Hi Mary,
You might want to write an article on the VimOutliner project. Here's why... Your May 18, 2009 ComputerWorld article titled "Are computers transforming humanity?" is great. The URL is: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/338575/Are_Computers_Transforming_Humanity_ Impressive. Your article discusses the benefits and the problems with humans' increasing use of computers in a very balanced way. And it reminded me of the VimOutliner community: http://new.vimoutliner.org The preceding website is in the middle of a transition, so not everything works, but the people comprising the community sure do. It's a community of I'd estimate 100 or so people who use VimOutliner as a todo list, a task planner, a project planner, a client reporting tool, a configuration management tool, and of course the oldest use in the world -- an outliner of books. VimOutliner definitely enhances their native human abilities. VimOutliner is an open source outline processor that runs on both Linux and Windows. Its claim to fame is that it's *extremely* fast for a touch typist, so in real time the user can listen to a lecture and make an outline of that lecture. Similarly, it can be used to outline a planning committee meeting in real time. Because VimOutliner is so quick to use, the user never runs into the problem where the thoughts to be recorded are forgotten by the time the text-entering mechanics have been done. VimOutliner's motto is "Work fast. Think well." The preceding paragraph discussed the "fast" part. As far as "well", different VimOutliner users have found different ways to enhance their human thinking with VimOutliner. Most have incorporated VimOutliner into their every day activities. Many have incorporated VimOutliner into a core tool of their small businesses. VimOutliner project maintainer Noel Henson uses VimOutliner (we affectionately call it VO) to plan and track his embedded electronics/software projects for various customers, and he also uses it to report progress to those customers. About 3 weeks ago I used VO to create an outline for my latest book, and the outline was good enough that writing the 41,000 word first draft took less than 2 weeks. If you'd like to subscribe to the (fairly low traffic) VimOutliner mailing list, please email me at [hidden email] and I'll have Noel set you up. Normally enrollment is automatic, but as I mentioned, our website is transitioning at the moment. Here are some other VO resources: http://new.vimoutliner.org: The project website http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8810772602188234059# : A presentation on VimOutliner and outlining in general http://www.troubleshooters.com/tpromag/199911/199911.htm : My article about outlining http://www.troubleshooters.com/lpm/200310/200310.htm : My article on the "secret origins" of the VimOutliner project, and its early history, including the motivations for decisions made. http://toykeeper.net/programs/tkdo/ : Scott Scriven's TKDO software, which is a VimOutliner tool for David Allen's GTD (Getting Things Done) methodology. http://technocrat.net/d/2006/10/31/9800/ : Bruce Parens' review of VimOutliner We can get you plenty more resources if you need them. I suggest and hope you can write a ComputerWorld article on VimOutliner. Please feel free to email me at [hidden email] for any needed info, or if you want to subscribe to the VimOutliner mailing list. Thanks, and once again, your ComputerWorld article was great. Steve Steve Litt Recession Relief Package http://www.recession-relief.US Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/stevelitt _______________________________________________ VimOutliner mailing list [hidden email] http://www.lists.vimoutliner.org/mailman/listinfo |
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