Outline Concept Template

CONCEPT OUTLINE TRANSFORMATION:
A WORD-ACCESS APPLICATION

The functional objective of this template is to write and deploy multiple outlines - corresponding to multiple organizational principles - of the same subject. Word 97’s automatic outline feature for headings will be used but additional formatting features are not important for the current objective

The template could be used for general purpose outlining but its primary purpose is for use in representation and transformation of conceptual schemes

In the current application I will use two organizations or metaphysics of the subject of Being: idealist and materialist. The plan is to write the outlines in Word 97 and import to Access 97, which I will use to design and implement the transformations. A final import back to Word is an option

Some limitations of the current application:

Number and depth of the organizations

That this is a first and learning trial

Logic of the transformations

Growth or new ideas and knowledge are not incorporated

I am learning Access 97 and probably cannot yet use its full sophistication and capability

My knowledge of database theory is limited

This is one experimental phase of a larger computer implementation as planned in Assist, Dynamic Uses Of Computers…

The plan for the current application is as follows

Write the ideal and material outlines and establish correspondences

Enter Word outlines and show detailed correspondences

Establish and apply a legend to distinguish the outlines and the correspondence[s]

A possible intermediate step is tabulation of the outlines and or correspondences… with or without outlines

A possible intermediate step is import to text

Import to Access with possible automatic generation of the Access tables from text or Word outline or table

The Access design is:

Three Access tables: Idealist and materialist organization tables and a correspondence table

An Access Query and or Sort to transform outlines from one organization to another… Experiment with different kinds of joins for different purposes

The conceptual design is:

Transform one of the outlines and compare the result with the other outline

Investigate, with respect to the B and K concepts and with respect to the computer application, what has and what may be learned

THE EXECUTION SO FAR

Made Word “Idea” and “Matter” outlines; then Word Idea and Matter 2-column tables with the outline structure and transformed tables to text to get the topic-topic structure and outlines without topics [with automated elimination of topics] to text to get the outline numbering [for some reason table to text omits the numbering] and joined these into an Access Matter and Idea tables in [C:\My Documents\Computer Implementation\Learn\ACCESS\Conceptual Use Examples\Outlines and tables\Concept Outline.mdb]. Similarly imported as a quick experiment Word Idea and Matter tables to a concept Outline Binder and Access Idea table as an Excel worksheet and imported the worksheet to the Binder

Performed the following simple experiments which I probably could have performed by hand. However, the experiments demonstrates that conceptual work can be done with Word, Excel, Access capabilities. The experiments are:

Rearranged and renamed fields; included auto-number field

In the “Idea” table descending sorted by “Matter” table section; deleted those records for which Matter section number is null and resorted ascending. Did corresponding operations on the “Matter” table

Learning: what the important topics are; what is needed to fill out the null elements!

Admitted: the result what the important topics are is what I put into the organizations. But - even if trivially - my use of the programs made this result explicit without my explicitly designing that explicitness into the use!

Also did various other sorts and queries for facility and ideas. This is play-experiment-learn

Further enhancements are in: Types of conceptual use, size and number of conceptual elements, inclusion of source and other elements, sophistication of use relative to Word/Excel/Access/Binder/Text/Import-Export capability including Microsoft Query; and VB and other automation