Remember your thoughts

Most people agree that one thing mobile devices aren't good at is information entry. It's relatively easy to "capture" the state of the world as a picture, video or an audio recording. However, when time comes to record a thought, a to-do item or anything that hardware sensors can't measure quantitatively the devices struggle. That's fine, since such situations are rare... Or are they?

In my quest for early adoption of everything mobile I got pretty far - reading emails, using calendars, listening to podcasts etc is second nature to me by now. However, oftentimes I remember something I forgot do to earlier in the day and reach for my phone. Seconds later I put it back into my pocket, as there is nothing it can do to help me. Sure, I could enter the task as a calendar item - but that's so much work! Moreover, it changes the meaning of the problem as my to-do's are not meant for the calendar (I don't want to think up a set date/time to buy the groceries, I just want to do it sometime!). Even advanced devices that support proper to-do lists require text entry and there is never time to do that on the go, especially for minor (but still desirable) tasks.

Same goes for random thoughts that are a product of some ongoing cognitive activity and are worth being retained. "I should really learn X" or "It wasn't worth spending time on Y, I shouldn't do that again" often come up and within seconds get lost in the whirlwind that is our typical day. Since humans are essentially information processors, our thoughts are some of the most precious products of our lives. A lot of great ideas come to our minds while we're outside of work or school. How can the mobiles help people to capture and retain more of them?

Two components are crucial to success of this venture. First, the input process should not take more than several seconds - even five is already too long. Ideally, we would just speak into the phone and it would take care of the information for us. This poses several challenges - audio is easy for humans to produce, but very hard for computers to categorize and integrate with other data in an efficient manner. To get around this issue, the voice clip would likely be converted into text (no mobile-enabled technology that reliably does this most of the time is currently available). Another alternative is using a touchscreen device - few taps to select the category of what's about to be spoken, followed by the audio input.

The second component is access to the newly created data. Integration with time and contact-management software should be seamless and instant. Whatever the thought I recorded was, it should show up in my internet-based lists accessible from conventional computers. This could be done through a central server, or through automated emailing (most new phones can produce and receive emails - how many of us had the courage and the patience to set up and use it?). I should be able to share this information easily with my friends who are thinking about similar issues.

While this might not be a revolutionary concept, it's something that has to be done in order to evolve the mobiles further. What good is a Portable Data Assistant (that's what "PDA" stands for I believe) if I can't tell it to assist me with categorizing and remembering my ideas? If these devices can store gigabytes of information, why can't they store something minuscule, but created in the spur of the moment? If the mobiles are truly meant to "extend" us, this kind of service is bound to come sooner or later.