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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
In Geeks Bearing Gifts, Ted Nelson points out that while digital cut/paste is a sequential "hide" and "insert", physical cut/paste is inherently parallel: you see all the "cuts" side-by-side, rearranging and trying different configurations. It's a loss:
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
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Process story! @mayli, @farrarscott, and I finished this endless report on our early math work (khanacademy.org/research/repor), but @cgingold convinced us we had the story all wrong. Despair, then: we printed it, cut it up, rearranged it, scribbled all over it, and taped it together.
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
I think undue formality is a key part of the problem. When physically cutting and pasting, you pass through lots of temporary “invalid” configurations as you explore the space. Sequential cut/paste as hide/insert makes temporary states dangerous (don't lose your pasteboard!).
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
This relates to the problem of "peripheral vision", but it's closer to the old HCI problem of "detail-in-context" (citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/downlo) and the problems which
@Dynamicland1
aspires to solve.
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Andy Matuschak
@andy_matuschak
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Software interfaces undervalue peripheral vision! (a thread) My physical space is full of subtle cues. Books I read or bought most recently are lying out. Papers are lying in stacks on my desk, roughly arranged by their relationships.
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