Students don't organize files anymore

[FGD135]

It’s supposed to be about the filing!

[MikeR]

The same way machine learning (and a very narrow subset of that field) is now synonymous with artificial intelligence.

Just don’t ask them how it works…

[MikeR]

Apple Photos isn’t unique in that. Their Podcasts app (which at it’s heart is nothing more than a way of cataloging MP3 files), doesn’t put a folder in the user’s home folder; instead it puts downloads in - wait for it:

~/Library/Group Containers/243LU875E5.groups.com.apple.podcasts/

The reason for that being -shrugs-.

[jerwin]

@MikeR

The reason for that being -shrugs-.

sandboxing. Apple’s philosophy seems to be that ios and macos apps should only have access to the web or files explicitly created by the user in that app. If you download an app, it shouldn’t be able to rummage through your contacts, or your personal photos.

The older notion of the poweruser in full command of her computer, piping her data from app to app to app, with casuual abandon is replaced by a more paranoid view of one rogue app abusing its privileges.

In this view, scripts don’t exist to help a user get things done-- they’re one step removed from malware.

[Mike.71]

Neither old doctors, for that matter.

[MikeR]

Thanks.

The Music and TV apps don’t do likewise, which makes it all the more confusing when you can’t find a file. I’m wondering if they’re trying to make me nostalgic for iTunes - which given how bad the replacement apps are, isn’t entirely impossible.

Then I’ve pretty much given up hope of Apple ever being consistent in anything on their operating systems these days.

[PurpleFlower]

@MagicFox

Boy, I sure hope they don’t expect to get a job in a multigenerational, multicontract organization where every contractual action and expenditure needs to be meticulously documented, document retention is required by law and regulation and audited annually, where there is staff turnover, and portfolios get rearranged on a regular basis.

Yes, it made me think of my husbands work email, which he keeps super organized in many many folders for these reasons. Not only does he have stuff he has to keep for legal reasons, but if anything ever happened to him and his boss needed to take over his clients, its all very organized and logical so anyone could get caught up quickly.

[Skeptic]

@adamrice

She had arrived at a folk explanation that you needed to google something in order to get a usable link—if you want to visit www.ford.com, you google that, and then click the link.

I’d give BoingBoing . net as an example of why that is often a good idea for websites you don’t necessarily already know the exact URL for. Also, typo squatting is still a thing, but so is SEO, so googling the site can also get you something other than what you are looking for.

[anothernewbbaccount]

@jerwin

ios and macos apps should only have access to the web or files explicitly created by the user in that app. If you download an app, it shouldn’t be able to rummage through your contacts, or your personal photos.

And what, pray, Apple, if I want to use Photos to do one thing and GIMP to do another with the same file? Or iTunes to do one thing and Audacity to do another with the same file? Their assumption that any file created by an app is only relevant to that app is a totally false assumption. This is one of the reasons I hate Apple. (There are several more.)

[bcsizemo]

That’s a damn solid Ted Talk.

Apple users are the worst about having any idea where a physical file might reside. It’s in iCloud, doesn’t mean anything in relation to a physical file when you are offline. Which I know, that is not something that happens in this day and time. /s

I can understand Apple’s desire to sell the user on an ecosystem, but why the fancy hardware? In terms of hardware performance they have some of the nicest phones on the market, but then they restrict them with the software capability of a VTech kids toy.

All of my data (pictures, videos, programs) is backed up locally on a RAID array. With 100k pictures I can’t find you an exact one, but I can narrow down to a year and month with a few clicks of a mouse.

I feel like I should start my kids off on a linux or windows box not connected to the internet and just let them explore.

[airshowfan]

@anothernewbbaccount

…this is why I refuse, point blank, to use on my Mac any Apple software that tells me I don’t need to worry about where my files are, the app will take care of that. NO, they are MY files and I fucking well want to know exactly where they are. It may never have occurred to these fuckers that I might want to use those files with a DIFFERENT app, so up their own arses were they.

Amen to that!

@audaxaxon

…it is something kind of analogous to the developmental leap that a toddler makes re. object permanence - the realization that there is a “hidden” level of continuous reality that is momentarily being variously represented. It’s that sense of an underlying integrity that forms a common factor between the GUI view of a folder and the command line path, and something that can be “transported” on portable media - etc. that if not directly experienced at some point - it becomes tough for some folks to form a facile, flexible relationship to the mediums - and yet they can still operate with them under tightly defined contexts.

That is a great way to put it.

[marence]

@VeronicaConnor

Distinguishing the sources of different forms of ignorance is probably our first step in combating it.

There’s a lot of ignorance about computers, at all levels and all ages. I studied machine language, but my daughter knows nothing about how her computer or phone work. She told me, “I don’t know how a toaster works, but I know how to make toast!” She doesn’t care about how it works as long as it works, and then she takes it to a technician who can repair it.

We all don’t need to be computer technicians, but we should be able to understand how to store information, documents, photos, or anything digital, in a way that anyone could find them later.

@MadLibrarian

People think that librarian is a dying job, but just wait until you need to find some bit of information and have no clue how to begin your search.

Being able to understand how information (written or digital) is best stored, with the ability to find it easily, is one of the magic arts that librarians command.

@vrplumber

No one can know everything about everything (or probably everything about any one thing). There is simply too much information available to be grasped fully.

But if it’s properly organized, you can find any of that information when you need it!

[MagicFox]

@L0ki

when was this magical time when this skill did not need to be taught and all new entrants to university came naturally endowed by their creator with the knowledge of how to organise files?

I can only speak for myself, but directory structure, file organizing, and naming conventions was taught in my computer literacy class in 9th grade. The CS teacher gave homework where we sorted files by subject, semester, and purpose (HW, papers, notes), and it was on the test. She also made clear that file organization could be context specific, but was useful when you had 1000s of files, and if you needed to share files with others.

I was fortunate the school had good CS teachers who were able to teach these skills; I’ve used them my entire professional life, both in learning existing systems, as well as developing/imposing systems where order didn’t exist before.

Yes, it is a skill that needs to be taught, but in IMO it is a skill that needs to be acquired before graduating from secondary school.

[TornPaperNapkin]

@MagicFox

Yes, it is a skill that needs to be taught, but in IMO it is a skill that needs to be acquired before graduating from secondary school.

God I wish I lived in a world where people were suggesting this at school board meetings.