69 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
69 lines
4.5 KiB
Markdown
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Title: Elements of an Exocortex
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Created: 2022-03-05 21:09
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Status:
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Parent: [[Archive/Computing/KExocortex]]
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Tags:
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Source: [[Archive/Computing/KExocortex/History]]
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The original source of this is the [[Archive/Computing/KExocortex/History|historical]] exocortex notes, and will be the most updated source of what I think constitutes a useful exocortex.
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### The elements of exocortices
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The elements of an exocortex, briefly touched on above and expanded
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below, include
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* artifacts,
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* the artifact repository,
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* notes,
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* structure,
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* a query interface,
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* an exploratory interface,
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* a presentation interface,
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* an update interface,
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* locality, and
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* totality.
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#### Artifacts
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An artifact is any object that is not a textual writeup by me that should be referenceable as part of the exocortex. A copy of a paper from ArXiV might serve as an artifact. Importantly, artifacts must be locally-available. They serve as a snapshot of some source of knowledge, and should not be subject to link decay, future pay-walling (or loss of access to a pay-walled system), or loss of connectivity. An artifact should be timestamped: when was it captured? When was the artifact created upstream? An artifact must also have some associated upstream information --- how did it come to be in the repository?
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#### The artifact repository
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An artifact may be relevant to more than one field of interest; accordingly, all artifacts should exist in a central repository. This repository should support artifact histories (e.g. collecting updates to artifacts, where the history is important in capturing a historical view of knowledge), multiple formats (a book may exist in PDF, EPUB, or other formats), and a mechanism for exploring, finding, and updating docs. The repository must capture relevant metadata about each artifact.
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#### Notes
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A note is a written summary of a certain field. It should be in some rich-text format that supports linking as well as basic formatting. The ideal text format appears to be the org-mode format given its rich formatting and ability to transition fluidly between outline and full document; however, this may not be the final, most effective format. A note is the distillation of artifacts into an understandable form, providing avenues to discover specifics that may need to be held in working memory only briefly.
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#### Structure
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A structured format allows for fast and efficient knowledge lookups. It grants the researcher a starting place with a set of rules governing where and how things may be found. It imposes order over chaos such that relevant kernels of knowledge may be retrieved and examined in an expedient manner. The metaphor that humans seem to adapt to the most readily is a graph structure, particularly those that are generally hierarchical in nature.
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#### A query interface
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The exocortex and the artifact repository both require a query interface; they may be part of the same UI. A query UI allows a researcher to pose questions of the exocortex, directly looking for specific knowledge.
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The four interfaces (query, exploration, presentation, and update) may all be facets of the same interface, and they may benefit from a cohesive and unified interface; however, it is important that all of these use cases are considered and supported.
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#### An exploratory interface
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The exploratory interface allows a researcher to meander through the knowledge store, exploring topics and potentially identifying new areas to push the knowledge sphere out further.
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#### A presentation interface
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The presentation interface allows a set of notes to be shared with others; it should be possible to include some or all artifacts associated with these notes. For example, it may not be appropriate to share a copy of a book with the presentation, but it may be appropriate to share a copy of some of the supporting papers.
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#### An update interface
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The update interface is where knowledge is added to the exocortex, whether through capturing an artifact or writing notes.
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#### Locality
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An exocortex must be localized to the user, with the full repository available offline. Quick input or scratch pad notes might be available, but realistically, the cost of cloud storage and the transfer sizes mean that having the full exocortex available is unlikely. Instead, a hybrid model allowing quick captures of knowledge available remotely combined with a full exocortex on a local system presents the probably best solution.
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#### Totality
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An exocortex represents the sum of the user's knowledge. There aren't separate exocortices for different areas. Everything I know should go into my exocortex.
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