Incremental Video – A way September 29, 2009

No there is no SuperMemo 2009, new Supermemo 2008 includes a lot of goodies, not many, but… Well long do, but its here, incremental video is great, I wish I had all my classes from college, ok maybe not all of them, some where totally boring. Incremental Video learning is here, is like having the opportunity to hear once a conference (jokes, dance video, what ever) and after wards you can look back to previous important sections only, and not wasting you time, with non interesting parts, is like watching a conference until you no longer understand, search related info, get back on track. I got so many video courses, I wish all of them where on youtube right now I want to get started, this is promising. Incremental Video Learning sounds like a complete learning tool, after all we learn mostly trough our eyes, don’t we. OK some also learn doing (but watching is very close) current science backs up that watching with the intention to learning helps you learn to do faster, so even if your not doing Incremental Video learning sounds great. So incremental video is super, but what it SuperMemo 2008?… I’ll make my description in the a new post.

Incremental Reading death July 27, 2009

I’ve been searching for incremental readers world wide. It is my believe that there are many incremental readers. Perhaps they don’t know the term “incremental reading” perhaps they don’t even call a special name the technique they use, but they certainly use some related procedure.

My interest is to establish certain practice principles so to help new comers not making the same mistakes we all have, which is for me akin to reinventing the wheel over and over. I’ve found some, specially in the Poland community, but not many have a lot of experience with this practice over time. Any way, this search has almost diverted me from my main goal, which is getting into the first places on the residency test I’ll have next year.

This discouraging feeling of not finding enough Incremental Readers leave me a bitter taste, but perhaps I was wrong, they are not many of there are not enough at this time. Incremental reading was either not born or is already dead.

Incremental Reading advice required July 20, 2009

I’m a fan of using incremental reading for reading non vital articles, the kind of articles in the some day maybe list on a GTD system. As a whole it a wonderfull principle, that does make reading more entertained, but if it is more productive than traditional reading or not I’m not quite sure.

I believe the issue of incremental reading has potential for life long learning, once we have a tool to do it. Even better now that thanks to contribution of ideas about multiple color formating by reader Marcin Rybacki multiple ideas can be easily differentiated by themes inside a single article.

SQ3R (Survey, questioning, reading, reviewing, repeating) technique is a good way to ensure that the global idea of text read is acknowledge and as well to learn its content. If it also meant a systematical way to review knowledge afterwards probably this post would not come trough.

A little step at the time, the principles that make incremental reading a better reading technique are being collected in my SuperMemo database of ideas, but one head thinking is very prone to misdirection an overspecialization.

For those of you that use the incremental reading techniques, what are the best principles you would recommend to improved it? Do you believe incremental reading can be used to processes other type of articles, besides the “some day maybe type”?.

For those that don’t use the technique, but have heard about it, which are the reasons you departed from applying it your learning processes?

“Supermemo” for specific subset of people???? July 6, 2009

My mind struggles very much to comprehend many questions stated repeatedly in discussion groups as well as many blogs, why you don’t try to make supermemo universal. This is so, because I believe that a more universal supermemo would make possible filling  the gap of self-making each and every one of the items to memorize. I’m very lazy, I want to do the least to make the most of my time on more things, very oxymoronic as it sounds.

I finished reading reading previously commented interview. Many aspects strike me as surprise, every body in supermemo world were already aware of most of the things we constantly complain or at least talk about, even Dr Wozniak it self acknowledges simplicity, yet on a closing statement he goes on showing that for him SuperMemo is a program made for some and firmly states:

“My brand” of SuperMemo will always please only a very specific and small subset of people. However displeasing that is, I gotta live with this awareness. (Piotr Wozniak)

Source: http://www.supermemo.com/articles/interview.htm [Accessed: [2009-07-06]]

In response to you, Nattan, yes it looks like SuperMemo is made the way it is like some kind of locked door for those who don’t like the hard work, perhaps “laws of thermodinamics says that life shouldn’t be easy” but being lazy as I’m, we should try to make it easier (e.a. more effective).  Lazy as I’m. I wouldn’t stop digging  for diamonds because there is too much dirt to dig through (There’s even on the subject: Tree feet from gold), so I’ll love my supermemo for life and if ever dissapears I’ll have to perfect my programing skills are pays some one to build one again.

A fancier GUI won’t make Supermemo universal because is aviral. July 4, 2009

I have always though about Dr. Wozniak reluctancy to improve the interface. By the share amount of knowledge shared in the official web anyone would think this must a be a very smart guy, in fact the whole idea of creating this product was to make him self smarter (selfish as it sounds), but how doesn’t he understand a better GUI would make this product more universal. Seems like reluctancy doesn’t come from an attitude that  I call “teachers paradigm” (a teacher can’t see the students point of view unless he becomes one mentally) but is based on the concepts of memetics.

