Tinderbox 8 is released

Posted by Hugh
Apr 16, 2019 at 09:18 AM

MadaboutDana wrote:
I love the idea of TB as the perfect tool for tracking emergent
>trends/situations - that’s a really interesting use case.
>

Absolutely, Bill.

For me, “a tool for tracking emergent trends/situations” is a more accurate description of what Tinderbox is capable of than the more commonly used “tool for notes”, which for me sells the software short.

Of course, you can use Tinderbox for simple purposes, such as outlining an essay. But that would be to squander your investment. For me, the description “a tool for tracking emergent trends/situations” underlines several important aspects of the software. When using Tinderbox, unlike, say, when setting up a database, you don’t have to work out the optimal structure before you begin; you can do that as you go along. And when the best structure for the data becomes apparent, it is truly “emergent”: Tinderbox is genuinely a toolbox with which you can try several different “fits” for your facts. But it’s not AI: it’s a tool, and you the user still have to apply intelligence to the process.

These benefits seem to me to be as useful for a teacher trying to structure a series of lessons, for a writer trying to carve her most reader-friendly way through clumps of information for a dissertation or plot-points for a novel, for a researcher carrying out some kinds of qualitative analysis - or for anybody trying to make sense of related but disparate pieces of data. (In fact, I’d be prepared to bet that Tinderbox-like pieces of computer software are amongst modern spooks’ favourite “toys”.)