"All curation grows until it requires search. All search grows until it requires curation" – B. Evans
This project gathers old ideas about an open-source web application for taking notes. Its functions / current objectives are :
- Research journal on very diverse subjects (personal archive)
- Private, public, multi-user with optional open access for collaboration, inspiration, discourse
- Organizing notes (relations, knowledge management, "archeology of knowledge", reflexivity) - including experimenting with automation (e.g. producing suggestions or generating relations) and mixing different indexes
- Data import/export (including periodically) and visualization
- Efficient interface design aiming for accessibility, progressive enhancement, and offline capabilities (+ installable app ?)
Between 2009 and 2014, I started several projects which are now integrated into a single one ("projet complexe"). One started out of curiosity for History and interactive visualization of historical events, another focused on the findability of "memos" about practical knowledge (consisting in a collection and archive of instructions, guides and tutorials), and the last one was centered around the organization of concepts and ideas (their origins, development and interactions).
Image above : combined architecture of past projects in the form of a simplified entity diagram, also representing Drupal-related entities.
The idea of merging different legacy projects - some of which having very different use cases - into a single one poses challenges for deciding how to approach the design of the interface. For now, I'm considering a conceptual categorization of the diverse contents available based on my own two main intentions to use this application : achieving tasks (getting things done), and learning (improving and extending knowledge).
How this duality translates into interface design choices is not very clear yet (i.e. selectable modes re-arranging the layout and/or functions available), but here's a list of terms illustrating this concept of "duality of use" when using the app to search :
| Knowledge-oriented | Task-oriented |
|---|---|
| Problem | Solution |
| Exploration / Digression | Goal / Focus |
| Complexification | Simplification |
| Design (projection) / Concept | Execution / Implementation / Realization |
| Research / Reflection / Opinion | Decision |
| Analysis / Explanation | Directives / Tasks |
| Anticipation | Reaction / Adaptation |
| Theory | Practice |
| Information | Command |
| Thought | Action |
In any context, I'm hoping to experiment with visualization ideas specific to current intent ("orientation").
Source code is GPLv2. All content is Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International, unless otherwise stated.
React
Typescript
Django
Laravel
Facebook
Microsoft
Google
Alibaba
D3
Tencent