July 22, 2002
..
| Subject: | Schedule Diary System (SDS) Requirements |
|
Exploratory Survey of Publications New World Order, Design, Pending |
[This is the third part of Gary's exploratory analysis dated July 22, 2002;
the
first part
is an index. The second part begins
Gary's analysis
and is mostly a
review of POIMS to identify requirements]
..
Schedule Diary System (SDS)
New World Order
Communication Metrics... new science for a new era
..
New World Order Needs "Old Time Religion"
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#262Q
..
Language functions
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#7515
..
In effect, the human mind is creating a world for which it is not well suited.
The mind is numbed and overwhelmed by a steady diet of information; yet today
every business is striving to make its organization better "informed,"
frantically acquiring tools of self-destruction, because there is no evident
means to improve intelligence so that information can be processed into what
people really need, the... connections ...between... cause and effect ...that
produce... knowledge and ideas.
..
glj --
This notion has been repeated, but there are a few elements that it overlooks:
Concept formation --
the evolution of correct abstractions and models from experience is a
broader notion than just "cause and effect". This is covered to a
limited degree under "organic structure", but that term is never fully
exemplified. The notion of paradigms discussed in the paragraph
following the above deals with it to a limited degree.
..
Definitions --
A major source of meaning drift is the difference in definitions of words, and the fact that most people never bother to get more than a feel good idea of what words mean.
A part of the problem in communications and meaning drift over time is that
language is seldom used in a precise way. The precise details of a story are
not the part that is memorable or that is even the important part of the story.
..
When it was necessary to remember something precisely, mnemonic systems of
other sorts than stories, possibly integrated into stories, were developed.
The result is that what is said is seldom precise even if the antecedants are
available, since the feel good perspective is that the result is not a precise
thing, but instead consists of agreeable feelings on the part of the
participants.
..
Precision in the use of language is another characteristic of the practice of
law. Without it, even alignment with all of the relevant elements will not
result in correct information being communicated.
In aerospace, we have massive documents that are supposed to define what it is we are trying to build. They purport to be engineering specifications along the lines of construction documents in other professions. Because of a lack of precision in the use of language, and a lack of accepted standards for how to interpret various constructs, the language is often ambiguous, incomplete, inconsistent, and unclear. Until those problems are cleared up, it is nearly impossible to determine whether what is said is correct or is in alignment with other related statements in other places.
..
Mental Models
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#7337
Recent work in biology indicates that real "thinking" occurs beneath the
conscious mind. This is where information is aligned with objectives, history,
documents, people and time. These linkages settle into patterns of
understanding, called "knowledge," and are compared with innate paradigms
comprised of personal values, needs, and cultural influences that evolve over
time.
..
Meaning is given to everything we experience, and information is organized
rightly or wrongly, for action.
Paradigms are decision rules for various patterns of action, like a model, or template, that trigger belief about cause and effect.
Comparing new information with patterns of our life experience that match a
paradigm, yields "meaning." (see also Devil in the Details people draw
different meaning from the same information, due to variations in life
experience, that make communication the biggest risk in enterprise.)
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#21AE
Organization and control processes in construction, manufacturing and in legal
practice reflect the TQM notion of business "metrics" to see how management
measures up. Adding a metric to the main activity of management,
"communication," therefore leads to a concept of... Knowledge Space ...
analogous to dimensional space used by architects.
..
Just as location in dimensional space is critical for understanding the
strength of a building, location in Knowledge Space yields understanding of
chronology and alignment of daily details with objectives, history, policy,
requirements law, commitments and history. Positioning information in Knowledge
Space through chronology and alignment provide context that enriches
information, based on nuance, correlations and implications, commonly called
"meaning."
..
Technology that manages context with organization, analysis, summary and
feedback facilitates follow up that makes management strong enough to succeed
in the new realities of a more complex, fast paced, high risk business
environment, cited by Peter Drucker.
glj --
Alignment with belief structures and mental models alter perception before
other alignments occur. The belief system impacts perception in a rather direct
way.
..
Here is the discussion of mental maps
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#3007
Mental maps connect momentary summary impressions, at the conscious level of
attention, to the vast array of details derived from total life experience,
which are, in turn, connected into chunks of chronologies organized by context
in the subconscious mind.
..
Organized chronologies of cause and effect that can be drawn from the
subconscious into the conscious span of attention comprise "knowledge" that is
held as belief.
glj --
not just cause and effect but entire structures of relationships, models of
reasoning, and more.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#23TE
Belief, that is not sufficiently grounded in experience, is exposed as false knowledge, when reality eventually intrudes to produce conflict.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#5I6H
Belief born out by consistent experience is wisdom.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#23UN
Those who apply knowledge of cause and effect when needed to anticipate future consequences, and are consistently accurate, are called wise.
Technology that enables limited mental biology to command a broader spectrum of
history and experience for understanding subtle and complex forces of cause and
effect that guide daily work and impact the future, also, enables moving from
information to a culture of knowledge that strengthens wisdom.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#5024
Common mental maps that construct shared meaning from the constant stream of
details day-to-day, are the foundation that enable diverse people to cooperate
in building an effective community.
..
glj
Hierarchy theory
http://www.isss.org/hierarchy.htm
...describes how what we expect to find interacts with what we do find. The
analogy is given to fishing with a net. We use a net tailored to the size of
the fish we expect to catch and then fish where we expect the fish to be. Thus
there are elements of both size and location that will ensure that there is a
great possibility of there being all sorts of fish that we never find out
about. Stafford Beer in "Decision and Control" refers to this a thinking block,
and observes that the solutions achieved by consensus must lie in the
intersection of the thinking blocks of the group members.
..
Span of attention is a related issue, but this has to do with how we choose to
focus our attention rather than an inablity to focus on several things at the
same time. Areas of attention are removed deliberately as not being relevant
rather than just slipping from consciousness.
There are also issues of information organization that align with the issue of span of attention, such as chunking, the 5 plus or minus 2 rule for number of topics at any level that need to be handled at the same time.
