Common Sense Outline Processing
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/eb047668 |
| Pages | 63-77 |
| Date | 01 April 1986 |
| Published date | 01 April 1986 |
| Author | Walt Crawford |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Common Sense
Outline Processing
Walt Crawford
A good outline processor can serve
creativity and help to clarify thinking.
The malleability of the screen and computer
memory make it easy to add new ideas,
try different organizations, and
view a project or document
at any appropriate level.
Outline processors can help bridge
the gap between spontaneous ideas
and organized results. In his tenth
Common Sense Computing article,
the author discusses the ways that
outline processors are used, what
they do, and what features to look for.
Crawford is Principal Analyst for Special Pro-
jects at The Research Libraries Group, Inc., Stan-
ford, CA.
Why use a computer to build outlines? You
probably learned to prepare outlines in your grade
school or high school English classes. You probably
learned to hate them at that point. Word processing
systems can help you be more fluid in your thinking
and writing; outlines appear to fight that fluidity
with their rigid hierarchical structures.
Outline processors can be used simply to create
outlines, just as spreadsheet programs can be used
simply to replicate paper spreadsheets. In either
case,
the simple use has very little to do with
the software's purpose or strength. The real use
of an outline processor is not to build outlines
but to maintain and use outlines.
A good outline processor makes it easier to
jot down random ideas on a topic, knowing that
you can readily group those ideas and organize
them into a workable structure. A good outline
processor can also help you to view all of a topic,
or a specific portion of the topic, at an appropriate
level. That may mean ignoring specifics to see
the whole, or ignoring the whole to see
specif-
ics.
Outline processing lets you view your own
ideas in different ways, to enrich your perspectives
and improve your organization.
Some outline processors can be used to build
complete documents, combining wordworking and
outlining functions. One integrated software package,
Framework, uses outlines as the basis for its overall
design. Executives use outline processors to maintain
lists of things to do, and some users maintain simple
databases with outline processors.
The first major outline processor used the phrase
"thought processing" to describe what it did; other
outliners have used similar terms. Three of the
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