Documenting a Life
Events, Chronology, and all the Rest
I did prepare of list of quite a few dozens of items that might be of relevance. Chet added to this list. It became more and more specific and less and less useful. I uninstalled Chet (just kidding). I coerced Chet into organizing the list, and then expanding on it, and that constitutes the body of this article. It just provides a starting point, and perhaps some insights for others who might chance upon the document.
Preface
From time to time, over the years, I have tried to put the events of my fairly ordinary life into perspective, by writing them down. I have several such documents, not very well written, but in electronic format. I also have various resumes that document work aspects of my life. I have, here and there, various other documents that would give clues as to things which happened to me as an adult, such as financial records and writings which I have produced. I once filled in a very extensive questionaire for a background check, but do not know if I kept a copy. My parents are gone, but I do have a lot of siblings, and they sometimes remember things which I don’t (and vice versa).
Today, I tried seeing if Chet AI could help with the process, and quickly abandoned it as I remembered all of the other stuff that I had done it the past, and felt the need to regroup.
As I started working chronologically with Chet, I realized several things:
1 - some thing can be tied to a chronology associated with events
2 - somethings could be, but the dates are not at all certain
3 - even the sequencing of events can become unclear with the passage of time
4 - as you age, memory often fails you, and you find you have special trouble remembering person and place names. Sometime nouns go as well. Sad that.
5 - not every thing can be tied to a chronology
I did prepare of list of quite a few dozens of items that might be of relevance. Chet added to this list. It became more and more specific and less and less useful. I uninstalled Chet (just kidding). I coerced Chet into organizing the list, and then expanding on it, and that constitutes the body of this article. It just provides a starting point, and perhaps some insights for others who might chance upon the document.
Being a former data modeller and database designer, I leapt to thinking about a database solution. There is an expression along the lines of: '“If your only tool is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” So, this is a case in point. Anyway, after some sober second thought, I decided, as a proper business analyst (was one of those as well), I should figure out what my requirements were, before running off half-cocked.
Introduction
An autobiography is a self-written account of one's own life. In an autobiography, individuals document their personal experiences, memories, and reflections in their own words. Autobiographies allow individuals to share their unique perspectives, thoughts, and emotions, providing insights into their personal journey, achievements, challenges, and significant events. Autobiographies offer an intimate and subjective portrayal of the author's life and are often written to share personal stories, impart wisdom, or leave a legacy.
This article is for individuals who are interested in documenting and organizing their life events and information.
We explore the topic of life documentation, focusing on events, chronology, and related information. We will discuss the process of gathering requirements for documenting a life, including information from records, recollections, and electronic formats. Additionally, we will delve into using applications and tools, understanding their strengths and limitations, and exploring possibilities for effective life documentation.
The process of life documentation can take place anywhere, as it is a personal endeavor that individuals can undertake in their own chosen space or environment.
Documenting one's life can have various purposes, such as preserving personal memories, creating a family history, or organizing information for professional or personal development. This chat aims to assist individuals in understanding the process, available tools, and potential applications for effective life documentation.
We discuss different aspects of life documentation, including the process of gathering requirements for documenting events, utilizing electronic documentation methods, exploring existing applications and tools, and understanding their strengths and limitations. The discussion will involve sharing insights, considerations, and practical advice to support individuals in effectively documenting their lives.
Relevant Types of Information
Personal Details
Abilities: Documenting individual skills, talents, and capabilities.
Academic Credentials: Recording educational qualifications, degrees, and certifications.
Accomplishments: Documenting notable achievements and milestones.
Activism: Recording involvement in social or political activism.
Age Cohort: Categorizing individuals into generational groups, such as Boomers or Millennials.
Alliances with Others: Documenting associations, partnerships, or alliances with individuals or organizations.
Avocations: Recording hobbies or leisure pursuits.
Recognition and Awards
Awards: Documenting honors, awards, or accolades received.
Scholarships and Bursaries: Recording grants or financial aid received for academic or other purposes.
Financial Aspects
Bankruptcy: Documenting instances of personal bankruptcy.
Inherited Wealth: Recording inherited assets or wealth.
Financial Success and Failures: Documenting notable financial achievements or setbacks.
Relationships and Family
Births: Recording the birth of children or other significant individuals.
Children: Documenting information about offspring, including names and other details.
Marriage, Spouses, Partners: Recording marital relationships and partnerships.
Family and Relationship Details: Documenting family connections, genealogy, and other relational information.
Breaks with Friends: Noting instances where friendships have ended or become distant.
