[Tb] Strategies for Tinderbox

Hello.

I want to research "cognitive strategies" people developed by using=20
Tinderbox. I hope you can helpt with comments to this E-Mail.

While many people appreciate the flexibility of Tinderbox, many=20
complain about the "steep learning curve". Beside of technical=20
questions I think in part this problem arises from the fact, that=20
Tinderbox does offer *some* structure of how things should be done and=20=

at the same time offers no way/strategy in particular.

What I am interested in is how people develop strategies when=20
challenged with the options of the tool. To start with I want to know=20
from people that regard Tinderbox as a =BBKnowledge Tool=AB (a tool to =
help=20
thinking and remembering).

The advance and wider availability of Knowledge Tools keeps me thinking=20=

if there is an evenly developed practice yet to really deal with all=20
that power. These tools train their users on the fly. They allow=20
structuring things only if a systematic strategy is applied. But where=20=

does this strategy come from?

Sometimes the question is how to tell the application what the user=20
wants (and he/she needs to know what he/she wants) - sometimes the=20
application suggests how to do it (then the user needs to know if which=20=

approach aligns best with the goals).

Here are some skills, that users need to care about if they want to=20
become more effective with these tools:

     * Simplification
        do not collect everything (be willing to hide/delete too narrow=20=

sideways);
        writing with simple wording if structure is the main actor in =
the scene

     * Keeping goals
        always re-iterate on the goals you want to achieve, ask wether =
or not=20
the
        document will serve the final purpose

     * Educated decisions
        make informed decisions on structure and relations instead of =
hoping=20
that
        the tool will suggest one or let one emerge

     * Explicate intention
        Keep record of your intentions when doing chances if there is =
one; ask=20
if
        new goals emerge and prioritize goals

     * Use hypothesis
        experimentally ask questions and try to answer them with your =
document;

     * Epistemological twists
        use falsification; remodulate questions to reveal new answers; =
try to
        become better in asking revealing questions

I wonder if anyone here can identify "his" strategy that has been=20
kicked-off and energized by Tinderbox. I'm also hoping for comments and=20=

personal stories in regard to the above list.

I am also interested if anyone could identify the source of his/her=20
strategy (like e.g. =BBI can track back my skill to my english lessons =
in=20
school where we had this/that task=AB). My goal is to identify ways to=20=

train these strategies and to "reverse engineer" a method to use=20
Tinderbox to learn effective =BBKnowledge Working=AB.

One way to collect these things is to provide examples "What other=20
people do" with Tinderbox. And yet, I found it hard to really=20
understand the "cognitive strategy" by just viewing at the Tinderbox=20
document.

I think this question has been the subtext of many discussions, e.g.=20
the discussion about when to split Tinderbox files into several=20
documents (at list the non-technical parts of that discussion).

Regards,,
Oliver Wrede

Prof. Oliver Wrede
e-Mail: wrede__AT__fh-aachen.de
Web: http://wrede.interfacedesign.org/

Aachen University of Applied Sciences
Department of Design
Boxgraben 100
54062 Aachen
Germany

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Received on Wed Jan 5 17:40:57 2005