[RFI] Minutes of talks

[RFI] Minutes of talks

[Sébastien Vauban]

Hello,

For months, I now always take a PC with me when I go to any meeting, and write
everything in Emacs.

I typically write "everything" down, questions and answers.

Example:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
* Alice

Our objectives are ...

* Collegue

We can show you our architecture. It indeed does this and this ...

* Me

What's your deadline?
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

I've already tested several alternative Org "styles", such as:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
- Alice :: Our objectives are ...
- Collegue :: We can show you our architecture. It indeed does this and this
  ...
- Me :: What's your deadline?
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

But I did not find yet something nice enough when exported to LaTeX.

The first example is nice and easy to write, but its PDF output is a bit ugly,
having names of participants as level-1 headings.

The second one is not that easy to write (typing the terms when RET'ing), and
is a bit difficult to use when the ideas expressed by the person speaking have
to be broken into item lists -- not to speak about the problem when mixing
text and list items and back to text, all of that inside another item...

How do you write such minutes of a meeting?  Obviously, I'm talking here of
writing everything down: who did say what.

Would it be a summary of the meeting, then, there's is no such problem.

Best regards,
  Seb

-- 
Sébastien Vauban


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R: [RFI] Minutes of talks

[Giovanni Ridolfi]

--- Mer 19/1/11, Sébastien Vauban <wxhgmqzgwmuf@spammotel.com> ha scritto:
Hi, Sébastien,

> [...]
> when I go to any  meeting, and write
> everything in Emacs.
> 
> I typically write "everything" down, questions and
> answers.
> 
> Example:
> 
> --8<---------------cut
> here---------------start------------->8---
> * Alice
> 
> Our objectives are ...
> 
> * Collegue
> 
> We can show you our architecture. It indeed does this and
> this ...
> --8<---------------cut here----end--------------->8---
> 
[..]
> But I did not find yet something nice enough when exported
> to LaTeX.
> 
> The first example is nice and easy to write, but its PDF
> output is a bit ugly,
> having names of participants as level-1 headings.

You might 
1. demote the headings: (or use H:1, IIRC)

* meeting
** participants
*** Issue 1
**** Alice
Our objectives are....

2. use list & tags 
- :Alice: Our objectives are....

then substitute the tag and
   highlight the tags with the proper colour
   {\color{red} Alice}

I think that headings are better than list for the 
possibility to have TODO items.

hth
Giovanni

Re: [RFI] Minutes of talks

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

>>>>> Sébastien Vauban writes:

> --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- 
> - Alice :: Our objectives are ... 
> - Collegue :: We can show you our architecture. It indeed does this
>   and this ... 
> - Me :: What's your deadline?
>--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---

> The second one is not that easy to write (typing the terms when
> RET'ing), and is a bit difficult to use when the ideas expressed by
> the person speaking have to be broken into item lists -- not to
> speak about the problem when mixing text and list items and back to
> text, all of that inside another item...

I may have some kind of solution for you:

  1. Get development code for lists at:
     
     git://github.com/ngz/org-mode-lists.git new-struct

  2. Write something like this:

     #+begin_src org
     ,* Act 1 --- Scene 1
     ,  :PROPERTIES:
     ,  :PERSONA:  Francisco Bernardo
     ,  :END:

     ,  Elsinore. A platform before the castle.

     ,  - Bernardo :: Who's there?
     #+end_src

  3. Try the following function:

     #+begin_src emacs-lisp
     (defun org-write-screenplay (&optional checkbox)
       "Insert item at point, with help to write scripts.
     This function looks for the multi-valued property \"PERSONA\" in
     the current headline, and get description tags preferably from
     it. New tags are added to the property at creation.

     Default tag value is chosen to facilitate writing dialogues.

     In another type of list, it just behaves like `org-insert-item'.
     
     If CHECKBOX is non-nil, add a checkbox to the newly created item."
       (interactive "P")
       (let ((itemp (org-in-item-p)) who)
         (if (not itemp)
             (error "Not in a list")
           (let* ((struct (save-excursion (goto-char itemp) (org-list-struct)))
                  (prevs (org-list-prevs-alist struct))
                  (prev-item (org-list-get-prev-item itemp struct prevs))
                  (cur-tag (org-list-get-tag itemp struct))
                  (prev-tag (and prev-item (org-list-get-tag prev-item struct)))
                  (persona (org-entry-get-multivalued-property (point) "PERSONA")))
             (if (and persona cur-tag (member cur-tag persona))
                 (progn
                   (setq who (org-icompleting-read
                              "Who? " persona nil nil nil nil (or prev-tag cur-tag)))
                   ;; Make sure additionnal elements are stored in property
                   (org-list-insert-item (point) struct prevs nil (concat who " :: "))
                   (unless (member who persona)
                     (org-entry-add-to-multivalued-property (point) "PERSONA" who)))
               ;; Non-script type of list: just insert a new item
               (let* ((desc (when prev-tag (concat (read-string "Term: ") " :: ")))
                      (checkp (and checkbox
                                   (or (not desc)
                                       (not (cdr (assq 'checkbox org-list-automatic-rules)))))))
                 (setq struct (org-list-insert-item (point) struct prevs checkp desc))
                 (org-list-write-struct struct (org-list-parents-alist struct))
                 (when checkp (org-update-checkbox-count-maybe))))
             (looking-at org-list-full-item-re)
             (goto-char (match-end 0))))))
     #+end_src

  4. Bind it to an accessible key. With ido, it should help a bit to
     write description lists.

Regards,

-- Nicolas