CONTACTS 

SUBJECTS
OHS Open Hyperdocument System
XML Editing Capability
Core Capability DKR, Email
Traction Journal Management, 000326
Useful Technology Used Alot
Vendors Use Their Products Walk the Talk
Traction Use for DKR Daily Business
Journaling Chronology Diary Sequence
Traction Use for DKR Daily Business, 000414
Traction Helps Collaboration, Track Ideas, Investigate for DKR Projec
Linking HTML Too Slow for Management
Transclusions, Xanadu Link Innovation, 000305
Armstrong, Eric Recommends Traction be Used for OHS/DKR Development W
Catagory Support OHS/DKR, Eric Armstrong
Journaling System Recommend Review, Doug Engelbart

2817 -
2817 -    ..
2818 - Summary/Objective
2819 -
281901 - Follow up ref SDS 19 0000, ref SDS 17 0000.
281902 -
281903 - Eric likes Traction; proposes DKR team use it for supporting the
281904 - project and to guide development of DKR tools.  He suggests adding
281905 - feature to replace a "hierarchy" (chain of discussion??) with an
281906 - edited version of same, will provide a "great" knowledge repository.
281907 -
281908 -    [On 000418 Chris clarifies Traction capability. ref SDS 26 0001
281909 -
281910 -
281911 -
2820 -
2821 -
2822 - Progress
282301 -  ..
282302 - Traction Strong OHS XML Editor for DKH; a Real "Diamond"
282303 - DKR Project Should Adopt Traction for Project Communications
282304 -
282305 - Follow up ref SDS 25 4209,
282306 -
282307 - Received ref DRT 1 0001 from Eric Armstrong analysing the excellent
282308 - demonstration of Traction by Chris Nuzum yesterday during the meeting
282309 - at SRI. ref SDS 25 4209  Eric recommends the project team use Traction
282310 - for daily business because it is the closest thing he has seen to a
282311 - complete "Open HyperDocument System", with hints of "DKR-ness"
282312 - (Dynamic Knowledge Repository).  This accomplishes Doug's request on
282313 - 000405 for the project "seed" team to first use email with links in
282314 - order to learn about how to use this capability, and to improve the
282315 - work of the project. ref SDS 22 2484
282316 -
282317 -     [On 011102 Traction work product omits analysis and alignment over
282318 -     time, cited by Jack Park on 001130 as elements of KM, ref SDS 30
282319 -     C73N, indicating Traction interface may not be effective tool for
282320 -     users to improve productivity. ref SDS 31 RL8G
282322 -  ..
282323 - Eric reports that Traction provides advantages over email and the
282324 - opportunity of "springboarding" to define the next level of desirable
282325 - features. ref DRT 1 6375  Since Marcello Hoffman reported on 000330
282326 - that there are no other DKR programs available, ref SDS 20 0713,
282327 - Traction is a logical choice for the SRI team to get started learning
282328 - about how to generate and manage knowledge to supplant present
282329 - practices for managing information.
282331 -  ..
282332 - This endorsement supplements Eric's comments, ref DRP 2 0001, received
282333 - on 000327, ref SDS 19 0001, following Doug Engelbart's letter telling
282334 - the team about Traction, ref DRP 1 0001, reviewed 000326. ref SDS 17
282335 - 0001  It shows benefits of observing software use reported by Dick
282336 - Karpinski on 000227. ref SDS 3 0897
282337 -
282338 -     [On 000418 Eric proposes reviewing Traction features at meeting on
282339 -     000420. ref SDS 26 4176
282340 -
282341 -     [On 000420 project "seed" team plans to use program that supports
282342 -     links in email. ref SDS 28 2537
282343 -
282344 -     [On 000422 Joe Williams presents use case study for DKR design.
282345 -     ref SDS 29 4933
282347 -  ..
282348 - Traction was built with Doug's work in mind, and draws heavily
282349 - from Ted Nelson's ideas for the Xanadu project, ref DRT 1 5780,
282350 - reviewed on 000305. ref SDS 4 0001
282352 -  ..
282353 - Twisted Systems describes Traction as a...
282354 -
282355 -
282356 -                     hypertext journaling system
282357 -
282358 -
282359 - ...and a "web journal".  Eric says this explanation doesn't sound like
282360 - a significant capability for solving world problems, which is the goal
282361 - for the DKR, reviewed on 000120. ref SDS 1 2808  The demonstration by
282362 - Chris Nuzum yesterday showed Traction is a useful and powerful new
282363 - capability, ref DRT 1 1848, i.e., a...
282364 -
282365 -
282366 -                              diamond
282367 -
282369 -  ..
282370 - This aligns with unfavorable response on 000405 about "journal" and
282371 - "opinion" in the DKR, ref SDS 21 2928; Eric seemed to indicate that a
282372 - journal does not sound useful, but may not cause harm. ref SDS 21 1972
282373 -
282374 -     [On 000418 received letter from Eric with comments from Chris
282375 -     explaining challenge of marketing. ref SDS 26 5850
282376 -
282377 -     [On 000420 Eric disappointed Traction does not provide a sense of
282378 -     hierarchial documents, ref SDS 27 0001, and that it provides
282379 -     journaling rather than support for interactive discussion.
282380 -     ref SDS 27 6319
282382 -  ..
282383 - Eric does not suggest other ways to encapsle Traction's capabilities
282384 - for a more attractive marketing message; but, he provides an excellent
282385 - overview....
282386 -
282387 -
282388 -
2824 -