Friendships: Documenting significant friendships and companionships.
Friendships Formed: Noting new friendships or connections established.
Drifting Away from Friendships: Documenting instances where friendships have gradually become less close or frequent.
Lovers: Recording romantic relationships or affairs.
True Loves: Documenting significant and deeply cherished romantic relationships.
Same-Sex Friends: Noting friendships with individuals of the same gender.
Opposite-Sex Friends: Documenting friendships with individuals of the opposite gender.
Personal Traits and Interests
Character Traits: Recording personality traits, both positive and negative.
Hobbies: Documenting recreational activities or hobbies.
Infatuations: Noting temporary or intense romantic attractions.
Likes and Dislikes (Food, Music, Fiction, Non-fiction): Documenting preferences in various areas.
Fitness: Recording physical fitness activities, routines, or achievements.
Extreme Sports: Documenting participation in adventurous or high-risk sports.
Recreational Travel: Noting leisure travel experiences and destinations.
Recreational Travels: Documenting multiple recreational travel experiences.
Personal Commitments: Recording personal commitments or pledges.
Education and Career
Education: Documenting educational background, degrees, and institutions attended.
Job Role: Recording job titles or roles held in professional settings.
Jobs and Work History: Documenting employment history, including job positions and responsibilities.
Gap Years: Noting periods of time taken off between educational or professional pursuits.
Grades: Recording academic grades or performance evaluations.
Fraternal Organizations: Documenting involvement in fraternal or membership-based organizations.
Skills: Recording acquired skills and areas of expertise.
Vocations: Documenting vocational pursuits or professional callings.
Work Travel: Noting travel undertaken for work-related purposes.
Writings: Recording written works authored by the individual.
Intellectual Contributions: Documenting intellectual or scholarly contributions made by the individual.
Beliefs and Values
Religious Beliefs: Documenting personal religious beliefs or affiliations.
Religious Influences on Views: Noting how religious beliefs impact personal perspectives.
Political Bias: Documenting any biases or preferences in political ideologies.
Political Influences on Views: Noting how political beliefs or events shape personal viewpoints.
Political Orientation: Recording political leanings or affiliations.
Skeptical or Credulous: Documenting tendencies toward skepticism or gullibility.
Lack of Beliefs: Noting absence or skepticism toward religious or metaphysical beliefs.
Values Held: Documenting personal values or guiding principles.
Legal and Criminal History
Criminal Records: Documenting any criminal records or convictions.
Involvement with the Law: Recording legal matters or encounters with law enforcement.
Trials, Pardons, Convictions, Incarceration: Documenting involvement in legal proceedings, pardons received, or periods of incarceration.
Records from Security and Background Checks: Noting records obtained from security and background checks.
Health and Well-being
Disabilities: Documenting physical or cognitive disabilities.
Life-Changing Events: Recording significant events that have had a transformative impact on life.
Deaths: Documenting the death of individuals related to the person being documented.
Miscellaneous
Community Involvement: Recording participation in community activities or organizations.
Conversions on the Road to Damascus: Documenting transformative or life-altering experiences.
Fiction Enjoyed: Noting preferred genres or works of fiction.
Non-fiction Enjoyed: Documenting areas of interest in non-fiction literature.
Rejections by Those We Want: Recording instances of rejection from desired individuals or opportunities.
Shafted by Others: Noting instances of being treated unfairly or taken advantage of.
Shafted Others: Documenting instances where the person has treated others unfairly.
Vehicles Owned: Recording vehicles owned, including travel, camping, watercraft, and sizes.
Wealth (Financial Status): Documenting the individual's financial standing.
Years: Noting specific years relevant to events or milestones.
Note: The list provides a brief description of each item, outlining the type of information it represents in the documentation of a person's life.
Requirements
Requirements for Documenting Your Life
When undertaking the task of documenting your life, it's essential to consider the requirements that will help you organize and structure the information effectively. These requirements are not limited to software solutions but encompass a broader perspective to accommodate various approaches. Here are some considerations to guide your life documentation project:
Functional Requirements
Chronological Order: Establish a coherent timeline of significant life events, ensuring a clear and organized sequence of experiences.
Data Capture: Develop a method for capturing and updating information about different aspects of your life, be it through pen and paper, a word processor, a spreadsheet, or any other medium you prefer.
Categorization and Tagging: Organize your documentation by categorizing and tagging information based on relevant themes or topics that resonate with your life story.
