[Design] Displaying more data on the calendar
Mimi Yin
mimi at osafoundation.org
Thu Nov 10 14:44:01 PST 2005
Here is a follow-up to the idea of controlling how your events are
displayed on the calendar. It's essentially a call-out model for
displaying crowded calendar data. Instead of allotting real estate to
events based on how much time the event will take up, why not display
the duration of the event with a bar graph and then use a user-
resizable callout to display the data associated with that event?
The idea being that the duration of the event
1. is NOT necessarily proportional to how much data you need to
display about that event AND
2. is NOT necessarily proportional to how prominent you want to make
the event
The calendar would look pretty standard for people who don't have
very busy schedules, but would gradually move into "callout" mode as
it gets more and more crowded, or as you overlay more and more
calendars.
I'm going to forward this thread over to the scooby webUI list.
See mockup below.

On Nov 10, 2005, at 12:00 PM, Daniel Vareika wrote:
> +1 with the concept of "drawing in your notebook"
>
> Daniel
>
> Mimi Yin wrote:
>> Looking back on what different people have been saying, perhaps
>> the "concrete way" to think about Stickies is NOT as a Kind of
>> item, but more as a way to display items.
>>
>> So any item, one with fuzzy dates or specific dates, notes,
>> photos, documents, could be displayed as a floating "sticky" in a
>> view. It's simply a way to do what you were describing as "drawing
>> in your notebook". A way to visually differentiate important
>> information from all the rest.
>>
>> Mimi
>>
>> On Nov 9, 2005, at 11:11 AM, Daniel Vareika wrote:
>>
>>> Mimi Yin wrote:
>>>> Hi Daniel,
>>>>
>>>> So if I understand you correctly, your concern is that Stickies
>>>> encourages the wrong kinds of behaviors? By allowing people to
>>>> pile on lots of fuzzy-date Stickies, do we set people up to
>>>> delay and perhaps never decide what their information means to
>>>> them? Possibly No. 1 way to not getting anything done, ever in GTD?
>>> This is precisely what I meant. Although 3M might sell a huge lot
>>> of them and might be a really successful business
>>>>
>>>> I completely see where you're coming from and it's a fine line
>>>> to walk when designing any personal productivity tool. How do
>>>> you provide people with enough flexibility, such that they will
>>>> actually bother to use the system, yet herd them in the general
>>>> direction of more effective productivity? It was a recurring
>>>> theme in our day with David Allen and we haven't quite figured
>>>> out a party line on this issue.
>>> Neither have I
>>>>
>>>> However, a pattern has begun to emerge from our various GTD
>>>> discussions:
>>>>
>>>> While the core of GTD is conceptual in nature and addresses
>>>> basic human behavioral tendencies and problems, I often feel the
>>>> specifics of GTD methodology have more to do with treating the
>>>> symptoms of the problem of human disorganization, not the
>>>> problem itself.
>>>>
>>>> An analogy might be: Having chocolate cake around results in
>>>> over-eating for some people. But it would be very sad for
>>>> everyone if we had to ban chocolate cake altogether AND it's not
>>>> clear that getting rid of the source of temptation would solve
>>>> the root of someone's overeating problem either.
>>> If you dare to ban chocolate cake I will personally go up there
>>> and kill you with my own hands, don´t even dare!! :o)
>>> Being less childish, lets put an analogy.
>>> One could go with a Freudian psychologist and would probably be
>>> for many years trying to solve the root of a problem
>>> One could go to a behavior (not sure the word in English)
>>> psychologist and treat the symptoms but get you going in a month
>>> or two.
>>> Or one could go to first a behavior and after treating
>>> successfully the symptom, then decide to dig deeper and do a
>>> Freudian but maybe taking less time and pain.
>>> If it was you, which one would you choose?
>>> Please note that I know nothing about psychologist treatments, I
>>> am only supposing.