When Supermemo’s creator was interview and asked the following question in 2001:

If SuperMemo works as advertised, why isn’t it as popular as an Internet browser?

He explained not only the reasons for the though justified a not greater expansion of the concept of learning trough SRS systems, but also the answer for not investing more effort on a better GUI.

Wozniak: When setting up SuperMemo World, we thought SuperMemo was a product that would spread like wildfire. This came from little understanding of the differences in psychological profile of people that make up the studying population. It was an erroneous extrapolation from our own perception of SuperMemo to the entire population.

… Inherently, SuperMemo is not viral. In memetic science, there is a research field some mathamaticians call “social percolation theory”. It describes networks of individuals, their communication means, the spread of information in such networks, and the variables that affect it. Let me use some concepts of that theory to explain my point. SuperMemo does not have the Whoa factor that makes an Internet browser spread. It is therefore inherently aviral, i.e. it does not percolate. It’s smoothness factor is low.

I heard many voices that if SuperMemo were simpler or if it had a better user interface or if it was translated to Polish or French, or if it came with a plain language documentation its ability to percolate would change. Simplicity will not take away SuperMemo’s inherent problem with smoothness. Nobody can sit to SuperMemo and feel the enlightenment or joy of playing with the browser. That is the key! Several variables in a social percolation model stand against SuperMemo.

Many top-IQ people and great programmers were given the idea of SuperMemo to their free hands to capitalize on the previous experience. They tried to develop a better wrapper for the idea. A better “viral capsule”. In other words “better SuperMemo”. I intentionally stay away from similar efforts to make sure I do not pollute their creativity with my own preconceived molds. (Italics mine)Those smart people could never come up with widely viral product they hoped for. This is not their fault, the fault is inherent in the concept.

Our brain does not have a reward-punishment system for measuring memory or forgetting. Ignorance is rather painless, and knowledge SuperMemo helps you keep in your brain is always taken for granted. Knowledge “feels” as if it was to stay in your brain anyway. It is the “feeling” that matters. It is very hard to build impressive and massive bodies of knowledge because persistence and will power stand on the way for a majority of people. Only when you learn a huge body of material you develop the skills, the awareness, and the deep understanding of what SuperMemo does to your life. Only a very small proportion of people really “feel” SuperMemo and its power. But this “feel” and awareness often takes years. That disqualifies SuperMemo as a viral product. Not only it is not smooth. Its velocity is deplorable. It does not ride on the first experience and instant gratification, it rides on hard-earned wisdom. Those weaknesses are inescapable and will always be there. Naturally, there were cases where a small niche of users was quickly saturated, where SuperMemo conquered a whole class in a school or university, but these cases were always based on individual leadership. Where one or very few very smart people got infected with the idea and were able to make others follow. However, those niches collapse as soon as leaders are gone! SuperMemo keeps on spreading among people for who knowledge is the matter of survival or who simply love learning.

Source: The Decade of SuperMemo:, Interview with people who brought SuperMemo to life.  M. Morawska. Summer 2001 (updated Fall 2002). http://www.supermemo.com/articles/interview.htm [Accessed:2009-07-04].

So ok, I love my supermemo, I would also love a better GUI, I do love style,  but wouldn’t stand losing the actual power for simplicity or better GUI.  in fact I want even more power, but after reading this article at least I know my expectations of a better GUI or simplicity won’t come from the this man, maybe is even better for some. But I would like that many more would enjoy the pleasure of learning efficiently and that’s what supermemo means knowing how much you learn for the invested time or learning how much you don’t.

Very unhappy with postpone. June 27, 2009

In the beginning it was all peace and calm. But as items started to fill my outstanding repetitions, postpone was going to come and help. At least that’s what Dr. Wozniak announced. Until this very momment I have been unable to configure to my best benefit this postpone criteria, somehow I know you can’t make this program to be the more difficult possible software, but still many times I feel Dr. Wozniak just doesn’t understand common human mortals and thinks every single help page in the supermemo site is clearly stated what and what to do in order to accomplish what we want.

Does anybody use postone? even better anyone has configure postpone manually insted of the default values? What are the criteria you use in postpone?

Posting about Mnemosyne Vs SM? May 27, 2009

I’m following a discussion about SM and Mnemosyne or other related SRS software. I do embrace currently SM above any other SRS software, but I’m always in the search of the best. What’s your point of view regarding SuperMemo Vs Mnemosyne?