CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Multiple Control Sections In A Record
Flexible Structure Balance Between Power of Flexibility that is Fragile
Headlines Provide Meaning
Linking to Prior Records Aligns Meaning
SDS Different From Rest Of Web
Links Are Confusing To Some
Learn SDS Difficult Integrated Features Complementary Data Bases New
Integrated Features Complementary Data Bases SDS New Way of Working D
Barriers to Understanding and Acceptance

1211 -
1212 -
1212 -    ..
1213 - Summary/Objective
1214 -
121401 - Follow up ref SDS 55 0000. ref SDS 54 0000.
121402 -
121404 -  ..
121405 - We have talked extensively about the problems we face in getting SDS
121406 - understood and accepted. I believe that, though we understand some of
121407 - the high level mechanism, that we need to do further analysis and
121408 - observation to develop a more detailed understanding of the many
121409 - forms of resistance and failure to understand so that we can
121410 - recognize them and address them in individuals.
121411 -
121413 -  ..
1215 -
1216 -
1217 - Analysis
1218 -
121801 - Philosophy too high a starting point
121802 -
121803 - For most people, the philosophy underlying SDS is too high a starting
121804 - point. They don't grasp it well enough to translate it into what
121805 - makes SDS different.
121806 -
121807 - Within the philosophical underpinnings of SDS there may well be hints
121808 - as to the specific sorts of problems that people encounter. and we
121809 - need to search for them. We still need a better grasp on what needs
121810 - to be taught continually so that people can make the transitions
121811 - needed to make SDS useful to them.
121812 -
121813 -
121815 -  ..
121816 - SDS records are not documents
121817 -
121818 - On 030721 I pointed out some ways that SDS is different:
121820 -        ..
121821 -    •  SDS records not documents, ref SDS 52 VK40
121822 -
121823 -       An SDS record is more nearly a "chunk of memory" than it is a
121824 -       document. We add to SDS records, we link to and from them, we
121825 -       alter them, we restructure them -- they are never "finished".
121826 -       Documents are typically "finished". This distinction has
121827 -       numerous implications.
121829 -        ..
121830 -    •  SDS links have purpose, ref SDS 52 VK5N
121832 -  ..
121833 - We tend to use phrases like "SDS is a new way of working". and "SDS
121834 - adds intelligence to information to create knowledge". These are
121835 - indeed true, but that doesn't communicate what we need, nor does it
121836 - get at the barriers we need to overcome.
121838 -  ..
121839 - SDS builds on alphabet technology and hence on the ideas of
121840 - documents. People always try to understand something new in terms of
121841 - similarities to what they already know. Most people don't look hard
121842 - enough for the *differences* from what they already know.
121844 -  ..
121845 - Throughout our education, we are given assignments that must be
121846 - turned in at a specific time. Those assignments are in the form of
121847 - documents, and they are "finished" -- we will not rework them, bring
121848 - them up to date, connect to them in the future, or connect them to the
121849 - past.
121851 -  ..
121852 - When we enter the work force, we work to deadlines and create
121853 - documents that are then "finished". Even when we revise a document,
121854 - it is a new release or revision rather than a modification of an
121855 - existing document -- the new version is now "finished".
121857 -  ..
121858 - SDS records report events and the analysis of events. The events
121859 - reported don't change, but the amount of information we have
121860 - concerning them does, and so does our analysis of the events. This
121861 - relates to some positive effects of "meaning drift". Human memory
121862 - changes with experience, and this is not completely a bad thing. SDS
121863 - mimics human memory in that we do change it over time, but we track
121864 - why we changed it and what experiences led to the change in
121865 - perspective.
121867 -  ..
121868 - We also add subjects to records as we discover that they relate to
121869 - different areas of our experience or are relevant in different
121870 - contexts.
121871 -
121872 -
121874 -  ..
121875 - Diaries and Journals
121876 -
121877 - The Diary portion of SDS is a historical record. Unfortunately, none
121878 - of the names most often used really fit.
121880 -  ..
