Journler was an
open-source hybrid
diary
A diary is a written or audiovisual record with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries have traditionally been handwritten but are now also often digital. A personal ...
and
personal information manager
A personal information manager (often referred to as a PIM tool or, more simply, a PIM) is a type of application software that functions as a personal organizer. The acronym PIM is now, more commonly, used in reference to personal information manag ...
for
Macintosh
The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...
.
It featured a three-pane interface and supported tagging and categorizing of entries.
The entries could be
rich text
Rich may refer to:
Common uses
* Rich, an entity possessing wealth
* Rich, an intense flavor, color, sound, texture, or feeling
** Rich (wine), a descriptor in wine tasting
Places United States
* Rich, Mississippi, an unincorporated comm ...
, but also could contain images,
PDFs, and other media that
macOS
macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...
supports.
It was oriented toward chronological organization of entries, as in a diary or journal, and had a built-in calendar. Later versions aimed to be a flexible tool for personal
project management
Project management is the process of leading the work of a team to achieve all project goals within the given constraints. This information is usually described in project documentation, created at the beginning of the development process. T ...
and for fans of the
Getting Things Done
''Getting Things Done'' (GTD) is a personal productivity system developed by David Allen and published in a book of the same name. GTD is described as a time management system. Allen states "there is an inverse relationship between things on yo ...
system.
Like many recent OS X applications, Journler supported
smart folders that can automatically update themselves based on some user-delimited criteria. Journler allowed nesting of folders, including smart folders, under one another, which is more unusual. Its support for easy creation of
hyperlinks between entries, with automatic
backlink
A backlink is a link from some other website (the referrer) to that web resource (the referent). A ''web resource'' may be (for example) a website, web page, or web directory.
A backlink is a reference comparable to a citation. The quantity, q ...
s, allowed it to be used as a
personal wiki
A personal wiki is wiki software that allows individual users to organize information on their desktop or mobile computing devices in a manner similar to community wikis, but without collaborative software or multiple users.
Personal wiki softwa ...
.
Journler was originally created by Philip Dow to meet his own needs.
In September 2009, Dow announced he would cease development on Journler. In February 2011, it was announced that Journler would be open sourced. The source code is currently hosted on
GitHub
GitHub, Inc. () is an Internet hosting service for software development and version control using Git. It provides the distributed version control of Git plus access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continu ...
.
In August 2015, Journler's creator wrote an article citing
Howard Rheingold
Howard Rheingold (born 1947) is an American critic, writer, and teacher, known for his specialties on the cultural, social and political implications of modern communication media such as the Internet, mobile telephony and virtual communities (a ...
's 1985 book ''
Tools for Thought'' and
John Markoff's 2005 book ''
What the Dormouse Said
''What the Dormouse Said: How the Sixties Counterculture Shaped the Personal Computer Industry'', is a 2005 non-fiction book by John Markoff. The book details the history of the personal computer, closely tying the ideologies of the collaborat ...
'', and explaining how he has come to understand Journler as a "tool for thought" in a tradition of computer-assisted
intelligence augmentation
Intelligence amplification (IA) (also referred to as cognitive augmentation, machine augmented intelligence and enhanced intelligence) refers to the effective use of information technology in augmenting human intelligence. The idea was first pro ...
dating back to computer science pioneers
Vannevar Bush
Vannevar Bush ( ; March 11, 1890 – June 28, 1974) was an American engineer, inventor and science administrator, who during World War II headed the U.S. Office of Scientific Research and Development (OSRD), through which almost all warti ...
,
J. C. R. Licklider
Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider (; March 11, 1915 – June 26, 1990), known simply as J. C. R. or "Lick", was an American psychologistMiller, G. A. (1991), "J. C. R. Licklider, psychologist", ''Journal of the Acoustical Society of Am ...
, and
Douglas Engelbart.
See also
*
List of Macintosh software
*
List of wiki software
Standard wiki programs, by programming language
JavaScript-based
* Lively Wiki is based on Lively Kernel and combines features of wikis and development environments. Users can create and edit application behavior and other content.
* Tid ...
*
Personal knowledge base
A personal knowledge base (PKB) is an electronic tool used to express, capture, and later retrieve the personal knowledge of an individual. It differs from a traditional database in that it contains subjective material particular to the owner, th ...
Notes
{{Reflist
2005 software
Free note-taking software
MacOS-only free software
Personal information manager software for macOS