Easy Retrieval: Implement a system that allows for effortless searching and retrieval of specific information or events within your documentation, enabling quick access to relevant details.
Multimedia Integration: Incorporate multimedia elements, such as photographs, videos, or audio recordings, to enhance and enrich your life documentation, regardless of the medium used.
Collaborative Approach (Optional): If desired, involve others in contributing to your life documentation, particularly for shared experiences or family histories.
Non-functional Requirements
User-friendly Approach: Ensure the chosen method for documenting your life is intuitive, straightforward, and suits your personal preferences and comfort level, regardless of the specific tools or mediums employed.
Scalability: Design the documentation approach to accommodate the potential growth of your life documentation over time, allowing for the inclusion of new events and information as they occur.
Reliability: Establish a reliable and consistent documentation process, minimizing the risk of data loss or corruption, regardless of the medium employed.
Performance: Strive for an efficient documentation system that allows for timely data entry, search, and retrieval, providing a seamless experience regardless of the tools used.
Interoperability (Optional): Consider the ability to integrate your documentation with other mediums or platforms if desired, allowing for flexibility and compatibility with different tools.
Accessibility: Ensure that your chosen documentation method is accessible and inclusive, accommodating different individuals' needs and preferences.
Data Backup and Preservation: Implement mechanisms to regularly back up and preserve your documentation, ensuring its longevity and safeguarding against unforeseen issues or data loss.
Remember, these requirements are intended to provide guidance for your life documentation project, regardless of the chosen medium or tools. Feel free to adapt and tailor them to suit your preferences and the specific approach you wish to take. The goal is to create a personalized documentation system that best captures and reflects your unique life experiences.
Data Input from Various Sources
Existing Written Records: Discussing the process of extracting information from written records such as journals, diaries, letters, and official documents.
Existing Audio Records: Exploring methods of transcribing and extracting information from audio recordings, such as interviews or personal audio logs.
Existing Electronic Records: Discussing the extraction and utilization of information from electronic records in various formats, such as emails, social media posts, or digital documents.
Tools for Documentation
Spreadsheets: Exploring the use of spreadsheets for organizing and managing life documentation, discussing their advantages and limitations.
Text Documents: Highlighting the strengths and limitations of using text documents for documenting a person's life.
Existing Applications for Life Documentation
When it comes to documenting and organizing life events and information, there are already several applications and tools available that offer convenient ways to capture, store, and manage personal data. These applications leverage digital technology and provide diverse features to facilitate the documentation process. Let's explore some of the existing applications in more detail:
Note-Taking and Organization
Evernote: A popular note-taking application that allows users to create digital notes, organize them into notebooks, and tag them for easy retrieval. It offers various multimedia options like text, images, audio recordings, and attachments.
Microsoft OneNote: Enables users to capture and organize notes in a digital notebook format. It offers flexible formatting options, multimedia integration, and synchronization across devices.
Google Keep: A simple note-taking application that allows users to create and organize notes, add reminders, and collaborate with others. It integrates with other Google services for seamless data management.
Digital Journals and Diaries
Day One: A feature-rich journaling application that allows users to write entries, add photos, location data, and even weather information. It offers encryption and syncing capabilities for privacy and accessibility.
Journey: Provides a multimedia-rich journaling experience with the ability to add photos, videos, and audio recordings. It offers cross-platform synchronization and backup options.
Penzu: A private online journaling platform that offers a secure and customizable environment for writing personal entries. It includes features like tagging, reminders, and encrypted storage.
Timeline and Event Management
Trello: While primarily a project management tool, Trello's visual boards can be repurposed to create timelines and track personal events. Users can add cards for each event, set due dates, add descriptions, and collaborate with others.
TimelineJS: A web-based tool that allows users to create interactive timelines by adding events, descriptions, images, and media. It offers customization options and supports embedding in websites or presentations.
Microsoft Excel/Google Sheets: Spreadsheets can be utilized to create a timeline of events, with columns for dates, descriptions, and additional details. They provide flexibility for customization and data analysis.
Multimedia Documentation
Adobe Spark: Allows users to create visually appealing web pages or videos to document life events. It offers templates, multimedia integration, and customization options for creating engaging visual stories.
Shutterfly: A photo service platform that enables users to create personalized photo albums, photobooks, and calendars. It provides various customization features and printing options for physical copies.
Genealogy and Family History
Ancestry: A comprehensive genealogy platform that helps users build family trees, discover historical records, and connect with distant relatives. It offers powerful search features and access to vast genealogical databases.
