Tailoring the domain model.

In the previous post I stated that I believe the path to a usable PIM lies in allowing the user to tailor the domain model to match how they work. That is a great ideal and very laudable but the world is afloat with software that is so tailorable that it is unusable. How to manage this so that the user is not overwhelmed, annoyed or just plain pissed of is going to take some thought. So the first thing to look at is at what will not vary.

There are some things that I believe form the foundation of the things to be managed in a PIM:

• Events: Things that happen
• Actions: Thing that are done or performed.
• Notes: Things that are recorded for later.
• Contacts: Info on people.

And, after looking at the model for awhile I believe that there are some "aspects" or "potential behaviors" that can be associated with each object. The aspects that I can see immediately are:]

Can be Located in Time abbreviated LIT
We can place this on some sort of chronology (Calendar, Schedule, etc)

Can occupy time abbreviated OT
We can view its duration. This may be a logical part of the LIT aspect above

Can be Located in Space abbreviated LIS
We can place this on some sort of map

Can be tracked abbreviated TRK
We can track its progress

Can have a lifespan abbreviated SPN
We can see the object become relevant and expire.

Much of what determines what is visible in a given context is the aspects associated with the object. And those aspects can be applied or not as necessary. The Chandler project refers to this as "Stamping". For example an Event may be made "mappable" by stamping it as LIS. The user may choose to leave its location indeterminate but it is the stamping of the object as LIS that makes it mappable, not that it is given a location. With these building blocks the user has the potential to create many specialized types as needed. i.e. a Promise could be an Action that can be tracked and has a limited lifespan. In addition, the user can then display a Calendar which contains all things that are LIT whether they be Notes about an Event, an Event or a Promise.

Of course most users will want to filter things down to what they want. But then, now that we have determined what governs what CAN be displayed we come to looking at how we filter things down narrower then the aspects associated with the objects. And for that we need to look at the thing that PIMs are expected to handle well. And that is metadata; taxonomies, tags and categories. Since that is a substantial topic in and of itself, that will be covered in a seperate post.