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How Do You Organize Your Data?

Posted by Cliff on from the intelligently-laying-things-out dept.

kpellegr asks: "After returning from a well deserved holiday, I was faced with an exploding inbox. While organizing and deleting my mail, I realised I was having trouble classifying each mail into one specific folder. I had the feeling I should be able to link to one email from several folders (e.g. product information should be linked to from the 'vendor' folder, as well as from a specific project folder where this product is used). The more I thought about this, the more I realised that trees (such as the Windows filesystems) are not really ideally suited for organizing data. On UNIX-like filesystems, symbolic links allow the creation of simple graphs for organising data, but I have the feeling data could be organized more efficiently. How does the Slashdot crowd organize their data? How do you manage files, email, contacts, meetings and all the relationships that might exist between them?"

6 of 713 comments (clear)

  1. Virtual Folders by spencerogden · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is exactly the concept behind virtual folders. The idea is that folders, whether they be in the context of an email program or a filesystem, are actively updated searches. For example, all of your emails could be in one pool, invisible to you. Then each folder would be associated with a rule similar to email filter rules we use now. If an email matches, it shows up, maybe in multiple folders. Bayesian rules allow for even better classifications, if an email is similar enough to several catagories, it can show up in all of them.

    --

    Spencer Ogden

    1. Re:Virtual Folders by waveclaw · · Score: 5, Interesting

      The idea is that folders, whether they be in the context of an email program or a filesystem, are actively updated searches.

      This is a Good Thing IMHO. But, I find that abstract views are almost as good. I'd love spend my time contriving useful query-based views of my mail (e.g. select * from ~/mail where address like family and pr0n = false and spam = no) rather than doing some other things [1] but alas. Fortunately there is the 'in the file system' approach that Hans Reiser and crew are working toward. Files as directories of content/properties, indexes built from custom searches on transactional filesystems. And all of it open to tinkering and improvement. The UNIX 'file-os-ophy' of text files and meta-data would make my ideal open and convoluted mail storage system trivial.

      Worried about space? Run it through transparent filesystem level compression. Worried about security? Gpg ain't exactly new. Want more meta data? No problem: the filesystem of the future has plenty of flexibility for your X-Hot-Natalie-Portman-With-Grits field.

      [1] One of the few things tying me to M$ right now is the preponderance of custom sorted, property-extended email stuck in M$ proprietary formats. If I have to write another shell script to parse MBX, PST or OST formats...I think I'll scream.

      --

      "You cannot have a General Will unless you have shared experiences. You cannot be fair to people you don't know."
  2. Maybe no folders could do it. by Pig+Hogger · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I've been toying with a folderless idea to organize e-mails.

    All mail are kept into one place (say, a MySQL database). You, however, setup filters (that is, SQL queries) that show your e-mails in virtual folders.

    That is, messages can be in as many folders as they meet the selection criterion of.

    In addition to the obvious "from", "date", "subject", you could assign an arbitrary number of categories which could constitute more selection criteria.

  3. Scopeware and Evolution by hbo · · Score: 5, Interesting

    David Gelertner, the comp sci professor author and unabomber victim, has created software he calls Scopeware. It basically organizes information in a series of related chains. These can be date based or otherwise. I haven't used it, but I've read that he is responding to some of the same concerns you mention.

    On a less lofty, but free, note, Evolution has "virtual folders" in which you can place anything a filter expression can select. I use them to sort my email by sender address. I still have my main inbox, and all the categorized subfolders, but the virtual folders select particular people out of the massive mail database. So I can recall that Joe said something three weeks ago that relates to a current problem, and look in the "Joe" virtual folder to find it. There's still no easy way to add arbitrary messages to a virtual folder, other than adding a filter rule that selects just that one message. At least I haven't found a way. But it seems to address part of your concern, for email at least.

    --

    "Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there" - Will Rogers

  4. Haystack from MIT by kevin_conaway · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I think MIT has a project called Haystack designed just for this

  5. OmniGraffle, OmniOutliner, and more by metalligoth · · Score: 5, Interesting

    For file systems I use symbolic links in a column viewed filesytem. I really like what a company formerly known as NeXT has done with some of their products. Their software for pictures and music both have a "Library". From there you can drag songs or pictures into "Playlists" (music) or "Albums" (photos).

    Very cool.

    As for software, I use OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner from OmniGroup. OmniOutliner is especially simple, yet unique. I wonder why no one else has an idea organizer that is so incredible? I couldn't do my job without it. Well, I could, but I'd use a lot of paper or spend a lot of time in OpenOffice messing around with things.