Memex is already right here, it’s simply not evenly distributed

In 1945, Vannevar Bush proposed the concept of memex, a hypertext system. It got here 20 years earlier than the web and virtually half a century earlier than the online. Due to the time during which it was invented, it was envisioned as a mechanical system: a desk with playing cards and a mechanism for exhibiting them to the person.

Vannevar Bush described a tool which might retailer the customers books, data, and communications. There was an idea of memex “trails” that linked from one doc to a different. Memex was to be an “enlarged intimate complement to 1’s reminiscence”.

The idea of the memex was extremely influential, ultimately resulting in the invention of the World Huge Net and its Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

For that reason, some folks assume that the online is a sophisticated model of memex. However the truth is, the online is a horrible approximation of Vannevar Bush’s authentic imaginative and prescient.

Memex trails

The online is a hypertext, and probably the most influential innovations in human historical past, however it isn’t memex.

• On the net, paperwork aren’t yours. Virtually universally, what you learn on the web is on somebody’s else server. You can’t edit it, or annotate it.
• There are hyperlinks on the internet, however once more, they don’t seem to be yours. They’re added as easy, unidirectional hyperlinks by the unique authors of no matter it’s you’re studying. You’ll be able to’t add your individual hyperlink between two pages on New York Instances that you simply discover related. You’ll be able to’t create a “path” of net paperwork, images and pages which are one way or the other related to a subject you’re researching. You’ll be able to’t annotate a relationship between two paragraphs on two separate websites.

What Vannevar Bush proposed with memex wasn’t a publishing platform. It was a reminiscence growth system.

His “trails” are comparable in idea to a bodily binder that accommodates paperwork you could freely annotate, spotlight and interlink. Any given doc can after all be in a number of totally different binders, and its annotations and hyperlinks depend upon the context. Even for a single particular person, each “web page” can exist in a number of totally different kinds, relying on what the particular person is researching or attempting to recollect for the time being.

Memex as we speak

We dwell in a information financial system. This weblog is primarily for builders, and software program improvement is in some ways a analysis job. However virtually some other occupation that pays as of late has some factor of accomplishing and utilizing information. You’d assume we’d be throughout memex and its thought of reminiscence growth. However chances are high fairly excessive that that is the primary time you’re listening to about memex in any respect, or that the final time you heard about it was years in the past.

There are tasks that discover this house, after all. The obvious descendant is Ted Nelson’s Xanadu venture, a bit of software program greater than 50 years within the making. You’ll be able to see its 2016’s incarnation in this video.

I believe you’ll agree with me that, whereas Xanadu is so much nearer to the concept of memex than the online, it’s sort of underwhelming as a bit of software program. I keep in mind taking part in with it a number of years again, and I simply didn’t discover it that compelling.

There are extra pragmatic descendants of memex. The Federated Wiki venture is one. The varied private information bases are near memex, too.

And look, in case you’re within the temper of exploring new software program, you need to cease studying now and see if any of the above is an effective match for you. I do know the urge to attempt one thing new and glossy. Particularly in productiveness software program, I can seldom resist. I’ve used about 4 totally different TODO apps and over 5 totally different textual content editors prior to now 10 years alone. So, go forward and indulge your self if you want to.

However this text will not be about any of those direct descendants of memex. The memex of as we speak is far more pedestrian.

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Right here’s the factor. If I’m being sincere, most of my experiments with the totally different memex descendants talked about above simply sort of light after a number of weeks or months. And the reason being not simply behavior. In the event that they had been such an enormous boon to my productiveness, I’d change my behavior the identical method I modified it for higher IDEs, higher social media consumption methods, or higher terminal defaults.

No, the rationale these shiny new apps don’t stick is interoperability.

Interoperability

Interoperability is extra vital than options. A chunk of software program that works along with your current recordsdata, and which folks round you need to use, will typically win over some new method of doing issues that you simply first have to migrate to, after which additionally ask others round you emigrate to as nicely.

The clear slate and the thrill {that a} new piece of know-how provides you is tempting. However regardless of how cool a bit of software program is, in case you can’t work with others, then you definately’re paying an excessive amount of for the joys.

