CONTACTS 
0201 - SRI International
020101 - Mr. Jack Park;
020103 - CALO Project

SUBJECTS
SDS Design Mystery Latent Topic Map Jack Building Mental Map SDS Sub

2403 -
2403 -    ..
2404 - Summary/Objective
2405 -
240501 - Follow up ref SDS 33 0000, ref SDS 30 HE6N.
240502 -
240503 -
240504 -
240506 -  ..
2406 -
2407 -
2408 - Progress
2409 -
240901 - Purple Number Implementation of Explicit Links Difficult to Implement
240902 -
240903 - Follow up ref SDS 32 OV3G, ref SDS 31 OV3G.
240904 -
240905 - Gary and Jack have been discussing "purple numbers," which is a method
240906 - Doug Engelbart developed, similar to SDS explicit links that provide
240907 - granular addressability in the record, explained in NWO. ref OF 13
240908 - 08PP On 000405
240910 -  ..
240911 - Doug's letter to the OHS/DKR project at SRI called for links in email,
240912 - ref SDS 8 2484, to implement ideas in an article Doug published in
240913 - 1992, reviewed on 991222. ref SDS 7 1Z61  Doug's launch proposal for
240914 - the OHS/DKR project received on 001025 used "purple numbers" for
240915 - explicit links to facilitate review toward development. ref SDS 11 OU6F
240916 - On 001027 Doug advised that no one used links in the project launch
240917 - proposal, except as shown in SDS records. ref SDS 12 OH9N
240919 -  ..
240920 - On 010131 Eugene Kim submitted work product using purple numbers for
240921 - explicit links. in the manner requested by Doug. ref SDS 16 MM9M
240922 - Eugene developed a web site on the Internet where people could use
240923 - purple numbers to facilitate collaboration on solving world problems.
240924 - Over a span of 4 - 6 years virtually nobody used purple numbers.  On
240925 - 020820 Murray Altheim who contributes to discussion on Eugene's web
240926 - site advised that nobody uses Purple Numbers to create a connected
240927 - record in email, ref SDS 23 5Q8I, maintained that failure to augment
240928 - intelligence shows that adding links to email is not a useful
240929 - objective, because people have been slow to transform to a new way of
240930 - working using informtion technology. ref SDS 22 UV6G and ref SDS 22 O1QQ
240931 - Failure of people to use "purple numbers" on Eugene's web site was
240932 - noted again the following year on 030314. ref SDS 24 5560
240934 -  ..
240935 - Received copy of ref DRT 1 0001 letter from Jack Park to Gary Johnson
240936 - with copies to Morris, and Johnny Washington, and saying...
240937 -
240938 -    1.  Probably nothing on the planet makes the case for numbered
240939 -        paragraphs (purple numbers) better than the book _Gamer Theory_
240940 -        by McKenzie Wark.  It's an awesome read, and not a page number
240941 -        in the book. ref DRT 1 0001
240942 -
240943 -            [...below Gary plans to get Gamer book. ref SDS 0 6U8X
240944 -
240946 -  ..
240947 - Knowledge Management SDS Design Difficult to Understand
240948 -
240949 -
240950 -    2.  I have been trying, for a number of years now, to build a
240951 -        mental model of what SDS really is.  Not sure I am even close.
240952 -        I've harbored the intuition, since first meeting Rod and
240953 -        noticing his enormous indexical prowess, that SDS might be a
240954 -        latent form of topic map. Just not sure yet. ref DRT 1 VI6K
240955 -
240956 -            [On 071220 Jack says SDS is a subject map and nothing
240957 -            more. ref SDS 35 TX9X
240959 -  ..
240960 - Jack described a mental model of SDS on 001130, ref SDS 15 H17O,
240961 - though without citing POIMS and other foundational documents that
240962 - explain the technology.  Illustrates how Knowledge Management experts
240963 - have limited time to study a new "wheel," noted by Grove describing
240964 - challenge of change at Intel, reviewed on 980307, ref SDS 5 GW7H, and
240965 - similar to folks at Moore College in 1945, who lost Mauchly's memo on
240966 - the design for the first "wheel" of a digital computer, explained in
240967 - NWO. ref OF 18 OP5G
240969 -             ..
