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Tinderboxing at Engelbart"Outracing the Fire: 50 Years (and Counting) of Technology and Change" an evening with Douglas Engelbart sponsored by the Computer History Museum. The event wasn't a lecture so much as a discussion that was fondly and gently led by Pierluigi Zappacosta, of Logitech fame. As a result, there wasn't a smooth and well-planned information arc like there is in a (good) presentation. Like any conversation, topics came, went, and reappeared again later. My goal for the evening was to use Tinderbox like I used to use 3x5 index cards my graduate school. One thought, one nugget, per card. Tinderbox made this a snap, I could rapidly add, name, then open each card for a quick jot. Return/Type a title/Return/Space/Type a note -- a quick and easy way to generate lots of nuggets. Occasionally I'd revisit a card and add further notes, but for the most part I'd just create another. I never found myself waiting for, or even thinking much about, Tinderbox -- I was able to concentrate on capturing the thoughts from onstage and those racing through my mind. I didn't worry about making connections or cross-references. I was in a near-perfect "listen, think, capture, repeat" mode of operation. Usually after an event like this, where I've taken notes in a text editor of some sort, I'll review what I've written the next day. Mostly this involves fixing spelling mistakes. When I have notes in a long scrolling document I never rearrange the order of the notes on the page. I get value out of retaining the chronology -- it helps me recall the event. Also, I feel that if I edit and change things too much I am, in some small way, falsifying my record of the event. That's probably my ethnographic background kicking in. 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!
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