I’ve spent my recent hours trying to discover the Internet residence of the TiddlyWiki community. It’s exhausting. They’re like an on-line version of some elusive band of trans-European vagabonds.

We know, we TiddlyWiki people, that we’re ready to shift a whole world’s approach to knowledge management, and this is unbearably exciting. We are individually empowered through TiddlyWiki — which is natural or to be expected, given the course of computer development. But it may also be unprecedented in its degree; so perhaps that becomes a new test of the web’s capacity to draw together distant individuals.

Sure, that’s grandiose. I’m just trying to account for the mysterious lack of a central clearing-house for news and information. This forces me to think big things, like Maybe Doug Engelbart is still too far ahead of us, even after all this time.

The search for this hypothetical headquarters is not only frustrating. It’s a slow-going and thrilling process, because it entails visiting site after site of stupendous TiddlyWiki endeavors and applications and plug-ins. Some of the sites are enormous. So my imagination is getting crammed full of new genius, and my little collection of plug-ins is growing.

Endless plug-ins … and not much instruction on how to use any of them. Users declare their interest for documentation, but in reality the need is not so critical. The plug-ins work well and it’s not too hard to figure out what they’re for and how to put them to work. You do end up learning some JavaScript, however.

That’s the crux, however, of a cultural and marketing challenge. TiddlyWiki can help the user with no programming knowledge. I guess it’s correct to call it a content-management system — like WordPress, but incredibly easy in comparison. Yet WordPress offers a user interface that beautifully hides all the HTML and coding until you’d like to take a look; whereas in TiddlyWiki, to apply text formatting you must learn some mark-down brackets. They are fantastically simple, but there it is: you’ve typed some code. Then as you recognize the available power, you want some plug-ins; and if you’re not careful, pretty soon you’re flailing around with those funny curly brackets near the p on your keyboard.

Documentation could make a big difference on that. I’m not sure how, except to say I’ve written code (some weird code, I’m sure) when, unknown to me, a plug-in was ready to go. It would have been a lot easier with a clear and comprehensive list of plug-ins.

By now you’re wondering how this TiddlyWiki society can be so obtuse, not to have the documentation written and the headquarters well identified. Actually, they work hard at it. I think they’re overwhelmed — not at the same level as Yours Truly The Newbie, but on a different scale that comes from viewing this wonderland of functionality from a high elevation. There are several ambitious efforts to draw together all TiddlyWiki resources. But as of 2010, the landscape seems to feature several neighboring Towers of Babel; and while fortunately they speak the same language, that language is growing beyond workable lexical proportions. In particular, they’ve created TiddlySpace, which lets all members interconnect their wiki creations. This has a recursive quality, and unfortunately I always feel very confused when I go there. It’s like being in a Hall of Mirrors. After a while I can’t remember whose brain I’m in, or where I started or wanted to go.

Yes, imagine a Hall of Mirrors that fills the Tower of Babel, or several such Towers. The Lord has not come down to visit the site(s), and heaven is just a few floors away.

But wait, you are thinking — Facebook Groups to the rescue! While Facebook (or even LinkedIn) has connected the fan-base for many an enterprise, for TiddlyWiki this hasn’t happened. The group pages exist, but they collect about one post per month. This too is a reflection of the larger-than-lexicon immensity of TiddlyWiki. You look at a typical boxy message-board and think: That’s useless. Why post something here? It’s like using a View-Master® to observe a full-on double rainbow.

But don’t let my puzzlement over all this keep you from checking out TiddlyWiki! I can’t recommend a safari in TiddlySpace, but I can direct you to my own posts. And while they won’t answer your questions once you’re underway, I can assure you the many Mirrors of Babel will … even if you actually end up getting your information via the humble Google Group, and even if that’s embarrassing to the luminaries of TiddlyWiki who know there ought to be a better way … a TiddlyWiki way …

A closing note: they are very kind and patient, those luminaries. They’re on a happy mission. And in 2011, I expect the Hall of Mirrors will become a laser beacon with an high-altitude mounting. Here’s to a great New Year!