..
Five Monkeys
glj
There is a story told of an experiment with monkeys. The experiment may or may not have happened.
..
Deriving models
glj
Experiments with human ability to derive models show that most people will "dub
in" missing information, simply assuming that it must be there. In many cases
the assumption is unconscious -- they really think that the information they
created was given in the problem.
..
Problems given in school are to be treated as though all of the nceessary
information is contained in the problem statement. This is almost never the
case in the real world, and the exclusive use of this sort of problem is not
proper training for thinking in the "real world".
..
Understanding
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#5361
Understanding in the management context can be grasped from its root words that
suggest a connection between something that "stands under" or supports
something else. In a building, a column supports a beam. In management,
"understanding" is a set of facts and objectives that supports a decision for
action.
..
Without adequate support, i.e., understanding, eventually a structure of
concrete and steel, or of decisions taken by managers, will fail.
Thus, leadership that convinces the team to take action where there is no
understanding of connections between cause and effect will likely not achieve
the aims of communication to build a better community, but rather will lead
people down the wrong path.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#21JE
"Understanding" in management is bi-directional with respect to time. It looks forward and backward from the present.
The leader must grasp the correct connections between objectives and the record
of prior performance as support for setting direction.
..
The team must be helped to see the connections between the direction set to
reach specific goals in the future, and their skills and awareness of
constraints and opportunities.
This often requires conveying information about some of the reasons for setting
direction, i.e., sharing understanding, in order to form shared meaning that
can sustain conflicting influences which arise over time.
..
glj -- Excellent points well made.
"You cannot act from where you are not" is part of the point of setting direction.
"If you don't know where you are going, any road will do." -- Chinese proverb
"If you don't know where you are, a map won't help." -- Watts Humphrey
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#22GE
How does what the leader said in meeting "A" align with what is in our
contract, or with what a different leader said in meeting "B," "C," telephone
call "K" and email "D." Since people are getting 70 email a day, how does each
conveyance of information impact the meaning of correlations and implications
that are drawn? How does this impact earnings due to mistakes and missed
opportunities?
..
glj --
When people perceive that the directions they are given fail to align with each
other, they lose confidence in the directions and eventually cease to take them
seriously. This is bad enough when the various source of directions are not
aligned, but when the directions from a single source fail to align, the
discounting is nearly total, and nearly immediate.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#22MG
Dr. Landauer's point, however, is that this change in knowledge state, i.e., understanding, often occurs without volition or awareness, which normally accompanies our thirst for knowledge.
glj --
..
Stafford Beer defines "information" as "that which changes us," and claims that
we know we have been informed because we change state. Seems like a good
alignment.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#5846
The value of mental "connections" can be seen from an organic structure of
human thinking in the table below. . . . The same connections that strengthen
understanding, and extend organizational memory, also enable communication that
creates shared meaning for collaboration in taking complementary rather than
conflicting action. Leveraging the power of people to cooperate in getting
things done is the engine of enterprise that drives productivity and earnings.
..
glj --
Absolutely. This leads to a requirement for shared definitions, topic structures, objectives, etc. All of these have both a private and a public portion. We might need private, group, and public or even more classifications. Computer languages support:
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#21E5
"Understanding" is so critical in construction that specialists are used,
called "engineers" and "architects," to figure out the right connections, and
to carefully position the details using dimensions of length, width and depth.
Locating details in dimensional space ensures alignment and provides a simple,
direct means to find specific details when needed.
..
Architects and engineers inspect the actual work against original objectives
set out in a data base, called "plans and specifications," to ensure the
connections are correct so that the building will stand up under the loads it
will encounter.
glj --
Ideally, yes. The reality is often different as meaning drifts here due to
alignment failure, and often lawsuits result.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#21GG
Similarly, lawyers inspect to see if testimony will stand up under what they call "scrutiny." They use "discovery" to create a data base of management details analogous to the architect's data base of construction details.
glj --
..
Ideally, yes. But again this is far from universally true.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#2536
Law is a Slow, Costly Metric of Business Communication
glj --
..
the description of the legal system that follows is highly idealized and
therefore inaccurate. The points made are correct in that they contrast with
the practice of business, but still, the objective in a court of law is not to
establish the truth but to establish a winner. Lawyers understand this and some
will even admit it. The only truths that are exposed are those that are deemed
to be either damaging to the others position or so evident that failure to
expose and dismiss them will be damaging to one's own case. In any case, the
objective is to win, and truth is little more than a secondary objective.
..
Q: Since it is clear that the ideal is being assumed for the sake of
discussion, should we not study a similar ideal with regard to business and
determine where all of them fall down?
..
Legal precedents
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#7351
..
The tradition of writing things down in order to avoid ambiguity from reliance
solely on mental processing, is applied in the law, which emanates from
religious tenets, for example the Ten Commandments. Legal decisions are
assiduously linked back to related cases, called precedents, to ensure
consistent application of sound reasoning. Legal precedents recycle human
experience in a more careful way than managers apply case studies to reach
daily decisions. A similar process is used in publications, where a
bibliography links text to original sources.
..
glj --
There is much to be learned from the system of legal precedents, but not all of it is contained above.
Legal precedents do not change the law, they modify the interpretation of the
law. Since the law is not updated, all of the following precedents (weird) must
be followed up to find all of the decisions that may impact what the law is
really to be understood to mean today.
..
Without this forward linking, only a specialist can determine what the law is
effectively, as it is to be applied today. Depending on how good your lawyer
is, you may or may not get the law applied as it is to be understood in the
light of relevant decisions if he fails to find and present those decisions.
This translates into SDS in not editing original sources, which wouldn't be so
bad if there were a versioning system. It is not clear that SDS supports the
needed forward linking (which in this case would be back links from the
original to the change record).
..
It is my contention that there needs to be support in the law and in SDS for
both tracking the history of records that change the interpretation of the
original document and for revising a version of the original so that it
incorporates all of the changes or impacts as of a certain point in time so
that it is not necessary to wade through all of the changes to determine the
current state.
