CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
Human Cognition Strengths and Weaknesses
Correct Language
Precision Use of Language
WAC Writing Across the Curriculum

0706 -
0706 -    ..
0707 - Summary/Objective
0708 -
070801 - Follow up ref SDS 36 0000. ref SDS 35 0000.
070802 -
070803 - Jack Park asked for some comments on what I have learned from using
070804 - SDS.
070806 -  ..
070807 - The record from 050929, Domain Expertise and SDS, ref SDS 36 0001,
070808 - addresses my thoughts on the amount of expertise requirement in a
070809 - domain of knowledge in order to be able to use SDS (or any other
070810 - note-taking tool) effectively.
070812 -  ..
070813 - The ideas here are not in any order of priority, but just the order
070814 - in which they occur to me. Where possible, I will point out where SDS
070815 - is unique, where other tools *might* work as well, and areas where
070816 - SDS could be improved.
070817 -
070819 -  ..
070820 - Synergy of Concepts
070821 -
070822 - The first major point is that SDS (and I believe any really good
070823 - tool) is not about doing any 1 or 2 things well, but about doing a
070824 - number of essential things adequately.
070825 -
070826 - It is the synergy of interacting features that gives SDS its
070827 - strength.
070829 -  ..
070830 - We have decided that a good catchphrase for what SDS does is "manage
070831 - chronology, context, and connection".
070832 -
070834 -  ..
070835 - Lists Should Be Outlines
070836 -
070837 - The record on 040817, ref SDS 20 0001, presents the idea that what
070838 - start out as simple lists almost always become outlines if they are
070839 - used often enough.
070840 -
070841 - SDS records embrace this idea:
070842 -
070843 -    1.  Record segments can have their own set of Subjects, making them
070844 -        available from Subject searches.
070846 -         ..
070847 -    2.  Sections can be created which are outdented titles for the
070848 -        material that follows.
070850 -         ..
070851 -    3.  Headlines can be multi-level allowing for major outline
070852 -        structure. Since there can be any nuber of headlines anywhere
070853 -        thaere can be a single headline, it is possible to label a
070854 -        major heading in a number of different ways. There is a
070855 -        feature that allows taking a group of headlines and entering
070856 -        them as a group in the subject index.
070858 -         ..
070859 -        The headlines for the current record can be viewed as a linked
070860 -        index, similar in concept to the Document Map in Microsoft
070861 -        Word.
070863 -         ..
070864 -    4.  Bulleted and numbered lists may be nested. Numbered outlines
070865 -        will be renumbered when the record is saved, which saves a lot
070866 -        of keystrokes.
070868 -  ..
070869 - The use of outlines in a record is so powerful, that I would base any
070870 - system that creates individual records on an outline editor rather
070871 - than on an editor with some outlining.
070872 -
070873 -
070875 -  ..
070876 - Chronology
070877 -
070878 - Using date and time as a primary index turns out to be quite
070879 - effective given other tools for organizing the material.
070880 -
070881 - Email is date oriented and that by itself is not adequate. I have to
070882 - use subject folders to be able to find emails in a large collection.
070884 -  ..
070885 - At work, where the number of individuals is relatively small, a
070886 - structure of organization, project | person works well.
070888 -  ..
070889 - In SDS, having the Diary ordered by date and being able to view any
070890 - section of the Diary by date range works well.
070892 -  ..
070893 - Wherever there are dates, the day of the week should be there as
070894 - well. Often I know what day of the week a record should be on -
070895 - standing meetings, appointments, weekend, etc - an being able to
070896 - look at the day of the week would help.
070898 -  ..
070899 - David Gelernter built a tool that used chronology as the major focus
070900 - of its organization, and it was not terribley successful. Some of
070901 - that may be due to the strange interface, but I think it was due more
070902 - to the fact that chronology is necessary but not sufficient.
070903 -
070904 -
070906 -  ..
070907 - Connection
070908 -
070909 - This was what originally attracted me to SDS. The ability to create a
070910 - structure of records that is hyperlinked at the paragraph level is
070911 - extremely powerful, and is essential to any knowledge tool.
070912 -
070913 - The level of granularity in addressability is an area of
070914 - research, but there are some observations that are pertinent.
070915 -
070916 -    1.  Addressability is no only for the author but for others who
070917 -        want to refer to the material. Therefore, the author shouldn't
070918 -        be the only person to decide where anchors should be placed.
070920 -         ..
070921 -        This led Doug Engelbart, and the Purple Numbers efforts after
070922 -        that, to place anchors at every point of new meaning, the
070923 -        paragraph. For tables, this should be at the row.
070925 -         ..
070926 -        SDS attempts to work out some optimal placement for anchors,
070927 -        with mixed results. I have argued for placing anchors on every
070928 -        paragraph, no matter how close the preceding anchor might be.
070930 -         ..
070931 -    2.  The paragraph, table row, bullet point, etc. is the point
070932 -        where a new thought is supposed to begin in English, so I
070933 -        think that is where anchors need to be.
070935 -         ..
