diff --git a/content/posts/the-gallery-and-the-toolbox/index.md b/content/posts/the-gallery-and-the-toolbox/index.md index daf5d73..0d92ec1 100644 --- a/content/posts/the-gallery-and-the-toolbox/index.md +++ b/content/posts/the-gallery-and-the-toolbox/index.md @@ -1,9 +1,9 @@ --- -draft: true +draft: false title: "The Gallery and the Toolbox" aliases: ["The Gallery and the Toolbox"] series: [] -date: "2024-07-08" +date: "2024-09-19" author: "Nick Dumas" cover: "" keywords: ["", ""] @@ -21,23 +21,22 @@ Is it stored in a binder, a safe, or taped to the wall above a work-area? Is it Is it in a frame, or is it in a toolbox? ## The Gallery and the Toolbox -I believe that, broadly speaking, visualizations will fall into one of two classes: the toolbox and the gallery. There's no small amount of overlap here, but I do think it's possible to generally narrow down a *primary* "type" or "use" of a given work or object. - +I believe that broadly speaking, visualizations will fall into one of two classes: the toolbox and the gallery. There's no small amount of overlap here, but I do think it's possible to generally narrow down a *primary* "type" or "use" of a given work or object. ### The Gallery -A gallery is a space where you don't have a concrete "deliverable" goal, but you want to collect things that have meaning. This could be a collection of porcelain miniatures, your favorite inspirational quotes, or a bunch of pictures of possums. The primary analogy is an art gallery or museum: it is not "purposeless", but an art gallery doesn't have a goal like "Help someone create a medium-rare steak" or "Tell someone what that error code means". It's open-ended, the visitor/user is meant to derive some degree of personal/self-directed value from the experience. +A gallery is a space where you don't have a concrete "deliverable" goal but you want to collect things that have meaning. This could be a collection of porcelain miniatures, your favorite inspirational quotes, or a bunch of pictures of possums. The primary analogy is an art gallery or museum: it is not "purposeless", but an art gallery doesn't have a goal like "Help someone create a medium-rare steak" or "Tell someone what that error code means". It's open-ended, the visitor/user is meant to derive some degree of personal/self-directed value from the experience. #### Examples I would consider personal journaling a gallery in this framework. You collect your thoughts so that you can later look back over them and have some to-be-determined insight. I've had great success with journaling and it really made me appreciate the process of collecting meaningful things over time. Here's a brief list of some other examples. I don't do a lot of gallery-making personally, but I'm trying to cover as much as I can: - cat photos -- playlists +- music playlists - collections of quotes ### The Toolbox -A toolbox, believe it or not, contains tools, and tools as I understand them are procedures or objects created to make some part of life easier or better. It's important to understand that tools are not just physical objects. Mnemonic devices are tools, social etiquette is a tool, color-coding your socks by the day of the week is a tool. +A toolbox contains tools: procedures or objects created to make some part of life easier or better. It's important to understand that tools are not just physical objects. Mnemonic devices are tools, social etiquette is a tool, color-coding your socks by the day of the week is a tool. -Tools are all around you, some of them are even part of your body or feel like it, as is the case with things like glasses, mobility aides, or even our mobile phones and I think this degree of immersion is partly responsible for how hard it can be to get a grip on organization. For the most part, people don't *need* to regularly invent tools just to survive. Whether it's mental models or physical objects, there's usually an off-the-shelf tool that comes close to what you need. +Tools are all around you, some of them are even part of your body or feel like it as is the case with things like glasses, mobility aides, or even our mobile phones. I think this degree of immersion is partly responsible for how hard it can be to get a grip on organization. For the most part, people don't *need* to regularly invent tools just to survive. Whether it's mental models or physical objects, there's usually an off-the-shelf tool that comes close to what you need. #### Examples My go-to example for tools is recipes. It sounds simple on the surface but consider: