[Sigia-l] Redundant information and content

[Derek R]

Peter wrote:

>| Content often shouldn't be considered to have
>| a "place" but simply a set of attributes that help 
>| people locate it


Have you considered that these 'sets of attributes' may be what the
object really represents -- itself, for instance (i.e. presentation)? 

If a tree falls in the forest and nobody is there to hear it, does it
have a 'fallen' attribute, or not?

My point being that one cannot so easily separate the content from the
presentation:

For instance, you may get an itching for fast food for lunch and enter
into a McDonald's restaurant. Then suddenly you get whiff of all that
grease. You have changed your mind! Why? Because a virtual McDonald's
hamburger probably smells a lot better than the real thing. 

There is no substitute for experience.



Ziya wrote:

>| In OS X, your music files are abstracted by iTunes, 
>| your pictures by iPhoto, your code by XCode and 
>| files, in general, by the new Finder (which allows 
>| you to dynamically filter/search for files as you type,
>| in real-time)
>| [...]...the virtual world does indeed offer some distinct 
>| advantages over the physical one


There is no substitute for experience, Ziya.

Same as the 'set of attributes' above, it is important to remember all
these 'abstractions' occur WITHOUT attention to any *particular* object
-- that these mechanisms only make available objects via a
generalization (i.e. file types, attributes). 

ONLY when the user *actually* has the object before them can meaningful
'interaction' take place (i.e. "Is this what you wanted?" -- "Yes, that
is it" or "No, that's not it."). This is presentation, not reference.

The very notion of a stored file/location/instantiation/attribute must
go out-the-window if we are to develop truly interactive systems which
are responsive, as opposed to hierarchical.

So don't go jumping-for-joy over the 'new' OS thing just yet. You will
still have to think for yourself, act for yourself, and experience
things as yourself (a physical world). Machines are not going to
'experience' for you just yet ;-)