Page Archiver, to fetch and store pages as specified so as to ensure that articles from sites which hay restrict access at a later date can be archived locally and given a unique (local) URL for permanent reference.
Summariser, to take a page specified by the user, and create a brief summary, extracting the essential ideas from the page. This would be especially useful when doing a search. (It could also be a web service offered by MemexCentral.)
Search, which needs to be supported by a web services API to ensure not just full-text local search, but also to ensure that other Memexes can request a search. This is where the interlinkages start happening. An innovative idea proposed by Marciej Ceglowski is peer-to-peer Semantic Indexing.
Visualiser, for a better display of the Memex and its relationships. In recent times, there has been extensive development of visualising tools like Grokker, MindMaps and TouchGraph, which can represent networks in a more intuitive manner.
Digital Dashboard, to integrate all the information that is coming in on to a single screen. It can allow for a writing space to enable quick searches and additions to the blog, or an events horizon which shows the new feeds as they come in.
PIM Connector, so as to capture information from the calendar and address book. We want to make sure that there are no silos of information, so the ability to have a 2-way linkage with the likes of Outlook and Evolution will be important.
IM/SMS Integration, so that the user can receive alerts on different devices. A user should be able to set up filters on the type of events that will need to be tracked.
Trail Tracking, which can be done by either capturing the users browsing history from the local computer or via the proxy server. Being able to show the pages surfed and the trail followed is an important indication of interest and should be preserved for future reference. Think of this as a Personal Panopticon.
Google API Key, so the user can integrate and leverage searches using the web services provided by Google. By using Google as a web service, the results can be better integrated into what the user sees, rather than going off on to a separate page. The Google API can also be used to restrict searches to sites that more closely match our interests.
Whats missing in this picture? The Mirror Blog, a constantly updating view of the world and information space around us. But first, before we talk about the Mirror Blog, we will take a small detour into a remarkable concept outlined more than a decade ago.
Tomorrow: Mirror Worlds
TECH TALK Constructing the Memex+T
