Malleable Software

These days, we spend much of our time in software spaces that are—ironically—less flexible than our physical environment. Software is shipped to us as prefabricated applications built by developers far away. When we wish something worked differently, we can only submit feedback and work around the issue. We shape our workflows to match the available tools, rather than molding our tools to the way we want to think.

We're researching malleable software: a new kind of software environment where anyone can adapt their tools to meet their needs with minimal friction.

Lab Notes

We published an ongoing development log for Patchwork, our first foray into versioning as a substrate. Read it.

Projects

Patchwork

2024
A research project about version control software for writers, developers, and other creatives.

Embark

2023
An exploration of how live data and computation can gradually enrich informal travel plans.

Potluck

2022
Gradually enriching text documents into interactive applications.