Abstract

The inpiration comes from a flash drive that I picked up by accident. I believed it was mine because of the identical appearance. But the disorganized files and folders, with mostly unformatted names, also seemed oddly familiar. It wasn't until I searched for something, months later, that I realized my mistake. This led me reflect on my own file system, which holds many memories I have lost touch with. Meanwhile, I was intrigued by the uncanniness from the interface, through which a line between my personal space and others seems blurred. This project that dwells on a website recreates the experience of getting lost through the uncanny process of recollection, by utilizing my file system interface. To achieve this, I designed the project to resemble a directory, and I assigned the port number of 2023 as a timestamp to the website as a specific entry point. Why a website? You might ask. Simply put, I wanted to throw this uncanny system of memory storage out into the world for strangers to stumble upon, much like how I was initially perplexed by the one.

Research

As anthropologist Marc Augé defines, non-places are these generic, transient, and interchangeable spaces that lack the identity and history of traditional places. Common examples of non-places include airports, supermarkets, and other passageways. This concept resonates with me not only in the sense of directories serving as pathways, but also in the way my computer, as a digital space, lacks inherent identity. Initially, it is a non-place, a tool with standardized design. It is only through the stored memory that my computer takes on an identity, one that is linked to my personal attachment. However, as my emotional connection to the stored fragments fades, I rely on this machine to help me reconstruct my history. Yet, the way I remember is not just through the archival system created by my past self, which now seems distant, but also through the homogenized graphical user interface that frames the fragments without a sense of belongingness or time. However, the recollection still goes on, despite the lostness in each attempt of retracing the past. Before I realize, the nonplaceness has already been integrated into my memory through each revisit into my directories. Now, this once non-place has transformed into a familiar space. The addition of the ".site" suffix not only signifies the top-level domain of a website, but also connotes a sense of belonging that contrasts with the previous lack of anchor. By affixing ".site" to "non-place," I find myself embracing the uncanny and alienation that previously existed, now incorporating it into my sense of home where my memories reside.

Technical Details

HTML, CSS, JS, EJS, NodeJS, ExpressJS, NeDB, Websokect