Re: Should Brainstorm be part of a multi-faceted outliner

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

Outliners.com Message ID: 4424

Posted by pma
2005-10-26 16:56:05

Thanks very much for pointing my attention to MaxThink. Following a Google search, I just took at look at http://www.mindspring.com/~mmm/outline.html#example, a very interesting page that describes how a scriptwriter uses MaxThink to generate a speech about logistics for a client. This is the exactly how I would like to have my process. Here is how the author describes the process:

As I read about logistics, I typed my library research directly into Maxthink, creating a new parent topic with every change of subject. (He calls this the Research Data Outline).
Next, I took the research data outline and outputted a list of the main parent topics. I studied these 21 main topics in order to find the thesis and structure for the speech.
After reconsidering the goal of the speech, and the intended audience, I established the basic script structure. (It has 8 topics).
Everything so far could have been accomplished with any word processor. But now, the power of Maxthink comes into play. First, I Levelized my data outline so all the topics and subtopics were flattened into one long list. Next, I put my 8 script topics at the top of the research data list (adding one more for Garbage). The Bin Sort command allows you to mark these 9 topics as Bins. In the same way the recycling man tosses newsprint into Bin 1, glass into Bin 2, etc., Bin Sort allows you to scroll through the raw data and toss each data topic into the appropriate Bin with a single keystroke
Next, this organizing process is applied again to each individual script topic. For example, topic number 2, REENGINEERING THE CORPORATION would be further subdivided into sub-topics, and then the research data is Bin Sorted again.
After all the data is organized into a three-level outline, anecdotes and transitions are added. The content outline is finished.
The client made a few changes and the first draft writing begins.

Isn’t this just amazing? So, what BrainStorm really lacks to accomplish this is an advanced Throw functionality, where you can mark not only one place, but several places, “bins”, and throw contents into the appropriate bin. Then you don’t have to go through the material again and again (for each topic), but can sort it all into the correct places, in one run.

It should be relatively easy to implement this into BS, and it would boost the usefulness of the program tremendously.

Take a look at the link above, where examples of each step are given. I consider this the optimal way of writing, at least when it comes reviews and that kind of stuff.

Regards, Peter.

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