INTRODUCTION

modern digital file managers have hardly evolved since their original conception in the 70s and 80s with the XEROX computer and MACINTOSH respectively. throughout time and up until our current day, they have been bound to the metaphors, icons, and features of the A4 page file and the folder, offering little customizable approaches to managing one's personal digital information and files. architectural data spaces is an attempt to challenge the status quo of modern digital file management systems following constructivist architectural principles by allowing digital files to live in the three dimensional space.

ZETTELKASTEN

ADS originates from an initial analysis of the analogous PIM (personal information management) system developed by german professor and sociologist niklas luhmann. his analogous note-taking system with its bottoms-up approach is known for allowing a seamless archiving of notes constantly being linked to each other and thus not being dependent on tags or folders. the modern note-taking app obsidian is based on this same principle. the zettelkasten was compared to the top-up approach of modern digital file managers like mac's finder and windows's file explorer, with the most fundamental contrast between them leading to the arrival at ADS's core concept.

CONCEPT ARRIVAL

3D SPACE & COGNITION

leaving details (which can be regarded as preferences in file management) aside, the most fundamental contrast between luhmann's zettelkasten and the modern file manager was obvious, yet relevant: analogue systems inherently offer something by nature that digital file managers did not adopt when they were translated for the screen: three dimensionality. as a consequence, the brain's natural capabilities designed for navigating the world (and thus information) in the three dimensional space became deprived of being put to use. digital file managers being two dimensional thus is not only a matter of aesthetics or preference, but one of compromise that turns the system, at least partially, into a black box that is unnatural to navigate as it does not offer the cognitive cues by nature that the three dimensional space would.

to investigate the substance of the hypothesis and the possibility of three dimensionality being the deciding factor for a natural and efficient navigation of the world, of information, and specifically of digital files, the idea was explored through a conversation with perplexity's AI research chatbot starting from the later confirmed assumption that, in order to navigate the world, we need 'cognitive maps' involving three required elements: where we are, where we came from, we are going:

COGNITION RESEARCH

„(...) research shows the hippocampus actively integrates temporally distant events into larger narrative structures, creating meaning through relational context. (...) the brain naturally organizes information into narrative frameworks with beginnings, middles, and ends.“

some elements making cognition in the analogous three dimensional world efficient as well as effective are: embodied cognition, spatial persistence (objects remain where you placed them), proprioceptive feedback (your body remembers movements through space), multi-sensory integration (visual, tactile, and kinesthetic information combine), peripheral awareness (multiple contexts simultaneously without explicit focus)

in contrast common digital interfaces, specifically the standard digital modern file manager, strips away these cognitive cues. they provide only a linear trace of ancestry but fail to communicate: lateral relationships, spatial density, perceptual landmarks (memorable anchor points for orientation), embodied memory triggers (the kinesthetic recall of “moving” through space).

ARCHITECTURE

as a response to the necessity and the potential of the three dimensional space as the natural home for files and the navigation through them, the visual language of architectural drawing as well as the most basic three dimensional shapes (the plane and the box) quickly became the opted path for giving shape to a three dimensional file manager. the goal was to let files have replicate the aspects of three dimensional objects on top of existing in the three dimensional space so as to have them give off cognitive cues like real three dimensional objects do.

PROCESS & CHALLENGES

the early process of developing ADS consisted more so of challenges and friction than smooth progress and solution-finding. this was partially due to design reasons, partially due to technical reasons, and partially due to conceptual reasons.

MOODBOARDS & MOODBOARDS

the design friction present during the process was in large part due to an over-investment in the aesthetic language of the project and its dependency on the architectural analogy and constructivist looks. at the same time, this problem was a bilateral consequence of the technical problems met.

UNITY

the technical problems faced in this project were by far the biggest barrier standing in the way to develop it. for the most part of the early process, unity's software was considered as the ideal tool for giving form to ADS. after many tutorials, AI prompts, and failures to get used to the program and make any progress in actually making ADS come to life, it became clear that it was not the right tool for the task. thus, a paid subscription of claude was resorted to. for this, around a dozen of markdown files containing the hundreds of guidelines, rules, constraints, etc. were written.

GET OUT OF THE BOX

to bring ADS out of the hole it was in after the challenges described above, it was also necessary to adjust its concept. the architectural analogy proved to be limiting. this was due to the fact that by trying to prove the concept of cognition in the digital space working better when objects follow the same rules as in the analogous three dimensional space (see 3D SPACE & COGNITION above), the concept only allowed for a manual placement of files mimicking real-life behaviors like gravity, stacking, and nesting. this led to more of a lego-styled system than a flexible, personalizable, and dynamic file manager. in order to get rid of this problem, the solution was, ironically, to get 'out of the box'. so far, the ADS was largely based on boxes serving as folders and thus allowing for the nesting of further folders as well as files (which would have been two dimensional planes living in the three dimensional space). this presented many problems conflicting with the goal of reimagining the fundamental way of functioning of the modern digital file manager, which is why the solution of getting rid of boxes as folders and of planes as files was opted for. as a result, ADS has both boxes and planes as different kinds of files and no nesting is allowed, aligning with the bottoms-up approach of the zettelkasten.

