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Are we, outliners fans, just a bunch of outlined mind maniacs?
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Posted by Alex
May 2, 2013 at 05:30 PM
I guess that many people who love to see their stuff in a hierarchy order (as I am!), seems to be perfectionist guys, that can’t feel in complete peace, while the things they see are not in its correct branch.
There is some psycological thing behind this outlining point of view. I think it’s obvious. But i don’t see clear if this can be for good or bad to our brain. Some people say that an outline is just an artificial structure, which doesn’t allow us to see the rather caotic nature of life. Other people stands for a strict hierarchy of the knowledge, thanks to which we can build relationships.
Apart of that discussion, I wonder how much the use of outliners are setting up our way of thinking, and I’m curious if most of outline lovers do have in commun a kind of task oriented character.
By the way… Don’t you think that this forum could be greater if the posts were published in an outline mode? ;)
Posted by Cassius
May 2, 2013 at 10:01 PM
Personally, as I’ve said before, I never used a physical outline to organize my thoughts or writing. However, when GrandView appeared, I immediately started using it for almost everything—not to organize my thoughts, but for its ability to easily rearrange paragraphs in my drafts, and to organize information, such as favorite quotes by subject.
I use two-pane PIMs to organize information: Using a book metaphor, I consider the left pane a table of contents and the search function an index
Posted by Stephen Zeoli
May 3, 2013 at 02:12 PM
My experience is similar to yours, Cassius. I had no interest in outlines prior to GrandView. To me they were just drudge work assigned by teachers. But with GrandView, I learned how useful an outline can be for all kinds of work, from brainstorming a project to organizing a day. GrandView was so versatile, that it wasn’t after I was no longer able to use it that I again became less reliant on outlines, learning they can be too rigid for some tasks.
One thing I never did with GrandView, though it was capable of handling it, is as an information capture and organizing app. I guess info wasn’t so readily available back then in the pre-email, pre-Internet days. I had less need for organizing those things. I’ve come to see that outlines are limiting for this kind of mass data storage. It’s nice when you can arrange such info into an outline to get a grasp on the structure of a sub-set of data, but for overall cataloging and organizing, I find the outline becomes too overwhelmed.
Alex, while your initial assertion (which I assumed you did not want us to take totally seriously) that outlining people probably have a slightly warped brain, I think the truth is that everyone who tackles problems with outlines does so with a unique set of needs and desired outcomes. So that for some people it is a matter of an obsession with order, but with others it is with a need to bring temporary order from the chaos of their own lives (often the case with me). With others it is just the only way to make sense of information. And with others it is a matter of sifting through the data to find a unique perspective. Etc…
That’s why this forum is so enjoyable: Not because we are all the same, but because we are all different.
Steve Z.
Posted by Dr Andus
May 3, 2013 at 03:36 PM
Two points. First, I think that outlining is a very big category, and within that there are quite different thought processes accommodated (from note-taking, brainstorming, organising, analysing, synthesising, outlining, writing, reverse outlining etc.), so it is difficult to generalise about it. This is why we have so many different products in this category (single-, dual,- three-pane outliners, mind mappers, concept mappers, wikis etc.).
Second, I do believe there are some people more predisposed towards categorising-type thought processes than others. It can become pathological both ways, i.e. you can become obsessively organising or pathologically disorganised (the latter may still try to become desperately organised but can’t handle the mental and/or manual task of categorising).
It doesn’t mean the latter can’t be successful (or that the former always are), it’s just that they better suit some professions than others. I’ve known some artists in the latter group, who are hopelessly disorganised, can’t put things in boxes, can’t organise files in folders, but still can produce something beautiful out of total chaos and manage to pull off complex projects (exhibitions). Perhaps the extreme cases in the former group become obsessive stamp collectors or work as accountants :)
These are just my observations based on anecdotal evidence, not based on any rigorous research.
Posted by Alex
May 3, 2013 at 06:16 PM
Of course I’m not really serious when I talk about “outlined” mind, it is just a thought that came to me when I was talking to some friends about how the things we use leave their trace in the way we think. Scientifics say that even language some how sets up our perception of the world. Not so that it can determinate our thinking, but an important influencial factor (bty, sorry for my bad English, I hope I’m not so confusing).
I agree that we can’t generalize on “outlining” concept, nor on the personality of outliners users. Nevertheless if one feels better when he write down his thoughts in a hierarchal manner, and like to work with outlining tools, then I think he’s using preferentially his left side brain, I mean the logical side. Maybe that’s why some people rather use mind maps (vs outlines).
I’m not psycologist, I just wonder if outlining tools help us to develop our logical skills, but they are too an obstacle to our creative skills. I guess all depends on how much we use them and when we use them.
I confess that since I begun to use BrainForest for Palm, and then Natara Bonsai, I can’t imagine my work and my personal notes without a tool like those. And yes, I’m a very logical-thinking guy, though my friends take me as a specially creative. I don’t like mind maps. I don’t know if I should try them so it can help me to develop more the creative side of the brain. What do you think?...