Welcome to Organizing My Data!
Types Of Data
Some wisdom from long ago in my past was that if you want to solve a complex problem, you first have to thoroughly define and document the problem. This blog is my attempt to "think out loud" about organizing my data, which right now is scattered across many local and online applications, many documents, multiple hard disks and images, etc. I've made numerous attempts to "organize" all this stuff, but I've never developed a plan that addresses all my requirements.
One of the primary problems I'm trying to solve is to not be held hostage to a particular computing device - personal (phone, with its standalone contact list but good that it works even when offline), portable (laptop, with its standalone hard disk and environment, but good that it works even when offline), or especially a desktop computer with its standalone hard disk and environment. When used standalone, all three are subject to loss or failure, and subsequent loss of data.
The problem that I'm trying to solve has kind-of been solved by Microsoft with their Enterprise combination of Exchange Server, Outlook local application, Outlook online application, and Windows Mobile phones. Apple has also kind of solved it with their combination of local applications - Mail, iCalendar, Address Book, Safari (bookmarks) synchronizing with their .Mac service, and iPhone / iPods.
What Microsoft Exchange Server / Outlook clients solve:
- Synchronized online / offline / local email application (Outlook) / web email application (Outlook Web)
- Synchronized online / offline / local address book application (Outlook) / web address book application (Outlook Web)
- Synchronized online / offline / local calendar application (Outlook) / web calendar application (Outlook Web)
What Apple .Mac / local applications solve:
- Synchronized online / offline / local email application (Mail) / web email application (.Mac) (if using .Mac email service)
- Synchronized online / offline / local address book application (Address Book) / web address book application (.Mac)
- Synchronized online / offline / local calendar application (iCalendar) / web calendar application (.Mac)
- Synchronized online / offline / local bookmarks application (Safari) / web bookmarks application (.Mac)
- Synchronized online / offline / local file storage / web file storage (.Mac)
How many kinds of data do I have to try to organize? First, there are two kinds of data - "static" and "live". Static is things like Contacts that don't change dynamically; Live is data that changes continually, like email.
My Static Data:
- Address Book - need local access, web access, archive / backup, export to other apps via CSV, especially a phone or portable computing device. Would also like to be able to do a printout.
- Calendar
- Documents
- Photos / Images / Scans (generically, files)
- Web Bookmarks
- Audio files
- Password / accounts document
My Live Data:
- Email, currently handled by Gmail
- RSS Feeds, currently handled by Google Reader
- Messaging (I want to do it all - AIM, Gchat, ICQ, etc.)
- Podcasts
Some online apps that answer part of my issues.
- Highrise HQ - handles address book issues pretty well, including being able to export to CSV and VCard
To be continued.
By Steve Stroh
This article is Copyright © 2007, 2008 by Steve Stroh. Excerpts and links are expressly permitted (and encouraged).
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