DESIGN AND DOCUMENT DESIGN
FOR A JOURNEY IN BEING™

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Document status: April 3, 2010

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CONTENTS

A General Study of Design: Nature, Structure, and Process. 1

Design: Document Systems in General 6

Design for the Journey in Being and the Document System.. 9

Design and Planning for this Document 9

DESIGN AND PLANNING FOR THE JOURNEY IN BEING

Design refers to the process also and is design, designing and planning

The preliminary design for Journey in Being is complete, above; the process is discussed below in

Design for the Journey in Being and the Document System

Design and Planning for this document

The major focus of this division is on design itself

Design: Nature, Structure, Process

Design: Document Systems in General

A General Study of Design: Nature, Structure, and Process

A design is a concept –picture, formulation– of a means to an end. When no feasible means is evident, a process may be required to come up with a design. The process may be referred to as the design process – as designing. ‘Design’ is used to refer to a completed design and to the process of design – the designing. If the meaning is not clear from the context, ambiguity can be avoided by being specific

The process of design may require ‘problem solving’ which includes imagination and creativity as well as established methodology. In general there is no established method that invariably results in a ‘solution’ or design. Not all problems have solutions let alone feasible ones. Most often, there may be many kinds of solution and for each kind a range of parameters that are valid designs. In this case, the freedom may be used to incorporate factors that were not present in the original process – or to enhance the consideration of factors originally present. Thus if a design is based on functional considerations, esthetic or environmental considerations may be introduced or enhanced

There is a distinction functional vs. systems design. Function is purpose – the designated end. Functional design is the translation of a sense of problem or need into a well defined function. Systems or object design is coming up with an actual system or design that realizes or satisfies the function or purpose. Performance is quantitative or qualitative specification that may apply to function and to system. Design considerations are those that are or should be taken into account in the process of design; they include but are not limited to conditions specified in function and performance. Some design considerations are specific to the particular design e.g. mechanical considerations for a mechanical system; others are more general that pertain to a number of kinds of design e.g. esthetic and economic. In the evolution of a design or a particular field of design, new design considerations may be recognized or emphasized; environmental, ethical and safety concerns, always present, received explicit emphasis in many fields of design in the second half of the twentieth century; of course, talking about ethics does not imply ethical intent and may hide lack of ethical intent

Designing is the process, including adaptation, modification, synthesis of new / existing systems, of coming up with a design that satisfies the design considerations. Generally, under a patriarchal – established – system, synthesis of new elements is the exception and standard elements are selected and adapted to the purpose at hand

Designing may include synthesis, modeling, analysis, experiment, building of prototypes and evaluation; the process is iterative. In the long term, coming up with new kinds of design consideration is part of design

Mode of representation and of analysis for systems design may be pictorial, symbolic, conceptual-theoretical, quantitive, numerical. In some sense, all modes of representation are ‘pictorial.’ Alternatively, analysis may be replaced or complemented by experiment and prototype building and testing

In optimal design, a special case of design, one –or more– design consideration is of the form satisfy this consideration as best as possible subject to the remaining considerations which are specified. As examples, one wants to minimize the weight of hiking gear, and industry often wants to maximize its profits. If more than one consideration or criterion is optimized, the approach to optimization is generally non-unique – unless there is a way to reduce the multiple criteria to a single one e.g. by introducing a common measure for some criteria and replacing the others by constraints. There are various approaches to optimization subject to multiple criteria e.g. Pareto optimization that was originally developed by V. Pareto for economic optimization

Often, the object of design is a process or a system process. In this case, optimization is generalized to optimal control

Complex projects or systems are made up of sub-systems and the systems design of the system itself, various levels of sub-system and down to individual components may be iterative. At each level, the approach may be, first, to use standard ‘designs’ and, then, to attempt to synthesize i.e. create new elements. The process of synthesis is a ‘design in itself’

As far as design is evolutionary it does not end with the analysis or prototype building and testing. Production, maintenance systems and further evalution and re-design close the loop

A plan is a sequence of steps, a process, to achieve the design. Planning is the process of coming up with the plan. [Thus, planning is a form of design.] Preparation and maintenance, rather, preparing and maintaining, have to do with needs rather than the fundamental objectives. Preparing is taking of preliminaries etc. before implementing the plan; maintaining: doing maintenance needs. There is a practical distinction between preparation and maintenance but the distinction may break down and the terms may be used somewhat interchangeably

