Re: [-empyre-] archiving + preservation

[ben syverson <ben@bensyverson.com>]

On May 4, 2004, at 12:44 PM, jonCates wrote:

> now, w/the introduction of liken, we have opened the possibility of 
> textual archiving, hyperlinking + pathbuilding to anyOne who chooses 
> to participate + widened the parameters of what may be 
> [included/preserved/archived].

To [patch/plug-into] this tip, one unique aspect of liken is that 
anything posted is autolinked, both retroactively and forevermore. So 
when we post a historical document, it is not merely 
[archived/preserved/linked-to]; it becomes a dynamic portal, an 
ever-changing linguistic map.

So what the hell does that really mean? Links in liken nodes appear 
based on other nodes' names. The author or poster of the information 
need not manually link up words in the document to other resources in 
liken.

For example, we have a node in liken called "Dan Sandin" which gives a 
brief bio and links to more information (such as Sandin's Image 
Processor). Now imagine I have an article from the late 70s I want to 
post to liken. It contains the line:
"Other projects, like Dan Sandin's Image Processor, introduced the 
patch-based interface to the world of video."
Viewed in liken, the phrase "Dan Sandin" becomes a two-way path to 
Dan's node. The more that path is used, the stronger it becomes. We 
also get some paths we may not have thought to put in, such as 
"interface." Now imagine that a few months go by, and someone adds a 
node for "patch based interface" and "patch." Now if we go back to our 
article, we see that "patch-based interface" has turned into a popup 
menu, which shows us links to ["patch based interface" / "interface" / 
"patch"].

Unlike resources like the Wikipedia, which require constant 
maintenance, liken resources update themselves, and to the fullest. Our 
article readily connects not only to other information, but to 
[discussions/conversations] as well. If we want to start a discussion 
about Dan Sandin, we can simply post a comment to his node. And of 
course, our comments will be [hyperthreaded/hyperlinked] automagically 
forever.

This capability is why I call liken the "best research database ever." 
All you have to do is keep posting information, and it will glob 
together, crosslink, breed and organize itself, with the help of a 
distributed network of human computers.

- ben