240970 -            [On 070913 Jack cites a great many technologies to avoid
240971 -            reinventing the wheel, and which may cloud the effort to
240972 -            invent the wheel of Knowledge Management. ref SDS 34 YN4H
240974 -  ..
240975 - "Wheels" that need attention are "intelligence support" outlined in
240976 - NWO, ref OF 13 A56M, and 8-steps of Communciation Metrics shown in
240977 - POIMS that explain processes for using SDS. ref OF 6 685K  It seems
240978 - likely at this remove that understanding a mental model of SDS
240979 - requires experience using SDS.  Spending a few years doing Knowledge
240980 - Mangaement, may be the shortest path to learning this new field,
240981 - discussed previously on 001126. ref SDS 14 QW8I
240983 -  ..
240984 - Morris noted on 980722 that the SDS "wheel" for Knowledge Management
240985 - is hard to reverse engineer. ref SDS 6 3280  On 000615 the OHS/DKR
240986 - team at SRI reported there wasn't enough knowledge to develop
240987 - Knowledge Management. ref SDS 9 6271  On 001031 Jack reported to the
240988 - team that someone in the meetings could do it. ref SDS 13 0S8L  On
240989 - 011003 Jack reported there are no clues. ref SDS 19 O74L  Two months
240990 - later, on 011208 Jack reported enough was by then known about
240991 - Knowledge Management to replicate SDS. ref SDS 20 PC6I  On 070126 case
240992 - study indicates everybody has given up on all elements of Knowledge
240993 - Management. ref SDS 28 QH8L
240995 -             ..
240996 -            [...below Gary explains aspects of SDS design. ref SDS 0
240997 -            6T6T
240998 -
241000 -  ..
241001 - Subject Identity Improves Memory Solves Filing Everything Miscellaneous
241002 -
241003 -
241004 - Jack's letter continues...
241005 -
241006 -    3.  I subscribe to the notion that *subject identity* is key to
241007 -        indexing, no matter how that process is accomplished.  Once you
241008 -        identify the subject, the rest falls into place (it says here
241009 -        in the fine print).  It does seem to me that tagging is a way
241010 -        to *evolve* subject identity. What, indeed, is the subject of
241011 -        some discussion?
241013 -  ..
241014 - Generally, subjects arise organically from human needs, explained in
241015 - POIMS, ref OF 3 2050, reflecting objectives, requirements, and
241016 - commitments, reviewed on 890523. ref SDS 1 XT6O  Jack's reference to
241017 - "fine print" points in this direction of granular indexing, indicated
241018 - by Vannevar Bush in 1945, reviewed on 960304, ref SDS 4 PG5L, and
241019 - leading to work that strives to make sense of complexity, noted by
241020 - Jack in a letter on 040622. ref SDS 25 FM5W
241022 -  ..
241023 - Jack asking what is the subject of "some discussion" presents a
241024 - continuing process of asking...
241025 -
241026 -        "What is the subject of this paragraph in this discussion; this
241027 -        group of paragraphs in this letter, article, book, record; how
241028 -        big is the record segment for the group?"
241029 -
241030 -            [...below, Gary explains SDS identifies subjects for record
241031 -            segments. ref SDS 0 6T6T
241032 -
241033 -
241035 -  ..
241036 - Teasing Out Hidden Meanings Benefit of Context Management
241037 -
241038 -
241039 - Jack's letter continues...
241040 -
241041 -        How much of the subject's identity lies hidden behind personal
241042 -        agendas, subtrafuge, and who knows what else?  Tagging done not
241043 -        as is presently facilitated with social bookmarking, but rather
241044 -        in the context of discussable objects as one might experience
241045 -        in a topic map, allows for teasing out hidden meanings, seeking
241046 -        subject identity.  I don't think that SDS allows for that
241047 -        except in the context of an individual user's own mental
241048 -        manipulations.  It's not a criticism of SDS, just a placement
241049 -        of it in a larger view.