Think about that you simply and I are working in the identical firm. I let you know there’s a brand new venture for us two to work on. I clarify it to you and also you get fairly excited. After which I let you know that I’ve began a brand new “bloorp” in BloorpyBase, a bit of software program from 2012 that just about no person makes use of. You grudgingly set up BloorpyBase. The app doesn’t use the identical keyboard shortcuts you’re used to. The shortcut usually assigned to including a remark as an alternative minimizes all home windows. Sigh. You attempt to hyperlink some exploratory supply code to it, however BloorpyBase solely works with Mercurial. Sigh. You learn a few of my preliminary ideas and attempt to reply however you don’t know what’s the easiest way to do it. Must you create one other bloorp? Must you make a suggestion, or an edit? You spend half an hour studying a “How To Bloorp” information on the web however come again empty handed. Sigh.

Except BloorpyBase provides the common particular person a major productiveness increase, it’s not taking place.

Again to fundamentals

Alright, so what’s it that we actually need from memex? It have to be straightforward to:

• edit content material within the memex
• add fully new items of fabric to any given memex “path”
• hyperlink kind components of the memex to different components of the memex
• remark on particular components of the memex

And after I say these items have to be straightforward, I imply they have to be straightforward for the common particular person. Not only for you and me and a few different nerds. For everybody.

It’s superb if some components of memex are exhausting to make use of or require coaching. However the fundamentals must be apparent and accessible. The training curve could be steep in some unspecified time in the future, but it surely have to be light or flat on the very starting.

Memex is already right here, it’s simply not evenly distributed

In the event you look again on the listing above, you will understand that these items are already very a lot doable. They won’t be in a single shiny app, however that doesn’t matter. (In truth, it’s most likely higher, in some ways, that as we speak’s memex isn’t a single app. We’ll get again to this later.)

To create a brand new memex “path” within the 12 months 2020, simply create a shared folder (in Zoho Workdrive, Dropbox, Synology Drive, Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, and so on.) and put some paperwork in it. That’s it.

I do know: it’s not superb. It’s not shiny. It’s only a boring outdated folder with boring outdated paperwork. However I hope to influence you that it’s adequate, and that you simply don’t want to attend for some vaporware to work the best way Vannevar Bush imagined in 1945.

How you can memex

Not everybody who’s utilizing a shared folder is utilizing it as a memex. In truth, I estimate that 99% of individuals don’t.

To actually take the know-how of as we speak and use it the best way Vannevar Bush envisioned, you want to use it in a selected method. I am going to stroll you thru it right here, however you will need to know that this is only one method, and it’s not very inflexible. No shared folder software program forces you to make use of it in any given method. You could prepare your self. You could invent your individual system on high of what know-how you have already got, and you must persist in making use of it.

Think about that you’ve got a venture. It could possibly be something. For instance:

• Considerably enhance the efficiency of your employer’s app
• Delve into some legacy code for the primary time
• Analyze viability of a enterprise thought
• Determine on the following automobile to purchase
• Study SQL
• Observe your child’s progress
• Study as a lot as you possibly can about your individual metabolism

Be aware how a few of these tasks are work-related, others private. Some will likely be solo, others will likely be pusued in a crew. Some have a concrete deliverable, others are ongoing. However all of them require some analysis, and would profit from recording the acquired information.

As I mentioned above, to create a brand new memex path, you simply create a brand new shared folder. I extremely suggest giving it a memorable, descriptive and searchable title. For instance, “web site 3” is brief and simple, however “instance.com redesign 2019” is best. In some instances, it’s possible you’ll wish to invent a codename. For instance, “Venture Gandalf” is extra memorable (and enjoyable) than “child progress tracker”.

To make this extra concrete, I am going to decide a single venture and I’ll spend the remainder of this “methods to” part describing it intimately. I believe you gained’t have any points generalizing this to different tasks.

My venture decide is “considerably enhance the efficiency of your employer’s app”, and I’m going to name it “Venture Sloth (2020 perf optimization)”. Since this can be a work venture, I create the folder in my firm’s shared drive.

At first, I simply add a single doc on this folder. That is the venture’s important doc, or “index”. It most likely has the identical title because the folder. It ought to function a information to the venture, for others within the firm in addition to for me (after I take a look at it 2 years from now). In right here, I describe the venture and I hyperlink to different stuff contained in the folder (and out of doors of it, if wanted).

