Le 11 juin 05 à 04:36, Jesse Ross a écrit :
A purely Project-based is ultimately about preserving spatiality.
There is one file, in one place, that is represented as the file
itself, not as an icon. This file may have the ability to be viewed
a few different ways (for example, an HTML text document that has a
button to switch it to web view), but for the most part, the
document exists as a unique view, in a unique space, at a unique
time. In the Project-based environment, Projects can be nested
within other projects, and aliases can be created, but it inherits
perhaps the biggest dilemmas caused by the hierarchical folder
paradigm: you still have to organize your data, and you cannot
dynamically change how data relates to one another.
I would say no :-), because what you are describing is mostly nothing
more than Folders-based environment..
A purely View-based is ultimately about data-mining. In this
system, you have a flat file space which can be represented in any
number of ways based on the specific query used. Documents don't
exist so much as unique, unchanging documents, but as a collection
of data that can be queried. It is less important what a file looks
like, and more important how it is viewed or related to other data.
In a View-based environment, finding your data is only as good as
how well you label it and mark it up with metadata -- there is no
real spatiality.
That's Virtual Folders idea.
They seem to be on opposing ends of the spectrum. Perhaps there is
a way to unify them, though...
Yep, that precisely what Projects are all about in my mind… (I wrote
about it on Étoilé wiki when we started previous similar discussions).
What if a Project were simply a Really Smart Folder™?
Or a Not So Smart Folder, because it were initially only spatially
oriented but were extended with documents, folders or projects
proxies which could be collected in various way either manually or
automatically.
What if all a Project was, was a View on a much larger set of data
based on a series of rules?
What if files could be dragged and dropped on a new Project, and
the Project could look at the files, attempt to determine a common
thread between them, and begin building a series of rules about
what it should contain? It's the same concept as Bayesian filtering
of spam, but applied to file organization. The user determines the
initial rules for the Project, and starts to organize it, which the
Project then extrapolates on and looks at the rest of the file
system to build its contents. It might make recommendations on
files, which the user would then approve or disapprove, and it
could build more and more rules. Anything explicitly added to a
Project stays in that Project -- there is permanence there, and the
foundation for creating annotations and visually marking the
relationships between documents. When a new file that might be
accepted into the Project is created or received, the Project adds
it to a "Add to Project?" list, and the user can periodically
confirm or deny a file's inclusion in the Project.
Interesting extension, but it may be hard to implement because I
don't think Bayesian filtering would really work for this task.
The user only has to know that the Project searches the system
periodically and attempts to find files that are related to other
files already in a Project. They don't have to use queries, and
files aren't automatically added.
I'm not sure, but I remember Microsoft has been talking about such
possibility for WinFS.
However, a user _could_ go to a permanent, non-deleteable Project
called All (or Library or whatever), and click the Search button,
start typing in search terms, and instead of clicking Zoom In when
they find matching files, they could click Add to New Project.
Instead of a Project starting out with no rules about its contents,
a Project starts out with a set of rules and adds all the files
that conform to those rules. It's Smart Folders applied to Projects.
You can still tell users, "Everything is in All. Everything. If you
can't find a file, Search in All." If a user tries to delete
something from All, it will warn them if that file is contained in
any other Projects.
Yes, but proxies would need a visual clue.
(I've had skin grafted with flame-retardant materials... just in case)
I fear it might be not so hot now ;-)
Quentin.
--
Quentin Mathé
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
