SIMILE makes me smile…
January 8, 2009
I’ve been researching semantic web applications and have finally set aside some time to try out some of the wonderful applications developped by the folks at MIT.
The SIMILE project creates open source applications that allow users to “access, manage, visualize and reuse digital assets”. I recently downloaded and installed the Seek add-on for the Thunderbird e-mail application.
Seek essentially allows me to toggle a view in Thunderbird that enables me to browse my email in multiple faceted views that I can add or subtract, and even allows me to view and sort through threads.
This add-on has changed the way I tackle my email, especially when I become overwhelmed after coming back from a conference or vacation. By clicking on a facet for a certain person’s email address, for example, I can quickly view and track all their correspondence in one screen. It is also really helpful to find that one missing email that you know is lurking somewhere in a folder but is just not coming up in your searches.
Check out the google code location for the project to see updates and a great instructional video. Congratulations to the SIMILE team, and especially David François Huynh for an extremely useful tool.
Next on my list for trying out SIMILE projects is Longwell, a web-based RDF-powered highly-configurable faceted browser.