121881 - The word "diary" evokes images of a young girl sitting in a window in
121882 - the summer sun musing about nothing much and writing down her thoughts
121883 - about the day. While some diaries are more formal and more serious,
121884 - the image is still one of writings of no lasting significance.
121886 -  ..
121887 - The word "journal" imparts a sense of increased importance over a
121888 - diary. A journal is directed at recording more important matters,
121889 - important events, important ideas, etc. Recently, journals have come
121890 - to be used as a way of looking at the ways in which ones thoughts and
121891 - ideas change over time -- as an aid to self improvement.
121893 -  ..
121894 - A "laboratory notebook" is a formal record of experiments, data, and
121895 - ideas. The lab notebook is used as a record of exactly what was done
121896 - and when, and is often essential in deciding who gets credit for new
121897 - theories, designs, patents, etc.
121899 -  ..
121900 - In the sense that SDS Diary records are recorded and indexed by date
121901 - and time, they can be used in any and all of these ways, and we do.
121903 -  ..
121904 - Records such as this one record ideas and thinking about subjects of
121905 - interest.
121907 -  ..
121908 - Records can be used to capture the essence of meetings and therefore
121909 - become more like meeting minutes.
121911 -  ..
121912 - Records tracks changes made to the SDS code and provide a record of
121913 - its evolution over time.
121915 -  ..
121916 - SDS can as easily record doctor appointments, visits to the museum,
121917 - days spent at the beach, or letters sent to friends and relatives.
121919 -  ..
121920 - We typically use SDS in all of these ways an more. All the records
121921 - are available rather than being separated by type. They are tied to
121922 - subjects, and may be linked to each other.
121924 -  ..
121925 - I can write about a lazy afternoon spent relaxing in the back yard,
121926 - link that to a record that talks about Newton and the fabled apple
121927 - that is said to have happened in much the same way, and yet again to
121928 - a record about the idea I had that afternoon for a new approach to
121929 - some aspect of my professional work.
121931 -  ..
121932 - All of these things are in SDS because they are each part of the
121933 - human experience that has its place in individual memory. It all
121934 - needs to be together in SDS because it is all together in my memory.
121936 -  ..
121937 - I may look out at a sunny afternoon and be reminded that I had some
121938 - very interesting business ideas one such afternoon, but I can't
121939 - recall the details. If I have a record of that afternoon in SDS, and
121940 - I have it linked to the business ideas, I can find the business ideas
121941 - from the sunny afternoon in much the same way as my memory attempted
121942 - to do.
121944 -  ..
121945 - The notes of the business ideas that I have in SDS, however, haven't
121946 - faded with time and distance. All of my thoughts are there. Links to
121947 - any research I may have done are there. Links to follow on work that
121948 - I did are there. Actions that I want to take based on the ideas are
121949 - highlighted in the record. Actions that I have completed have links
121950 - forward to the records I made when I did the work on those Actions.
121952 -  ..
121953 - The note about that sunny afternoon may be one of the most important
121954 - records in my SDS Diary, not because of the content or the subject
121955 - matter, but because of what else it allowed me to find again.
121957 -  ..
121958 - SDS isn't just about formal or business record keeping -- it is about
121959 - life.
121960 -
121961 -
121963 -  ..
121964 - Integrating time and information
121965 -
121966 - While many systems support schedules and diaries, SDS is unique in
121967 - connecting the two.
121969 -  ..
121970 - In SDS, the most common way to create a Schedule is to use an existing
121971 - Diary record as a base. This makes a copy of the record with all of
121972 - its subjects and record references. It adds the original record as a
121973 - reference and links all headlined to the original record, providing
121974 - automatic links to the original record.
121976 -  ..
121977 - Using these automatically created follow up links, it is easy to
121978 - create a forward link in the original record to point to work being
121979 - reported or that needs to be dealt with in the current record.
121981 -  ..
121982 - The schedule record is place on the date where the associated work
121983 - needs to be done, which creates a "suspense file" of pending work.
121985 -  ..
121986 - When the work is to be done, the record is converted to a Diary
121987 - record, and the follow up work is recorded and linked to the Diary
121988 - record where the issues were last addressed.
