Re: Org Tutorials need more structure

[Charles Millar <millarc@verizon.net>]

On 9/28/2013 3:52 PM, Thomas S. Dye wrote:
> Aloha Carsten,
>
snip
> First, I think that most statements about "what Org-mode is" are
> outdated. Many of them are quite good, but they represent the previous
> state of an evolving system and so fail to capture the full scope. To my
> mind, Org-mode is a "research programming interface" written by and for
> scientists who take very seriously certain core values of the scientific
> enterprise--reproducibility, open access, and open source (a partial
> list).
Strongly disagree with the sentiment. My undergraduate degree may gave 
been Physics, but I work as a freelance paralegal. I use Org Mode for 
project (file) planning, scheduling, drafting documents, etc. Also, I 
believe that there are some very active participants on this list who 
are not scientists and have made great contributions.
> Its original focus on project planning has expanded with two
> amazing and fundamental contributions, Eric and Dan's mature Babel
> implementation and Nicolas' new export framework.
I use the LaTeX export to create pdf documents, such as contracts and 
pleadings, nothing "scientific" there. Sometimes I will export to utf-8 
text file, so I can copy and paste into "those other" document formats. 
(Sorry to say, but most of the US legal community is still MS Word and 
WordPerfect oriented.) I believe that I can eventually use Org-Babel for 
reproducible "research", research being more other than scientific.
>
> These core values are manifest most clearly in the Org-mode community
> and its organ, the mailing list. There isn't a tutorial on how to use
> the mailing list! I'm confident that others in the Org-mode community
> admire Nick Dokos' contributions to the list as much as I do. It would
> be great to have his perspective and approach in a short, welcoming
> tutorial.
No argument about the mailing list - see my earlier post. Also, Nick has 
helped me a few times; and I might add, I make sure that I read your 
posts - this is not to curry favor!
> hth,
> Tom
>

Charlie Millar