070936 -        If some further addressability is provided as is done in
070937 -        Augment and XPath, that is fine, but there should be explicit
070938 -        anchors at every major thought point.
070940 -         ..
070941 -        This is one area where most tools that provide for som form of
070942 -        hyperlinking break down.
070944 -         ..
070945 -        Microsoft Office documents provide bookmarks for headings and
070946 -        possibly a few other items, but not at the paragraph level. MS
070947 -        Office products can open other documents at a particular
070948 -        bookmark, but there is no way that I have found to do this
070949 -        from the command line. It would be possible to create a macro
070950 -        that would add a bookmark to every paragraph that didn't
070951 -        already have one, but the creating links to them is so
070952 -        cumbersome that the process would be overwhelming.
070954 -  ..
070955 - The means of creating a link (mark where the link should be placed,
070956 - navigate to the target, press enter) is so much easier than in any
070957 - other system, that is counts as a major strenth of SDS.
070958 -
070959 -    If I were trying to improve on the system, I would add a way to
070960 -    capture link target(s), navigate to where the link should go, and
070961 -    select a target from the saved list (which would usually be a
070962 -    single target and so no list would be presented).
070963 -
070964 -
070966 -  ..
070967 - Automatic Link Creation
070968 -
070969 - SDS provides a chain of records leading to this one by copying a
070970 - record as a starting point for new records. The record list also
070971 - holds location information for all references (links) within the
070972 - record. This helps shorten the link string and also provides a
070973 - convenient list of records that are likely to be relevant.
070975 -  ..
070976 - When a record is made the basis of a new record, each headline is
070977 - linked back to the same headline in the original record, so there is
070978 - a chain for the discussion on that heading.
070980 -  ..
070981 - The automatic creation of links based on the context of operations
070982 - being performed is very powerful, and is a strenght of SDS.
070983 -
070984 -
070986 -  ..
070987 - Context
070988 -
070989 - I left this one for last even though it is second in our catchphrase,
070990 - since it is the most difficult to explain.
070991 -
070992 - Context speaks to the connecting of information by some sort of
070993 - index. In SDS, this is the Subject Index. The Subject Index provides
070994 - a way of locating information based on subject, and is a major tool
070995 - for locating relevant records for possible links.
070997 -  ..
070998 - The ability to phrase a Subject in as many ways as makes sense is
070999 - powerful. The same information has a different focus in different
071000 - contexts, and being able to find the same topic phrased in multiple
071001 - ways helps. Tools in the subject index help with providing
071002 - permutations of a Subject.
071003 -
071004 -    One discovery that others have made is that in any
071005 -    multi-dimensional index, there is value in being able to order
071006 -    the material by any arrangement of the dimensions. The inablilty
071007 -    to do this weakens most file systems.
071009 -     ..
071010 -    As soon as you organize by (project, person), you find that you
071011 -    want to be able to view it by (person, project). Neil Larson
071012 -    (MaxThink) developed a program under DOS that would take a set of
071013 -    records (files) with dimensions and provide views that showed the
071014 -    records as multiple outlines with the dimensions in all possible
071015 -    orders. It was a very interesting tool.
071017 -     ..
071018 -    SDS allows this to some extent, but doing this even more
071019 -    explicitly would be a good idea.
071021 -  ..
071022 - The Subject Index is an outline. The codes that represent the
071023 - subjects reflect the outline structure, and are generated by the
071024 - user. This makes it difficult to manipulate the outline. Rod is
071025 - adding more tools to help with common manipulations, but it would
071026 - need a restucturing to make it work.
071027 -
071028 -    I have wanted to find a Topic Map application that presented
071029 -    itself as an outline with the addition of cross-links. If the
071030 -    outline could be manipulated as an outline, the result could be
071031 -    powerful. So far, the Topic Map applications I have found were
071032 -    either coupled to zooming viewers or provided direct access to all
071033 -    of the elements of the format and were therefore useful only to
071034 -    people wanting to experiment with Topic Map structures.
071035 -
071037 -  ..
071038 - Learning Through Writing
071039 -
071040 - This concept isn't new with SDS, but Rod's 8 Steps (POIMS, ref OF 8
071041 - 685K), are one way to go about developing information on a topic. A
071042 - related term is "Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC)". The premise is
071043 - that writing is how we express thought, and that writing therefore
071044 - causes us to reason and organize our thinking. Using SDS for this
071045 - purpose supports that contention.
071046 -
071047 -    Book: "Writing To Learn" by William Zinsser
071049 -     ..
071050 -    The 8 Steps
071051 -
071052 -    1.  Report
071053 -
071054 -    2.  Organize
071055 -
071056 -    3.  Analyse
071058 -         ..
071059 -    4.  Align
071061 -         ..
071062 -    5.  Summarize
071064 -         ..
071065 -    6.  Action Items
071067 -         ..
071068 -    7.  Schedule
071070 -         ..
071071 -    8.  Feedback
071073 -  ..
071074 - When writing emails in the Bootsrtap and Blue Oxen forums, I would
071075 - often think, "There's an intriguing idea. I can hardly wait to see
071076 - what I am going to say about it."
071078 -  ..
