Welcome to Sane’s Monthly Roundup edition #2. In these newsletters, we share updates on what’s been happening on/at Sane lately and how we’re thinking through building product.
What we’ve been up to
Setting the canvas free!
We’ve learned that while the non-linearity of the canvas provides a lot of value in visualising ideas, sometimes hierarchy is useful.
Images have so far been embedded into nodes and displayed on the canvas as thumbnails. Now, you can add and resize them directly on canvas. Other block types will follow, allowing for creative freedom and hierarchy between visual and structured content.
Sharing spaces privately as unique links.
Due to popular demand, private spaces can now be published on the web and accessed through a unique URL without being featured on the discovery stream.
Infinite stream
A big quality of life improvement: on the discovery stream you can now scroll at ease.
Other bits & improvements
Pasted links now display with thumbnails by default, making collecting bookmarks faster and prettier.
Content from the clipboard can be pasted directly on the canvas, including links, text, youtube embeds, and images.
It’s been a long time coming: Shift + draw or shift + click to select multiple nodes.
Meet Fran!
As a part of these roundups, we introduce you to some of our early users. This month we asked Francine Carlos to share some of her ideas around the internet, Sane, and how she relates with the (digital) world around her.
Who are you and what do you care about?
I grew up exploring the arts a lot. Music and performing became my main mediums–for annual productions, I would practise my craft for hours on end on the daily. But after a long-run of identifying as a performing arts student, I found that I started to relate to my craft more in a “performance” way, rather than a “practice” way. Perfection and completion seemed to have become the ultimate goals, but that was not the direction I wanted to go.
Now, I place an extra emphasis on exploring my mediums as a curiosity – not just something I practise to perform. I spend more time trying things I otherwise would have been scared to do, like creating/sharing “subpar” things. I reflect more on what I really want and how I want to get there a lot and feel free. I wish this for others too.
Other than that, I care a lot about accessible healthcare, education, and being a mindful technologist.
What do you do in life?
Right now, I am (technically) in my last year of university, and am bound for med-school next year! I am really excited to gain more clinical knowledge and experience. But I also really want to create art with other artists.
What tools do you use for discovering, creating, and sharing ideas?
I pick my tools based on what best allows me to discover/explore/discuss, collect/curate, and grow/synthesise. I most actively partake in Are.na, Sane, Obsidian, books, online communities, and classic Youtube.
Describe your dream internet.
My dream internet is a slower, softer space, where we are encouraged to gather in curiosity, and witness each other in love. The dream really is as loose as that sounds. I want an internet that encourages intention and mindfulness as much as it emphasises our individual capacities to cultivate that. Being somewhat a physical, malleable place to me – I also want it to be soil we prime for future technologists to be able to enjoy, as we have been able to.
How would you describe Sane and your first experiences with it?
I’d describe Sane as a space for growth and synthesis. I believe I found Sane at a time when I was really looking to create a digital garden and blog, but found that mainstream or available platforms did not meet my needs. They had a lot of friction, having to push each update through VSCode for my digital garden. I also could not comfortably express and share my work with the “publish once perfect” culture required by other blogging platforms.
When I started using Sane, I felt empowered and in a sense, liberated. It suddenly became a lot easier and enjoyable to write and share my ideas. I no longer had to be under the constant pressure of being cemented, because Sane allows the evolving nature of idea-growing to flourish.
What do you like to use Sane for?
I like using Sane mainly for two things: growing ideas, and creating places.
Like what I mentioned, I liked that Sane somewhat removed the assumption of published work. Here, spaces are evolving, as they do in the physical world. I feel comfortable writing and learning in public on Sane because of this. That aside, the “spatial” set-up of Sane – unlike many traditional note taking methods – makes it really fun to experiment with creating explorable places! It’s like a hyperlink party. I’ve tried (and am looking to keep) creating Sane spaces modelled after physical ones, like:
Digital kitchens: where I log “what’s cooking” – what I am doing, what I am thinking about, what I want to do, and what is on hold. Basically, my life’s general activities.
Digital laboratories: where I log experiments – sort of like a portfolio, but with more emphasis on being a space you can navigate.
Digital dandelion field: where I grow ideas in a non-linear, non-binding manner – I plant seeds not knowing where they will go, allow them to go where the wind blows them, and nurture them wherever they are.
How do you see Sane evolving in the future?
I am curious to see how Sane’s social and community features evolve! Right now, it is optimal for me to use in the way that I do because the social features are just right – it’s enough for me to grow my ideas and possibly share them, while also not putting that overwhelming pressure of having to be out there.
What would you like to see more of on Sane / the wider internet.
Feature wise on Sane, I think audio file embedding and maybe password accessed spaces would be useful long-term! For the wider internet, I would like to see more slowness, synthesis, and intention.
Link your favourite spaces!
A big thank you for the thoughtful conversations we’ve had with some of you in the last weeks. As always, we want to hear your wildest internet dreams. Book time to chat with us here, we’re waiting for you!
— Ida, Tiina, & Dane