Meta

How this archive works, why it exists, and how to navigate it

What This Is

Personal knowledge base running MediaWiki at `archive.ejfox.com`. Not a blog - those are polished artifacts. This is a living dump of evolving thoughts, technical notes, and cross-referenced ideas.

Blog vs Archive:

Blog = frozen artifacts with images/interactives
Archive = info dump, post bin, ex-gists

Structure

Technical - CLI workflows, APIs, scripts, solutions
Dataviz - D3 experiments, Observable notebooks, techniques
Journalism - Methods, sources, investigations, published work
Projects - Work logs, collaboration notes, active stuff

Cross-links create knowledge networks. Categories auto-cluster. Search finds forgotten solutions.

MediaWiki Advantages

Revision history - Every edit timestamped, diffable, API-accessible
Templates - Standardized project info, live API data, status indicators
Categories - ` ` enables complex queries
Special pages - `Special:WantedPages` finds knowledge gaps automatically
Talk pages - Meta-commentary separate from main content
Mobile editing - Functional phone workflow
AI-parseable - Structured data for better LLM context

Usage Patterns

Personal: "How did I solve X six months ago?" - full-text search + revision history AI Context: Structured personal data = better AI responses Mobile: Voice-to-text dumps, organize later on desktop

Content Pipeline

Raw notes → linking → categorization → cross-referencing → 
templates → API integration → maybe blog post/project

Philosophy

Ideas evolve. Capture incomplete > lose completely. Version-controlled thinking - add new perspectives, don't edit history. Cross-domain connections yield best insights.

Gwern-inspired: document interests early, people find value as they catch up.

Success Metrics

Cross-reference density
Search success rate
Mobile edit frequency
Forgotten insight rediscovery
Archive → shipped project conversion

Automation

Personal APIs auto-update project status
Git hooks cross-reference commits
Category intersection analysis
Knowledge gap identification

External memory experiment: does systematic externalization improve thinking? Measuring outcomes over 10+ years.

Archive running since 2025 • Terminal & mobile • Cross-referenced & searchable