---
title: 🪴 Read Me
enableToc: false
---

Authored By:: [[P- Rob Haisfield]], [[P- Joel Chan]], and [[P- Brendan Langen]]

Initially published - May 2022

Welcome to our living hypertext notebook. This notebook will continue to evolve going into the future and is by no means a finished product- as such, pages exist at varying stages of completion. Please leave comments to further the discussion and help direct its evolution.

**All you need to do is click on what is interesting.** This is a special trait of this website - hypertext notebooks are designed for exploratory browsing. In a linear piece of writing, all ideas would be sequenced into one narrative. In hypertext writing, the narrative is emergent and the ideas are associative. It is like a book where the pages rearrange themselves for you based on your current curiosity each time you revisit. _For more on what this is, see [[Q- What is a hypertext notebook]]?_

The goal of this research project is to find data structures and interfaces that support synthesis and innovation in a decentralized discourse graph. If you prefer videos over hypertext, see this video here (5:40):

{{< youtube enRYIUDRwWg>}}

Some suggested starting points:

- To jump straight into the ideas:
  - [[Q- How do you scale and distribute synthesis]]
  - [[Q- How might we navigate the structure now or later tradeoffs]]
  - [[C- Designing for ambient review is a rich opportunity space]]
  - [[I- A DSL for a discourse graph with information entry, visualization, and retrieval]]
  - [[I- Search as a primitive]]
- For broader context about what we are doing and why:
  - [[Q- What is a decentralized discourse graph]]
  - [[C- Discourse graphs could significantly accelerate human synthesis work]]
  - [[C- Synthesis is hard to do with people who don’t share context with you]]
  - [[Q- What are powerful interfaces for entering information into a discourse graph]]
  - [[Research Grant Application]]

Some specific how-tos:

- Pages have tags to indicate what type of node it is, which is also color coded. Hover preview or navigate to the page to learn its type.
- Builders: View this as a framework for navigating the [idea maze](https://cdixon.org/2013/08/04/the-idea-maze), and form your own conclusions about the claims, questions, and trails between them.
- Hover your mouse over a link to see a preview of its content
- If a page is empty, look through its backlinks! If a page isn't empty... you can still look through its backlinks! Those are all of the times where the ideas presented in the page were used in context.
- If a page is not yet created, the hyperlink will appear to be faded.
- When you see a faded hyperlink like [[@cataliniMicrogeographyDirectionInventive2017]], note that it's a Zotero citekey, and if you take the text, separate out the words, and search in Google Scholar, you will likely find the paper for more information if you are interested.
- Email hello@robhaisfield.com for personal inquiries or private questions, but please defer to public comments when possible, as other people may have the same question as you!