MyLifeBits
Encyclopedia
MyLifeBits is a Microsoft Research
project. It was inspired by Vannevar Bush
's hypothetical Memex
computer system. The project includes full-text search, text and audio annotations, and hyperlinks. The "experimental subject" of the project is computer scientist Gordon Bell
, and the project will try to collect a lifetime of storage on and about Bell. Jim Gemmell of Microsoft Research and Roger Lueder were the architects and creators of the system and its software.
Gordon Bell is the experiment subject for the MyLifeBits
project, an experiment in life-logging (not the same as life-blogging
) and an attempt to fulfill Vannevar Bush
's vision of an automated store of the documents, pictures (including those taken automatically), and sounds an individual has experienced in his lifetime, to be accessed with speed and ease. For this, Bell has digitized all documents he has read or produced, CDs, emails, and so on. He continues to do so, gathering web pages browsed, phone and instant messaging conversations and the like more or less automatically. The Dutton book, Total Recall, describes the vision and implications for a personal, lifetime e-memory for recall, work, health, education, and immortality.
Total Recall is published in paperback as Your Life Uploaded: The Digital Way to Better Memory, Health, and Productivity.
Microsoft Research
Microsoft Research is the research division of Microsoft created in 1991 for developing various computer science ideas and integrating them into Microsoft products. It currently employs Turing Award winners C.A.R. Hoare, Butler Lampson, and Charles P...
project. It was inspired by Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush was an American engineer and science administrator known for his work on analog computing, his political role in the development of the atomic bomb as a primary organizer of the Manhattan Project, the founding of Raytheon, and the idea of the memex, an adjustable microfilm viewer...
's hypothetical Memex
Memex
The memex is the name given by Vannevar Bush to the hypothetical proto-hypertext system he described in his 1945 The Atlantic Monthly article As We May Think...
computer system. The project includes full-text search, text and audio annotations, and hyperlinks. The "experimental subject" of the project is computer scientist Gordon Bell
Gordon Bell
C. Gordon Bell is an American computer engineer and manager. An early employee of Digital Equipment Corporation 1960–1966, Bell designed several of their PDP machines and later became Vice President of Engineering 1972-1983, overseeing the development of the VAX...
, and the project will try to collect a lifetime of storage on and about Bell. Jim Gemmell of Microsoft Research and Roger Lueder were the architects and creators of the system and its software.
Gordon Bell is the experiment subject for the MyLifeBits
MyLifeBits
MyLifeBits is a Microsoft Research project. It was inspired by Vannevar Bush's hypothetical Memex computer system. The project includes full-text search, text and audio annotations, and hyperlinks. The "experimental subject" of the project is computer scientist Gordon Bell, and the project will...
project, an experiment in life-logging (not the same as life-blogging
Blog
A blog is a type of website or part of a website supposed to be updated with new content from time to time. Blogs are usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in...
) and an attempt to fulfill Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush was an American engineer and science administrator known for his work on analog computing, his political role in the development of the atomic bomb as a primary organizer of the Manhattan Project, the founding of Raytheon, and the idea of the memex, an adjustable microfilm viewer...
's vision of an automated store of the documents, pictures (including those taken automatically), and sounds an individual has experienced in his lifetime, to be accessed with speed and ease. For this, Bell has digitized all documents he has read or produced, CDs, emails, and so on. He continues to do so, gathering web pages browsed, phone and instant messaging conversations and the like more or less automatically. The Dutton book, Total Recall, describes the vision and implications for a personal, lifetime e-memory for recall, work, health, education, and immortality.
Total Recall is published in paperback as Your Life Uploaded: The Digital Way to Better Memory, Health, and Productivity.
See also
- Dymaxion ChronofileDymaxion ChronofileThe Dymaxion Chronofile is Buckminster Fuller's attempt to document his life as completely as possible. He created a very large scrapbook in which he documented his life every 15 minutes from 1920 to 1983. The scrapbook contains copies of all correspondence, bills, notes, sketches, and clippings...
- LifeLogLifeLogLifeLog was a project of the Information Processing Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects AgencyAccording to its bid solicitation pamphlet, it was to be "an ontology-based system that captures, stores, and makes accessible the flow of one person's experience in and...
- Microsoft SenseCamMicrosoft SenseCamMicrosoft's SenseCam is the key image capture tool for the MyLifeBits project, a lifetime storage database. SenseCam was invented by Researcher Lyndsay Williams of Microsoft Research Cambridge, UK in 1999. Early team members were James Srinivasan and Trevor Taylor...
- SousveillanceSousveillanceSousveillance refers to the recording of an activity by a participant in the activity typically by way of small wearable or portable personal technologies.Sousveillance has also been described as "inverse surveillance", i.e...
- Steve MannSteve MannSteven Mann , is a tenured professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Toronto.-Education:...
External links
- MyLifeBits Project
- Gordon Bell and Jim Gemmell - A look into Microsoft's Bay Area Research Center, Part I Channel9 video, including MyLifeBits material.
- Flogging Gordon Bell's Memory Thinking about how LifeLogLifeLogLifeLog was a project of the Information Processing Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects AgencyAccording to its bid solicitation pamphlet, it was to be "an ontology-based system that captures, stores, and makes accessible the flow of one person's experience in and...
s, or FlogLifeLogLifeLog was a project of the Information Processing Technology Office of the Defense Advanced Research Projects AgencyAccording to its bid solicitation pamphlet, it was to be "an ontology-based system that captures, stores, and makes accessible the flow of one person's experience in and...
s, would fundamentally change psychotherapyPsychotherapyPsychotherapy is a general term referring to any form of therapeutic interaction or treatment contracted between a trained professional and a client or patient; family, couple or group...
and psychiatryPsychiatryPsychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
. - "A Head For Detail" Clive Thompson, Fast CompanyFast Company (magazine)Fast Company is a full-color business magazine that releases 10 issues per year and reports on topics including innovation, digital media, technology, change management, leadership, design, and social responsibility...