SUBJECTS
Collaborate
Querable Data Base Investigate Collaborate Track Ideas Explore
SGML Based Investigaing XML
Coordination Collaboration Communiate Expedite Work Together on Commo

3206 -
320701 -       ..
320702 -      Traction Tracks Ideas, Helps Investigate, Explore, Collaborate
320703 -
320704 -      Traction lets remote correspondents investigate, explore, and
320705 -      collaborate on ideas -- tracking them as they are gathered and
320706 -      saving them in a
320707 -
320708 -         •  queryable database running on a
320709 -         •  Java-based server that is accessed through a
320710 -         •  Web browser.
320712 -       ..
320713 -      At the moment, system is SGML-based, but they are investigating
320714 -      an XML-ization of it. ref DRT 1 7128
320715 -
320716 -         [On 000418 Chris clarifies that Traction is an XML editor.
320717 -         ref SDS 26 8160
320718 -
320719 -      Would be helpful to see Traction identify an idea and track it,
320720 -      and how this relates to Eric's sense of using this capability to
320721 -      handle daily working information, for example the results of the
320722 -      meeting yesterday.  How many ideas might Traction typically track
320723 -      for a project meeting that lasts 2 hours?
320724 -
320725 -         [On 000418 Chris affirms that Traction is used by Twisted
320726 -         Systems for conducting daily business. ref SDS 26 9477
320727 -
320728 -         [On 011102 Traction work product omits analysis and alignment
320729 -         over time, cited by Jack Park on 001130 as elements of KM,
320730 -         ref SDS 30 C73N, indicating Traction interface may not be
320731 -         effective tool for users to improve productivity. ref SDS 31
320732 -         RL8G
320733 -
320734 -
320735 -
320736 -
320737 -
320738 -
3208 -

SUBJECTS
Editing Powerful Flexible

3303 -
330401 -       ..
330402 -      Editing Flexible, Powerful
330403 -
330404 -      Eric found that editing in Traction looked a lot like using a
330405 -      normal editor. When the editor came up, it showed paragraphs, and
330406 -      you could add new paragraphs between them.  The editing therefore
330407 -      took place "in context", rather than being in a blank window.
330408 -      ref DRT 1 3388
330409 -
330410 -          Eric has following Question...
330411 -
330412 -          Can a paragraph be edited?
330413 -
330414 -            [On 000418 Chris says paragraphs can be edited. ref SDS 26
330415 -            8738
330416 -
330417 -
330418 -
3305 -

SUBJECTS
Link to Other Records in the Dat
Limitations Inline Links Not Supported Can Link to Entries in Data Ba
Connections Provide Context