Another consequence of the reliance on precedents is that a great deal of time
is spent researching them (because of no forward links), finding apparently
unrelated cases which might have a bearing on some aspect of the current one,
producing explanations as to why the seleced cases are deemed to relate to this
one, etc. As a result, there is far too litle time spent, IMO, reasoning about
the problem or, indeed, attempting to determine the truth.
..
This is sufficient to convince me that the linking system must be
bidirectional.
It also convinces me that the granularity of information is lower than a
document and higher than a paragraph. Versioning and linking need to be to some
level of granularity. Note: Look at work Jack Park has done with
"InformationResource" and "AddressibleInformationResource"
..
http://www.nexist.org/wiki/GoodStyle
Perhaps the information blocks of Information Mapping might make a useful granularity. Paragraphs where they are single subject, lists as single entities, and rows in tables as individuals. Consider what distinguishes objects in an OO system and see where that leads
..
Fixing belief
Stafford Beer references Charles Peirce on methods of fixing belief.
The following is from "Decision and Control" written by Stafford Beer in 1966.
The intent of the book is to explain what Operations Research, in use since
1940 or so, really is and why managers should become knowledgeable of it.
..
"There is nothing more difficult to carry out, nor more doubtful of success,
nor more dangerous to handle, than to initiate a new order of things. For the
reformer has enemies in all who profit by the old order, and only luke-warm
defenders in all those who would profit by the new order. This luke-warmness
arises partly from fear of their adversaries, who have the law in their favor;
and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in
anything new until they have had actual experience of it."
..
-- Machiavelli in The Prince (1513)
"... Yet some reforms are not concerned with the overthrow of power, but of
ideas. Such revolutions, mounted on a purely intellectual plane, are readily
dealt with -- as Machiavelli points out above. They do not even have to be
suppressed. The basic technique is to pretend that they do not exist. As a
refinement, it is more advantageous still for Authority to allege that it has
encompassed these ideas all along." (p. 3)
..
On Fixing belief -- Charles Peirce (paraphrased)
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#7337
Recent work in biology indicates that real "thinking" occurs beneath the
conscious mind. This is where information is aligned with objectives, history,
documents, people and time. These linkages settle into patterns of
understanding, called "knowledge," and are compared with innate paradigms
comprised of personal values, needs, and cultural influences that evolve over
time.
..
glj --
We need a different term. "Mental activity does not constitute thought." -- Robert Proctor
"If most people said what they were thinking, they would be speechless." --
Earl Nightingale
..
Even then, much of active thinking is not reasoning. See the discussion of
methods of Fixing beliefidnode://40 by Stafford Beer.idnode:/
..
Span of Control
glj
As the amount of information increases and the control of that information extends to more and more people, there arises an increasing unwillingness to change that information for fear of "breaking something". That fear increases until each individual is willing to change only the slightest bit, and no larger scale effort to make matters right can be undertaken. This is a paralysis of focus. Meaning drift has become so severe that people don't even believe that they can know what they can access. "I don't understand it, but somebody must, since they wrote it" leads to a refusal to fix something that may be wrong, but there is no time to discover whether it is wrong, and if so, how to correct it.
..
Models of cognition
glj -
As valuable as cognitive psychology may eventually be, it is mostly nonsense.
Our "understanding" of how the mind works has always been expressed in the
dominate paradigm of the time, and now is no different.
..
We talk about connections as though they were simple links when they appear to
be vastly complex, nearly holographic, dynamically weighted associations. Many
of the problems of the nature of links in information systems come from
attempting to capture at least a part of the richness of the mental connections
that are made in the human mind.
..
BiCameral Mind
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/03/02/03/0309.HTM#26YV
The traditional practice of relying on innate mental capacity to convert
information into knowledge worked well when the flow of information and the
rate of decision making was low, so that the preponderance of time was devoted
to implementing decisions, i.e., applying knowledge.
..
Applying the same knowledge over and over develops skill, as in hunting,
shaping a spear, throwing a rock or doing an interview on television. The mind
has time to settle on the right connections and to give an alert when links
seem to fail. So, if we do not understand, our mind can report being
"confused." That environment existed for millions of years and so shaped the
evolution of the human mind.
..
glj --
See Julian Janes The Origins of Consciousness in the Breakdown of the BiCameral Mind.
He contends that man essentially "listened to obelisks" that gave him information that had been stable for generations if not millenia, and became really conscious when envirinmental change was sufficient to make that knowledg wrong. He then had to figure things out for himself. I take this to refer to a change from simply "common sense" behavior to something bordering on reason.
..
Typical Day Scenario
Typical Day Scenario using the SDS Program
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#0001
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#YM5N
..
Communication Metrics is supported by a program called the Schedule Diary
System (SDS).
SDS does not replace existing software programs. It leverages human acuity to
strengthen understanding and follow up on daily details by capturing
organizational memory, and adding "intelligence" that aligns work performed
with objectives, requirements and commitments. Understanding and follow up are
the critical metrics of listening that make communication effective.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#009L
So the first thing the Schedule Diary System (SDS) does is show....
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#00ER
To identify what needs to be done today, a worker must examine three things: what is...
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#01SW
Having looked at the Schedule (#1), the worker next clicks to open an
"Electronic In-box" that lists pending action items that have no deadline for
performance.
..
At a glance we can see all of these items that have been hanging around from
yesterday to as long ago as a year or more.
glj --
How many ways can "pending" items be resolved? Can they be marked "OBE
(Overcome By Events), or "stale" (no longer matters)?
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#018S
Pending matters are automatically listed by date, ...
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#01ES
... clicking on its description in the Electronic In-box opens a Diary record
showing the context that caused it to be classified as "pending." Other details
show who was involved, what was said, what contract, law, regulation, policy is
affected, cost/earnings impact, complexity, related events and documents.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#01AN
I click on this entry. It is instantly removed from the Electronic-In box, and is added to my Schedule for today. The new task is automatically linked back to the prior call and all of its precedents.
glj --
..