241051 -  ..
241052 - Subject identify and meaning are mostly hidden by the common practice
241053 - of filing everything miscellaneous, reported on 070729. ref SDS 30
241054 - HE6N
241056 -  ..
241057 - SDS has a lot of tools for context management, reviewed on 070511,
241058 - ref SDS 29 0E8O, that enable concurrent discovery, explained in NWO,
241059 - ref OF 11 5L7N, using the 8-steps of Communication Metrics applying
241060 - chronology, context, and connection for making sense of complexity,
241061 - and explained in POIMS, ref OF 6 685K, within the framework of
241062 - intelligence support, also defined in NWO. ref OF 13 GO7I
241064 -  ..
241065 - Writing the story, defining subjects that construct trails of
241066 - associations, and making direct connections with links showing
241067 - continuity or disparity in alignment all yield meanings that are
241068 - hidden limited span of attention, and discovered doing the 8-steps of
241069 - Communication Metrics. ref OF 6 685K
241070 -
241071 -
241073 -  ..
241074 - Federation of SDS Installations Comprises Many People Using SDS
241075 -
241076 -
241077 - Jack's letter continues...
241078 -
241079 -        Were there a federation of SDS installations, with the ability
241080 -        to seamlessly address (purple numbers, permalinks) individual
241081 -        statements (I presume the SDS line numbers would serve that
241082 -        purpose), and if there were room for relationships to be
241083 -        established *outside* individual SDS records, as a topic map
241084 -        provides, then, it seems to me, SDS can be an instance of a
241085 -        topic map within the context of a federation, and still remain
241086 -        a personal diary otherwise.
241088 -  ..
241089 - Jack discussed federation in a paper submitted with his letter on
241090 - 060905. ref SDS 26 PE5T  Jack cited federating in a letter a few days
241091 - later on 060907. ref SDS 27 I26M
241092 -
241093 -
241094 -
241095 -
241096 -
2411 -

SUBJECTS
SDS Scalable Knowledge Support on Internet SDS Record Design Links S

4603 -
460401 -  ..
460402 - Scalable Knowledge SDS Records Management One Person Groups Projects
460403 -
460405 -  ..
460406 - Received ref DRT 1 0001 copy of a letter from Gary responding to
460407 - Jack's letter received above. ref SDS 0 JL5N
460408 -
460409 -    1.  == SDS and Topic / Subject Maps ==
460411 -         ..
460412 -    2.  You are pretty close with respect to SDS.  It is currently a
460413 -        personal system.  How it would scale to a groups such as one
460414 -        would find on the internet is an open question.  The current
460415 -        implementation clearly will not. ref DRT 1 0001
460417 -  ..
460418 - Scalable knowledge that helps more than the analyst is a helpful
460419 - feature of SDS explained previously at SRI on 010426. ref SDS 17 449H
460420 - Examples of "scalable knowledge" in the SDS record on the Internet
460421 - were submitted to SRI on 010517. ref SDS 18 TY7F
460423 -  ..
460424 - Need explanation from SDS implementation that would further provide
460425 - scalable knowledge.
460426 -
460427 -
460429 -  ..
460430 - Subject Identity SDS Record Segment Contains Paragraphs
460431 - SDS Record Design Disclosed in Part to Assist Jack
460432 -
460433 - Jack commented today about trying for years to form a mental model of
460434 - the SDS design, ref SDS 0 GM9T; Gary explains aspects of SDS...
460435 -
460436 - Gary's letter to Jack continues...
460438 -         ..
460439 -    3.  SDS provides persistent anchors on (nearly) every paragraph.
460440 -        (Rod tries to remove anchors where there is one close enough in
460441 -        a heading, etc.), ref DRT 2 UR6G
460443 -         ..
460444 -    4.  An SDS record can have multiple "segments".  Indexing is to the
460445 -        level of the segment, but linking is to the level of the
460446 -        paragraph.  Link data consists of the record id (user +
460447 -        timestamp) plus the unique anchor within the record.  These map
460448 -        directly to URL + anchor in HTML.  Segment metadata includes
460449 -        subjects and time accounting information that applies to the
460450 -        following content up to the next segment or the end of the
460451 -        record. ref DRT 2 EL6K
460453 -         ..