121990 -  ..
121991 - This is extremely powerful, and very new. I know of no system that
121992 - uses the record of prior work as a basis for planning and executing
121993 - current work. Schedules are treated as planning, with little regard
121994 - for the past, and diaries / journals / minutes are treated as
121995 - history.
121997 -  ..
121998 - Even when minutes are read as part of formal meetings, they are not
121999 - usually used to guide the current meeting to the degree that this is
122000 - done in SDS.
122001 -
122002 -    Formal meetings usually involve:
122003 -
122004 -       •  Reading and approval of the minutes, generally without
122005 -          discussion.
122007 -           ..
122008 -       •  Old Business -- *sometimes* actually part of the agenda, but
122009 -          often just using memory rather than the minutes of the last
122010 -          meeting.
122012 -           ..
122013 -       •  New Business -- again, sometimes on the agenda, but most
122014 -          often relying on individual memory.
122016 -           ..
122017 -       •  There may be an Action Item Review as part of the meeting.
122018 -          Well run staff meetings are run based on an agenda which
122019 -          included ongoing discussion topics and a list of active
122020 -          Action Items. In most of these meetings, the only tracking
122021 -          of history that is done is in terms of changes to the agenda
122022 -          and the action items. The actual meeting minutes (record) is
122023 -          not used.
122024 -
122026 -  ..
122027 - Record segments not (quite) document sections
122028 -
122029 - A section in a document is a major treatment of the topic of the
122030 - document. This is true in SDS, and an SDS record segment *looks* like
122031 - a document section, but it is far more powerful.
122032 -
122033 - In SDS, each record segment has its own set of control fields, which
122034 - allows it to have its own set of subjects and accounting information.
122036 -  ..
122037 - The record segments are linked independently of the record, and the
122038 - record is linked to all the subjects in all its segments. This is
122039 - extremely powerful.
122040 -
122041 -
122043 -  ..
122044 - Indexing with multiple subjects
122045 -
122046 - The idea of indexing with multiple subjects, and allowing each
122047 - subject to be phrased in multiple ways is an extremely powerful
122048 - technique in SDS.
122049 -
122050 - Some systems attempt to do this using keywords, but that is less than
122051 - satisfactory for many reasons.
122053 -  ..
122054 - In SDS, subjects can be added as needed. If you have to look for a
122055 - record that is not in the current context, you can add subjects that
122056 - link it to the current context once you find the record. The record
122057 - can now be located in a new way.
122058 -
122060 -  ..
122061 - SDS links have purpose
122062 -
122063 - On 030721, I noted that SDS links have purpose, ref SDS 52 VK5N, as
122064 - Rod noted on 030718, ref SDS 50 A932.
122065 -
122066 - I won't repeat the discussion as these references do a good job.
122068 -  ..
122069 - From the perspective of learning SDS, links are another concept that
122070 - *looks* familiar, but is different in unique and important ways.
122071 -
122072 -
122074 -  ..
122075 - Contacts more than phone book
122076 -
122077 - Contacts in SDS are more than a phone book. They are a way of
122078 - indexing records to provide contexts for locating information and for
122079 - doing work.
122080 -
122081 - Contacts are tied to email sent and received, and can be connected to
122082 - any SDS record. Searches based on contact can then retrieve those
122083 - records.
122084 -
122085 -
122087 -  ..
122088 - SDS builds on alphabet technology
122089 -
122090 - SDS builds on and extends alphabet technology. Because SDS *builds* on
122091 - alphabet technology, many of its elements resemble elements of the
122092 - technology we know. Because SDS *extends* alphabet technology, most of
122093 - the elements that are familiar are also different in unfamiliar ways.
122095 -  ..
122096 - I think that we need to do a careful analysis of the identities,
122097 - similarities, and differences between SDS and the alphabet technology
122098 - on which it is based. This comparison can at least warn people new to
122099 - SDS of the pitfalls that can cause difficulties.
122101 -  ..
122102 - This record addresses some of them, but certainly not all.
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