Planning is itself a systems process and may also be subject to design. In this case, the problem of allocation of resources to design and planning versus e.g. the system being designed versus production… is a problem in optimization or optimal controls. Such problems may be, analytically, extremely complex and various simpler approaches to approximation are used: first, established institutions and practice, second, e.g. the use of Herbert Simon’s recognition of bounded rationality and the use of the concept of satisficing behavior – the term ‘allocation of resources’ is also due to Simon

These various concepts and terms, especially ‘plan,’ ‘planning,’ ‘design,’ ‘designing,’ ‘means’ and ‘ends’ are not completely distinct in the variety of their uses

I am concerned with the process: designing and planning as it includes forming and achieving objectives and values. As noted earlier, ‘design’ has more than one use and may refer to a design or a plan, to the subject of design, to the concept of design or of planning, or to the processes of design and planning

The purpose of the introduction of the foregoing ideas: as a record for further use; recognition of the complexity and concepts for design; and to note that systematic design must occur within a ‘paradigm’ or stable system e.g. a stable and developed society. The history of development of Journey in Being implies the existence some stability and to that extent there is some formal design; however, not only due to resource limitations but also due to the intent to approach all being there is a need to press on and this is not different than actual insititutional situations

Overhead

Overhead is the institutional structure, physical plant, system of support and maintenance within which design, testing, evalution and production occurs

Some Principles of Design

The concept of the structuring of projects is Time x Object system

Minimize self-reference; do not plan what takes care of itself

Establish, use formal or informal measures of performance; and means of time x resource assignment

Problem of focus

Formulating Purposes

Preliminary

Preliminaries may be implicit and suppressed

E.g., the purpose of the Journey is realization of the potential of being

Purpose; Values

In “the purpose of life,” purpose = value [, priority]

In “my purpose is to do…” purpose = objective, goal

Values are direct or contextual

Conceptual picture or foundation

See Foundation | ‘Whereof one cannot speak…’ [Short Foundation]

Objectives or Function

Includes [re-]formulating and [re-]cognizing

This applies, also, to the preliminaries above

Preliminary Design

What are the elements of the design?

Allocation of resources

How much of the total resources will be spent on design

…and on preparation and maintenance within the design itself?

Design

What concrete actuality, will achieve the objectives?

Minimizing the phases, needs, sub-objectives and tasks

Design for performance

Establishing design considerations

Sub-Systems Design [organization]

The main system is made of interacting sub-systems that may be treated as black boxes in preliminary / main design

Hence the efficiency of teams and need for interaction

And so on down to individual components; some level may be regarded as purchased / given; system -> sub-system design is iterative

Systems analysis

In Journey in Being, the objectives are knowledge and realization of ultimate being, sharing and communicating; this is the main ‘system’

The subsystems are the paths – in interaction:

The elements of knowledge and thought that constitute the metaphysical foundation and cognitive transformation

The experiments in the transformation of being

The experiments with the variety of being; and social influence and action, and

The range and development of these phases

Overhead includes various tasks of inspiration, preparation, design, personal support

The phases or sub-systems are means and intermediate ends

The following considerations arise:

What are my personal needs?

What are the financial needs for the journey?

What are the needs for study and development of metaphysics and other disciplines?

What is a minimal but complete set of experiments in transformation?

Understanding the variety of being and developing instances of machine being

Communication, charisma, sharing – general and institutional; use of the patriarchal system

How do the parts mesh?

The design and implementation are in process and there are significant accomplishments – above, in the essay Journey in Being and the Horizons Enterprises website

Automation and Upgrade

Upgrade is enhanced by modularity which is natural though not complete

Maintenance merges into upgrade

Beyond ‘life-cycle’ includes review of all levels including purpose

Repetition leads to the possibility of automation which is enhanced by modularity

Automation is valuable in various ways:

Eliminating repetitive labor, but

Especially in 2^nd order automation – automation of automation with its potential for machine intelligence

Automation does not eliminate the need to face darkness or ignorance and, by blind trial, enter into a new dimension

Planning, Sequencing and Timelining

Of course, at design time, planning is not altogether avoided but, after design, it becomes explicit

A plan is a set of sub-objectives and tasks formulated to achieve objectives

[Necessarily, planning and designing merge

Omitting sequencing and timelining from initial planning is convenient]

Task definition: the first step in planning

Define the tasks. Reduce

Normalize tasks i.e. [as far as possible or reasonable] make the tasks rational, simple, and distinct