071079 - Many, possibly most, SDS records are created for the benefit of the
071080 - author rather than the reader.
071082 -  ..
071083 - While it is possible to employ learning through writing using any
071084 - writing tool, including pen and paper or a whiteboard, SDS provides
071085 - some definitie advantages.
071087 -  ..
071088 - Using various tools in SDS, it is possible to gather together most of
071089 - the relevant material from the record for study in from the current
071090 - perspective. The act of reviewing material, thinking about the
071091 - subject, writing about it, organizing the writing and thus the
071092 - thinking, and establishing connections to existing material and from
071093 - existing material to the current work provides a powerful learning
071094 - experience for the author. In addition, there is the benefit that the
071095 - result is connected to other relevant material rather than merely to
071096 - memory, which is a difficulty that I sometimes have.
071097 -
071098 -    The sensation has been expressed as "having all the information
071099 -    you need in one place".
071100 -
071102 -  ..
071103 - The Multiple Worlds Problem
071104 -
071105 - SDS works with its own documents and records. External documents in
071106 - other formats pose a problem. At best, they need to be converted for
071107 - use in SDS.
071108 -
071109 - Other document systems have similar problems. I have files from old
071110 - word processors that I can no longer read with anything that I have.
071112 -  ..
071113 - There is a definite advantage to using some sort of text based
071114 - format when it comes to longevity. Given text in any reasonable form,
071115 - it is possible to reverse engineer a conversion program if necessary.
071117 -  ..
071118 - SDS is based on a text edirot. Everything show up in the text being
071119 - edited. There is no way to separate presentation from content.
071121 -  ..
071122 - Since the world is dominated by Microsoft Word, Adobe PDF, and HTML,
071123 - we have done some work with each.
071125 -  ..
071126 - SDS documents support limited HTML markup. Editing raw HTML with an
071127 - editor that isn't designed for it is painful. I would prefer one of
071128 - the simpler markup languages, but I have seen them get out of hand as
071129 - well.
071131 -  ..
071132 - Getting Word or PDF into a form that can be used is a challenge. I
071133 - haven't taken the time to write a script to do the work of getting
071134 - clean text (or HTML) out of Word. I *think* someonw has done some of
071135 - that work, but I haven't checked.
071136 -
071137 -
071139 -  ..
071140 - My Vision for SDS
071141 -
071142 - I have a vision of a tool that would be an advance over the current
071143 - SDS.
071145 -  ..
071146 - First, get it out of DOS into a modern environment. This is as much
071147 - to get away from the memory limitation as to improve the appearance.
071149 -  ..
071150 - My first view has been to replace the editor and implement
071151 - the macro language in the new editor. This would allow SDS, which is
071152 - written in the mcaro language, to be moved directly. Then we could
071153 - proceed to implement pieces in a better way.
071155 -  ..
071156 - All of the editors for which I have source available are more
071157 - sophisticated than I want.  JEdit sounded like a start, but I am
071158 - concerned about performance.  I have used some other Java-based
071159 - editors, and they were painful.
071161 -  ..
071162 - If I could, I would start with an outlining editor.
071164 -  ..
071165 - I want to be able to make the anchors invisible.
071167 -  ..
071168 - I would like to support minimal font and color management.
071170 -  ..
071171 - Then the hard work starts.
071172 -
071174 -  ..
071175 - Summary
071176 -
071177 - SDS has a handle on more of the pieces I have come to see as
071178 - essential for managing a knowledge base than any other piece of
071179 - software that I know. In many ways, the individual pieces are archaic
071180 - and arcane, but the combination provides so much strenght that SDS is
071181 - one of my most heavily used tools for knowledge organization.
071182 -
071184 -  ..
071185 - Any attempt to replicate what SDS does would have to take into
071186 - account the synergy among the elements rather than concentrate on any
071187 - single aspect. Without the synergy, the power dissipates.
071189 -  ..
071190 - If OpenIRIS or any other tool tries to "incorporate the good points
071191 - of SDS" it needs to make sur that it gets all of the points, and
071192 - integrates them well, or they will not realize the full benefit.
071194 -  ..
071195 - As with any tool, it has to be used to get any benefit. Unless there
071196 - is perceived benefit to aligning records to history and commitments,
071197 - SDS has little to offer. Purple Numbers are seldom interesting to
071198 - people who have never felt the need to address a specific paragraph
071199 - from a document.
071200 -
071202 -  ..
071203 - SDS contains at least:
071204 -
071205 -    1.  Record editor
071206 -
071207 -    2.  Schedule
071208 -
071209 -    3.  Diary
071211 -         ..
071212 -    4.  Action Items
071214 -         ..
071215 -    5.  Document Management - Manage responses, waiting for. Link
071216 -        record to Contacts, search by contact.
071218 -         ..
071219 -    6.  Contact Management - can be linked to records
071221 -         ..
071222 -    7.  Subject Index, search, report
071223 -
071224 -        Record Segments have Subject entries
071226 -         ..
071227 -    8.  Linking at the paragraph level to other records and documents.
071228 -
071229 -
071230 -
071231 -
071232 -
0713 -