Create 2024-07-17-clean-slate-bookmarks.md

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+---
+layout: post
+date: 2024-07-17 8:30:00 -0500
+tags: post, technology
+title: A Clean Slate
+---
+
+There are times when I crave a clean slate, an opportunity to clear out all the cruft of the past and start over. I do this in small ways each year. Perhaps I get a new phone or computer and don't restore from a backup, or I try a new organizational method that naturally starts with archiving all the old things to make room for the new, or physically clearing my workspace to clean it and start from a place of renewed focus. A clean slate has a lot of use when you feel cluttered.
+
+## Bookmarks
+
+I recently realized that I have been using a technology that most people apparently don't use anymore: bookmarks. I am not saying that people don't bookmark things anymore, but at least not in the way I do, which is based on a history wherein bookmarks were the only option for saving something for later on the web. I have had a set of bookmarks that I have collected and curated over the years for a variety of reasons, but maybe that form of collecting information is no longer necessary because of search, purpose-built apps, and conversational artificial intelligence.
+
+Yesterday, I exported that list of bookmarks to a file and started over; I currently have zero bookmarks in my browser of choice. Sometimes, we need a jarring change in order to see where we have gone a direction that needs adjustment and this will be a jarring change for me. Interestingly though, I have already noted something that is of value to me: in the absence of bookmarks, Safari surfaces other information—such as frequently visited sites—and that information may prove valuable in realizing my habits (both the healthy and unhealthy ones).
+
+This clean slate is brought to you by [Nash](https://nashp.com), who discussed bookmarks with me and it was like we were speaking different languages. Here is a key excerpt from the conversation:
+
+> I only use bookmarks for the important apps that I have to visit daily/weekly. Anything else, I wouldn’t put inside of bookmarks. I used to. I also used to fill up other apps with similar things. Over time though, it becomes hoarding. I’ve settled on a few ways that make the internet and my own life mesh very well, without becoming a collector of every hyperlink I come across.
+
+This was predicated from a long discussion that started with a simple question (in my mind): "So if you want to save information on a webpage to reference in the future, what do you do?" Here are examples I gave to Nash to clarify *why* I am saving a webpage in the first place:
+
+- App documentation and support
+- Status pages for an important service
+- Language learning resources
+- Activities for kids
+- Information about a product I'm researching
+- How-to documents for building something
+- Workout information and routines
+- Recipes I like
+- Articles I want to read later
+- Information or pages I want to reference or link to here
+
+The key for Nash is that he has clarified his use cases for saving information and the apps that enable conversion from a link to a useful piece of information; he will likely write about this in [his newsletter](https://nashp.com/mc) now, so I won't steal his thunder. However, my solutions may not look just like his—they shouldn't—so instead of reiterating his guidance, I will leave you with the driving question (and a link to a 2018 post on a tangential topic in the See Also section) that will assist me in my journey from here:
+
+**Instead of bookmarking a link, what is my intent with the information?**
+
+From there, I can see a pathway to a whole set of workflows to make the information actionable, instead of forever collected until the link becomes a [404](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTTP_404).
+
+## See Also
+- [Digital Hoarding (or the Fight for Digital Minimalism)](https://engineeredeloquence.com/2018/11/digital-hoarding) - 11/2018