Woke up to a great paradoxical notion from : sometimes the main benefit of non-linear authoring (whiteboard, hypertext, Muse) is actually linear thought! These envs offer a “release valve” for tangential stuff so you can focus on your “main” idea.
Conversation
One thing I really like about this is that it subverts the usual narrative around e.g. densely-linked note systems: maybe the value of non-linear writing isn’t (just) in the future value of the embedded links to you/readers—but rather in helping you focus in the moment.
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In this framing, the tangential stuff and non-linear associations are ephemeral chaff, not durable future working material!
Too strong as stated, I think (see notes.andymatuschak.org/z2HUE4ABbQjUNj for args in favor of future value of links), but a useful angle, I think.
This angle asks: what if the root cause is formality in UIs?csdl.tamu.edu/~shipman/forma
Paper notebooks and whiteboards provide this release valve; we lost it with digital word processors; we could solve with a new formal primitive (linking)—or maybe just by toning down formality?
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