Index Cards
October 7, 2004
I’ve noticed that a lot of people struggle with describing just what Tinderbox is. As I was driving into work this morning, something Adam Feuer said to me while we had breakfast just before the conference started percolated up to the top of my mind.
In Adam’s software business, he and his colleagues have reams of index cards taped to the walls to keep track of their development notes. One of the things Adam is interested in doing with Tinderbox is replacing those index cards with a better information tracking and presentation system.
Well, if you aren’t sure what Tinderbox is, it might help to think of it this way - Tinderbox is an infinite box of index cards, which you can attach to an infinite wall. Now, in addition to those index cards and that wall, you have a very smart, very programmable, very fast robot. That robot can nearly instantly retrieve, sort, rearrange, and even change the content of those index cards at your merest whim. Better yet, it can memorize your commands and re-execute them on demand. So, in the end, it doesn’t matter that much how you stick the cards to the wall, your robot can show you just the cards you want, at just the time you want them, on command.
Of course, that’s just one metaphor for visualizing what Tinderbox does. There are other good metaphors as well, but that one works pretty well for me, today.
It’s also a good metaphor for understanding one of the points about Tinderbox philosophy I made at the conference - keep your note hierarchies as simple and flat as possible, and then let Tinderbox do the sorting and arranging. That’s easier to understand if your metaphor for Tinderbox is “index cards” than if you’re primarily thinking “outliner.”
http://www.doug-miller.net/blog/archive/permanence.html
Wed, 6 Oct 2004 21:27:07 -0500
http://www.doug-miller.net/blog/archive/permanence.html
Books
demiller@gmail.com (Doug Miller)
Outside of the Tinderbox Weekend conference, San Franciso was cool, but definitely a bit on the “zoo” side. As Ken Hagler mentions, there was a lot going on, including a major hotel strike. Then starting sometime Sunday afternoon there was a movie shoot at the Sir Francis Drake, a hotel
Outside of the Tinderbox Weekend conference, San Franciso was cool, but definitely a bit on the “zoo” side. As Ken Hagler mentions, there was a lot going on, including a major hotel strike. Then starting sometime Sunday afternoon there was a movie shoot at the Sir Francis Drake, a hotel about half a block from the Hotel Rex where the conference was held.
Still, San Francisco wasn’t all bad by any means - good food, a glimpse of a Frank Lloyd Wright building, and, in the local Borders, a copy of Karl Schroeder’s Permanence, a book I’ve been seeking in vain here in Indianapolis.
I’m not sure I’d want to live there, but it isn’t a half bad place to visit…
http://www.doug-miller.net/blog/archive/zoom.html
Wed, 6 Oct 2004 21:17:15 -0500
http://www.doug-miller.net/blog/archive/zoom.html
Media
Pictures
demiller@gmail.com (Doug Miller)
This is pretty cool…
This is pretty cool…
http://www.doug-miller.net/blog/archive/tinderboxweekendsamp.html
Sun, 10 Oct 2004 19:13:49 -0500
http://www.doug-miller.net/blog/archive/tinderboxweekendsamp.html
Tinderbox
demiller@gmail.com (Doug Miller)
As promised, I’ve posted the sample files I brought along to Tinderbox Weekend SF. The files can be retrieved from here.
Here’s what you get for your nickel:
* Tinderbox Weekend Whiteboard - the notes for my part of the presentation. No agents here at all, just a straightforward white
As promised, I’ve posted the sample files I brought along to Tinderbox Weekend SF. The files can be retrieved from here.
Here’s what you get for your nickel:
- Tinderbox Weekend Whiteboard - the notes for my part of the presentation. No agents here at all, just a straightforward white board space, the simplest of Tinderbox applications. The other sample files are linked to the notes clustered in the “Sample Files” adornment area, and should be able to be opened from there. Uses Map View.
- Simple Notebook - Another simple Tinderbox application, demonstrating how to use Tinderbox as a simple notebook. This was the notebook I used to keep notes for my real estate licensing class. In this case, each note is an entire session of class notes - I’ve kept it so simple that I didn’t even break up individual concepts into distinct notes. Uses Explorer view.
- Job Search Tracking - A slightly more complex application, this is the bones of a Tinderbox file I used for tracking my job search effort of a year ago. One Prototype and a couple of simple agents. Uses Outline View.
- Simple CRM - Building off the Job Search file, this is the basics of a system for tracking simple projects and contacts. A few more Prototypes are used, and a couple of more agents. Pay particular attention to how the Dashboard agents are used to provide status tracking on currently due calls and tasks. Also note that this application contains an agent that gathers tasks and calls that are due, and exports them as an RSS feed. This could be viewed in any news reader, or, as I did, fed to a Konfabulator widget to place a scrolling ticker of currently due taks on your screen. Also Outline view.
- Simple RSS Clippings - I didn’t have time to talk about this file at the conference, but it’s basically a file that allows you to read RSS feeds in Tinderbox. It also contains an agent that gathers all notes that contain the term “Tinderbox” - a means of scanning feeds for keywords. Outline or Explorer view for best results.
- Real Estate Showing Tracking - A file I use everyday, this sample illustrates how I use Tinderbox keep track of what houses I’ve shown what clients, and what the details were about those houses. Basically, this is Tinderbox as a database application. I also use agents to tell me what showings have been confirmed by the listing broker, what showings I have today, what I’ve shown in the past few weeks, and whether or not I’ve provided feedback on the house to the listing agent. A good example of Tinderbox as a workflow application.
- Buyer File Template - Another one I use everyday. This is the template for the digital buyer files I create for all of my buyer clients, so that I can keep track of all the paperwork involved. In actual use, each note is linked to the scanned document file on my hard drive; documents are kept together in folders for each client. In short, this is Tinderbox as a content mananger.
- Lightning Chaser Blog - The Tinderbox file I use to create my blog Lightning Chaser. This is a “Fagerjordian” weblog that’s more or less identical to the Tinderbox file I use here at DSD. Many agents for creating RSS and Atmon feeds, per-topic archives, etc.
The intent here is to show a progression of complexity, starting with very simple files that even the most novice Tinderbox user can understand, and gradually adding more complex agents and structure as I progress. Feel free to grab these and use them as the basis for your own efforts, but please don’t redistribute them. If you know someone else who needs a copy, send them here for a download. The last thing I want is to try and handle email asking for help with a file originally downloaded here but modified six times before the person emailing me started playing with it.
Also note that Jon Buscall has made a sample file available for your inspection as well.
Update: Another sample file is available from Ken Hagler. Mark Bernstein proposes a Tinderbox file sample site, which I think is a great idea. We’d probably get more bang for our buck if there was some link from the sample site to a “tips and tricks” site as well. Finally, Alwin Hawkins has a gallery of photos from the weekend up, which include far too many shots of me pontificating.
