Field Log — 002
a local-first memory system, and the question of whether keeping things is the same as knowing them.
§ A — Inquiry
I wanted first to see if I could make an equivalent of “MyMind” that is local first.
Where I own my data, choose which Model processes my captures and my files for autotagging and enrichment data. But more importantly, which make it easy to retrieve useful information in a way that is closer to how we search, think and remember rather than to constrain how to find information to how a classical filesystem constrains it.
I wanted to surface connections and relations between things I find interesting.
This is how it started, but beyond that, I wanted to see if I could glean insights from what I pay attention to, from what I decide to keep or to come back to, and stepping back, could the context (the total information space) reveal what it means.
As i often do, I became more interested in the why than the how.
Why PKMs? For what (proven) good? Why have a capture system at all?
Is it beneficial or just a way to enable a data hoarding habit and pass it as “research” or “knowledge”? The curse of the reading list, or the watch later.
Can this (Myelin) become a contextual layer over the classic filesystem?
§ B — Apparatus
I started by directly copying the best things about MyMind: a smart bookmarking system, accessible eveywhere.
“Captures” can be nearly any format. Its also possible to point to local files, which is convenient when you want to connect your captures to your current projects seamlessly, no need to rely on the filesystem. The relevant thing you captured doesnt have to live in the same folder as the project, it is brought closer to it depending on the context (exploring captures, or actively working on “the project”).
Since then, there has been so many configurations tried, as I was trying different layouts:
§ C — Findings
At the user facing level, its quite fascinating how representation and organization of data when combined with not only relevant but playful tools can totally change your perspective and what you can think about, the space of possibilities constantly shifting depending on what options are available to you.
Also, that simple is probably best, I researched memory palaces, spatial interfaces... even though there are genuine benefits to those UIs, trying to slap some canva style board on everything isnt a good idea (obvious right?).
beyond this, this is still a very early project that i'm very interest in, I'll keep on improving it not only until im satisifed with it, kind of already am, but to see how strange it can get, to do things I had never planned to.