3605 -
360601 -       ..
360602 -      Limitations - Supports only Internet Explorer (IE)
360603 -      Transclusions (Inline Linking), Inclusions, Hierarchy, Reduction
360604 -
360605 -      Twisted Systems describes Traction using Ted Nelson's term
360606 -      "transclusion."  At the moment, you can link to other items in
360607 -      the database, but you can't include them inline. They are
360608 -      carrying on discussions now on how to go about that. ref DRT 1
360609 -      6083
360610 -
360611 -         At the progress meeting on 000413 Eric asked about
360612 -         transclusions in relation to summary, versioning and linking.
360613 -         ref SDS 25 1081
360614 -
360615 -         On 000305 reviewed transclusions supported by Xanadu project,
360616 -         sponsored by Ted Nelson, ref SDS 4 0786, in relation to
360617 -         versoin control. ref SDS 4 7980
360619 -          ..
360620 -         On 000405 Eric suggests SDS linking can be improved by
360621 -         "inline" technology. ref SDS 21 4823
360623 -          ..
360624 -         "Inline" linking does not appear to be defined in the record.
360625 -
360626 -            On 000407 set "inline" linking for subject to be reviewed
360627 -            at a DKR project meeting, in connection with ontology,
360628 -            also, organic subject structures, for managing complexity
360629 -            of daily working information, also called "intelligence."
360630 -            ref SDS 23 4757
360631 -
360632 -
360633 -
3607 -

SUBJECTS
Multi-level Hierarchies Are More Than Two Levels Deep Supported? Eric

3703 -
3704 -        ..
370401 -      Multi-level hierarchy (?)
370402 -      
370403 -      Eric has following Question...
370404 -
370405 -          Is it possible to create hierarchies that are more than two
370406 -          levels deep? Is there some reason that *isn't* desirable?],
370407 -          ref DRT 1 0039
370408 -
370409 -         [...see below for more on "summary." ref SDS 0 6988
370410 -
370411 -         [On 000418 Chris clarified this point. ref SDS 26 0406
370412 -
370413 -
370414 -
370415 -
3705 -

SUBJECTS
Internet Explorer Interface Only Browser Supported

3803 -
380401 -       ..
380402 -      Interface - Internet Explorer
380403 -
380404 -      The demonstration showed Twisted Systems has configured Traction
380405 -      to use only Internet Explorer [4? 5?] for running the program.  A
380406 -      "whole-screen expansion" function pushed the URL and toolbar
380407 -      buttons off screen.  The interface for the Traction DB then
380408 -      "takes over", so you pretty much forget you are in a browser --
380409 -      it looks like an app. ref DRT 1 1470
380410 -
380411 -          [On 000416 Eric reviews reasons for supporting a single
380412 -          browser. ref SDS 26 3450
380413 -
380414 -          [On 000418 Chris clarifies that Traction supports both IE and
380415 -          Netscape. ref SDS 26 8448
380416 -
380417 -
380418 -
3805 -

SUBJECTS
Useful Technology Used Alot
Vendors Use Their Products Walk the Talk

410401 -  ..
410402 - Twisted Systems "Walks the Talk" on XML Editor for DKR
410403 - Traction Used by Twisted Systems for Daily Management
410404 -
410405 - Eric recalls from the meeting yesterday that Traction is used by
410406 - its designers in France, developers scattered across the US,
410407 - ref SDS 25 2520  Every spec and document they produce is developed in
410408 - that system. ref DRT 1 7546
410409 -
410410 -    Evidence of daily use is the strongest endorsement of any program
410411 -    to improve handling of daily working information called out by Doug
410412 -    from review of his 1972 paper on 000327. ref SDS 18 3971
410413 -
410414 -    On 000326 Doug suggested the DKR team use its experience from
410415 -    developing DKR tools to improve the tools. ref SDS 16 5972
410416 -
410417 -
410418 -
410419 -
410420 -
4105 -

SUBJECTS
Computers, Software Design, Version Control

4603 -
460401 -  ..
460402 - Versioning Control Supported by Traction
460403 -
460404 - Chris said that Traction uses "simple linear versioning".
460405 -
460406 -      Eric has following Question...
460407 -
460408 -      By that, I presume he mean chronological versions, with no
460409 -      branching of versions. Need to clarify? ref DRT 1 3525
460410 -
460411 -        [On 000418 Chris confirmed this point. ref SDS 26 5973
460412 -
460413 -      ..
460414 -      Reduction (?)
460415 -      
460416 -      Does Traction replace one hierarchy with an edited copy that has
460417 -      nodes deleted? That would allow a discussion to be replaced with
460418 -      a reformulated, reorganized version. I seem to recall Chris
460419 -      saying something about selecting multiple nodes when creating a
460420 -      new one, but I'm unclear about what happened after that.]
460421 -
460422 -        [On 000418 Chris confirmed this point. ref SDS 26 0642
460423 -
460424 -
460425 -
460426 -
460427 -
460428 -
460429 -
4605 -