>>>> In GTD, the resistance to keeping things fuzzy could be
>>>> reinterpreted as simply an antidote to symptoms specific to a
>>>> concrete and unflexible "information world" where:
>>>>
>>>> 1. a piece of paper can only live in a single folder
>>>> 2. a note can only live in one GTD flat list and
>>>> 3. pieces of paper and notes can't change to become other things
>>>>
>>>> Which leads us to ponder: how would the GTD methodology change
>>>> if it was no longer bounded by the real-world physical metaphors
>>>> of files in file folders?
>>> Let me think it over the pillow
>>>> In Chandler, items can live in multiple places and items
>>>> themselves can change (through stamping). Chandler items are NOT
>>>> like the papers and manila folders in our file cabinets.
>>>>
>>>> So now if we address two of the specific GTD concerns you
>>>> brought up in the context of Chandler's "new world" paradigm,
>>>> how does the discussion change?
>>>>
>>>> 1. Do Stickies encourage people to have multiple Inboxes? One on
>>>> their calendar, the other in the Dashboard. Not really, since
>>>> items live in multiple places in Chandler, any sticky you add to
>>>> your Calendar would have a Triage status (just like any other
>>>> content item in the PIM) and would be managed in your Dashboard
>>>> as well with the help of automatic Ticklers.
>>> I am not at your same level about Chandler to give you a quick
>>> response to this one :o(
>>>>
>>>> 2. Will Stickies just pile up into an incomprehensible mess over
>>>> time? This is certainly a danger for some people. But I wonder
>>>> if one of the problems with Stickies (both electronic and paper)
>>>> is that they're great for capturing fuzzy data, but once they've
>>>> been created, they can never become more than that. They can
>>>> never become more structured and specific OR at least, it's an
>>>> onerous process for you to turn a generic sticky into something
>>>> that has specific meaning to you.
>>> You really have a point in this one. Please note that in my last
>>> mails I was speaking of the stickies less like stickies but more
>>> of what they could actually mean to the user. Fuzziness,
>>> Different kind of graphic representation. I would include the
>>> property of morphing into something else maybe from your words
>>> above.
>>>>
>>>> Which is where stamping and labeling in Chandler comes in. You
>>>> can start out by plopping a sticky on your calendar for this
>>>> week. And then over time, you can add specificity to the sticky:
>>>> Tuesday, 2PM, with Joanne, at Mondo's, to talk about: new hires,
>>>> etc...
>>>>
>>>> =====
>>>> In sum,
>>>>
>>>> The ability to easily"turn your sticky" into more and more
>>>> structured data over time PLUS
>>>>
>>>> The ability to keep track of this "fuzzy" data through Triage
>>>> and Tickling in the Dashboard may EQUAL
>>>>
>>>> A self-sustaining system that actually allows people to be
>>>> flexible with data and iterate on information WITHOUT losing
>>>> track of it and having it all end up in various messy piles all
>>>> over the place.
>>>>
>>>> At least that's the dream.
>>> I now it´s a dream and I am well intentioned to feed it.
>>> I for sure love to dream.
>>> What I feel right now is that everything is very abstract (minded).
>>> It´s like I would love to give it a try and say well I was wrong
>>> or well this is great but with this little twist it would be
>>> excellent.
>>> But what is sure is that I am here to help (or at least I want to).
>>>> I think this gets at some of the core concepts behind how
>>>> Chandler is a system, not just a storage facility.
>>> I have been doing some thinking about this, I have (I believe)
>>> some interesting concepts I would love to share, but still I
>>> could not find the time to fully (even quickly) develop.
>>>
>>> Yours,
>>>
>>> Daniel
>>>>
>>>> :o) Mimi
>>>>
>>>> At 11:14 AM -0300 11/9/05, Daniel Vareika wrote:
>>>>> Mimi:
>>>>>
>>>>> As I said, with stickies I am not sure where I am right or
>>>>> wrong, I was just putting forward a pillar of GTD.
>>>>> I understand every point you make, I do not disagree with you.
>>>>> A part of me loves the stickies in the calendar, the other part
>>>>> tells me it might be wrong.
>>>>>
>>>>> Self Criticism:
>>>>> I do have stickies (real physical ones) around the computer
>>>>> monitor.
>>>>> They are actually even one on top of the other.