MyHeritage: Enables users to create family trees, digitize and preserve old family photos, and collaborate with relatives. It provides DNA testing services for additional genealogical insights.
These existing applications offer a range of features and functionalities to assist in documenting and organizing life events, memories, and personal information. They provide user-friendly interfaces, cloud synchronization, and often support multiple devices, making it easier to capture, store, and retrieve data seamlessly. Depending on individual preferences and specific needs, these applications can be valuable tools for documenting a comprehensive life story.
Transcription and Machine Readability Applications
Transcription and machine readability applications play a crucial role in the process of documenting a person's life by enabling the conversion of various types of records into machine-readable formats. These applications leverage advancements in technology and artificial intelligence to automate the transcription and extraction of information from diverse sources, saving significant time and effort. Here are some key aspects of these applications:
Speech-to-Text Transcription
Speech-to-text technology: Utilizes automatic speech recognition (ASR) to convert spoken words into written text.
Audio transcription: Allows for the transcription of audio recordings, such as interviews, conversations, or speeches, into readable text.
Accurate transcription: Employs advanced algorithms and language models to enhance accuracy and minimize errors in the transcribed text.
Multi-language support: Capable of transcribing speech in different languages, accommodating diverse linguistic contexts.
Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
OCR technology: Enables the conversion of printed or handwritten text from physical or scanned documents into editable digital text.
Document digitization: Facilitates the extraction of information from physical documents like letters, certificates, or newspaper clippings.
Handwriting recognition: Allows for the recognition and transcription of handwritten text, capturing personal notes, diaries, or historical manuscripts.
Format preservation: Retains the original formatting of the documents, including fonts, styles, and layouts, to ensure accurate representation.
Text Extraction from Digital Sources
Text extraction from electronic records: Enables the retrieval of text from various digital formats, such as PDFs, Word documents, emails, or web pages.
Metadata extraction: Extracts relevant metadata associated with digital records, including timestamps, author information, or document properties.
Structured data extraction: Identifies and extracts specific fields or information from structured digital documents, such as forms, spreadsheets, or databases.
Natural Language Processing (NLP): Applies NLP techniques to analyze and extract meaningful information from unstructured text, such as sentiment analysis or named entity recognition.
Intelligent Data Classification and Tagging
Intelligent data classification: Utilizes machine learning algorithms to automatically categorize and classify transcribed information into relevant topics or themes.
Contextual tagging: Assigns relevant tags or labels to the transcribed data, enabling easy searchability and organization of the information.
Entity recognition: Identifies and extracts entities, such as names, locations, organizations, or dates, from the transcribed text, facilitating cross-referencing and linking with other related information.
Integration with Data Management Systems
Integration with databases: Allows for seamless integration of the transcribed and extracted data into structured databases or data management systems.
Data linking and relationships: Establishes relationships and links between different pieces of transcribed information, enabling comprehensive and interconnected documentation.
Data privacy and security: Ensures the secure handling and storage of transcribed data, adhering to privacy regulations and safeguarding sensitive personal information.
These transcription and machine readability applications significantly streamline the process of documenting a person's life by automating the extraction, transcription, and organization of information from various sources. They offer a valuable toolset for efficiently transforming diverse records into machine-readable formats, making the documentation process more manageable and accessible.
Data Model and Documentation Levels
A database solution may be a possibility for managing personal life history, although it may be considered excessive for such a purpose. It is likely that there are existing personal information management systems capable of handling this documentation task while offering extensibility. Cost-effectiveness is also a consideration, with a preference for free solutions. If a database solution is deemed suitable, it's worth exploring whether there are already available free and open source data models specifically designed for this purpose. In the past, attempts were made to find such models for genealogy, but only applications were found instead. The availability of a database design remains uncertain, and the process of finding one is unclear.
Before diving into database design, it is preferable to first model the problem1. While this isn't a business context, establishing some rules is still necessary. However, it's important not to overwhelm the application, if one is developed, with an excessive number of rules.
At the most abstract and general level, the model consists of "Things," "Events," and "Inter-relationships." This can be further expanded with additional tables to classify the "Things." The subtyping approach categorizes "Things" into persons, places, and other possible perspectives.
It's worth noting that a previous experience involved a database implementation that resembled the sketched-out model. However, its high level of generality made it challenging to comprehend. The pursuit of broad applicability resulted in more issues than solutions, in my humble opinion.
In this case, I prefer entity-relationship notation over UML, aligning with a more old-school approach. My comfort zone lies in entity-relationship and business rules.