Re: [ba-ohs-talk] Tinderbox: tool for visual concept structuring
Cool, thanks for the links. I've been looking for descriptive testimonials
about Tinderbox since I first heard about it on http://www.langreiter.com (01)
The philosophy of the tool sounds great. I especially like that it can be
used for quickly organizing a set of notes. I think that MindMaps were
invented for the same purpose of quick note taking.
http://www.mindtools.com/mindmaps.html (02)
Personally, am most interested by the multiple layouts that Tinderbox
allows. Perhaps TouchGraph's layout could be a helpful way of browsing the
notes as well (what do you think, Mark, I use windows, so I haven't gotten
a chance to play with Tinderbox). (03)
Thanks again,
--Alex (04)
At 10:03 AM 4/3/02 -0400, you wrote:
>There's also a WebLog entry at
>http://radio.weblogs.com/0100524/stories/2002/03/30/tinderboxingAtEngelbart.
>html about using Tinderbox to weave a net of notes during a lecture by
>Doug. An excerpt:
>
>> Reviewing my Tinderbox-captured notes from this event was a joy. I
>> could retain their chronology and also link, relate, and group items
>> together. This led me to discover insights and subtleties that I had
>> missed before.
>>
>>Themes, ideas, and concepts from the end of the discussion dovetailed
>>nicely with those made earlier. Arranging a Map View of my notes revealed
>>these additional "ah-ha" moments.
>>
>>Tinderbox not only allowed me to capture the information, but it actually
>>showed me the way to extract additional value.
>>
>>Engelbart spoke about automation and "smart agent" technology. It was one
>>of the reoccurring themes of the discussion. As I arranged my notes in
>>Tinderbox I added an Agent to find nuggets with these themes. I watched
>>as the software quickly associated several notes that I had forgotten making.
>>
>>Engelbart discussed how technology should be used to augment our
>>abilities, to extend what we can do. Automating the mundane does not move
>>us forward -- we should be building tools that augment our human
>>capabilities -- making connections, thinking, communicating, and
>>extending our knowledge.
>>
>>I laughed aloud as I realized Tinderbox's had just done exactly that for
>>me. Its "agent" feature was allowing me to gather a better understanding
>>of this view of "smart agent" technology. How wonderfully recursive!
>
>An excellent short description of Tinderbox is at
>http://www.deosil.com/doug/entry.php3?id=030520022256. Besides allowing
>semantic mappings in a 2D (2 1/2?) space, it can manage incoming RSS feeds
>(news, blogs, etc), and can output blogs. Small collaborative linkages of
>blogs and RSS feeds can evolve from this. Much like Radio Userland, but
>with a perhaps more powerful personal info interface.
>
>I used their Web Squirrel product in the past - dropped it for lack of
>"handiness": speed to task-importance ratio. Similar problem with The
>Brain. Perhaps this is better. It will be out soon for MacOS X and for
>Windows. And all-XML is the way to go!
>
>- Mark
>
>
>>Eastgate have just released a product based on years of research in the
>>hypertext community into spatial hypertext/idea structuring tools:
>>
>> http://www.eastgate.com/Tinderbox/ (05)