>>>>> I have counted them, there are 40 of them in 12 piles.
>>>>> Some are short lived and work, some are not.
>>>>> I did use stickies on the mac, but in the end I decided that it
>>>>> was more of a mess than a help (this is truly personal).
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Points in this issue:
>>>>> 1) To know whether people find stickies (physical or software
>>>>> based) really useful. What I mean is whether they help more
>>>>> than get in the way although one might use them a lot.
>>>>> I use them a lot but doing a serious self criticism I would
>>>>> prefer not having to use them at all or limit my usage.
>>>>> 2) White spaces in a calendar is really telling us something
>>>>> not nothing. It is telling us how much time by the space do we
>>>>> have left so as to use thoughtfully.
>>>>> White spaces are useful, the size of them transmit invaluable
>>>>> information.
>>>>> 3) I love the concept of fuzziness in a calendar, that is for
>>>>> me the greatest point Mimi has. With other calendar apps like
>>>>> the Palm Desktop one finds things to be sometimes too rigid.
>>>>> Fuzziness is a great concept to explore.
>>>>> 4) Going over the stickies concept what I love is not really
>>>>> the concept as a stickie but graphically speaking, another way
>>>>> to convey info.
>>>>> Let me explain myself: I, might be boring regarding calendars,
>>>>> but I recall what girls did in school and high school. They did
>>>>> a lot of drawing, some really beautiful, most of them conveyed
>>>>> really useful info for them, like their best friends birthdays.
>>>>> To be able to convey some type of info in a different manner,
>>>>> even different size makes it much more attractive, but mostly
>>>>> much more useful, since for them, their best friends party was
>>>>> the most important thing.
>>>>> I know this concept is adding a layer of complexity not
>>>>> intended even for 1.0 but it could be good to brainstorm on it,
>>>>> why we are compelled by some other form of graphically
>>>>> presenting the information.
>>>>> For one thing we have different icons in our desktop that
>>>>> transmit clearly their function.
>>>>> 5) I believe there are other, really useful ways of managing
>>>>> and arranging information.
>>>>> This might have nothing to do with tags, keywords, dates or
>>>>> users. It is how we arrange spatially that info. I do it for
>>>>> certain with my desktop, even taking the time to change some
>>>>> folders icon to more descriptive ones.
>>>>> For me, the spatial relationship of these folders, their icons
>>>>> and how they are arranged, conveys really useful info.
>>>>> The same thing happens with our physical desktop and our office
>>>>> in a broader sense.
>>>>> 6) Clutter. I understand Mimi´s point in that visual clutter
>>>>> regarding the GUI is different from one owns clutter.
>>>>> From experience we all know that what might be clean for one is
>>>>> a mess to another, and one is capable of finding even in it´s
>>>>> own mess that little paper. Nonetheless, reading GTD points out
>>>>> some other things, like its bad to have many different in
>>>>> boxes, that we end up not really managing our life. I am trying
>>>>> to work like GTD although it´s hard to be methodical, but I
>>>>> find there are really benefits on it. Still I would not
>>>>> generalize an opinion (I am talking only for myself).
>>>>>
>>>>> Idea:
>>>>> Maybe those stickies could be really small ones like the notes
>>>>> in Acrobat (much cuter though!) and that you could open them or
>>>>> see inside them if you point at them. This way they won´t use
>>>>> much real state. On the other hand they could be different
>>>>> icons like smiling faces, etc.. to be able to personalize them
>>>>> and mean something to the user. This way it gets much more
>>>>> personal a calendar in a traditional sense.
