Doing-centric explanatory mediums: board game instruction manuals and an unusual Figma document
Publicly accessible version of this post: https://andymatuschak.org/doing-centric/...
2021-11-01 04:28:15 +0000 UTC View Post
Andy Matuschak posts
Architectures for a more flexible mnemonic medium
I thought I’d try something different for this month’s update—sharing some rough in-progress design work. The tension here is that it takes a huge amount of work to legibly present a desi...
2021-10-01 06:02:39 +0000 UTC View PostRevamping the mnemonic medium around reader control
When you read non-fiction, you’re in the driver’s seat. You can skip to the last page and read only the conclusion. You can riffle through the pages, reading only the headings; or you can spend...
2021-08-25 02:44:13 +0000 UTC View PostArmories for tool-maker / tool-user collaborations
I’ve previously argued that great tools for thought rarely come from contexts focused on creating tools. They’re usually created in the course of deep creative work in some domain, almost as a ...
2021-06-15 22:34:07 +0000 UTC View PostFinding research–context fit
The life of an early startup revolves around a desperate search for “product–market fit”—a state in which you’ve found a solution so compelling in some market that 2021-05-20 23:10:06 +0000 UTC View Post
Crowdfunded research vs. the NSF CAREER grant; open-sourcing Orbit; new technical collaborators
Transcript:
Hello everyone, and happy May. I think celebrating is always more fun in video format, so I'm making this impromptu video today to celebrate a couple of exciting ...
2021-05-05 05:45:36 +0000 UTC View Post[Audio version] Crowdfunded research vs. the NSF CAREER grant; open-sourcing Orbit; new technical collaborators
I'm terribly sorry for all the duplicate emails: Descript garbled my exports. Still learning about these "content creator" tools… anyway, here's a fixed version!
And a transcript:
Hel...
2021-05-05 05:43:11 +0000 UTC View Post[Audio version] Too easy to be effortless
As an experiment, I've made an audio version of the most recent post, Too easy to be effortless. Is thi...
2021-04-06 18:48:27 +0000 UTC View PostToo easy to be effortless
Now that a few Orbit experiments are in flight, I’ve spent much of the last month digging back into data from Quantum Country. I...
2021-03-26 22:08:46 +0000 UTC View PostRatcheting progress in tools for thought
There are some people trying to develop tools for thought, but there isn’t yet a meaningful field around tools for thought. The difference is that a field is about ratcheting: developing...
2021-02-25 00:46:16 +0000 UTC View PostIn search of better questions
One provocative litany I’ve used to frame my work is: what comes after the book? Is it pictures of pages on screens? Is it videos of lectures? Why are all the answers to this question so bori...
2021-02-03 01:21:50 +0000 UTC View PostMember preview: try Orbit in your own writing
Hello, all! I'm having a contemplative start to the year, working to shift up some of my systems and plans in response to 2021-01-13 17:32:42 +0000 UTC View Post
Reflections on 2020 as an independent researcher
Now available publicly if you'd like to link to it externally.
2020 was my second year as an ...
2021-01-04 05:50:04 +0000 UTC View PostYour help requested! Quick survey on funding independent research
As the year draws to a close, I'm assembling some reflections on being an independent researcher in 2020. One important section centers on patronage as a funding model—and I could use your help t...
2020-12-14 18:34:43 +0000 UTC View PostPrompt makeover logs
My past few weeks have been filled with plenty of interesting conversation about the prompt-writing guide...
2020-12-09 23:32:53 +0000 UTC View PostEarly access: "Translating knowledge into spaced repetition prompts"
I spent November working on a detailed guidebook and style manual for modeling knowledge and writing spaced repetition prompts. The guide will also be the first large public demonstration of 2020-12-07 18:04:40 +0000 UTC View Post
Invitation: "Translating knowledge," workshop on spaced repetition prompt-writing
I've been shifting my focus to helping authors learn to write with Orbit. As part of that effort, I'm developing a set of materials to help people develop a personal spaced repetition practice, sin...
2020-11-20 19:45:39 +0000 UTC View PostLiquid olives and iPhones; problem-solving and problem-finding; The Uncertainty Mindset
Growing up years ago in the midwest, my perception of a fancy restaurant was awfully simple. Firstly, fancy restaurants have fancy waiters who make you feel uncomfortable for using the wrong utensi...
2020-11-15 04:18:37 +0000 UTC View PostWorking with authors: text-writing requires prompt-writing requires text-writing
A few weeks ago, I had something to celebrate: Orbit had reached the point that authors could publish texts using it. Normally, when software projects reach a major milestone, there’s something h...
2020-11-07 06:24:42 +0000 UTC View PostPreview: a brief explanation of Orbit
I've been tackling a tough writing challenge: briefly introducing Orbit, explaining how it works, and sketching what it aspires to.
The context is that at least initially, people will first e...
2020-10-07 23:58:57 +0000 UTC View PostThe carrying capacity of a regular memory practice; deliberate practice and flow
Slow, compounding progress is a subtly powerful force. Regular weightlifters might not perceive their progress in every session, but as the weeks go by, they’ll find they can handle loads which w...
2020-09-30 18:07:45 +0000 UTC View PostThe galaxy brain problem; speed-running UIs
I’ve been spending a lot of time these last few weeks trying to make Orbit explain itself.
In Quantum Country, the essays themselves are, in part, essays about the mnemonic medium. The firs...
2020-09-12 04:07:51 +0000 UTC View Post“Skip”: exponential-backoff deferral mechanisms and fuzzy inboxes
If you search Google Scholar for research on spaced repetition systems, you’ll find a sea of papers focused on optimization. They’re tuning algorithms for less forgetting, more stabilization, b...
2020-08-20 18:04:15 +0000 UTC View PostCelebrating a significant Patreon milestone; thoughts on crowdfunding tools for thought
We've now crowdfunded two thirds of a grad student-level grant for research on tools for thought.
2020-08-05 19:30:51 +0000 UTC View Post
A nascent art direction for Orbit
(You may have received a duplicate notification for this post: Patreon lost all the images in the last one, so I had to recreate it! Bluh…)
So far, I’ve been using Quantum Country’s des...
2020-07-07 16:47:20 +0000 UTC View PostDemonstrating a "personal mnemonic medium"
I've spent lots of time this past year thinking about how to use writing to develop ideas o...
2020-06-10 18:15:35 +0000 UTC View PostBringing ideas into your Orbit
As I’ve mentioned in recent posts here, I’ve spent these last few months building infrastructure which I hope will help me (and others!) explore a wider set of ideas around systems like the mne...
2020-05-27 18:07:47 +0000 UTC View PostBig milestone today: generic embeddable prompts
Hello, kind patrons! I mentioned in the last post that I was working on a next iteration of the system behi...
2020-05-06 21:47:48 +0000 UTC View PostWhat's next?
Hello, kind supporters! Andy here. Now that the final chapter of Quantum Country’s published, we wanted to share what we’re up to next.
First off: an important update to the Patreon. Afte...
2020-04-17 19:06:52 +0000 UTC View Post