I've been doing some listening/watching of Jonathan Pageau's Symbolic World content which has got me thinking about symbols and meanings of lots of things around me. In this post I want to share a brief analysis of ways to interact with a computer and how even in this area we see a leveling of hierarchy.

File Hierarchies

Those familiar with Linux or any UNIX based operating system will know that the typical organization of a systems's files is hierarchical. Typically there is soom root denoted /. Below that there is often a directory /home/ under which users will have their personal files. My user files are under /home/alan/, for instance. Users can then organize their files further with directories like /home/alan/Documents/, /home/alan/Downloads/ and so on and so forth.

Like a tree where each branch becomes a "mini tree" in a kind of recursive process, we can see that individual projects/programs often employ a similar structure. Using the tree utility, for instance, I can view the hierarchical structure this very file is found in.

├── content
│   ├── [...]
│   ├── corona-virus-001.md
│   ├── corona-virus-002.md
│   ├── corona-virus-003.md
│   ├── [...] 
│   ├── qwerty-theory.md
│   ├── search-anarchy.md
├── Makefile
├── [...]
├── README.md
└── tasks.py

Each file has its place. To use a static site generator you must put files in their correct place—alongside other similar files—otherwise you probably won't get the result you're going for ¹

To become familiar with a system or software project, you will need to learn where to find everything. That is, what are the positions in the hierarchy and which files to go to in order to change the program's behavior. A skilled developer or administrator will know many quirks or tricks of some particular system.

Skilled developers of course aim to make systems that are easy to learn about and scale readily.

The Flattened Search-based Model

The MacBook tries to get rid of the need to understand file hierarchies and become familiar with projects like in the examples above. Using the Finder application, users simply search and the computer (rather than the user) is tasked with finding the relevant files.

You have probably met someone with a very messy (computer) desktop. Today's powerpoint, last week's powerpoint, and e-mail attachments from some party you probably don't need to know about all litter the same (digital) space of the disordered desktop. For this sort of user, the Finder approach provides much help—nowdays, you might not even need to choose meaningful names for files because the Finder application might search within files and make up keywords based on their contents. So Unnamed document.docx might contain the words "biology homework" and a search for "Biology" might be able to point to this file even though the user didn't even bother to give it a meaningful name.

The Finder approach thus allows (or even encourages) a sort of "organizational bankruptcy"—giving up on keeping stuff well-ordered. You might as well dump everything into a folder called "Stuff" and let Finder retrieve the appropriate file(s).

Smartphone App Prison

The smartphone app model involves making a kind of "jail" for each thing you do—an e-mail app, a music streaming app, a fitness tracking app—whereby integrating data between the many things you do is not easily done on a phone. Unlike on a desktop PC where you might pull up a spreadsheet alongside a word processor and write up an analysis or a report on last week's sales, the smartphone shafts most things into one small self-contained video-game-like interface.

There are some security and marketing advantages to this—of course you don't want your app getting compromised because of a security flaw in someone else's app—likewise you want to be able to monetize your product.

But these advantages are more important for the makers of the apps rather than the users. It shouldn't matter much where a good tool comes from as long as it works well, and you shouldn't have to constantly think about its special features—it should seamlessly facilitate your work as a kind of extension of your body.

Apps invert this relationship whereby tools are an extension of your body. Instead, you become a data point in an app's network. Rather than you exercising agency over a tool, popular apps to gather usage statistics on you and charge you for how you use the app. The tool profits from you using it. You are the eyes, ears, and mouth of the app—the app makes you accept all liability for using it and can be taken from you at any time.

Choosing tech, configuring for success

If you're not going to spend much time with technology, it probably doesn't matter very much what you do. Most people I know, however, are stuck using computers and phones for many hours a day—especially during all this COVID stuff. So we might as well get comfy with how to best channel these devices to work for us.

PCs are often preferable to smart phones. A well-ordered desktop is preferable to an indifferntiated pile of files and tools. Similar to how you might choose to furnish a room for particular purposes—e.g. as a work room or as a dining room, we can also set up your computing environments to encourage time well spent.

While many aspects of using computers can be annoying, simple principles that would be applicable for organizing any workspace, whether online or offline, can help you be more productive and focused when using digital technology.