Tinderbox Weekend West was absolutely fantastic. There’s simply no question that it was one of the best conference experiences I’ve had, ever.
The best part (as it always seems to be) was interacting with a group of like-minded people, having an extended discussion about a topic we were all very interested in. Though people had varying degrees of experience with Tinderbox, I think everyone was able to dig into the software to a level they hadn’t before, and come away with some important learning.
I had the opportunity to meet with people I’d only corresponded with before: Mark Bernstein and Alwin Hawkins, Bill Humphries, Pat Delany and Ken Hagler. More importantly, I made new connections with a number of others - Elin Sjursen, Frank Tansey , John Cornell, Nick Quinn, Cody Bryan, Adam Feuer and Hugh Nicoll to name just a few. Despite the increasing ubiquity of our digital networks, they prove once again to be no substitute for face-to-face interaction.
In terms of Tinderbox itself, I came away from the weekend with a deeper sense of the software, a better understanding of some of the nuances of how to do things. I became acquainted (or reacquainted) with some aspects of the program that I haven’t used much - and learned that I probably should be using them. Where for others who haven’t used Tinderbox as long as I have the weekend was filled with “ooohs!” and “ahs!” as they learned about major features, for me it was more an experience like finding almost the last few pieces of a large puzzle, when you’re to the point when a complex images is finally nearly completely revealed.
The defining moment of the conference for me came during the second exercise, near the end of the second day. Our task was to use Tinderbox to sort an undifferentiated mass of notes and then use Tinderbox export capabilities to output some text or HTML. As Frank Tansey and I began to work on this, we became distracted by the process of creating an agent that would collect notes based on a keyword, and then assign a category to the notes collected. In short order we were off on the trail of developing agent code that could dynamically assign attributes to notes based on note contents, appending additional information to the attribute string as additional agents found additional key words. In other words, Frank and I discovered a means for Tinderbox agents to intelligently and dynamically categorize notes in multiple categories based on the contents of the note itself! Add a new category agent using this agent code, and all existing notes that match the agent query will immediately be categorized in the new category, while still maintaining their other, existing category assignments!
Bill Humphries jumped in on our exploration of this hack and turned it into a Tinderbox macro, and Mark had to be called on for some input on clearing up some syntax problems. Once I’m on the ground and have a moment, I’ll post details to the Tinderbox wiki.
Other reports from the weekend are starting to surface. Alwin Hawkins has several posts, including one describing our dinner at Bizou - and let me tell you, you simply haven’t had dinner until you had it while sitting between the irrepressible Mr. Hawkins on one side, and the equally irrepressible Australian Nick Quinn on the other!
Perhaps the biggest take-away for me from this weekend is that I have some work to do. There are people struggling to get their arms around what this software can do for them. They really, really want to use it effectively, but for a variety of reasons can’t quite break through - despite having a nagging sense that there is really something there of great value, if only they could just get it. What became obvious to me, or at least what my fellow attendees told me, is that I can help with that. The flip side of this insight is that this weekend represented both the most fun and the deepest, most satisfying thinking I’ve done in the past couple of years. Doing that is like a drug, and I want more of it.
So, I hereby resolve the following: first, I will be making time to post more here at DSD, with an emphasis on Tinderbox specifically and using technology to augment one’s abilities in general. Second, I am going to begin working on a set of short tutorials on how to do different things in Tinderbox, riffing off my presentation at the conference. I’m not entirely sure what the distribution mecahnism for these will be yet, though I suspect I’ll use several forums, such as DSD for quick observations, pages on the Tinderbox wiki for slightly longer material such as an in-depth explanation of the agent code that Frank and I worked on, and finally I will probably try and write up much longer tutorial pieces that I’ll pitch to Eastgate for inclusion in Tekka and/or as ebooks.
Finally, there is a definite desire for more sample files. I have a collection of material I presented on at the conference that I intend to have available for download within the next day or so. Watch this space and the wiki for an announcement.
(The title of this post reflects the content of announcements playing throughout SFO when I boarded my flight home this morning)
10/5/04 11:09 AM - minor edits for stupid typos
