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new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Mon Sep 14, 2015 6:03 pm
by denswier
I would like to be able to build totally independent sets of topics. If we could we have a super-organization level around "Projects" that would contain only topics relevant to the project that would be terrific.
Thanks

Re: new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 5:12 am
by Tester
That is something I would like too.

At the moment we have 2 levels: Topic (File) and Document.

It would be fine if there were a 3rd level. (Either it can be seen as a "super-organization level" above the topics or as an intermediate level between the two already existing ones - that's only a matter of taste and terminology, I think).

For example:

When I have now a topic "My CDs" and in this topic a list of all my CDs (= every CD a document in the topic, without distinction of the music style), in the future it could be arranged in the following way:

1) Project: "My CDs"
2) Topics: "Classic", "Folk", "Jazz", "Pop", ...
3) Documents (in the particular topic): the CDs (their titles)

Or the same considered as an intermediate level:

1) Topic: "My CDs"
2) "Categories" (or "Subtopics" or whatever it may be called): "Classic", "Folk", "Jazz", "Pop", ...
3) Documents (in the particular category/subtopic): the CDs (their titles)

In a certain way something similar is possible already now by creating subdocuments within a topic. But it would be more comfortable and more clearly arranged with such an additional level so that there would exist for example a separate tree and an own tab for every category/subtopic (as it exists already now for every topic).

Re: new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 12:45 pm
by wsp
Tester, couldn't you achieve this level of organization by the use of tags? That's how I organize my enormous bibliographical topic. If I want to see only the articles and books related to local history and genealogy, for example, I just search for them with the tag "local-gen." Then of course I can refine that search further with other tags (e.g. only books and articles available in a certain library) and additional search terms.

I also have a custom attribute ("Done") to tell me whether or not I have seen an item already. I could of course handle that with a tag also, but I find that an attribute is easier to spot when I'm glancing at my "Bibliography" topic very quickly. I hope that checkboxes will appear in the much-anticipated next version of MyInfo.

Re: new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:02 pm
by Tester
Yes, possibly a similar result could be achieved with tags. The difference seems to be the convenience. I do not use tags but they remind me of something like stickers you put on your CDs (or books) which are placed in a mixed way altogether on a single long shelf in your music room or library. The other solution (with some kind of "third level") would mean something like different shelves in your room (e.g. one for Classic CDs, one for Pop etc.) so that you can put (and search) a certain CD (book) directly in a specific shelf.

So you could "enter" your virtual library (= topic/project) and go directly to the "shelf" (for example by clicking on a tab) where you have placed exclusively books related to local history and genealogy.

For my needs it could be structured for example in this way:

Image

The (big) Topic (or "Project" as called by denswier) would be titled for example "Language" and its elements are "Wörterbuch" (Dictionary), "Grammatik" (Grammar), Links, Diverses (Various) and Blog.

Of course a further refining by tags would/should remain possible too (e.g. a tag for all documents in the element "Dictionary" that are adjectives).

Re: new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Tue Sep 15, 2015 8:45 pm
by wsp
I don't share your reservations about tags, Tester. I find them extremely useful for certain kinds of material. Their main advantage over a hierarchical organization (of the kind that you envision) is that you can apply several tags to a single document and that it will therefore appear easily in more than one list. The only way you could achieve that in your scheme would be to create a lot of clones, which is time-consuming and awkward.

Another possibility is that you could create your "shelves" with custom attributes. Then click on "filter," click on this "shelf" attribute, and you will get a list of all your documents arranged by that attribute. If you were really ambitious, you could at that point also create a new filter that would find only the documents that belong to a particular shelf.

But I think tags would be simpler and easier to manage. Remember also that you can embed tags in saved searches: the text of such a search could merely read "tag:[shelf name]".

Re: new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 1:18 am
by Tester
wsp wrote:I don't share your reservations about tags, Tester. I find them extremely useful for certain kinds of material. Their main advantage over a hierarchical organization (of the kind that you envision) is that you can apply several tags to a single document and that it will therefore appear easily in more than one list.
No doubt about this. Therefore my suggestion about a "third level" (and I think denswier's intention is the same) refers to an additional feature. Of course the tags feature should be retained and the possibility to create only two levels (topic - documents) also.

Re: new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Wed Sep 16, 2015 11:08 am
by Petko
MyInfo 7 will indeed offer a third level of organization. There will be notebooks, which will be able to contain multiple topics ("sections" in MyInfo 7). So, although there will be visually separate trees, they will be able to share clones and other things, because physically they will be stored in a single file. Of course, you will be able to create as many notebooks and sections, as you like!

Re: new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Thu Sep 17, 2015 8:29 pm
by Tester
Good news. :D Thanks for the info!

Re: new feature: PROJECTS

Posted: Sat Feb 27, 2016 6:46 pm
by Coolrat
Very good discussion here on tags vs. hierarchical ordering in trees.

I have to reiterate again the suggestions I made several years ago. I feel these features would greatly improve user's ability to use MyInfo so sort and to find information and bring it closer to functioning as a qualitative data analysis tool.

During my PhD research, I used QDA software and photo management DAM tools and found them useful in clarifying my workflow. Based on experience with those tools, I posted this in 2014 http://forums.milenix.com/viewtopic.php ... 7989#p6612

For convenience, I've re-posted my suggestions below:
  • 1. The ability to link one sentence in one document to a place in another document.

    2. A better tags, keyword system. If tags were separated by a comma, it would allow for more useful compound tags like "environmental protection" or "Canadian Economy" and allow separation among other keywords like "Canadian History" etc.

    3. The ability to select sections/blocks of text or photos and be able to assign a code/tag to it. Ideally, this code/tag would appear in a margin, and use identify which segment is coded with that tag.
    Then, the user could use an analysis feature to search through the database to see what was coded. The program would assemble all the sections/blocks coded with a particular code.
These would be three outstanding useful improvements that would expand MyInfo's abilities and enable it to offer some QDA qualitative data analysis functions. I think that would excite a lot of university students and especially grad students.