Best software for emergent order

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.