SUBJECTS
Confidentiality Security Privacy Balance Intelligence for Collaborati
Privacy/Security

4804 -
480501 -  ..
480502 - Permissions, Security, Privacy, Confidentiality
480503 -
480504 - Editing capabilities were restricted by access controls. So it seemed
480505 - to be possible to limit changes to the designated author(s).
480506 - ref DRT 1 2275
480507 -
480508 -      Eric has following Question...
480509 -
480510 -      I seem to recall that it was possible to add someone to the
480511 -      author list, but I'm not sure if I really heard that.
480512 -
480513 -       [On 000418 Chris confirms this capability. ref SDS 26 5271
480514 -
480515 -
480516 -
480517 -
4806 -

SUBJECTS
Hyperdocuments
Linking Connections
Linking HTML Too Slow for Management

5305 -
530601 -  ..
530602 - Linking Hypertext Supported by Traction
530603 -
530604 - It was possible to refer to other nodes in the database, the demo did
530605 - that using a name and number, like "Traction348". Although normal
530606 - hypertext links weren't shown, they are almost certainly usable.
530607 - {Yes?}, ref DRT 1 3004
530608 -
530609 -      Eric has following Question...
530610 -
530611 -      TBD: Drag and drop of text is supported. Is it possible to drag
530612 -      and drop a node link, as well?
530613 -
530614 -     [On 000418 Chris advised that Traction supports this feature in
530615 -     IE. ref SDS 26 5974
530616 -    ..
530617 -    Chris did not have time to demonstrate the mechanics of
530618 -    creating links.
530619 -
530620 -
530621 -
530622 -
530623 -
530624 -
5307 -

SUBJECTS
Subject Index Method
Catagorization
Traction, 000325
Traction Supports Categories Proposed for Email by Eric Armstrong

6306 -
630701 -  ..
630702 - Catagories Powerful Traction Feature, Supports Some gIBIS
630703 - Query and Report Derivitive from Catagory Capability
630704 -
630705 - Follow up ref SDS 19 1350, ref SDS 17 1350.
630706 -
630707 - Eric likes Traction's support for tagging paragraphs with catagories,
630708 - and that tags like "for" and "against" shown in the demonstration
630709 - yesterday, indicate that IBIS-style discussions can be carried out.
630710 - Subject tags can be added or changed later -- so the user doesn't have
630711 - to "pre categorize" what they intend to say. The list of categories a
630712 - paragraph belongs to is shown to the right of the paragraph, in light
630713 - blue text. ref DRT 1 0528
630714 -
630715 -     [On 000420 Eric disappointed Traction does not provide for
630716 -     hierarchial documents. ref SDS 27 3450
630717 -
630718 -     [On 011003 Eric frustrated informtion overload paralizes
630719 -     productivity; analysis a hopeless quagmire; wants system of
630720 -     categories. ref SDS 20 SW9L
630721 -
630722 -     [On 011102 Traction concurred that it accomplishes Eric's
630723 -     objectives for managing categories. ref SDS 31 916Q
630724 -
630725 -     [On 011102 Traction work product omits analysis and alignment over
630726 -     time, cited by Jack Park on 001130 as elements of KM, indicating
630727 -     Traction interface may not be effective tool for users to improve
630728 -     productivity. ref SDS 31 RL8G
630729 -
630730 -     [On 020419 keywords proposed to improve email. ref SDS 32 0001
630731 - ..
630732 - Eric recalled that Traction defines tags by current context,
630733 - producing a hierarchy of tags.  Subtags were allowed like
630734 - "Argument:for" and "Argument:against" displayed linearly, rather than
630735 - in a tree.  He feels linear display is a fairly small defect, and may
630736 - even be preferable for fast access and use. ref DRT 1 3498
630737 -
630738 - On 000327 Eric cited catagorization as an important feature of the DKR.
630739 - ref SDS 19 1350
630740 -
630741 - Eric reports Traction lets the user assemble reports and choose what
630742 - to display based upon subject tags assigned to paragraphs.  A "rapid
630743 - selector" box allows abbreviations (or requires them?) so the view can
630744 - be changed rapidly. ref DRT 1 5250
630745 -
630746 - Eric asks whether a category is a property (attribute) of a node or an
630747 - external heading that belongs to the node?  Catagory-based queries
630748 - gave him the answer.  In essence, there is a category header that
630749 - contains a list of nodes. Each node also has a list of categories to
630750 - which it belongs. Searches then follow category lists to get nodes.
630751 - The node's list of categories is then inspected to fill in the
630752 - display. ref DRT 1 2756
630753 -
630755 -      ..
630756 -     Managing Subjects Requires Control for Confidentiality, Security
630757 -
630758 -     Follow up ref SDS 19 5933.
630759 -
630760 -     Eric does not expressly address security issues he raised on
630761 -     000327.
630762 -
630764 -      ..
630765 -     Catagories are Flexible
630766 -
630767 -     Eric likes the ability in Traction to change the categories
630768 -     themselves, which he feels aligns with work by Ted Nelson, who
630769 -     pointed out that our sense of organization changes over time. So
630770 -     what is marked "ToDo" today, can rather easily be modified to be
630771 -     one of "Feature:Open" or "Bug:Open" in the future. When you decide
630772 -     to make a change, the affected nodes are listed. You can then
630773 -     select which ones are affected. ref DRT 1 3658
630774 -
630776 -      ..
630777 -     Audit Trail of Catagories
630778 -     Historical Record for Catagories
630779 -
630780 -     Eric describes an "audit trail" maintained by Traction for all
630781 -     changes to categories and node-categorization.  Going back to a
630782 -     previous date in history will therefore show a node marked as
630783 -     "ToDo", rather than "Feature:Open" (if that's what it was changed
630784 -     to). ref DRT 1 1554
630785 -
630786 -
630787 -
630788 -
6308 -

