Why transfer aggregates of notes?

Goals

• I would like to complete defining the standard for sequences, hierarchies, and networks of notes that I have been working on.  (Most recently my paper: Developing Import/Export Standards for Aggregates of Notes).  I would like to define three distinct formats, as described in that paper.  The formats would be for unstructured thoughts (emphasizing punctuation), structured thoughts (emphasizing manipulation), and restructured thoughts (emphasizing visualization).
• I would like to find a sponsor for this investigation.
• I would like to contact several hundred software makers, and of them find several dozen who would like to participate in the Minciu Sodas laboratory.
• I would also like to find several dozen software users who would benefit from transfering aggregates of notes.
• I would like to see what kinds of tool combinations would make sense.
• I would like to help software makers and users meet based on these combinations.

Overview of Investigation

1. Make a list of software products and standards,and their contact info, as in our project Tools for Thinkers.
2. Ask the software makers to send information about their products, and trial versions.  Ask for sample databases, and users.  Ask if they would like to participate.
3. Make a list of places to find software users - corporate and individual.  Ask the companies to help us find individuals.
4. For each product, list out information on the company (audience, contact information), capsules (type of content, fields used), manipulations (which structures are most important, how they are defined), visualizations (which ones they use).
5. Develop a scale of consciousness for the contents of thoughts (how much thought the author spends on punctuating, manipulating, visualizing).  Make a list of structural features, especially, structural decisions an author must make.
6. Present each software maker with the categorization of their product, ask for corrections.
7. Organize the resulting information, make concrete what a standard could look like.  Make a list of structural decisions that must be made regarding preserving structural features.
8. Ask the users questions about the products they currently use.  Ask for reasons why they make or would make transfers.  Ask them which kinds of transfers between visualizations that they think would be useful.  Ask them to prioritize the structural features they would like to preserve.
9. Ask the software makers to prioritize the structural features that they would like to make transferable.  Ask them which kind of transfers between visualizations that they think would be useful.
10. Draw up preliminary version of standard.  Ask for comments.
11. Publish results on standard.  Answer additional questions from Advisors.
12. Help make contacts for sales and design of converters.

Call for Participation

1. The need for a standard:
2. Who we are looking for: software makers, software users (individual and corporate), integrators, and a sponsor.
3. How we will conduct the investigation.  The three formats.
4. Principles and benefits of participation:  Looking for a major sponsor who would like to play a central role making sure we have a standard and making sure that users can be supplied with integrated systems of tools.

Pricing