com]

One of the things that amazes me about my son is the way he can navigate through computer games - it all looks much the same to me but he'll be able to remember where he's been and work out where he's going.

Have you looked at things like mind maps too?

[unluckymonkey.livejournal.com]

I'm a VERY visual person for memory and now you're making me want to redesign my website to make sense of all the different aspects of my person. Somewhere I can send people to make sense of me but also a place I can expand on infinitely. When I try to tell people that I spin, weave, crochet, knit, draw, paint, make websites and now tattoo they either think I'm looney or I suck at all of the above because nobody does all that well. But I learned all in a more natural progression that makes sense and has allowed me to get a good handle on the subject matter before I see a thread running from that subject to another related learning experience.

Also I wish more people structured things for visual learners. these days they're trying to double up on everything in order for info to be absorbed but the people I find trying and being most successful is the ad companies. That's because it's wher all the money is. I would love to see a visual version of google.

Anyway you've set my mind in motion once again, hun and off it goes! I've been thinking for a while aobut redoing my website but now I have a good and more concrete idea from which to travel. :)

Maybe someday I can trade you some art for a website design. I think I could make something really beautiful for you in Flash but I would want to make sure I could comprehend and display all the ideas you work with in an accurate and effective manner.

[babayada.livejournal.com]

Perhaps this idea will flower in some kind of streamlined 3D desktop.

The system has to be as easy as pointing and clicking.

Navigating and typing files or what not ... it might be fun, who knows if people will use it or not? It'd be interesting to see how people would store information.

Both microsoft and apple are sort of moving away from directory strutures. They are abstracting from these structures and may make them completely transparent to the user.

Rather, the categorization and "structure" of info for the user will be dynamic. The user can assign categories to information and what-not.

I wonder if there are models for the 3d desktop that already exist on the net, hmmm?

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Another thing I forgot to mention yesterday....

I understand perfectly your comments about computer games. In the summer my parents gave us—me and the girls—a computer game, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Marian and I played it obsessively (Brenna just wanted to watch us) for a couple of weeks until we had mastered it. That was in August. I still retain in memory the visual layout of the game version of Hogwartz and the grounds. I remember where to go to find Hagrid, chocolate frog playing cards, the entrance to the dungeons and so on.

I have an extreme dependency on learning things by doing them repeatedly, a fact that has often frustrated me. My experience of movies and books is entirely different from the computer game. I cannot recall the details of plots unless I have viewed or read them numerous times, and even then I cannot remember dialogue. I can visualize certain scenes, but must concentrate to fit them together in sequence.

So it is amazing to me to be able to recall the computer game Hogwartz so vividly. I see this idea could be a fertile tool for learning and communication.

Tags

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Here's more info pertinent to our discussion:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/centralasian/1234948.html

[t3dy.livejournal.com]

i've been fascinated by the memory palace concept since reading frances yates' book "the art of memory" ages ago. LJ is the perfect vehicle for social memory palaces. more personal and authentic than the "blog" scene, imho.

have you seen this? fun.
http://www.synapse-archive.com/

i have a number of cool art of memory links on this site (have to scroll down)
http://www.geocities.com/t3dyhand/myst.html