Conflicts with the scenario above it? How do you distinguish between "tell me
more", and "schedule this"?
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#024M
Next, the SDS Document Log is checked to see what has been Received ...
Each document shows the date, the writer, organization, addressee (since the
document may not have been sent to me), explanation and due date for response
are shown.
..
If I decide to respond to a document, I can click to create a task in the SDS
Schedule, which is automatically linked back to the context Diary so that when
the response is prepared, continuity is maintained between what is done and
what has already been done.
glj --
How are documents registered in the Document Log? Depends on the meaning of
"received"?
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#02GW
A similar query is made for documents ISSUED that require a response from others.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#02FO
The worker checks E-mail and regular mail for new information that requires
attention. This is done in an SDS Diary record to identify what needs to be
done, when, who should do it, and who is paying for it.
..
The SDS Document Log automatically assigns a "Response-Due" date, two (2) weeks
ahead. Links are assigned showing a document responds to another document. One
or more subjects from the "Subject Index" are assigned.
glj --
Implies that the document log entry is created while in an SDS record. How is
this linked to the originating email / mail document? Do we need original
document storage; offline storage; file links? Macros to store email, etc in
SDS records for reference? It should be possible to launch the appropriate
editor for any foreign file.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#02FY
Both consistencies and apparent discrepancies are linked back to the source material by the SDS citation tool.
glj --
This is what, exactly -- simply a way to reference a Document Log entry?
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#3858
This history provides organizational memory arranged according to objectives and requirements using a unique system of organic subject structure.
glj -- Not completely defined. Not well defined here.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#04TS
..
At the top of an SDS record (i.e., the beginning) is a chronology of prior
related events, going back to acquiring the project, contract negotiations,
cost and schedule meetings.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#04YQ
Below the listing of Reference information is an agenda to guide the work, that
is linked back to the record of activity on the project.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#05GB
I click automatic follow-up on this line, because I assume that Harry may not call back for a lot of reasons other than that our loan is approved.
glj --
This does what, exactly? I presume that it schedules for some (default) time in
the future. How is the time changed? Reteined for today, scheduled for a later
day? How is "aging" affected?
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#05KL
I send this part of my record as an E-Mail to Bill in the Land Department, asking him to address this tomorrow.
glj --
Currently only "cut and paste". Launching an email window or allowing an SDS
record to be emailed so as to keep a copy in the Document Log would be
preferable.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#06MN
I click back to continue work on preparing for the internal project meeting while Mary has me on hold.
glj -- Implies an active record set list.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#06OL
..
It appears there is a $300K increase in the cost of planning. This is a serious
problem. I instantly flag it to call Helen after my call with Mary at
Microsoft. I do a subject search for planning budgets.
glj --
This would appear to generate an activity. Again there is the question of where
it goes, in what list, in what order, etc. How are relative times and
importances set? The schedule doesn't work on the usual priority scheme. Can it
be reordered? Some items selected as "more immediate"?
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#06TM
I told her my notes show that Bill and I looked this up together and found the MS manual shows \C, but that on a hunch we tried /C also, and it didn't work.
glj --
Poor example, that data was probably available in the same record that was used
on the first exchange and wasn't communicated -- not good use of having a
record. Probably would have communicated, briefly, all the things that had been
tried.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#06XW
I click to open config.sys listed in the SDS record under Other Files and make the change, ...
glj --
That "miscellaneous" bucket is potentially huge! I realize that since MEDIT is
an editor, it can natively handle other files.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#061S
SDS Organic Subject Structure
glj --
Shows a tree of subjects. There is already a requirement to be able to search
the tree. There need to be requirements for tree maintenance. There must then
be support for references in multiple places, thus assigning multiple subjects
to an SDS record.
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#07VQ
I can also select from a simple chronology, use a key word on a chronology, or a key word or phrase from the entire data base.
glj -- Another reference to full text search or index.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#07WY
..
When this problem arose 3 weeks ago, it took about 2 minutes to tag the record
with cross-referenced subjects. After that each new follow-up task is
automatically tagged with its subjects. This provides a variety of paths back
to a solution.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#6205
..
I click over to my Schedule. It shows a TQM meeting at 1000, in about 10
minutes.
glj --
No support for alarms? Indicates that not all activities are timed, which makes
sense. Any support for time granularity, increasing importance with time, other
scheduling help?
..
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM#0732
..
I click back to my notes on preparing for the review meeting tomorrow. There
are my notes just as I left them on analysing the $300K budget imbalance. I
call Helen and leave a voice mail for her to call on this. I create a follow up
flag to receive the call from Helen so in case she does not call me, I will be
alerted to call her.
glj --
..
Follows a reboot, which implies that SDS has persistent state. Follow-up flags
again. Any special handling for voice mail?
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM%2308AG
I take 10 seconds to enter this in the SDS Doc Log and send it to Jaun via
email.
..
I open the menu of this SDS record and select "Follow Up."
SDS enters a task in my Schedule for two days ahead to check with Jaun.
glj --
Direct entry to Doc Log. Should happen as side effect of sending email?
..
Follow-up time is 2 days or is this settable?
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM%23FS6L
Helen says she is just starting with SDS, and asks how to link her SDS record
on our call today, into my SDS record of the discussion with Frank from last
month, so this scenario is clear in the future.
..
glj --
Implies that some SDS records can be shared. Is this just standard network folder / file sharing or is there some other provision.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/15/00101.HTM%2310EC
Wendy clicks up my discussion with Helen, on her SDS program.
..
She uses it to make a task for herself of our discussion, which then links that
task to the discussion with Helen and all of its related history.
glj --
Again indicates shared records. This is a great idea, but is it correct? Should
be able to control sharing of records independently. Should be able to work in
private, with any number of selected groups, or publicly. Can use permissions
on networks, but is there any other provision? Synchronization or a single copy
of the record?
..
There is a vague implication of full text search capability. This implies some
degeree of indexing or approach other than opeing all the records.
