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[yak@collab] Re: Carpenter story

To: yak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: John Sechrest <sechrest@xxxxxxxx>
Date: Sat, 22 Mar 2003 17:18:49 -0800
Message-id: <200303230118.h2N1IoA26430@jas.peak.org>


<cdent@blueoxen.org> writes:    (01)

 % >  I was thinking that "user filtering to folders" as a pretty low
 % >  level activity/rule. And that perhaps you really had
 % >  rules like:    (02)

 % >  Put all the transiant mail into side folders,
 % >  put copies of important messages into Xyz.important folder.    (03)

 % Nope. I have something less than 20 incoming mail folders that I
 % automatically scan (tab in pine) when reading mail. If I see a
 % mail I want to respond to or needs further thought, I don't
 % delete it. Otherwise I delete it, unless it is "personal" mail,
 % in which case it gets saved, as some sort of honorific for the
 % sender. If you have a big folder in my collection it must mean I
 % like you lots :)    (04)

 that is very interesting.    (05)

 I process probably 700-1500 messages a day.    (06)

 Most of it system junk. And I throw away lots.    (07)

 However, I am a packrat.    (08)

 I keep records of all my outgoing mail.
 I keep records of all my incoming mail.
 (IE, I have logs of it)    (09)

 Some things I automatically file (with procmail) invisibly
 to me    (010)

 Some things I semi-automatically file with a script.
 So that I see the titles.    (011)

 Everything else, I touch.    (012)

 and then I keep copies of all the interesting stuff.    (013)

 given that 100G of disk is $100 these days, I see
 no reason not to just keep everything.    (014)

 I currently have 3690 messages in my inbox. Most of which
 I have touched, but which I did not file.    (015)

 I will move this of into a corner in about 3 months.    (016)

 I have all of the mail anyone has sent me in the last 7 years.    (017)

 So when someone says, I sent you an email about XXX,
 I usually can find it.    (018)




 % >  When I touch a message with a link that I want, put a copy
 % >  of that link into XYZ web page    (019)

 % When I receive a message with a link in it, the part of the
 % message that I find important is not the link, but the text with
 % it: the commentary from the sender. Sometimes the sender has
 % achieved authority (by previous commentary) that makes a link
 % worth following, even without commentary.    (020)

 % I think of people sending me email as pre-masticators. Same with
 % blogs and google news.    (021)

 Yes. Very nice to have them.    (022)

 I don't have a current pattern that manages effectively the
 datastreams from the pre-masticators.     (023)

 I just have piles, I have to learn how to organize them better.     (024)



 % >  Sometimes they over heat. And they need some pacing to keep
 % >  everyone involved. Otherwise, you get two people blasting away
 % >  at each other at 50 miles an hour, and everyone else starts to
 % >  skip the messages.    (025)

 % If people aren't inclined to be involved, doesn't that mean the
 % messages aren't important. I don't mean that they aren't
 % potentially important, but that they don't have actualized
 % importance in the collective eyes of the audience.    (026)

 Not in the world that I live in. I generally have many interests.
 More than I have time to process. So when things become urgent,
 I often loose track of a thread. I simply can not respond,
 because I have no more cycles for large chunks of time.    (027)

 for example, before last term started, I was in a good conversation
 with Gary about wiki types and examples. When the 
 winter term started, I was overwhelmed with tasks. 
 And so, I set aside the wiki conversation with gary.     (028)

 It is still important, but it has gotten no cycles for 
 2 months.     (029)

 I need to pick it back up.    (030)

 To say that I must always make important conversations the 
 center of my activities does not match the resources
 that I have.     (031)

 Only if I could dedicate time to the project at a high enough
 level. And that would mean that I would have to be able
 to block out time for it. Which means that I probably would
 have to create a revenue stream to given me the chance
 to free up the time. But when I am doing this on the side
 as a side project, it falls below the water from time to time
 when classes, or system admin crisis work gets in the way.    (032)


 % >  Is not one of the higher level collaborative tasks the processs
 % >  of collecting different information , sorting  and grooming it
 % >  and representing it back to the group in a more ordered way>?    (033)

 % Is it? That seems to be a rule that is created and enforced in
 % situations where the shared goal has not been sufficiently
 % defined. In situations where it has been (in covenanting groups),
 % I'd argue that information sharing happens "naturally" as a
 % result of the movement toward the goal.    (034)


 I find that people are willing to spit out content, but they
 are rarely trained or willing to be trained at refactoring
 or reforming the data.     (035)

 I do not experience this natural refactoring at all.     (036)




 % So, I think that we have two types of collaborators:    (037)

 % - the kind in covenanting groups that have been "turned on" and
 %   get things done:    (038)

 %    http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/yak/2003-03/msg00085.html#nid08    (039)

 % - people who want to collaborate, but haven't chosen a solid goal    (040)

 % The latter type must enforce a certain rigorous attitude toward
 % information sharing (because they are not swept up), and might be
 % described as people who all go to the same swimming hole, like
 % the company, enjoy a good barbeque but go into the pool in turns,
 % taking what they need, and leaving behind some contribution or
 % other.    (041)


Wow. That is certainly not how I would characterize the world.    (042)






 % -- 
 % Chris Dent
 % cdent@blueoxen.org
 % 
 % -- 
 % This message is archived at:
 % 
 % 
http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=yak&i=Pine.LNX.4.30.0303221852430.32583-100000@hot.burningchrome.com
 %     (043)

-----
John Sechrest          .         Helping people use
CTO PEAK -              .           computers and the Internet
Public Electronic         .            more effectively
Access to Knowledge,Inc       .                      
1600 SW Western, Suite 180       .            Internet: sechrest@peak.org
Corvallis Oregon 97333               .                  (541) 754-7325
                                            . http://www.peak.org/~sechrest    (044)

-- 
This message is archived at:    (045)

http://collab.blueoxen.net/forums/cgi-bin/mesg.cgi?a=yak&i=200303230118.h2N1IoA26430@jas.peak.org    (046)
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