Sequencing and Timelining: Preliminary

The object to be sequenced:

Ø Time x Object System; times may be written as date, period or interval, ongoing, open, unknown… or uspecified

The process of achieving objectives is, generally, sequential-parallel over sub-objectives and sub-systems

Parallelism arises from interaction among objectives / systems and among objectives and process

…and is essential due to implicit objectives

Constants

…recur at regular / irregular intervals e.g. daily, yearly, every five years… or are a one time event

Variables

…arise as needed; as they arise they may be sequenced, timelined

Sequencing and Timelining Tasks and Objectives

Formal: tentative sequence of first level sub-project tasks with dates

May use ; need Seq Macro

Include preparation, maintenance, coordination [projects, teams]

May be informal: repeat for sub-systems at desired / needed degree of levels

Review

Design is iterative, evolutionary; return to consideration of the design project at all levels of review as needed

This may be done systematically / periodically &or as the occasion arises or is needed or imperative

Design: Document Systems in General

General Design Considerations

Networked versus print or manuscript – or both

Access: browsing linked organizations[s;] search; by reference to markers e.g. page numbers or other means of indexing e.g. indexes and tables of contents

Single versus multiple renderings: especially for modular documents in electronic networking; automatic re-organization

Organization

Conceptual organization: by concept, by flow of ideas, journal or narrative

Physical organization: linear, random, multidimensional

Indexing – single or multiple

Objects to be indexed: concepts, ideas and subjects, names, keywords

Kinds of index: conceptual – table of contents; physical arrangement; subject, name or keyword index arranged alphanumerically, by time, by frequency of use or access by a search mechanism

A table of contents corresponds to an organization shceme, frequently a conceptual scheme that is the basis of physical organization. However, often multiple conceptual organizations are possible and therefore multiple physical organizations – renderings – of the same material or multiple tables of contents for the same physical organization

The Open Text

Open text; general concept of the text: open/dynamic; the significance of the open text idea is that texts, authors and readers are in mutual evolution; multiple authors – blurring the author-reader distinction; plan, vehicle and document; contains opposites; living, not just open; organic

Minimalism vs. presentational form

See Generic Text

Modularity

Why

With large systems, for both print and electronic forms, modularity makes management efficient for

…conceptual treatment and research; writing, editing, co-authorship, upgrading; distributing; physical management e.g. handling and storing; access, reading, purchasing, uploading / downloading

Principles

Modules cover the total concept, are relatively disjunct and may be made according one of a number of schemes

Schemes of choice are conceptual then time sequential

Organization / listing may follow scheme[s] e.g. from General Design Considerations, above

How many documents or modules? Balance the value of modularity, above, with the following considerations:

A large number of modules makes for fragmentation

… compounds problems of cross-reference

…compounds physical management i.e. there is a balance to be obtained between the unwieldy aspects of a large single document and of a large number of modules

The Structure of the Modular System

The following arrangements are possible:

Separate modules with / without main document that may have overview, outline, index

Additional primary documents for levels of sophistication / understanding; or for communication

Frames / no frames – in the case of html and other electronic documents

Use of Multiple Principles of Organization

Multiple organizations in a single rendering may lead to effective use / understanding and promotes theoretical / conceptual advance

A single rendering may have multiple organizations by supplementing the actual scheme by alternate tables of contents of indexes

Multiple Renderings

It may also be useful to have multiple renderings, each with one or more principle[s] of organization

This may be unwieldy if in a single printed volume or single web page

Advantages of Print

Print – or manuscript – is necessary for any text based information [contrast: oral] where electronic technology is unavailable or cannot be afforded

In societies where electronic technology is not widespread, print is the only means for distribution of text

Most commonly, electronic documents are distributed from a single copy on a server to readers or users over a network; the use of networked information requires centralized server technology, network technology in place and reading devices. An advantage of networked information is interactivity and this requires the reading devices to be more than passive. Even in societies where these technologies are generally in place, there are places and occasions where they are not or where print is preferred. An electronic alternative to networking is the electronic “book” which also requires technology and a power supply

Some editors and publishers prefer print; and many persons continue to prefer print and hand manuscripts for reading or research and for writing

Getting a work published in print continues to be a benchmark of achievement since, at minimum, there are editorial and economic criteria that must be satisfied. Additionally, printed work is subject to criticism which, to some extent, marks success