460454 -    5.  To piggyback on your terms, the paragraph is the Addressable
460455 -        Information Resource, and the record segment would become the
460456 -        Indexable Information Resource (IIR)(?). ref DRT 2 QL7J
460458 -         ..
460459 -    6.  The issue of subject identity is clearly crucial.  Part of the
460460 -        problem is that "subject identity" depends on context to a
460461 -        marked degree.  The use that an individual has for some
460462 -        information colors how he wants to look for it - think "facets"
460463 -        in the thesaurus sense.  The SDS Subject Index supports this
460464 -        directly. ref DRT 2 OL7O
460466 -         ..
460467 -    7.  As near as I can tell, the SDS Subject Index has only a subset
460468 -        of features of Topic Maps.  I *think* a Topic Map (or Subject
460469 -        Map) engine could implement the Subject Index.  Subjects are
460470 -        assigned to record segments.  Each record segment can have as
460471 -        many different subjects as the user desires.  Each subject can
460472 -        have multiple wordings to support location in a sorted index
460473 -        page or using direct search of the Subject Index. ref DRT 2
460474 -        9M8L
460476 -         ..
460477 -    8.  It is possible to link from one part of the Subject Index to
460478 -        another, but these links are not object in their own right -
460479 -        they are essentially hyperlinks. ref DRT 2 NM9K
460481 -         ..
460482 -    9.  == Tagging ==
460483 -
460484 -        I agree that the idea of tagging, particular with key, value
460485 -        pairs with some degree of consistency in the vocabulary can
460486 -        help tease out subject identity in any body of work that has
460487 -        sufficient audience or is visited sufficiently frequently.  It
460488 -        would be nice to have a wiki or similar tool that supported
460489 -        this notion.  The evolution of subject identity over time
460490 -        proves out in practice as Rod spends much of his effort with
460491 -        SDS in building the Subject Index, supplying all the reasonable
460492 -        (and sometime not so reasonable) paths and cross indexing to it
460493 -        in the Subject Index. ref DRT 2 FN4F
460495 -         ..
460496 -   10.  I have a hunch that there is a way of assigning subjects that
460497 -        could allow *some* automated support for spreading the
460498 -        references properly throughout the Subject Index in appropriate
460499 -        search paths.  At least some of the work relates to
460500 -        permutations of metadata elements (reference by primary
460501 -        subject, people related to the subject, aspects of SDS work
460502 -        exercised or represented by the subject, general activity that
460503 -        gave rise to the work including the subject, related project,
460504 -        etc.) This is an open research issue.  Developing the Subject
460505 -        Index inherently requires effort.  Ways to reduce the required
460506 -        effort while still supporting the full access desired is a work
460507 -        in progress. ref DRT 2 SN5H
460509 -         ..
460510 -   11.  I will see if I can locate the book Gamer Theory_.  Without
460511 -        even so much as page numbers, finding anything again would be a
460512 -        challenge. ref DRT 2 LN6J
460514 -  ..
460515 - Gamer theory book was recommended Jack in his letter this morning, per
460516 - above. ref SDS 0 JL5N
460517 -
460518 -
460519 -
460520 -
4606 -

SUBJECTS
SDS Pioneering Knowledge Asset Management  Dscipline Intelligence Su

8203 -
820401 -  ..
820402 - SDS Intelligence Support Discipline Communication Metrics
820403 -
820405 -  ..
820406 - Received ref DRT 3 0001 from Jack responding to Gary's letter
820407 - explaining SDS design and practices, per above. ref SDS 0 337G
820408 -
820409 -    1.  Suppose we abstract SDS out to be a *discipline* that comes
820410 -        with a set of procedures.  Suppose we further assume that it is
820411 -        the discipline that counts, with the underlying assumption that
820412 -        procedures evolve to suit the underlying framework used to
820413 -        support the discipline.  Or maybe it's POIMS that is the
820414 -        discipline. Who can say? ref DRT 3 0001
820416 -  ..