..
Define Knowledge
Fri Jul-12-2002
..
Jack Park
http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/00/05/16/140956.HTM#4723
...from: Extended concept of Knowledge for Evolutionary Epistemology and for Bisemiotics, setting out this definition....
"The standard philosophical conception of knowledge defines knowledge as a true
well-justified belief or proposition. Knowledge is achieved, at least in
standard empiricist dogma, by some learning process, either through perception
or through the adoption of such a tradition that contains previously gathered
knowledge.
..
Joe Williams
http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/00/05/10/091317.HTM#0004
Knowledge comprises the facts, principles, and maybe intuition when you can't
exactly nail down the analytical process, that you use as a basis for taking
some action to achieve a goal or solve a problem.
..
http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/00/04/21/221613.HTM#5933
Eric gives the following explanation...
"An interactive tool for discussion and deliberation that records the decisions
and their rationales in way that allows the knowledge gained in the process to
be applied to future projects."
..
He says...
"deliberation" was chosen to imply focused discussion, bent on achieving resolution for some issue or issues.
Bill Bearden
http://www.welchco.com/04/00067/60/00/06/0102.HTM#0001
..
Data -
Numbers quantifying something. For example, "It hit 85 degrees outside today."
glj --
Not just numbers - includes any sort of information such as "Bill Bearden
provided a glossary of knowledge terms on Thu, 1 Jun 2000"
..
Information -
Data interpreted in the context of other data. For example, "85 degrees is 5 degrees hotter than the average for today."
Knowledge -
Information, interpreted over time, that yields cause and effect guidelines for
future events. For example, "In this area, a 5 degree increase in average
temperature causes a 10% decrease in corn yields."
..
glj --
Relationships, models, understandings
Complex Problems -
Hunger, the environment, uneven distribution of wealth, are all examples of
complex, global problems. Increasing humanity's capacity to solve complex,
global problems is itself a complex problem.
..
glj --
These are indeed examples, but this definition contains no information on what it is that makes them complex.
They are system problems. There are no closed solutions, there are no truly
independent variables, there is no single solution but only partially optimized
ones.
..
They have a strong social component. Even the definition of the problem is
subject to differing beliefs, value systems, and priorities. None are strictly
problems of technology.
They require formation of agreements on acceptable objectives before any solution is possible.
Many proposed solutions or even problem statements contain elements that are
false-to-fact but which cannot be challenged or set aside due to the beliefs of
some of the stakeholders.
by Mary Keeler
http://www.welchco.com/02/14/01/60/00/05/1501.HTM%233869
Pierce-Existential_Graphs-Mary_Keeler.html
Rod Welch
http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/00/05/15/011512.HTM#0010
Friday, May 31, 2002
"The Heart of Enterprise" Stafford Beer, 1979
Noise: A meaningless jumble of signals.
However, what is 'meaningless' to one person may convey meaning to another
-- N.B.
It follows that it is worth suspecting noise of being data in disguise.
after data have been reprocessed through a computer ninety times they become
-- noise.
Information: That which CHANGES us.
Noise becomes data -- when the fact in it is RECOGNISED.
How can I possibly know that I am informed?
-- Only because I have changed my state.
Armed with these definitions, we obtain a new vision of the arena of
'management information'.
Sun Jul-14-2002 -- glj
From Stafford Beer:
Fact: That which is the case.
It follows that it is worth suspecting noise of being data in disguise.
Not just numbers - includes any sort of information such as "Bill Bearden
provided a glossary of knowledge terms on Thu, 1 Jun 2000". Can include all
manner of graphics.
The simple-minded notion of 'objective measurement' collapses under close
examination. It turns out that measurements are themselves based on theory,
since there must be a purpose in mind when the measuring instruments are
devised. It turns out that what is already regarded as natural law
preconditions the design of experiments intended to verify hypotheses about
natural law, because our idea of what constitutes proof is a late developer in
our family of logical notions. And so on. In short, a linguistic analysis shows
that it is not possible to set the classical procedures of science in
chronological order, so it is not particularly profitable to try and separate
these procedures one from another at all. Moreover, the situation becomes still
more confused when one stops thinking about physical objects and considers
systems instead."
Noise becomes data -- when the fact in it is RECOGNISED.
Data becomes information -- when the fact in them is susceptible to action.
How can I possibly know that I am informed?
Data interpreted in the context of other data. For example, "85 degrees is 5
degrees hotter than the average for today." -- Bill Bearden
glj --
The second definition is easier to manage but the first is more important.
Information, interpreted over time, that yields cause and effect guidelines for
future events. For example, "In this area, a 5 degree increase in average
temperature causes a 10% decrease in corn yields."
glj --
Certainty not data, is knowledge -- Hubbard.
Number of times over material equals certainty -- Hubbard.
Wisdom:
Stupidity: L. Ron Hubbard
"Stupidity is the refusal to know what you have already found out."
The ability to recognise identities, similarities, and differences.
Intelligence: L. Ron Hubbard
The ability to evaluate relative importances.
Evidence is a fact of reality. Evidence must be an existent. Evidence must be
demonstrable. Evidence must be presentable. If it is not all of these, it is
NOT Evidence.
True means non-contradictory correspondence to that which exists. False means
contradictory correspondence to that which exists. Possible means SOME
non-contradictory and NO contradictory correspondence to that which exists.
Existence of evidence is necessary for true, false, and possible.
Thus, the identification that there is NO evidence relevant to the presented
argument is sufficient to discredit the argument: totally! No further
consideration of the merits of the argument are required. The argument is
Arbitrary and has less content than the clashing of garbage can lids.
file:///J:\DYNALT\WebWhacker\Business\thefrontend.org\Lgrif9.htm
The Foundations of Thought and Action
A means or end cannot exist if it contains a contradiction of any aspect of
Reality.
A given means will achieve its own end.
A given end requires specific means.
You will fail if you operate based upon whim, wish, hope, expectation, desire,
edict, evasion, denial, or incantations no matter how much you "need" to
succeed.
