Reminds me of when I realized some twenty years ago that hierarchical filesystems are just a convention and I was daydreaming about a dynamic database-like filesystem where files are stored with meta data in tags that could be addressed according to whatever your chain of association may be. I even conceptual a bridge of how common OS like Windows or Linux could connect and interface such a file system using the familiar system of slashes transparently for the user with all the benefits and none of additional complicated learning. Of course this was way beyond any technical scope of mine and I didn’t bring it to attention beyond nerdy beer conversation.
You can do tag-based file management on Linux. Linux filesystems support “extended attributes” or “xattr”. There is some software out there that uses xattr for tagging. I don’t know what the best options are right now for tag-based file management, but I think it exists.
Looking at what’s out there I see there are also apps that each use their own out-of-band tagging schemes. There’s a CLI, tmsu, and a GUI, TagSpaces. I don’t think these interoperate with each other’s tags.
Of course those supplement instead of replacing hierarchical organization.
The talk of hypertext and “escaping paper” makes me think of Obsidian which embraces hyperlinking, tags, and mind mapping via its canvas feature.
Now that you’ve mentioned Obisian I realised that systems like it are quite different from how most things work. I use it myself and really like it, however it also takes quite some effort to get the best out of it. You have to actively create useful links between things and think about different ways you would want to access the content to be able to actually find it when you need it. For example you need to create aliases for elements if they are known by a different name in another context.
Watched the first video. Interesting.
Reminds me of when I realized some twenty years ago that hierarchical filesystems are just a convention and I was daydreaming about a dynamic database-like filesystem where files are stored with meta data in tags that could be addressed according to whatever your chain of association may be. I even conceptual a bridge of how common OS like Windows or Linux could connect and interface such a file system using the familiar system of slashes transparently for the user with all the benefits and none of additional complicated learning. Of course this was way beyond any technical scope of mine and I didn’t bring it to attention beyond nerdy beer conversation.
Maybe I was on to something.
You can do tag-based file management on Linux. Linux filesystems support “extended attributes” or “xattr”. There is some software out there that uses xattr for tagging. I don’t know what the best options are right now for tag-based file management, but I think it exists.
Looking at what’s out there I see there are also apps that each use their own out-of-band tagging schemes. There’s a CLI, tmsu, and a GUI, TagSpaces. I don’t think these interoperate with each other’s tags.
Of course those supplement instead of replacing hierarchical organization.
The talk of hypertext and “escaping paper” makes me think of Obsidian which embraces hyperlinking, tags, and mind mapping via its canvas feature.
Now that you’ve mentioned Obisian I realised that systems like it are quite different from how most things work. I use it myself and really like it, however it also takes quite some effort to get the best out of it. You have to actively create useful links between things and think about different ways you would want to access the content to be able to actually find it when you need it. For example you need to create aliases for elements if they are known by a different name in another context.