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Best software for emergent order
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Posted by Randall Shinn
Oct 7, 2007 at 03:04 PM
Hugh Pile wrote:
>Another vote for Zoot, with the James Fallows template (which may still be
>available on the Yahoo Groups Zoot site) explicitly providing the
>repository-plus-outlining cream topping on the rich Zoot cake.
Yesterday I extracted into a Zoot database more than 50 tidbits of advice and comments that have been given to me about a theatrical project I need to revise. Today I started structuring that advice using the James Fallows template (thanks Hugh), and already certain difficult-to-make decisions about the project have begun to emerge as things that will have to be done. It is proving extremely helpful to have Zoot group chunks of advice into folders relative to the stage characters involved and the type of issues, and to be able to develop that folder structure as needed based on the contents of the individual items. Since many items relate to multiple characters and issues, Zoot’s ability to place each item in every relevant folder is great. This is exactly the sort of emergent order I was concerned with handling.
Randall
Posted by Bernhard
Oct 8, 2007 at 01:06 PM
Randall Shinn wrote:
> ... Today I started
>structuring that advice using the James Fallows template (thanks Hugh), and already
>certain difficult-to-make decisions about the project have begun to emerge as
>things that will have to be done. It is proving extremely helpful to have Zoot group
>chunks of advice into folders relative to the stage characters involved and the type
>of issues, and to be able to develop that folder structure as needed based on the
>contents of the individual items. Since many items relate to multiple characters and
>issues, Zoot’s ability to place each item in every relevant folder is great. This is
>exactly the sort of emergent order I was concerned with handling.
>
>Randall
This way to get to grips to a theme seems very interesting.
Please, would you like to tell more about the “James Fallows template” and where to find it
or give some links for further reading?
Thnak you very much in advance!
Posted by Hugh Pile
Oct 8, 2007 at 05:31 PM
Bernhard wrote:
>
>
>
>Please, would you like to tell more about the
>“James Fallows template” and where to find it
>or give some links for further
>reading?
>
>Thnak you very much in advance!
Go to http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/ZootForum. I think that it is a private group and you have to sign up. Go to the files, look for “Sample Databases” and download Article Organizer.zot. Also do a search in the forum threads for James Fallows: I recall he wrote about the template when he posted it.
Posted by Stephen R. Diamond
Oct 14, 2007 at 06:59 PM
I took another fairly brief look at Zoot. Correct me if I am wrong about its features and limitations.
While it seems facile in manipulating items, it seems remarkably lame about manipulating categories (for which it uses a folder metaphor). In fact, its ability to reorganize categories seems weaker than even the most inexpensive two-pane quasi-outliner. To subordinate one ‘folder’ to another, you select the folder choose a command to indent it. No subordination by drag and drop, even. Certainly no multiple-selection of categories.
This doesn’t look to me like a medium for emergent structure. It doesn’t readily allow you to tear down and rebuild higher level structures. It seems best for tasks where the basic structure is pre-ordained. It seems well-designed to organize information within known categories to facilitate the flow of work.
srd
Stephen Zeoli wrote:
>This is exactly where Zoot excels. While I agree with Stephen that Brainstorm is
>unsurpassed in many of its overall functioning as a brain storming application and
>for organizing thoughts, to me Zoot has it beat for the purpose of collecting random
>information and making sense of it later because Zoot allows meta-data and has
>powerful filtering through smart folders.
>
>The good news is that Zoot and
>Brainstorm are very compatible products, since both use plain text and both have easy
>processes for importing and exporting material. I’d collect and organize the
>information in Zoot, then export it—using Brainstorm’s magic paste function—to
>Brainstorm to mold it into a coherent narrative.
>
>Steve Z.
Posted by Stephen R. Diamond
Oct 14, 2007 at 07:06 PM
Probably my Mac skills had already atrophied when about a year ago I tried Tinderbox, which was loaded on a Mac at the local Mac store. Whether because of the program’s limitation or mine, it appeared to me that the outliner was incredibly primitive, appearing *always* as if in Brainstorm’s ‘outline’ view. (I think it used to be called “overview.”) Lines unchangeably unwrapped, that is.
srd
Chris Thompson wrote:
>Stephen, give Tinderbox on the Mac a look. It does what Brainstorm does,
>and substantially more. It also seems to be more actively developed than
>Brainstorm.
>
>—Chris