OLLOS

OLLOS structures itemized personal computing interfaces into one long timeline. It explores some inklings around how operating systems might reify an understanding of time.

The idea first came up in my notes in June 2021 as “One Long Log OS”: “All you can do is type down one long log. You can issue commands and ask questions, like to get email, but it all gets appended into your one long log. That’s all you can do. You can’t edit or delete.”

By the time I built it in November 2022, it had taken on some other qualities; namely, my aim was to find ways of having digital environments allow for more fluidly floating our things among different timescales, as we naturally engage with what’s in our focus, let some things slip to the periphery or background, and as other things bubble up into our central focus. It ultimately only scratched the surface of those latter aims, but gave direction for how future projects might continue the work.