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intertwingle [2008-11-15 17:56] – 81.188.78.24intertwingle [2009-12-14 10:20] (current) – nik
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 ====vast volumes of email==== ====vast volumes of email====
  
-May 18th+May 18th (1998)
  
 Submitted by Jamie Zawinski to Miscellaneous. Submitted by Jamie Zawinski to Miscellaneous.
  
-"Intertwingularity is not generally acknowledged -- people keep pretending they can make things deeply hierarchical, categorizable and sequential when they can't. Everything is deeply intertwingled." -- Ted Nelson  +"Intertwingularity is not generally acknowledged -- people keep pretending they can make things deeply hierarchical, categorizable and sequential when they can't. Everything is deeply [[intertwingled]]." -- Ted Nelson  
  
 In the following, I outline a potential project to make it easier to deal with a massive volume of personal messages: excavating, traversing, relating, reporting, annotating. In the following, I outline a potential project to make it easier to deal with a massive volume of personal messages: excavating, traversing, relating, reporting, annotating.
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 The basic components of this system are: The basic components of this system are:
  
-====1. parser.====+===1. parser.===
  
 The module which reads the existing message store (directories of BSD mbox files, or news spool directories, or whatever) and parses them into tagged, indexable data. The module which reads the existing message store (directories of BSD mbox files, or news spool directories, or whatever) and parses them into tagged, indexable data.
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-==== 2. database.====+=== 2. database.===
    
 The module which stores the output of the parser on disk in some quickly-retrievable format. It needs to have both relational and full-text-indexing properties; many of the searches we want to do could be accomplished with a database that was nothing but a glorified set of hash tables; but body searches need to be done in some more clever way. (Perhaps simply putting every word in a hash table would be sufficient, but I doubt it.) And more to the point, the text searches have to take advantage of the tagging of the data, so that, for example, constraining a search to be in the subject and not the body actually makes the search go faster instead of slower. The module which stores the output of the parser on disk in some quickly-retrievable format. It needs to have both relational and full-text-indexing properties; many of the searches we want to do could be accomplished with a database that was nothing but a glorified set of hash tables; but body searches need to be done in some more clever way. (Perhaps simply putting every word in a hash table would be sufficient, but I doubt it.) And more to the point, the text searches have to take advantage of the tagging of the data, so that, for example, constraining a search to be in the subject and not the body actually makes the search go faster instead of slower.
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 It seems clear that RDF would be the way go go here. It seems clear that RDF would be the way go go here.
  
- ====3. query tool.====+===3. query tool.===
  
 All of the web search engines force the user to type in boolean expressions. Sometimes that's ok, but we should do something better, that lets the user construct expressions with a GUI. All of the web search engines force the user to type in boolean expressions. Sometimes that's ok, but we should do something better, that lets the user construct expressions with a GUI.
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 Drawing on the notion that searches are really set operations, perhaps one aspect of the search tool could be drag-and-drop: to add a set of messages to the union of messages returned, drop the link on the "Or" box. To add it to the intersection of messages returned, drop it on the "And" box. Of course, that doesn't handle deeper boolean expressions, or textual searches. Maybe it's a dumb idea. Drawing on the notion that searches are really set operations, perhaps one aspect of the search tool could be drag-and-drop: to add a set of messages to the union of messages returned, drop the link on the "Or" box. To add it to the intersection of messages returned, drop it on the "And" box. Of course, that doesn't handle deeper boolean expressions, or textual searches. Maybe it's a dumb idea.
  
-==== 4. presentation tools.====+=== 4. presentation tools.===
  
 There are objects, sets of objects, and presentation tools. There is a presentation tool for each kind of object; and one for each kind of object set. There are objects, sets of objects, and presentation tools. There is a presentation tool for each kind of object; and one for each kind of object set.
  
-=====names, addresses, or people.=====+====names, addresses, or people.====
  
 The presentation tools for these kinds of objects needn't be complicated, since there's not a lot of information to show: just a bunch of links and/or commands. For example, there needs to be a place to hang the "show me all people with this name" gesture, and the "show me all messages from this user" gesture. But just including the list there isn't going to work, since it's long; really, there wants to be a way to initialize a search with this user. Perhaps activating one of those controls would bring up the search tool with some terms already filled in, like The presentation tools for these kinds of objects needn't be complicated, since there's not a lot of information to show: just a bunch of links and/or commands. For example, there needs to be a place to hang the "show me all people with this name" gesture, and the "show me all messages from this user" gesture. But just including the list there isn't going to work, since it's long; really, there wants to be a way to initialize a search with this user. Perhaps activating one of those controls would bring up the search tool with some terms already filled in, like
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 The problem with the annotation notion is that it's the first time that we consider a piece of data which is not merely a projection of data already present in the message store: it is out-of-band data that needs to be stored somewhere. In the address book? In LDAP? I have no idea.  The problem with the annotation notion is that it's the first time that we consider a piece of data which is not merely a projection of data already present in the message store: it is out-of-band data that needs to be stored somewhere. In the address book? In LDAP? I have no idea. 
  
-=====sets of people.=====+====sets of people.====
  
 Perhaps a simple list is sufficient, with options to sort in various ways (by last name, first name, email, host-name, or host-domain.)  Perhaps a simple list is sufficient, with options to sort in various ways (by last name, first name, email, host-name, or host-domain.) 
  
-=====messages.=====+====messages.====
  
 Presenting a single message is straightforward: just return a message/rfc822 or text/html document. However, there should be some other controls available: Reply-To-Sender, Reply-To-All, Forward. And there needs to be a place to hang the reciprocal links to the referring messages, to the folder, and so on. Presenting a single message is straightforward: just return a message/rfc822 or text/html document. However, there should be some other controls available: Reply-To-Sender, Reply-To-All, Forward. And there needs to be a place to hang the reciprocal links to the referring messages, to the folder, and so on.
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 Annotations of messages would be interesting as well. For example, one might want to make a note to one's self that two messages from different people refer to the same issue and should be dealt with at the same time.  Annotations of messages would be interesting as well. For example, one might want to make a note to one's self that two messages from different people refer to the same issue and should be dealt with at the same time. 
  
-=====sets of messages.=====+====sets of messages.====
  
 This presentation has to be fairly powerful; it needs to present a decent summary of the messages (with resizable columns for sender, recipient, date, and so on) and be able to do all the usual sorting and threading tricks. Basically, this has to be a very good thread display. This presentation has to be fairly powerful; it needs to present a decent summary of the messages (with resizable columns for sender, recipient, date, and so on) and be able to do all the usual sorting and threading tricks. Basically, this has to be a very good thread display.
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