Spark Joy: Applying the “KonMari” method to Digital Asset & Media Management
In the physical world, we live in a consumer culture and tend to accumulate (hoard) a large amount of stuff. We’re encouraged to get that better job so we can earn more to live in a larger flat, which enables us to purchase more stuff to fill that space.
But why do we continue to buy and collect stuff? I think George Carlin perfectly summarizes our preoccupation in this standup segment:
Having a curated collection of stuff contributes to the formation of our identity. A personal library can show how well-read we are, and a vinyl collection can justify our great taste (or snobbery) in music. We want to show others in our social circles and families who we are, through objects. I admit, my DVD collection of Criterion horror films is quite comprehensive and is on full display in my flat.
Now we have so much stuff that it may cause anxiety and stress — a physical manifestation of our cluttered and overloaded mind. One person has identified this phenomenon of hoarding and has come up with a solution: purge our possessions and only keep what is most important to us. Her name is Marie Kondo, and her “KonMari” method has inspired many to see the magic of tidying-up and change their lives as a result. She is even referred to as the Beyoncé of organizing.
Marie’s method is simple but immediate: only keep the things that “spark joy” in our lives. For example, she asks you to take all of your books off the shelves and pick them up one by one. As you hold each book in your hand, you ask yourself if it “sparks joy”. If it does, keep it. If not, toss it or donate it.
The results can be dramatic. Your flat might start out looking like an unkempt archive but, after Marie’s process, can be transformed into a minimalist, Zen-like gallery space of carefully curated possessions straight out of a MUJI catalogue.
However, this method has been faced with some criticism. In a sense, the KonMari method highlights the ugliness of our consumer culture, as Sofi Papamarko of The Toronto Starstates:
“The KonMari method is simply not compatible with real life and it emphasizes the worst qualities of our disposal culture. The reason we have so much stuff is because we buy too much, not because we don’t throw enough away. We need to consider this problem at the source, and practice mindful consumption…We should be sharing and enjoying what we already have instead of buying more and more.”
Whether or not you agree with Marie Kondo’s “spark joy” movement — a friend of mine refers to her as “the devil in the beige suit” — there is a benefit to being mindful about our consumption and disposal of objects.
And so I wonder how the KonMari method can be applied to other aspects of our life, such as our digital lifestyle. As a student in the Digital Asset & Media Management (DAMM) programme at King’s College London, I am learning about the strategies and concepts of organising and preserving our digital culture. Since our digital files are intangible and take up less space than physical objects, we can accumulate a large amount of born-digital content that is only limited by the availability and continuing functionality of devices, hard drives and cloud storage.
Recently, the students in the DAMM programme wrote essays about the lifecycle of digital assets (herein a collective groan is heard, and the DAMM students bounce out of this article). In our essays, we examined the various layers and actions that surround the functionality and storage of digital assets.
One of the key actions in the lifecycle model is “appraisal,” in which we assess the value and relevance of a particular digital asset. This will determine whether a digital asset will continue to be stored and preserved in a DAMM system, or get disposed of. In a sense we are deciding, if a digital asset “sparks joy”, then we will keep it.
There are so many implications that surround our personal digital assets and their permanence. I have unflattering photos from my adolescence and abysmal first drafts of my undergraduate essays stored on my hard drive. They definitely do not spark joy at this very moment, and I could very well delete them right now. However, there might be a certain nostalgic value to them in the future, and so I keep them.
As such, the KonMari method is a wholly singular experience unique to the individual and their assets. It is difficult to apply it to an organization that consists of users and stakeholders; the opinions on the value and essence of digital assets will vary. Just imagine the chaos that would occur when an individual sees that a collection of crucial digital files for a particular department doesn’t “spark joy” to them specifically and decides to delete it.
Chaos. Maybe they get fired. The damage is done and those files are gone, unless we consider the practice of digital forensics. But that’s another topic for a later date.
Since we are not dealing with physical clutter that may cause anxiety upon sight and compel us to purge it immediately, the management of digital assets allows us to take a more mindful approach. If we are to become DAMM champions for an organisation, we must work collaboratively with all users to determine the value and relevancy of our digital assets. One way we can do this is to track the usage of a particular digital asset and capture it with metadata. If we notice that a digital asset isn’t being used and is taking up valuable storage space, then it’s up to us to initiate the conversation about its appraisal and eventual disposal.
So to all the Digital Asset Managers out there, let’s “spark joy” but be conscious of our actions.
