Virtual architecture
Jan. 23rd, 2005 01:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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avad has been encouraging a fertile discussion on "Memory palaces," which relates to the broader topic of virtual spaces and my own conceptualization of Tendril's fictional universe. Her latest post inspired a lengthy comment from me, which I'm cross-posting here. I also point out another interesting exploration of the idea by rokkitz.]
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 consciousness? 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 websitechrisglass 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 afterwards). 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.
avad has been encouraging a fertile discussion on "Memory palaces," which relates to the broader topic of virtual spaces and my own conceptualization of Tendril's fictional universe. Her latest post inspired a lengthy comment from me, which I'm cross-posting here. I also point out another interesting exploration of the idea by rokkitz.]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 consciousness? 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 afterwards). 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.
