What is DeepaMehta?

DeepaMehta is a platform for collaboration and knowledge management. The goal of DeepaMehta is to provide knowledge workers of all kind a cognitive adequate work environment, right after booting.

The vision of DeepaMehta is a Post-Desktop Metaphor user interface that abolishes applications, windows, files, and folders in favor of stable personal views of contextual content. We love the idea of providing the situated user a cognitive home.

DeepaMehta is a Think Tool.

We are inspired by Vannevar Bush, Douglas Engelbart, Ted Nelson, J.C.R. Licklider, Robert Taylor, David Canfield Smith, Lucy Suchman, Seymour Papert, Alan Kay, Terry Winograd, and Joseph Weizenbaum.

Technically, DeepaMehta is a Java/OSGi based Inversion-of-Control container for running plugins and a HTML5/JavaScript webclient which are communicating via a REST API. You are very welcome to help us improve the software and its documentation. As a plugin developer you can provide data models, application services, or presentation logic. Or you can develop a complete new client interface in the language of your choice.

DeepaMehta is Free and Open Source Software (FOSS).

The project's main website is ​http://www.deepamehta.de/

Problems solved by DeepaMehta

Missing Semantic Relationships

The existing application-centered computer design can not express user-relevant relationships between data objects of different applications (e.g. text, image, email, web, contacts, projects). Thus, meaningful relationships 1) do not appear on the screen, 2) can not be exploited for navigation, and 3) can not be shared with others. This complicates the life of the knowledge worker tremendously.

DeepaMehta solves that problem by freeing the data from their respective applications and storing them in a corporate memory using an application-neutral data format.

Missing On-Screen Working Context

Hand in hand with the application-centered design comes the next problem: Information that belongs together from a working perspective is fragmented into different application windows. The user is forced to steady window switching. With every switch the display changes abruptly. This imposes a considerable cognitive load on the user to cope with the constant working-vs-screen mismatch and to keep the working context in mind.

DeepaMehta solves that problem by a new application model that allow data of different types and origin to appear in the same window, alongside with meaningful relationships. What is in mind is on-screen. The result is a stable on-screen working context.