On the road…again!!!
Essays, Stories, Adventures, Dreams
Chronicles of a Footloose Forester
By Dick Pellek

Tags and Links Create Networks

A string of related blogs is a useful way to search and research the characteristics of personal writing styles and to quickly understand what inspires and moves some writers, as well as the subject matter within their areas on interest.  In the rapidly evolving world of Artificial Intelligence (AI), that quest to know more about the writers themselves is aided by merely asking the right questions at the outset and letting AI guide us along the way.  For example, the AI search vehicle and crawler named Copilot does a good job of recognizing questions and commands through the built-in microphone in computers and initiates a search, while printing out the questions with a high level of correctly spelled words and names.  Although names are prone to being misspelled, a major drawback, a corrected spelling can be applied by typing it out, and re-introducing the inquiry.

The inquisitive Footloose Forester is ever wanting to probe the reliability and accuracy of AI systems, hence he has embarked on a daily routine by asking his Copilot the same question, or closely related question to evaluate whether or not Copilot goes to the same sources or, by virtue of key words in the inquiry, to different sources.  One admittedly  provocative daily question is:  What is the rant that Dick Pellek is serving up today?  The most recent Copilot answer was:  It appears to be an essay titled Deforestation and Afforestation.  In the text of the AI answer was a numbered link highlighted in blue.  These days, the use of numbers highlighted in blue is the accepted standard indicating a link to another source.

Link #1 in the Copilot response led to a social media site named Medium.  And the link to Medium did faithfully reflect the title Deforestation and Afforestation as the title of the essay.  The main point to be made here is the fact that, at the bottom of the page containing the essay, other information regarding the original source of the essay by the author is also displayed.  That additional information included first, a list of 5 other blogs by the author, that were cast in blue coloration, indicating external links; and 5 pictorial tags purporting to show the nature of other, Related Stories.  On its face, it seems that a combination of blue colored fonts indicating links and the full-color tags referring to related stories, makes use of research methodology that did not exist a decade ago.

The source location and primary archive of stories by the Footloose Forester is LegacyStories.org, hence both the listed, numbered links and the pictorial tags marked as related stories (in Medium) direct the reader to the original blogs in the LegacyStories website.  Serious writers should note that the LegacyStories platform is very versatile inasmuch as it receives and processes text, voice, videos, photographs, and other graphics; and easily deals with updates and corrections after the fact. The interactiveness of various media platforms within LegacyStories is a distinctive advantage to writers who wish to tell stories with voice, photos, and/or videos.  And Copilot, with its use of links to various sources of supporting information, is making background research much easier a task.

Thanks to Copilot as an AI tool, the journey into a reading experience may lead onward to following of progressive information gathering; as a cross-referencing technique, or to explore a few of those pictorial tags that purportedly show related stories, but at different computer sites.   

The Copilot > Medium > Links and Tags > LegacyStories trail leads to at least 5 recent stories by the author and up to 5 pictorial tags in LegacyStories itself.  Once there, hints to other related stories may appear at the bottom of the blog.  For example, by clicking on the pictorial tag showing a stand of bamboo trees shown at the bottom of a Medium story, the Footloose Forester was quickly able to click on the suite of 5 other tags leading to other stories.  By choosing one of those stories relating to forestry, he was directed to yet another blog with forestry as its main theme.  Thus, fact checking and review were employed as cross-referencing tools, with the modern aid of an AI platform. 

AI programs have ideas that are gleaned from other sources but the creators of various AI programs also contribute their own priority wording and editorializing.  To test the strength of that content, the Footloose Forester made the following request: 

You

Show me examples of linking stories

Copilot

Using the web

Sure, here are some examples of linking stories:

• Memory Linking: This is a technique used in psychology to improve memory recall. It involves creating a mental connection or association between items or pieces of information in a sequence or list. For example, if you need to remember a list of five items: an apple, a banana, an orange, a pear, and a grape. You could create an image or story that somehow involves all of these items. So, memory linking might involve imagining a castle made of apples, bananas, and oranges with a large pear tree in the center and grapes hanging from the branches1.

 Link Method in Memory Techniques: This method involves creating an image that reminds you of the first word in a chain, and “linking” the next word to the first. For example, if you have a list of words like: Hero, Drill, Spacecraft, Music. You would imagine that the hero uses a drill on a spacecraft that is blasting out music. This way of using linking sounds a bit like a story, doesn’t it? If so, then it is the story that is doing the linking2.

 Dick Pellek’s Chronicles: Dick Pellek, an environmentalist and writer, has a collection of essays, stories, adventures, and dreams called “Chronicles of a Footloose Forester”. In his work, each recollection is a thread contributing to the vibrant narrative of his experiences. His memoir is a tapestry of memories, spanning over five decades34.

These examples show how stories can be linked together to create a cohesive narrative or to aid in memory recall. The key is to find a common thread or theme that can connect the different elements of the story. This can be a character, an event, a location, or even a concept or idea. By linking these elements together, you can create a more engaging and memorable story.