The “Venture Sloth” doc ought to most likely begin with some “Background” part. It may be a single paragraph that claims one thing like:

In 2019-2020, we now have seen a pointy improve of stories from our customers that the app is simply too gradual. (Hyperlink to some proof to again up this declare, ideally.) On a gathering on October 18, 2020, Alice, Bob and I made a decision that this must be addressed. I volunteered for this venture.

The index doc then lists some primary data (e.g. “app was constructed utilizing know-how X”) and objectives (e.g. “lower startup time on cellphone Y by 50%”).

The remainder of this doc could be a “path” of content material. For instance:

• Preliminary metrics and the methodology of measuring them
• Quotes from articles as I study extra about methods to enhance efficiency in know-how X
• Some failed concepts and why they had been rejected
• Pseudocode
• Assembly notes

Ideally, this content material is structured with thematic sections. However I can begin with simply chronologically taking notes for now.

Fairly quickly, my single doc doesn’t suffice anymore. I would like so as to add extra supporting information into my folder, and hyperlink to it from the index doc.

As soon as I begin evaluating totally different approaches, it is smart to create a spreadsheet. It lists the various things I’m contemplating, their execs and cons, and a few guesstimates. I hyperlink to this spreadsheet from the index doc, the place I simply summarize the ultimate final result of my evaluation.

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Later, I write a benchmark harness. At this level, that is simply an unsightly bag of shell scripts. They might go right into a throwaway repository, however I may also put them in a subdirectory of my venture’s folder. In any case, I have to hyperlink to that code from my index doc.

Let’s say that this benchmark harness has the power to test my firm’s app’s efficiency at any given commit within the historical past of the app. I let the shell scripts work over the night time, producing an enormous quantity of historic information. This could possibly be one other spreadsheet, but when it’s actually numerous information, it could possibly be a SQLite database. I place the database file in — you guessed it — the venture’s shared folder, and hyperlink to it from the index file.

Fairly quickly, the “Venture Sloth” folder is teeming with content material. Unique paperwork, code, PDFs, displays, screenshots, spreadsheets, information recordsdata, iPython notebooks, movies. All of those are related to our venture, although a few of them could also be symbolic hyperlinks (in different phrases, additionally they exist in different folders in my firm’s shared drive). The index doc hyperlinks to all of them. It summarizes essentially the most salient factors of every: it reproduces a graph right here, or a quote there.

I’ve my memex path for this venture.

Use your memex

Even when I deleted the folder at this level, it will all nonetheless be a helpful train. By placing all of this collectively, I would like to arrange my very own ideas. I get to see the whole lot in context. I perceive the issue extra clearly.

However I’m not deleting the folder, am I. I can now direct different folks in my firm to take a look. They could assist, by giving me suggestions, including extra information, or by throwing assets at me. If the venture turns into vital sufficient to get a crew, new crew members have a a lot simpler time getting on board.

And after I inevitably have to assessment one thing a number of months from now, I do know precisely the place to look. For instance, I’ll wish to measure whether or not the app is definitely getting quicker, and I’ll wish to use the very same methodology and code as in the beginning. Fortunately, each are proper there in my memex path.

The human factor of memex

Memex is right here, it simply gained’t occur robotically. There’s no magical piece of software program that may try this give you the results you want (and perhaps there by no means will). You must learn to summarize, set up and clarify. You must resolve which issues require which recordsdata sorts (doc, spreadsheet, picture, and so on.). You should have the perseverance to proceed updating your trails.

It’ll harm. It’ll suck. It’s not like beginning to use a brand new, elegant software on some pet venture. A whole lot of mind energy wants to enter this, and it’s principally boring, menial work. However hey, no person mentioned these things is straightforward. Not even Vannevar Bush. None of us are entitled to straightforward work.

However the place is my cool dashboard?

Look, I really like Minority Report’s imaginative and prescient of future work interfaces as a lot as some other geek. I’m additionally actually into cool-looking dashboards.

However even I’ve to confess that their utility is restricted. Dashboards usually are not practically as versatile as your working system’s window supervisor. Simply open the hyperlinks in separate home windows and voilá: you could have your individual bespoke, interactive dashboard. You’re like Tom Cruise in Minority Report, besides your interface is a bit more boring (and requires so much much less arm energy to maneuver a window).