>>>>>
>>>>> Transparency and Fade in or out as Brad pointed out, I think
>>>>> are worth brainstorming.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yours,
>>>>>
>>>>> Daniel
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Mimi Yin wrote:
>>>>>> Yes you're right, David Allen does say to only put things on
>>>>>> your calendar that are appointments, commitments to time that
>>>>>> you will not break, not well-intentioned plans to get work
>>>>>> done, that in all likelihood will get pushed aside as new
>>>>>> emergencies come in to throw you off balance.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> By simply maintaining a list of things you CAN do rather than
>>>>>> trying to adhere to traditional notions of "time management"
>>>>>> where you try and plot out exactly when you're going to
>>>>>> complete tasks, is his way of maintaining a state of mind like
>>>>>> water. You stay flexible, by not locking yourself down with a
>>>>>> "schedule" you can't keep anyway.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I wonder though, if the stickies on the calendar is something
>>>>>> different from "time management." The whole idea is that you
>>>>>> keep things loose. You're not blocking out time to complete
>>>>>> tasks (ie. Next Monday from 1-3PM, I'm going to write this
>>>>>> proposal) which is simply unrealistic, because you have no
>>>>>> idea what's going to have happened Monday morning that's going
>>>>>> to blow away your plans.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Instead, you're simply placing reminders for yourself near and
>>>>>> around the appropriate time period.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So think of the stickies as yet another way to display a GTD
>>>>>> context. Time sensitive contexts. This is essentially what
>>>>>> David Allen does himself with his month-based Tickler files.
>>>>>> He puts items into folders labeled with each month of the year
>>>>>> and the beginning of each Month, he dumps the contents of that
>>>>>> Month's folder into his Inbox.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Instead of @hardware store or @computer, this is for things
>>>>>> that are @October (ie. Go enjoy fall colors in the park.) or
>>>>>> @Next week (ie. Pick up pastries for people at the Office on
>>>>>> the way to work.)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> Whenever you are looking at a week on your calendar, you are
>>>>>> pulling up an @context list for things that are relevant to
>>>>>> that week. The same way when you pull up an @context list for
>>>>>> things relevant to the hardware store, you're asking yourself,
>>>>>> what things can I get done at the hardware store?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> So if anything, stickies on the calendar could be conceived of
>>>>>> as the opposite of time management. Instead, it's a way for
>>>>>> people to "be fuzzy" about when they do things and simply
>>>>>> assign a loose date range. Over time, as things become
>>>>>> clearer, as your calendar fills up, as new information comes
>>>>>> to light, you may narrow the window of time...but like most
>>>>>> other things in Chandler, it's an iterative process.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> :o)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> As for clutter, I generally believe that self-made clutter is
>>>>>> okay. Some people thrive on it. What's overwhelming is when
>>>>>> the UI comes pre-cluttered with concepts and gizmos you don't
>>>>>> understand or when you have to navigate someone else's self-
>>>>>> made clutter.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On Nov 8, 2005, at 5:20 PM, Daniel Vareika wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mimi:
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Although it sounds compelling (to use real state that is in
>>>>>>> other way unused, we would be promoting as for GTD a bad habit.
>>>>>>> If I was to stick to the rule of GTD that only those things
>>>>>>> that one should do on a certain moment should be in the
>>>>>>> calendar, then the concept of stickies shouldn´t go.
>>>>>>> On the other hand one is being too orthodox on this matter.
>>>>>>> It is extremely attractive the idea and the display, but again:
>>>>>>> would we be promoting clear, fast transmission of the info,
>>>>>>> or clutter?
>>>>>>> I still prefer the Mac OS simplicity.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I do not know how to make this powerful, attractive idea
>>>>>>> something that empowers users instead of getting into the way.
>>>>>>> I would like feedbacks on that matter.
>>>>>>> I might be completely off
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I think it means much more than stickies whats in place in
>>>>>>> this one.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Yours,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Daniel
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> I am being the devils advocate on purpose, not because I want
>>>>>>> to.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Mimi Yin wrote:
>>>>>>>> Also sending out an idea that someone who is interviewing
>>>>>>>> for the Scooby designer position came up with during their
>>>>>>>> interview.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> The problem they were presented with was: There's all this
>>>>>>>> free space on the calendar that's not being used, how can
>>>>>>>> we help the user maximize screen real estate?
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> It's potentially a really great way to simulate the way
>>>>>>>> people use paper calendars.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Proposal: Floating stickies on the calendar.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> <mime-attachment.png>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Open Source Applications Foundation "Design" mailing list
>>>>>>>> http://lists.osafoundation.org/mailman/listinfo/design
>>>>>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>
>
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