In a number of ways and situations print is more robust, less perishable and more economical

Preferences: Printed or Electronic Documents

While there is a whole culture dedicated to computation and while some readers, users, producers continue to prefer print my experience is as follows

Computers were introduced in my youth and I used them in technical applications. From 1985 till 1997 I had no need to access to computation and my writing, reading and studying was done with manuscripts and print. By 1997, when I bought my first computer, the industry had undergone the transition to GUI – graphic user interface – based use. Since that time I have used Windows based computers extensively for production, web-authoring and to develop custom automation with programming. While I continue to use print for source materials, my writing at home is almost entirely on my Windows 2000 Professional laptop with Microsoft Office XP – I will occasionally jot down rough notes on paper; additionally I have a number of local sources e.g. Encyclopaedia Britannica on my computer and, in addition, I use the Internet as a source. I have become comfortable reading, writing, thinking with a computer screen in front of me and, in turn, it is a medium that is conducive to creativity in the same way that writing can be. I continue to write on paper while traveling – especially while hiking in the wilderness; however, since I know that I will translate the paper documents into electronic form, my hand written documents are no longer as meticulous as they used to be. In the early years of my use of GUI’s I would type up my hand written documents as a journal before editing them; recently I have eliminated the middle stage of typing up a journal

Thus, I have become comfortable with the use of computers and use electronic or print according to what is available and what is more convenient according to the task. I suspect that the present or future generations might be uncomfortable with print for some functions while being generally more comfortable with the electronic medium

Microsoft Office has a easy to learn, programming environment, Visual Basic for Applications or VBA. Maintenance of the large number of documents on the Journey in Being website is laborious and I have used the html and VBA capabilities of Office to automate and make routine a number of tasks of document / site production and maintenance. Additionally, I have programmed a few knowledge tasks and have used the relational database, Microsoft Access, to suggest a conceptual result in the philosophical interface between idealism and materialism

It remains true that the storage, transmission and automation of the electronic media confers upon it highly significant advantages; my choice of electronic media is one of power and convenience

Networked Electronic Document Systems: Advantages

Effective storage, portability, access, transmission and management of large, evolving document systems

Ease of production; of implementing modularity, indexes and multiple renderings – for cross study, different functions and audiences

Production includes writing, editing, multiple / distributed authoring, upgrading; modularity, indexing, re-rendering, production of link sytems

A single master local version may be the basis of the various renderings; a master version may be the basis of automated rendering

Ease of access

Linking through e.g. hyperlinks:

Links can be placed anywhere in a document but are especially useful for toc’s and indexes

Links can point to a bookmark in the same document or to another document – or bookmark in the other document

...or to another site or document / bookmark in another site – web, ftp [file transfer protocol] or other

Through search programs and databases – local or network wide

Automation of function

All of the above may be automated: storage, access, linking, search

Search is by use of search programs and databases – local or network wide

An electronic search on a local network or a wide area network e.g. the Internet may point to another network or library system

Documents may be dynamic and interactive

Simulation of print and books – especially of browsing through books

Modularity

With browsers and html editors, it is easy to present a modular system as a single document

There is the option to use frames; frames make navigation easier

Editing and presentation tools

MS Word, Front Page, text editors, html and related editors

PowerPoint

Production

Design of links

For documents that are to be sub-divided, as far as possible, make use external links rather than internal links

E.g. ../folder/document.html#bookmark rather than, simply, #bookmark

Test links

Automation of document production and maintenance

The problem is of making the whole system of a number of modules, in processes that include creation and elimination, dynamically responsive to the individual aspects of the exploration and transformation; with each change to a given module, changes ripple through the system

A dynamic solution to this problem is in a number of parts

The solution meshes with other solutions e.g. the template system and minimizes duplication; solution systems may be series [nest] or parallel [independent]

An example: functions x topics matrix… the basic function x topic design and its automation is useful; macros are needed to make functions / topics representations and transform one to another

Design for the Journey in Being and the Document System

The current planning / implementation cycle for Journey in Being is essentially complete and incorporated as the design / plan. The material is eliminated, here, to permit beginning afresh

Design and planning for the Journey in Being

Document System for the Journey in Being

Dual planning for the Journey and the document system is essential

Planning for the document system has been absorbed to projects for: Source Documents and Phase 4

Design and Planning for this Document

The planning cycle for the document is complete and details are eliminated. This permits effective re-design – if needed

See Automation of document organization

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