Re: Request MSWin outliners with I,A,1,a etc structure?

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 2799

Posted by graham.smith
2005-02-21 08:09:42

>A concept map really is not a graphical outline. Outlines deal in >hierarchies, and concept maps graph relations that are not >necessarily hierarchical. But to capture these non-hierarchical >relations, the connections between the boxes, not just the boxes >themselves, must be labeled.

Very true, but I was really talking about idea generation and structure when preparing a report or presentation. The relationships identified in producing a Concept map are often the key topics that neeed discussed.

This is a problem with mindmaps and outlines that they produce a specific hierarchical structure, which may not be the structure that best suits explaining the topic you are writing or lecturing on.
Indeed you could turn the whole thing around and produce a Concept map and then use the relationship headings to produce the Outline for the report or presentation.

However, the real point that I was making is that Inspiration allows you to produce Concept Maps, and other diagrams, which other “mind mapping” tools do not. Thus providing another thinking tool. I find Mindmaps and Concept maps the best starting point for gathering my thoughts about a subject. I don’t find Outliners very good for this, but tend do use them to flesh out the structure of a report.

This, plus the Palm option, makes Inspiration a lot more useful to me, than the alternatives, and probably comes the closest to a “one program does all” as I have seen.

Graham

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