OK. There's outlining and all the iterativeness therein implied. Then
there's electronic outline and all the fluidity thereof, not quite yet
explored. (because there's a difference in cognitive function between the
hierarchy represented in a fixed [hardcopy] outline and the fluid,
constantly restructurable hierarchy of the electronic outline). And then
there's PRESENTATIONS.
One of the processes I introduce in my REINVENTING MEETINGS workshop is
what I call "Soft Presentations." If people are using a computer
projector, and the setting is sufficiently informal or learning oriented,
every software product becomes a presentation tool: outliner,
wordprocessor, spreadsheeter. You can do tricks with them all that will
make them as hypertextual as you need. And, given the informality of it
all, not only can you present, but you can make the presentation
collaborative. If people have things to add, you can add them, right on
the magic screen, without having to defend anything to anybody. If there
are questions, you can mark them for later review. If you do it well, you
can shift the entire "gestalt" from you being in the foreground as the
presenter, to the entire community being in the foreground as knowledge
builders.
The power of the electronic outline (projected) as an agenda maker is that
it helps make the shift.
This is the kind of stuff I've been working on for more then 10 years now.
I know that there are a lot of asssumptions I haven't spelled out. And
will be happy to spell as needed.
-- Bernie DeKoven Meetings@california.com http://www.omix.com/zine/DeKoven