820417 - SDS supports the discipline for performing 8-steps of Communication
820418 - Metrics for intelligence support, explained in POIMS. ref OF 6 685K
820419 -
820420 -           [On 070913 Gary responded and commended Jack's analysis of
820421 -           SDS, and surrounding issues for Knowledge Management tools.
820422 -           ref SDS 34 414H
820424 -  ..
820425 - Reading POIMS describes SDS "technology." ref OF 3 6221
820426 -
820428 -  ..
820429 - Knowledge Asset Management Proliferates Jargon
820430 -
820431 -
820432 -    2.  Nevertheless, let us imagine that what Rod is really pioneering
820433 -        is a discipline of knowledge asset management.  If that is the
820434 -        case, then perhaps the door is open to perform some critical
820435 -        analysis on the framework that evolved to support that
820436 -        discipline.  Where does the present SDS implementation lie in
820437 -        some field of candidate frameworks?  What does/should that
820438 -        field look like? What are the use cases and scenarios?
820439 -        ref DRT 3 ME6H
820441 -  ..
820442 - Use cases for SDS are listed on 020708, ref SDS 21 MZ6O,
820444 -  ..
820445 - Scenarios are explained in the typical day scenario. ref OF 9 0001
820446 -
820447 -
820449 -  ..
820450 - Too Many Cooks Spoil the Broth Not Everyone Can Assign Subjects
820451 - 3x5 Card Traditional Context Management Discipline
820452 - Information Has Multiple Meanings Associated with Context
820453 - Trails of Associations Convert Information into Power of Knowledge
820454 -
820455 -
820456 - Jack's 2nd letter continues...
820458 -         ..
820459 -    3.  Miscellaneous teaches that when you place things in particular
820460 -        places -- those things being *real* atoms out here in meatware
820461 -        space, you make it difficult to repurpose those things; you
820462 -        have categorized them in ways that restrict other uses, say.
820463 -        When those "things" are represented in bitspace, you can tag
820464 -        them, categorize them, bend them twist them, illustrate them,
820465 -        till hell freezes over.  Think of the 3by5 card in a card
820466 -        catalog.  If everybody who used a card wrote some notes on it,
820467 -        it wouldn't be too long before that card is rendered completely
820468 -        useless.  But, hang the metadata contained in that card out on
820469 -        an HTML page somewhere, and people can write all over it, write
820470 -        about it, link to it, etc.  The more people annotate *that*
820471 -        card, the more useful it becomes. ref DRT 3 2F7F
820473 -  ..
820474 - More people "annotating" subjects may not increase usefulness.  Errors
820475 - degrade productivity.  Subjects/catagories/topics get complicated.
820476 - Often first impressions are incorrect and insufficient.  This work
820477 - requires training, time, care, and experience.
820479 -  ..
820480 - The 8-steps of Communication Metrics are expressly set out in POIMS,
820481 - per above. ref SDS 0 1V6U
820483 -  ..
820484 - The scope for "intelligence support" roles and responsibilities is
820485 - exhaustively presented in NWO, ref OF 13 A56M, including correlation
820486 - with 3 x 5 cards. ref OF 13 QR7F  Morris noticed this correlation on
820487 - 950223. ref SDS 3 9933
820489 -  ..
820490 - Jack's 2nd letter concludes...
820491 -
820492 -    4.  Gamer talks about an evolution from topos to topography to
820493 -        topology.  That evolution is available to us in bitspace.
820495 -         ..
820496 -    5.  It remains to be seen just where SDS fits in that universe of
820497 -        analysis.
820499 -  ..
820500 - SDS support for analysis is explained in POIMS describing the "report"
820501 - part of the intelligence cycle:  plan, perform, report. ref OF 5 2300
820503 -  ..
820504 - Most SDS records illustrate support for "analysis," e.g., this record,
820505 - the many records Jack saw for the OHS/DKR project listed on 001017.
820506 - ref SDS 10 1575
820507 -
820508 -
820509 -
820510 -
820511 -
820512 -
820513 -
820514 -
820515 -
8206 -