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Friday, March 23, 2007 Divine Disorder on the DesktopPC users can be as neat or as messy as they like using a new 3-D computer interface based on video-game technology. But can the new software revitalize the creaky desktop metaphor? By Wade Roush
Millions stigmatized for having a messy house or office felt their shame lighten a bit in January with the publication of A Perfect Mess: The Hidden Benefits of Disorder--How Crammed Closets, Cluttered Offices, and On-the-Fly Planning Make the World a Better Place. The authors, Columbia University management guru Eric Abrahamson and journalist David Freedman, argued that modern culture unjustly glorifies neatness, and that a moderately messy environment can actually be a spur to creativity. Readers must decide for themselves whether this idea is validated by the authors' pile of anecdotal evidence or is simply a comforting defense for the chronically disorganized. But for people who use computers and genuinely thrive on chaos, there's now a program that turns the PC desktop into the equivalent of the paper-strewn office. Called Bumptop, the software discards the old notion of organizing computer files into tidy folders-within-folders, substituting a 3-D environment in which waferlike icons representing electronic files can be scattered, stacked, spun, stuck to walls, and even smashed into one another. Indeed, the Bumptop interface--the brainchild of Anand Agarawala, a graduate student in computer science at the University of Toronto--looks more like the set for a computerized air-hockey game than like a traditional workspace. It uses lighting, shading, and animation techniques directly borrowed from the world of video-game development, along with a so-called physics engine that makes the icons move as if they were subject to real gravity, momentum, and friction. It's all possible thanks to the growing graphics-processing power of today's PCs. And while it may sound like overkill, Agarawala believes it's worth a few extra CPU cycles to add realistic spatial cues to the static, 2-D graphical user interfaces (GUIs) that have been a mainstay of personal computing since the debut of the Apple Macintosh in 1984. "The 'PC desktop' was supposed to be a metaphor for managing our files," says Agarawala. "But my real desk looks nothing like my desktop. I have all these piles subtly arranged on top of each other in a way that may look chaotic to someone else but is personally meaningful to me. The idea was, How can we bring that feeling onto the desktop?" Agarawala has founded a startup in Toronto to commercialize Bumptop, which is currently a prototype but will be ready for beta release (in his words) "hopefully, soon." He says he has been fielding a continuous stream of phone calls and e-mails expressing interest in the technology ever since he demonstrated the Windows-based software two weeks ago at the exclusive Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) Conference in Monterey, CA. |
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Comments
ricklev on 03/23/2007 at 9:30 AM
1
nicholas whitworth on 05/12/2007 at 11:20 PM
1
Humans developed in a rich visual 3D space, and this is the environment we function best in.
As highly adaptable creatures, the 2D desktop metaphor is easy [enough] to learn and use. Though it underuses our mental processes - such as memory formation which are highly geared into geographic, 3D, visual information-scapes. This makes using computers boring and irritating - it lacks the more basic enrichers of normal life - 3D and visual variety.
I find i organize folders into choices of 3-10 options. In this way i am constructing a geographic path. ('near the bottom'). This is by no means my only method of recalling the location of files, but one that is not directly catered for. I often find myself with no idea where a file is, and rely on my schema ('work / computer / tests'). Choosing the most likely option each time.
Conversely - i do not have this trouble in my house. Not because it's a library-style storage system - it's not even remotely. But because our minds are keyed into forming memories around objects and locations. Based in 3D and with unique appearances.
Objects with unique appearances [including sound] can convey a wealth of information about an object. Take an apple for example - age, type, development, quality, amount remaining, weight. Perhaps location and even implied nutritional information. [along with temperature, moisture, and a damage record - let alone sliced / boiled / baked / dried etc] [let alone again the information you gain through interaction]
Compare this to a 'pdf' icon.
A town is an intuitive spacial system of organization (and interaction with) a vast - amount of data.
Now i realize this is somewhat far-fetched, but the principal - that our mental mechanisms are needlessly underutilized is highly applicable even in slight measure. Take for examples windows with drop-shadow. A simple, and useful graphical aid to prominence.
It seems to me a 3D finder is an inevitable future ( because it's always been our past ) !
"It's a matter of how many levels of change would be required, and whether the need is deep enough."
Quite. There are a few individuals making cranky software which is severely limited by its lack of breadth. The large companies arn't interested because there is no demonstration of public need, and the public don't need it because they've not seen it's possible. It's a large jump which will cannot be completely solved in one go.
The desktop metaphor is becoming dysfunctional. (don't get me started on keybourd & mouse) and i see a few explorations of a 3D solution, which i welcome with open arms. I used a 3D 'plane' system program for a while and it really was a far better concept. Hundreds of files were on the 'first level' - instantly accessible, memorable and locatable. [3D-space VFS (mac)]
BumpTop i see as a little short sighted. The 'piles' idea is fine for a desktop - but for the harddrive... it's not enough. Adding 'rooms' might do it. Also it also leans on the 'fun' of a game, which is great, but i'd have greater scope first. As you know - i'm looking forward to it a lot.
The 'time' system of storage mentioned earlier i see as 'missing the mark'. Though i've never seen it and know nothing about it. I think it goes to show that people do rely on different mechanisms more. This is perhaps why 'lists' have prevailed - they are the lowest common denominator !
The internet is the most exciting arena at the moment but it's also painfully limiting. The virtual data-scape we swim in daily needs an improved navigation system and this will apply itself naturally and to it's maximum extent.