SUBJECTS
Summary Linked to Detail = Knowledge

6403 -
640401 -  ..
640402 - Summary of Paragraphs also called "Hierarchy"
640403 -
640404 - Eric recalls that Traction seems to have a two-level hierarchy with
640405 - headers and paragraphs.  Paragraphs are added when people add
640406 - comments. A depth-two hierarchy may be limiting for some purposes, but
640407 - there may also be a fair amount that can be accomplished within that
640408 - structure, and there may be deeper structuring we just didn't see.
640409 - ref DRT 1 9409
640410 -
640411 -      Eric has following Question...
640412 -
640413 -      Is "summary" intended for high level abstractions, rather than
640414 -      "reformulation," ref DRT 1 0858, citing use case analysis on
640415 -      000412. ref SDS 24 0001
640416 -             ..
640417 -          Eric should try to provide an example of what he has in
640418 -          mind.
640419 -
640420 - There is a "summary" capability, but it is intended for high level
640421 - abstractions, rather than the kind of "reformulation" I have been
640422 - envisioning. (Chris mentioned that the "summary" capability hasn't
640423 - seen much use so far. I suspect that is because summaries appear
640424 - outside the normal stream of access, rather than as an integral part
640425 - of the information stream. ref DRT 1 0858
640426 -
640427 -      [On 000422 Joe Williams explains summary and hierarchial
640428 -      structures for DKR specification. ref SDS 29 0918
640429 -
640430 - This *might* be the one major gap in the system -- the ability to
640431 - replace an entire hierarchy (or chain of discussion) with an edited
640432 - version of same. That capability is necessary to convert a great
640433 - "journaling" system in an even greater "knowledge repository".
640434 - ref DRT 1 1122
640435 -
640436 -      [On 000418 Chris clarifies Traction's capability for using
640437 -      summary. ref SDS 26 6988
640438 -    ..
640439 -    Summary linked to detail is an element of human
640440 -    "intelligence," explained in POIMS, ref OF 1 8316, that adds value
640441 -    to Traction.
640442 -
640443 -
640444 -
640445 -
640446 -
640447 -
6405 -

SUBJECTS
Attribution Credit Others with Success Encourages Support
Attribution Linking Traceability Original Sources Alignment Intellige

6704 -
670501 -  ..
670502 - Attribution of Authorship
670503 -
670504 - Eric reports that Traction automatically tags paragraphs with time and
670505 - author. ref DRT 1 2964
670506 -
670507 - This sounds like it comes from email.
670508 -
670509 - Traction supports the objective Eric reported on 000227 that was
670510 - recommended during the Colloquium. ref SDS 3 0987
670511 -
670512 -
670513 -
670514 -
670515 -
670516 -
670517 -
670518 -