Distributed Content

If content (information) is semantic (meaning) wrapped in syntax (structure), then historically content has been locked to a singular form. The structure of language extends to a physical structure of containment—a book, a photograph, a CD, etc.

Personal computing followed a similar pattern of containment—in essence locking content and machine. Structural barriers existed because either there was no physical mechanism to transfer content or the content was layered in proprietary syntax that rendered transfers moot. What breached these barriers has been the introduction and pervasiveness of the world wide web and the expectation that content should be easily transferable.

With the ease of transferability of content, the machine, or device, becomes almost irrelevant except for the residual issue of storage. Storage per devise has increased many orders of magnitude since the beginning of the personal computing era, but with little change in the concept, acceptance, and expectation that storage is always locally defined. The notable exceptions are for photos, videos, and music—where distributed content is becoming widespread and approaching normative. Distributed content is content that permanently resides somewhere—but not on personal devices.

We have had content fixed to physical forms. We have had content exchangeable amongst physical forms. We are moving to a time where content is delivered transiently to physical forms—where personal devices are for the transient presentation of content. We are moving to a trifurcated future: content, presenting devices, and storage sites.

I personally became acquainted with this trifurcation on April 30^th—the day my iPad arrived. What started was a personal experiment into what is necessary to maintain the same level of functioning that was provided by personal computers. The transition to a virtual keyboard was relatively easy. The more difficult task has been the issue of accessing and storing content from different devices (iPhone, iPad, notebook, and desktop). How does one move to content use that is device independent? Especially when you consider that content use is much more complex than mere content consumption—streaming audio or video. Use is a generative activity, whereas consumption is a non–generative activity.

My solution has been to address the issue of storage—in particular storage of generative content. I've dealt with my non–generative (archival and incremental) storage issues here. This generative content storage solution is also an example of interpermissibility at the individual level.

Content is not moved amongst devices, but rather permissive access to cloud storage. Generative content is not subjected to device–induced versioning problems. The device can be wiped (or bricked) at any time, because devices are only used for presenting and generative–activities with storage off–device.

Distributing Services

Are all these services necessary? No, but device–independent use of generative content is new—what we'll need are multiple competitive vendors offering holistic solutions.

Co–Location: Interaction, Permission, Transport, and Content

Distribution: Interaction, Permission, Transport, and Content