Assigned or assumed "Power and Authority" along with willingness to use force,
evasion, denial, and edict can make it appear as if you are successful, in the
short run. That is, if your victims accept your evasion, denial, and edicts and
pay the price for your "success." You will run out of victims in the long run.
Whim, wish, hope, expectation, desire, edict, evasion, denial, belief, or
incantations will not change these facts. Magic does not work. Reality is Real!
Reason and Logic
Reason: The application of Logic to experience and experiment
Knowledge: The validated and verified results of the use of Reason
Emotion: An autonomic response to an evaluation of the state of things based
upon ones unconscious understanding of the consequences of that state
The full and unqualified acceptance of the fact that:
Reality is Real and is therefore independent of ones wish, whim, feeling,
thoughts, beliefs, images, or acceptance of Authority.
As such, "Reality is Real", "Reason and Logic", and "Objectivity" constitute
the foundation of Science, Technology, and successful action. They particularly
apply to the building of systems. The evasion and denial of this foundation is
the primary cause of the high cost and high rate of failure of system
development.
Friday, July 19, 2002
glj
We create mental models from experience and then manipulate the models to
understand reality.
The concept of "chunking" or "limited span of attention" is another fact of
human thinking. This is one of the reasons that concepts are importans since
they reduce all of their members to a single reference which reduces the number
of elements needed to be kept in focus.
Sunday, July 14, 2002
Fact: That which is the case.
Evidence is a fact of reality. glj -- Data to support or rebut a proposition?
Stupidity: the refusal to know what you have already found out.
Data must be captured and stored. Since we are talking specifically about
"alphabet technology", we are talking about text. Any graphics are included by
reference and launch some other program.
Information: Data interpreted in the context of other data.
This requires the ability to view information in context, both original and
accumulated.
This requires subject structure and the ability to handle differences as well
as similarities and identities. Implies some use of antonyms and possibly some
IBIS-like markup.
Intelligence: The ability to evaluate relative importances.
In a schedule, there must be provision for partial ordering.
There must be ways to postpone an item while increasing its importance and
tracking the postponement history. Tracking deadline / commitment changes is
useful.
Certainty not data, is knowledge.
Number of times over material equals certainty.
Chronologies give a history over time. There must be support for refactoring to
allow for restating the current "best understanding".
Linkage to related information or to support different access paths is needed.
How do we handle the relationships between subject categorization and time
based "diary" records?
Some records are really "diary" entries in that they capture chronological
daily events, but subject records seem to be the norm.
How are subjects and time integrated? Some integration is necessary if only to
prevent fragmentation from presenting too many pieces of information instead of
some organized version
Lionell Griffith
Reality is Real
A means or end cannot exist if it contains a contradiction of any aspect of
Reality.
A given end requires specific means.
Your only choice is which non-contradictory means to implement or which
non-contradictory end to achieve but not both.
Wisdom: Knowledge is "know what" while wisdom is "know when".
Words have meaning. There needs to be a glossary / thesaurus. This should tie
to the subject structure, but is isn't clear exactly what that implies. Clearly
every subject should have a definition and the thesaurus relationships where
that makes sense. How much of that is implicit in the tree structure? how
should we deal with antonyms? The tree structure itself support internal links.
A major feature of the system is the ability to put the current record
somewhere else. A pending record can easily be placed anywhere in the future
for follow-up. It hasn't been made clear what causes a record to become
"pending". This seems like a follow-up without a time.
There is no indication that SDS records can ever be deleted, and that appears
to be by intent.
Record sharing must be supported by the application if the operating systems or
the network won't.
There is no reference to trees in any of the requirements except for the
organic subject structure, but it would seem that there are many places where a
tree would be valuable. It is certainly a way to control the table of contents
that show up in the records.
Again, how are subject entries spread across records as in the case of meeting
minutes, or multi-topic documents of whatever sort?
In what ways is access to external information supported?
..
Every utopian ideal can be expressed in th form "The world would be (more
nearly) perfect if only everybody would ...
..
The Philosophical Context of Peirce's Existential Graphs
..
"He was convinced, through his professional work as a scientist, that absolute
accuracy is unattainable, and his pragmatism regards truth as a limit
successively approached by increasingly refined investigations, which depend on
communication among collaborating investigators."
..
"Truth" comes through cooperation of people who present their experience,
creating a community where each member gains a broader perspective (collective
experience) but which can only remain vital through continued individual
contributions."
..
Fact: That which is the case.
..
Data: Statements of fact. Data is the plural of datum: 'something given'.
..
Data becomes information -- when the fact in them is susceptible to action.
..
Another attempt
..
Noise: A meaningless jumble of signals.
..
Data: Statements of fact. Data is the plural of datum: 'something
given'.
..
glj --
..
Stafford Beer, "Decision and Control", 1966, p. 96:
..
Information: That which CHANGES us.
..
-- Only because I have changed my state.
..
Knowledge: Bill Bearden
..
Relationships, models, understandings
..
??? I believe this has to do with the abilitity to recognise patterns in the
current situation, recall relevant knowledge, determine whether its application
is appropriate in this situation, and to formulate workable behaviors for the
current situation.
..
Sanity: L. Ron Hubbard
..
Lionell Griffith
..
Possible refers to our state of knowledge about a proposed existent. Since the
proposed existent can only either exist or not, there is no such thing as an
existent possible existent. To argue that there exists a possible existent
compounds the first intellectual crime with more of the same. A future existent
is possible only if the nature of current existents is such that they permit
the necessary combinations and transformations required to create the proposed
future existent. The proposed future existent does not exist even in that case,
it is simply only possible that it can be made to exist.
..
A statement is Arbitrary if it has NO connection to reality. There is NO
evidence that it is true. There is NO evidence that it is false. There is NO
evidence period! The Arbitrary cannot be considered as possible. It is ONLY
noise and must be rejected as such. Only with the discovery and presentation of
actual evidence does the Arbitrary become True, False, or Possible.
..