Add a second monitor to your setup in case you can, and also you’re extra productive than most of your sci-fi film heroes. (Have you ever ever stopped to assume how extremely irritating it will be to make use of a Star Trek-level UI for anything than shopping a simplified encyclopedia?)

However isn’t this one thing we may have been doing since concerning the late Nineties?

Sure. (Though some issues, like interlinking between paperwork, had been a lot more durable again then.)

What about Evernote / OneNote / SimpleNote / Dropbox Paper?

In case your group makes use of any of those apps extensively, that’s nice. I believe it’s very shut. So far as I do know, these software program packages lack the “shared folder” half, which is a present stopper for me (lots of my tasks have some recordsdata or code concerned). However I really like Evernote’s editor for taking notes, for instance. A lot quicker than Google Docs.

UPDATE from 2023: Evernote’s editor was a lot quicker than Google Docs, however turned slower. I now use Obsidian for my be aware taking and modifying. Identical thought.

What about simply utilizing Zoho/Google/Microsoft/Apple for the whole lot?

All of those suites positively get further worth from integrating a number of totally different apps into one. For instance, you possibly can paste a chart from a Google Spreadsheet right into a Google Doc, and the chart will likely be robotically up to date.

However:

1. I don’t see the extra built-in options used typically sufficient — a easy screenshot and a hyperlink will suffice more often than not, for instance, as an alternative of attempting to get a self-updating embed to work.
2. There may be at all times one thing lacking in these suites — can’t run a bash script saved in Google Drive, can’t have an enormous database in Spreadsheets, and so forth.
3. Vendor lock in is actual. A easy wealthy textual content doc could be simply ported. A closely feature-dependent factor, not a lot.

I do use most of the niceties of the Google apps ecosystem daily. But it surely’s not memex, and shouldn’t be. Now we have an excessive amount of aggregation as it’s.

Why not have the whole lot in a bespoke cloud atmosphere?

Every part is feasible. I may have one thing working within the cloud that might run the aforementioned bash scripts in a Google Drive folder, and replace different recordsdata in that folder accordingly.

However setting all of it up is a ache. Sure, you possibly can run an arbitrary program within the cloud, then hook up an internet spreadsheet to make use of this output. However keep in mind, we’re speaking about analysis tasks. You will have a few dozen of these yearly. Every will likely be totally different. For instance, for certainly one of my previous venture, I wanted to construct a bespoke python GUI software to assist me categorize tons of of internet sites. Certain, I may have constructed a small net app. However constructing a tiny pygame app was a lot, a lot simpler.

However, do I’ve to?

You don’t want memex. You don’t have to do any of this shared folder nonsense. 99% of individuals don’t, and lots of of them are doing simply superb of their careers.

Alternatively, memex is one thing that will provide you with an edge.

• Your selections are backed by sources and information.
• You’ll be able to return to those selections a lot later.
• You may get somebody’s assessment of your concepts of their entirety, as an alternative of asking query by query.
• You collect information a lot quicker than you’d by simply asking stuff.
• In the event you ever find yourself in a big group, these instruments are an enormous multiplier of your efforts. In an enormous group, it’s unlikely it is possible for you to to speak to everybody you want to attain. However your memex on a selected matter can simply attain tons of of individuals.
• Whenever you begin placing issues on a web page, and backing them by information, you’ll discover you must be much more exact about your reasoning. You’ll be able to’t simply hand-wave some stuff such as you unwittingly do once you’re simply pondering one thing in your head.
• You’ll prepare your self to “do the (boring) work”. That is vital. Self-discipline is what separates high-performers from the remaining. (There’s a book about it.)
• You’ll prepare your self to simply accept criticism. By placing your reasoning in a doc and letting others see it, it’s now open for all. All of the warts and errors are actually on the market.
• With the ability to again selections by information and analysis and persuade others (once more, by information and analysis) is likely one of the vital stepping stones to turning into a senior developer or a tech lead.

So, once more, don’t anticipate memex to return in a neatly tied bundle anytime quickly. And know you could construct your individual memex as we speak, by combining broadly out there software program, a unfastened system of working with it, and perseverance.

— Filip Hráček

October 2020