Photo: National Art Library London, UK (Credit: The author) 

 
In my current note-taking application of choice, I have a small section called "External Brain" where I dump handy nuggets that I think will be useful or that I am in the process of internalising. I thought for the launch of the title of this newsletter thing Interoperable, it would be nice to go over some of those notes and hopefully share some useful ideas:

1. capture, configure, control

This is a Cal Newportian idea for how to think about structuring inbound tasks and obligations. My own system is pretty simple it consists of a 

I can basically only find comfort in planning: "Don’t retreat into frustration and despair. Write down everything that’s demanded of you, even if you can’t possibly satisfy all of the obligations. Then make the best plan you can given the difficult circumstances. The comfort comes from the plan, not the achievable outcomes." (Source) 

2. aesthetics, rituals, rules
This is me trying to think of an artsy counterpoint to Cal's productivity system above. Aesthetics is the simplest tenet but the most difficult to achieve, understand, or describe. Aesthetics are the achieved creative or visual outcome from the rituals which are practices passed down or shared among a community (sympathetic magic, why do cosplay movie characters? Wear Nikes? Buy a certain brand of pencil?) and rules which are rigid sets of guidelines to adhere to that guide creation (use specific materials, colours, work at specific times, adhere to and/or reject dogmas).

3. RAMS: Reliability, Availability, Maintainability, and Safety 

RAMS is from the engineering world, but I think that it applies perfectly to a lot of decisions we make in life. Is the boiler going to need to be replaced? RAMS. Shopping for a new mode of transportation? RAMS. Basically, anything you bring in your life should be compatible with RAMS

4. If my life depends on it, it gets its own toolkit.
Simple but effective idea from the venerable Van Neistat, I'm not currently a car owner but I always tried to keep useful tools and lifesaving items in my car. Somewhat famously I carried about a dozen ice scrapers in my truck when I lived in Colorado and passed them out to new-to-winter motorists. This totally ties in with RAMS as well, if you don't have the tools, you can't maintain it and if you can't maintain it do you really even own it? On my bike, the maintenance of which my life depends on, I keep the most adorable toolkit ever.

5. unrestricted and interoperable services
This idea is basically what kicked off this whole writing exercise. Especially in technology, I feel that the more restricted and less interoperable a service gets, the worse off we all are. Look at an old system like RSS, anyone with the link and some simple software can subscribe to your publication, you decide what you subscribe to. Or an ancient system like the telephone system, even in the year 2022 most of us have a numerical code assigned to us that almost anyone else in the world can signal to have a synchronous voice conversation or send a text-based message to. This is vastly better than being unable to get something done because you don't have the right operating system, expensive application, or specialized training. Most detrimental of all restricted and impractical systems usually rely on faceless algorithms that tune themselves to play at your emotions, misuse your personal information, and strip you of your humanity. Fuck these, they do not deserve your attention. 

6. What is that book that isn’t on the shelf? 

This one is pretty simple. What is the book that I want to read, that isn't on my shelf, that I should write? It's a great motivator and a good way to process creative decisions.

7a. site-specific, culturally grounded, made from local materials using traditional techniques
This idea comes from architecture but can easily apply to visual art or a number of other fields. So many experiences are in a lot of ways getting the same: we all hold the same phones, eat similar food, live in similar houses, watch similar TV shows, etc. If more design decisions followed this rule we would have more "places" and less "nowhere". Look at any "luxury" item: cars, houses, hotels. They all look exactly the same, a luxury hotel in Dubai looks exactly like a luxury hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. A house on a golf course is fucking nowhere.  This idea fits together with RAMS perfectly.

7b. Spolia — "Spolia is the Latin word for “spoils.” In class, spolia was defined as architectural fragment which is taken out of original context and reused in a different context." (Source) Again another art/architecure term but applicable almost anywhere, you should collect little pieces from far and wide, near and close and assemble new things out of them. These can be physical constructions or more importantly: your soul. 

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I'm Tyler Dickey, and this is my blog/newsletter thing that I decided to title Interoperable. In this space, I celebrate my never-ending love for reliable, available, and maintainable systems like RSS and telephony and write about topics that interest me: art, making things, technology, among others. Consider subscribing or following me elsewhere on the internet: Website | Instagram | Twitter