Objective System Development -- Lionell Griffith
..
Reality is Real
..
Your only choice is which non-contradictory means to implement or which
non-contradictory end to achieve but not both.
..
You can succeed only if you operate based upon Knowledge of Reality and act
consistently with that Knowledge.
..
Logic: The science of non-contradictory identification
..
The application of Reason to the experience of emotion gives knowledge of ones
evaluation of the state of things. Emotions do not represent a source of
knowledge of Reality. While emotions can give energy to action, they cannot be
used as a basis for successful action. Especially, if there is no examination,
verification, and validation of the unconscious assumptions, understandings,
and values behind them.
..
Objectivity
..
Reason and Logic applied to experience and experiment is the only way to
acquire knowledge and that one must personally execute the process.
..
The subjective (i.e. wish, whim, feeling, thoughts, images etc.) reflects
reality only to the extent that one consciously, methodically, and consistently
require the matching of internal subjective states to external reality.
..
Concepts and abstractions
..
The ability to form abstractions by recognizing similarities and removing
differences and then to validate the concepts against concretes is one of the
fundamentals of human thinking.
..
Implications
..
Data: Statements of fact.
..
Formatting is useful. Do we need any? Support etext? HTML? Text only on initial
cut. There must some provision for hidden data lest we clutter the view with
links and references.
..
Sanity: The ability to recognise identities, similarities, and differences.
..
For arguments, this can be done with markup. The compare or priority sort
features of MaxThink could apply.
..
Knowledge: Information, interpreted over time, that yields cause and
effect guidelines for future events.
..
Refactoring provides a way to restate that of which we are certain
without having to revisit the entire record every time.
..
It appears that the SDS Record is the unit of information. A record is created
to capture information on a topic. References to related information are added
to the record over time, and other records may reference this one.
..
The Foundations of Thought and Action
..
A given means will achieve its own end.
..
There must be a record of the intended effects, the actions taken, and the
actual effects generated.
..
Gathering information is really another form of refactoring. The "gather"
function in MaxThink is a variation. Certainly having several types of
reference and quoting mechanisms would help. Being able to insert various
sections of the referenced document at the cursor or at the end of the current
record would allow going over a list of records and selecting the relevant
material from them.
..
The ability to place a record in another users in-box would be valuable as a
superior alternative to email given a shared environment. Since these are only
links, dismissing them would not remove the record.
..
Need easier ways to indicate that email was sent or received and to issue or
receive other documents.
..
There are a number of active lists, and possible sets of lists providing
multiple active environments to allow working on several things consurrently.
The entire environment should be persistent.
..
Would something like KeyNote be a better starting point than an editor? KeyNote
doesn't support anchors within nodes, but that doesn't mean that something
couldn't be done.
Design Objectives
Friday, July 19, 2002
glj
Deal with the "limited span of attention" issue.
..
At any point in time, I should have available an "activity set" of information
that consists of all the material I need at the moment and nothing else.
These activity sets need to be persistent and retrievable.
I should be able to select from a list of "current activities" the activity to resume (probably MRU). By creating a new activity set, I can interrupt the current activity and return to it at any point. As I mark an activity complete, the activity set is removed from the list of current activities. I should be able to remove an activity set from the list without completing the activity.
..
Augment memory
Friday, July 19, 2002
glj
Human memory is weak unless specifically trained, which hardly anyone ever
does.
..
There are 2 major aspects to human memory:
Meaning changes over time with understanding. Tracing that change in meaning
over time is an important function of an augmentation tool. The history should
be available but not get in the way. Most of the time I am interested in the
best understdanding that has evolved to date, not in how we arrived at it
..
However, it must always be possible to backtrack and see how we got here.
..
Capture work
Friday, July 19, 2002
glj
..
Doing the work should capture the relationships involved in creating the
necessary intelligence.
I should be able to:
Subjects would link from the subject field. Contacts would be linked from the contact information. The new document would be formatted based on the template chosen.
This is the sort of interaction I could envision with MS Office.
..
The result of the above should be:
With this, I could:
Friday, July 19, 2002
glj
All external communication must be conceptualized. When material is
re-experienced, it must be conceptualized again.
..
Stafford Beer says that "information is that which changes us", and that we
know we have become infomred when we change state.
Thus, reformulating incoming information into our own words with our own emphasis contributes to our understanding of the information.
When this paraphrase or rework is fed back to the originator, that person must
conceptualize the new formulation and compare it with what the original was
intended to say. This promotes communication and helps toward some level of
shared understanding.
..
Clearly, the better formulated the original work is, the faster this process
can converge since there is less misunderstanding with a clear communication.
Part of the thesis of SDS, then, is that the effort required to construct a clear record is not extra effort but is effort that is sorely needed but is not now being applied.
..
Collaboration
Friday, July 19, 2002
glj
Support collaboration through selective sharing of SDS records.
..
Rod reports that when SDS was networked, nobody looked at the SDS records that
were available. Beyond a certain point, there is nothing to be done -- if the
horse won't drink when lead to the water ...
By creating an SDS record and letting it show up in other people's inbox, we achieve the notification aspects of email with teh benefits of using SDS.
By linking to the public record (as defined by the collaborating group
perhaps), most task-oriented communication can be via SDS records, using
conventional email only for those not running SDS.
..
By associating an extension with SDS records and sending them as attachments,
email coul provide a connection to SDS.
..
Linking and Access
Friday, July 19, 2002
..
glj
Information is linked to all useful means of access based on the context of its creation and information provided by the user.
Back links (what records point to this one) have also proven to be valuable.
..
SDS Records
glj
Each record has a unique identifier that is immutable. The identifier must
include a reference to the creator to keep multiple SDS systems from
interacting or there must be a central assignment mechanism, which isn't a good
idea.
..
Currently the directory structure uses date and time to assign a file location.
If the locations are never moved, this works. It is not clear what the earlier
parts of the file name are for.
A set of access indices allow for locating records based on identifiers. There
is metadata about the record in the index. Operations that change the location
of records need to update the index.
