Subject
The Mountain Climbing Journal (MCJ) is intended to be used as a personal journal. It is true that it can be used for many different kinds of information, but the perspective comes from the perspective of a personal journal. MCJ facilitates freedom, consistency, reflection, and flexibility. First and foremost, though, the MCJ system is about exploration.
The greatest explorers used a journal to describe and trace what they saw in an open way. Part of the metaphor behind MCJ is that mountain climbing is a state of mind free from judgement. Judgement filters and transforms data too early. An example of a good journal entry is this entry from James Cook's journal of his first voyage:
Tuesday, 30th. Winds at North-West, Gentle breezes, and fair weather.
Early in the A.M. a boat was sent to one of the Islands to get Sellery to
boil for the People's breakfasts. While our people were gathering it near
some empty huts about 20 of the Natives landed there--Men, Women, and
Children. They had no sooner got out of their Canoe than 5 or 6 Women set
down together, and cut and sacrificed themselves--viz., their Legs,
Shins, Arms, and Faces, some with Shells, and others with pieces of
Jaspar. So far as our people could understand them, this was done on
account of their husbands being lately killed and devoured by their
Enemies. While the women was performing this Ceremony, the Men went about
repairing the Huts without showing the least Concern. The Carpenter went
with part of his people into the Woods to cut and Square some Timber to
saw into boards for the use of the Ship, and to prepare two Posts to be
set up with inscriptions on them.
From Project Gutenberg
Imagine how Captain Cook might have reacted at that time to this entry about a horrifying story. His entry is not derailed by any criticism. This does not mean that meaning can't be gleaned through analysis, it just means that the data has to get into the journal in as unfiltered a way as possible and the UI should facilitate this.
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Design
