I'm more and more thinking of wiki as a good basis for random PIMs. I'd like to put a wiki server on my PDA, and keep my address book in wiki format. Allows far more flexibility than fixed schema databases.

VoodooPad^? is only a personal wiki for Macintosh: http://www.flyingmeat.com/voodoopad.html

Most wikis support evolution to forms when structure is obvious to participants.

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Would you say more about what you mean by "evolution to forms"?

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http://twiki.org/cgi-bin/view/TWiki/TWikiForms

I don't know what was meant initially, but:

"Evolution to forms" can be read as formalization of an input pattern. For instance, the change from a single text input to multiple named text inputs. Similar to the way UML formalizes what could otherwise be freefrom architectural description.

In a way, "evolution to forms" is about compression of information. By creating a pattern of input, extraneous information (such as grammar ) can be "refactored", reducing redundancy. It also reduces the mental load on the human who is writing, as named fields limit the number of possible entries (divide and conquer).

One of the original ChristopherAlexander^? patterns was "Gradual Stiffening". Though from an architectural context, this can be generalized to "Slow and Steady Transition from Flexibility to Jungle.Structure". When there is too much structure, too early, we get lost in trivial concerns and end up using our tools in less than elegant ways. When structure never arrives, we are lost in a vaguely constructed realm, which can confuse as much as clarify. What is needed for any information construction system, is a method to transfer smoothly between Flexibility and Structure.

--Main.MarkLuffel - 31 Jul 2003

Vanilla is a good example. It is a neat cross between a blog, a Jungle.Wiki, and a calendar, but the syntax is simpler than for a Jungle.Wiki. I use it to keep my own log/journal on my laptop. I don't need to publish it to the world, it is just very useful for me. I can create little "snips" on topics at any time, and easily link them back to the main flow of my journal. The Web site doesn't show you what it is like (it's written in Vanilla, but the calendar is removed), so you would need to install it to see how it works. If Chandler had a similar style of personal journal which could link to any kind of Chandler item, it would be so useful, and way ahead of an PIM I have ever seen. However, I really think the journal editor should not be edited in plain text like Jungle.Wiki or Vanilla; something more like a word processor, with some kind of special text style for linking to items, would be better for the non-geek world.

By the way, the other fantastic thing Vanilla does is that whenever you are looking at a "snip", it lists all of the snips that link to the one you are reading. So where a Jungle.Wiki or a Web site just shows you "where to", Vanilla always shows you "where from" as well. That is a great thing, something else that would be way cool if Chandler could do the same.

-- AnthonyCoates - 27 Sep 2003