EXTRANET NEWS * Week of 13 October 2003

EXTRANET NEWS * Week of 13 October 2003
Editors: Joel Orr and N'omi Orr
http://www.extranetnews.com

1. FINDING STUFF: SCOPEWARE VISION
2. READERS THOUGHTS ON BLOG VS. E-ZINE
3. THE LIST
4. TIDBITS
5. QUOTE OF THE WEEK

1. FINDING STUFF: SCOPEWARE VISION

Collaboration is not just about sharing information; it's about being able to find informaton, too. Structured approaches, like the databases of document-management systems, excel in certain contexts. But by and large, you can't beat free-text retrieval schemes for tracking down wayward documents. Here are my comments on Scopeware Vision (http://www.scopeware.com).

David Gelernter (http://www.cs.yale.edu/people/faculty/gelernter.html) is a Yale professor of computer science whose dubious distinction it was to attract the evil interest of the "Unabomber." Happily, he survived the attack; and as you can read in his book, "Drawing Life," even grew spiritually from it.

Gelernter's company, Mirror Worlds Technologies, has produced a set of products that are manifestations of his "LifeStreams" research topic--a UI to replace the desktop. Picture that all the information you ever received in your life shows up as a long fanned stack of cards, arranged in chronological order. Picture that sophisticated search mechanisms find anything you ask for within seconds.

That means, among other things, no more folders, no more hierarchies. Just ask for anything you need, and it pops up.

I've been using the desktop version of the product, Scopeware Vision, for a number of months. The beta and early versions were clunky. But I just downloaded 2.1, and it is fast, slick, and already invaluable.

The software scans your hard drive--and network drives, and even CD's, if you want--and creates an index of everything on them. So if you ask for everything related to "David Gelernter," you might--depending on what you've got--get his contact card from Outlook, emails you've exchanged with him, articles you wrote in which you mentioned his name, and so on.

The current version also will search RSS streams, so if anything on any of the feeds to which you subscribe mentions David Gelernter, you'll get that too.

Searches can be complex boolean queries; you can name them and save them as "streams."

Vision comes in different versions, ranging from $30 to $80, depending on features. There are several add-ons available. And a 15-day free trial.

Two comparable products I've tried are from 80-20 and Enfish. Vision may or may not outperform them. But I love its interface.

Our take: The more you can get your computer to do, the more time you have to focus on real things, instead of on computer things. Scopeware Vision is a real productivity tool for me. I now find and gather things very easily by word or topic or type.

2. READERS' THOUGHTS ON BLOGS VERSUS E-ZINES

Last week, I asked if you'd prefer a blog to an e-zine in your inbox. Overwhelmingly, the response was, "no." However, several readers said they'd like to see a blog, too. So now, in case you haven't noticed, we have both.

Frankly, I thought I would be able to simply copy and paste from the blog to "Tidbits." But what I am finding is that I have an implicit filter; stuff that seems to merit a blog entry doesn't always seem worthy of "Tidbits," which is a more considered list. It's not something I realized before. We'll see how it evolves. I welcome your feedback.

Tim Rice (trice@LMNArchitects.com):

"Regarding your question about Extranet News: I get more than my share of email and spam but I'm afraid that if I had to go to a website or blog for this info, I would rarely do it. If it's in my inbox I at least skim thought it."

Tim, you can actually have that particular cake, and eat it, too. NewsGator (www.newsgator.com) lets you subscribe to RSS feeds (common to many blogs) right within Outlook. And there are many desktop aggregators; just Google "xml aggregator" to find them.

Chuck Smiler (smilechuck@aol.com):

"While I do not have a lot of experience reading blogs, I do not think they serve the same function. A newsletter pushes information with little effort by the reader, no need to remember to go look, no requirement that you know what you are looking for. It can be downloaded and left in the email inbox or other folder for reading as time permits and discarded unread if stale. A consisely written newsletter with a standardized format can be a very efficient way of getting information you would not otherwise see and might not even know you don't know. An archive with a good search function can turn the zine into a handy way into specific aspects of a topic, though like any text source, it will get stale. (By the way, your links to recent featured articles on the Extranet News site is a handy index.)

"A systematic author, like you, can structure a blog to be as precise as a newsletter. Comments by others on that information may add value, but can quickly expand the volume of input and detract from the clarity. I do not have a lot of experience reading blogs. As with bulletin boards and newsgroups, some host applications are likely better than others at displaying threads, branching discussions, supporting searches and allowing selective notification.

"If by subscribing to email notices, I will get an email every time one of your readers adds a comment, no thank you. If I can get a notice only when Joel Orr adds something to the core blog, OK, maybe. Once a week or whenever the ExtranetNews happens works for me. I don't even really want to know by email when you respond to a commentator. On the other hand, a way at my option to see responses to your initial comments on a specific subject could be helpful.

"You suggested QuickTopic to me a while ago. Their companion Document Review provides a very clean forum for commenting upon, but not really group-editing, a document. The application you are using for the blog on JoelOrr.com may permit you to put comment links for each paragraph or section, but I cannot tell. Comments on a whole article can get very confusing if numerous. If each issue of the Extranet News became a review document with readers able to comment upon specific items and paragraphs, then your effort would generate instant collaborations with enough structure to make them useful. A root forum to which not comments are permitted could serve as the index to new articles/forums. By subscribing to the forum, readers would know when Joel or Naomi had created a new issue/document. Since the original author can edit the entry, you could also edit in links to later articles or even to specific comments made by others."

Kaiman Lee (kaiman_lee@yahoo.com):

"Two points came to mind on Blog vs. e-zine:

- out of sight, out of mind

- handoff: an extra step"

Chris Linthicum (clinthic@heery.com):

"I prefer a newsletter over a blog - if it's a blog, I have to take the time to check it out, log in, etc....if it's a newsletter sent to me desktop, I'm more apt to quickly peruse it, etc."

Sarah Bowden (sarah.bowden@arup.com):

"I like to receive it as an email as it is short enough to scan through and see if there are events of interest etc. If it was just on the website the busy people would probably have even less chance of seeing it as they wouldn't be prompted to do so."

3. THE LIST

Total companies: 260 (see who's on The List at http://www.extranetnews.com/).

ADDED: ePIN

GONE: ACT ThePowerTool.com; Homesphere TheJobSite.com; Microlar; OneBuild; Pangaea; PlanRoomOnline; Silverline

CHANGED: BluePrint Online is now ABCImaging; MH2 is now Hyphen Solutions; Novient's product is now Solution 6; Placeware is now Microsoft Office LiveMeeting; VirtualDesign is now Comotiv Systems.

4. TIDBITS

· CONNECTING THE DOTS: UNDERSTANDING THE EMERGING DIGITAL BUILDING PROCESS - October 16-19, 2003; Omni Hotel, San Francisco. To register, visit: http://www.aia.org/tap/conference/2003.

· HARVARD CDI: On November 5 through 7, 2003, CDI is hosting its annual conference for the AEC/RE industry. http://www.cdi.gsd.harvard.edu/conference2003

· PROJECT EXTRANETS IV: SUCCESSFUL COLLABORATIVE WORKING; MAXIMISING EXTRANETS FOR OPTIMUM RESULTS, organized by Ross Sturley and Construction News, London, England, 3 December 2003, at the IEE Savoy Place. The one I attended a couple of years ago was outstanding. See http://www.projectextranets.co.uk/ for information.

5. QUOTE OF THE WEEK

"Lack of will power and drive cause more failures than lack of intelligence."

- Harry Banks

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