The Design of Mnemonics for Forgetting Introduction: Throughout history, people have used memory aids and strategies to help them remember long strings of words or features that aren’t inherently memorable. As early as in ancient Rome and Greece, people used the Method of loci(also known as memory palace) to mentally associate information with specific physical locations. Eastern Orthodox monks use the knots on the prayer rope to count the number of times they prayed. With the advent of technology, especially superhuman digital programmability and the creation of sophisticated algorithms that mimic human neural network, memory aids have moved from the traditional mnemonics and visual association methods into more complex systems that not only work as passive memory assistive systems but an augmentation of user’s memory. The meaning of human memory is clearly altered by the symbiotic relationship between us and the computation. In 1960, Licklider pointed out that there was an expected development in cooperative interaction between men and electronic computers that he termed “Man-Computer Symbiosis”. Licklider envisioned this tightly coupling relationship between human and the computing machines would prove to complement each other's strengths to a high degree. With this notion of Man-Computer Symbiosis, instead of the more extreme biological approach of neural implants and neuroprosthetics as memory extensions, computers are now being seen as “devices capable of ‘memorizing’ vast quantities of information, and performing difficult-to-memorize sequences of operations on our belief”. Much research has been done on this notion of the extended mind. In 1945, Bush proposed a hypothetical proto-hypertext system called the Memex(a portmanteau of "memory" and "extender") that suggested the user together with the machinery forms a dynamic collective knowledge base. Lamming and Flynn’s “forget-me-not” memory aid suggests a broader paradigm that personal computing should not only provide users with access to its own working context but to the user’s real context. All these devices are designed to compensate for our fallible memory and claim to be unobtrusive companions that extend the users’ abilities to recall. However, due to their limited smartness and the unpredictable nature of users’ cognitive behaviors, the design of current human memory prostheses are not too much different than a portable version of the Memex. These devices mainly focus on making remembering easier for users, but not addressing the fact that human memory is degenerative and erasable- the “forgetful” factor in the design of memory aids. They operate by using mobile technologies, wireless networks, ubiquitous computing and artificial intelligence with hundreds of embedded sensors. By constructing a landscape of networks, those memory prostheses that are sensitive to the environment and able to record a user’s life events automatically— transferring their activities into information that can be later retrieved. They document detailed and persona information about us as to issue reminders for things that we might forget in the future. Nevertheless, the current indexing methods make it harder for the predications to be legible and truly relevant to user’s real context. The way memory prostheses work speaks to the notion of Intimate Computing, which demands a more intimate relationship between the user and the computation—more precisely, “a cognitive and emotional closeness with technology, where the technology may be aware of, and responsive to, our intentions, actions and feelings”. Therefore the traditional approach in HCI that focuses on observation of what is objective and measurable need to be adjusted. Current research and methodologies that have been done on the designing of memory aids cannot be fully adapted to the networks of smart computing devices that address people’s memory issues in an everyday setting. In this paper, I examine the traditional approach and methodologies of mnemonic devices, and look at a series of memory prosthetics designed to be usable and improve memory based on the conventional approach of information indexing. I argue that the subjective, volatile and ephemeral aspect of the human memory can be addressed, if we shift our focus from the design of mnemonics for remembering on a system based context to a user based context, acknowledging the act of forgetting in terms of the malleability of the human mind and the enduring ephemerality of the digital media. 1. Licklider, J. C. R. "Man-Computer Symbiosis." IRE Transactions on Human Factors in Electronics HFE-1.1 (1960): 4-11. Web. 2. Lamming, M.,Flynn, M.: “Forget-me-not” : Intimate computing in support of human memory. IN: FREIND21, International Symposium on Next Generation Human Interface, Meguro Gajoen, Japan (1994) 3. Bush, Vannevar. "As We May Think." ACM SIGPC Notes 1.4 (1979): 36-44. Web 4. Bell, Genevieve, Tim Brooke, Elizabeth F. Churchill, and Eric Paulos. "Intimate Ubiquitous Computing." (n.d.): n. pag. FX Palo Alto Laboratory, 94304, Palo Alto, CA, Jan. 2003. Web. Jan. 2003.