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/01/09/01/02/00101.HTM%234099
Communication Metrics Web Site Schematic
The Communication Metrics web site uses the following primary organization
structure...
..
Is it possible to use reference counts and forwarding records similar to what
is done in some databases? When a record is moved, a pointer record is put in
its place. When a pointer record is accessed, the reference count is decreased
and the forwarding pointer is returned. When the reference count goes to zero,
the pointer record can be deleted. There needs to be a sweep process to try to
manage updates to moved records without having to wait for all references to be
accessed.
..
Anchors within a record are unique within the record. From external location,
the anchor is referenced by a
..
Directories
SDS Directory Structure
http://www.welchco.com/03/00050/10/04/00101.HTM#0001
This shows that records are organized in directories and are moved as they
change state. This doesn't happen once records are archived into the diary, so
it isn't as messy as it sounds. Still, it seems that immutable IDs are needed.
The composite of the fields above could be used. Needs thought.
..
More on directories and records:
http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/90/11/04/074835.HTM#VL6F
..
Records start as pending planning records and are moved to diary as a
record once work is performed. Appears possible to created diary records
directly as well.
Result is that an "action item" is in a schedule record.
..
Naming
Sunday, July 14, 2002
..
Current SDS file naming
http://www.welchco.com/sd/08/00101/02/97/09/10/162354.HTM
..
Base Directory
08/00101/02/ -- ???
97/09/10/ -- yy/mm/dd
162354.HTM -- hhmmss.HTM
..
Types of Records
Friday, July 19, 2002
..
glj
There are a number of types of information that are currently tracked by SDS and perhaps others that should be.
Contacts: Information on individuals and various ways to contact them. May need
a subject structure of their own. The records are used for linking in addition
to subjects.
..
Schedule / Diary records: The information portion of SDS.
Action Items: Scheduling elements of SDS.
Documents: These are "foreign" records in some sense. They are built using other tools. They can be either received or issued.
Phone calls -- Necessary to create SDS records to capture information that is
otherwise lost.
..
Meetings -- Similar to phone calls. They do not inherently leave a machine
record.
Documents -- Actual documents of any sort generated outside of SDS with whatever degree of interaction.
Email -- Currently dissected in Diary records. It may be valuable to be able to
link to the original directly. The work of adding purple numbers to the archive
should prove valuable.
..
Office documents -- Usually Microsoft Office documents -- memos, papers,
presentations, spreadsheets, agendas, minutes, etc. All manner of external
representations of specific information.
Subject Structure: A hierarchy of subjects maintained in and used by SDS, but separate from the records it is used to index.
Glossary / Thesaurus: The basis of a controlled vocabulary, which allows
searching and categorizing to use synonyms and preferred terms, thus improving
consistency of indexing. Also provides crucial domain definitions to promote
alignment and accuracy of what is said. Multiple or imprecise definitions are
an important source of meaning drift.
..
Templates: All records and documents can have templates to aid in constructing
them. It should be possible to modify the template immediately after it is
called up so that it can evolve over time. This should be versioned so that
changes can be assessed as a separate activity. The templates encourage the
user to capture all of the necessary information for constructing the record
and for linking it appropriately for later access.
..
Current tools
Friday, July 19, 2002
Microsoft Office and Windows
glj
..
It occurred to me that tools such as the Microsoft Office suite and Windows may
support a lot of the pieces that are needed but that they are missing several
ingredients:
..
There is no "organic subject structure" so that while I can create a new
document of any type easily, I can't file it in multiple places or link it to
any of its related documents in any easy way.
By using document templates carefully, extracting some of the information for
linking could be done, but that still doesn't get us an easy way to relate the
current document to what we are doing right now.
..
Outlook supports some of the needed features
Outlook today is a summary of all relevant entries, but it doesn't link to them (or does it).
Inbox is all incoming email, organized into folders with rules to help organize
them automatically.
..
Contacts provides access to all contact information including email and
phone
Supports linking Outlook items and files to contacts
Tasks provides a limited task manager which supports an email interface.
Notes can be entered any time. It supports folders in the same way that the
Inbox does. It doesn't support fields and sorting as email does. This is why
some people use dummy emails as notes.
..
There is a Journal folder that can track emails and office documents.
Full functioning isn't known.
Right-click on the desktop and select New allows creating nearly any sort of file. This can be tailored to only those file types that are relevant.
Problem is that the file still has to be sored someplace and there is no easy
way to link it based on either context or content.
..
Documents from the Start button gets a list of recently accessed
documents but it is just a list.
MyDocuments and related folders are intended to provied a basis for organizing documents.
Using Shortcuts to documents might provide better indexing from the file
explorer. They should be the equivalent of links in other systems.
..
There are some tools that support gathering files by projects rather than in
folders by type. These may provide some ideas.
OA (Office Assistant) is one such tool.
Look at Enfish. It has a few nice ideas badly implemented. The contact access
interface is nice.
..
One issue is lack of common metadata so that it is very difficult to
search across multiple document types. Will Enfish do this as it claims? Not
really.
..
The general observations are that:
MS Office tools could be used to do a far better job of managing information is
they were properly used.
..
Templates plus programming provide entire applications in the form of wizards
and this could be enhanced.
Wizards could automatically ndex all the important fields.
This still requires that the fields be filled in.
..
Tools such as the Technography template can be used to facilitate meetings.
Outlook is a powerful organizer if used fully.
..
Adding specialized tools for IBIS or concept maps could stretch the capability.
This would require an extensive amount of work to develop and setup.
The people would still have to be trained to use it effectively.
..
No tool can be used effectively if you won't learn to use it.
..
Even if all of this could be done, the result would be better organization, not
"intelligence" as we have defined it.
Review Byte Magazine article re "paperless office"
http://www.welchco.com/02/14/01/60/91/04/0102.HTM#4948
..
"Plato's problem" is: How do people know as much as they do with as little information as they get?
http://www.welchco.com/02/14/01/60/96/02/2901.HTM
-- done.