CORE PRINCIPLES

at its core, ADS consists of three principles defining its reasoning and goals.

COGNITION

the lack of cognitive cues to let the user properly navigate the digital space of current digital file managers is viewed as the barrier lying at the center of a natural handling, organizing, and finding of files. this is the reason why ADS uses the three dimensional space as its main feature to offer what the two dimensional folder system of current file managers lack.

FULL CONTEXT

the second core principle of ADS is the conscious decision to let the system be complex in nature by always showing its full context. this means that the constant display of the entirety of the files is preferred over any kind of simplification of the system through hiding or reduction of context and/or features.

PERSONALITY IN FM

the role of personality in FM and PIM was identified during the process as one of vital interest as well as one lacking in research. while this feature did not end up being explored and incorporated into the project, in principle, ADS as a system was designed from the get go as one that could be customized in such way that could adapt to anyone's preferences and needs when it comes to managing their files, including a top-up or a bottoms-up approach as a starting point.

FEATURES & FUNCTIONS

these are just some of ADS's features, functions and parameters.

PRA SYSTEM

ADS's file system, as far as it categorization of files go, is a derivation from he relatively well known „PARA“ note-taking system. „PARA“ stand for projects, areas, resources, and archive, meaning that notes related to current, finite projects are categorized as projects, notes that can serve as resources for projects are labeled as resources, notes that document non-finite, ever-developing processes are labeled as areas, and finished, obsolete, or unused projects or resources are categorized as archive. The goal was to bound each type of category to one of three dimensional planes of the space (XY, XZ, ZY), which is why the category of 'areas' was omitted.

AXES PARAMETERS

X: the X axis is ascribed the parameter of file modification date . The more recently a file was modified, the more to the right (X) it is placed. The older the time, it was last modified, the further to the left (-X) it gets placed.

Y: the Y axis is ascribed the parameter of file access date. The more recently a file was accessed, the higher up on the Y axis it is placed. The older the time where it was accessed is, the lower it gets placed on the Y axis.

Z: the Z axis is ascribed the parameter of file creationdate. Files created more recently are shown further to the front (Z), and older files are pushed to the back (-Z).

VIEWMODES

DATA VIEW: data view offers more of a raw representation of the files' data and visualizes them as two dimensional planes and three dimensional boxes. out of each file, a perpendicular line of its data is displayed. this serves for of a general overview of the entire file system.

FILE VIEW: file view offers a true representation of the files' content, displaying them as what they are and thus letting the user navigate through the files and see them in their original format.

STRUCTURAL FILE REPRESENTATION

Whether a file is shown as a two dimensional plane file or as a three dimensional box file is determined by the complexity of the file's data:

PARAMETERS FOR BOX FILES: When a file is page-based and contains more than one page (like a PDF), or has rendered data, or is a file coming from a program like figma, or blender, or unity, or from the adobe creative cloud, it is shown as a three dimensional box file.

PARAMETERS FOR PLANE FILES: 

All other 'non-complex' data files like simple text-based files, code files, web links, images, or videos, are shown as two dimensional plane files.

FILE DIMENSIONS

PLANE FILE DIMENSIONS: A plane file is shown as a two dimensional plane. Its width is determined by its file size in MB. Its height by its file relevance.

BOX FILE DIMENSIONS: a box file is shown as a three dimensional box. its width is determined by its file size in MB. Its height by its file relevance. its depth by the amount of time in hours spent within the file.

MISSING FEATURES

FILE CREATION & MANIPULATION: an unexplored feature of ADS's prototype is the creation of new files as well as the manipulation of existing files within the system. in its current state, the prototype only displays an already existing organism of files (around 500) but does not include a designed behavior for how a file is created or downloaded into the system, nor the editing, moving, or deletion of an existing file.

AXES CUSTOMIZATION: as discussed above in PERSONALITY IN FM, ADS is designed as a system that can take advantage of its three dimensional nature and thus adapt to the user's personal preferences and approach to file management. the main potential of ADS is the customization of the parameters ascribed to its three axes, changing under what principles files are located in the three dimensional space.

FILE COLLABORATION: the last unexplored aspect from the ADS file manager is its collaborative and social features. how are files represented when they get collaboratively worked on? how are users presented in the three dimensional space and what features do they get to create, edit, share a file?