On the email list Simon Biggs wrote:
"Frances Yates wrote a wonderful book titled The Art of Memory, which I
would recommend to anybody interested in the history, culture and practice
of mnemonics. However, it was written before the impact of computing was
felt upon our culture. I think now somebody needs to write a book titled The
Art of Forgetting, in order that we can find elegant and effective ways of
avoiding information overload."
This leads me to the idea of Life Caching. There's a good article about that
here http://www.trendwatching.com/trends/LIFE_CACHING.htm
See also Microsoft's MyLifeBits - a lifetime store of everything
http://research.microsoft.com/barc/mediapresence/MyLifeBits.aspx - and their
guineapig Gordon Bell who since 2001/2 "has captured a lifetime's worth of
articles, books, cards, CDs, letters, memos, papers, photos, pictures,
presentations, home movies, videotaped lectures, and voice recordings and
stored them digitally. He is now paperless, and is beginning to capture
phone calls, IM transcripts, television, and radio."
For me, this creates a double anxiety - I get anxious about coping with all
my data, and anxious about losing it. Yet I also know, from the experience
of others, that if I *did* actually lose it, I would get over it.
Ironically, in recent years I have been getting rid of more and more of my
material belongings, clothes, books, furniture, music, and yet my life cache
is ludicrously large. Maybe it's time for a CD bonfire.
Sue
Also posted (with image) to
http://writing.typepad.com/digital_life/2005/09/life_caching_re.html
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