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Form follows the life cycle

The way from the idea to the finished text, with all its illustrations and formatting, follows in many cases a similar procedure – mental walkthrough, thematize, draft, formulate, and format. In each step special formats are necessary. If the thought is not yet condensed, then a clean copy still makes no sense. If you prepare formatting, then a sketch is no longer sufficient. Thus, the necessary form always follows the state in the life cycle of a text.

The following steps offer some examples.

  • Talking
    Talking is the suitable format, in order to share an idea with others. At this moment the words are found for the first time, which express the thoughts. The argumentation evolves while you are talking based on the questions of the listeners. This sharpens the idea.
    As long as the conception has not stabilized, the sophisticated explanation is not helpful, since the outline is not yet present.
  • Sketching
    The words found can now be collected and correlated. This way a sketch of the original idea slowly evolves. Now is a good moment for taking care of the vocabulary that concentrates the contents in the desired direction.
    A Mind map is an effective tool for sorting the elements and to receive a first picture of the structure.
  • Designing
    Based on the sketch the raw version of the text can now be created. In this step the shape of script is compiled. The headings, a first rhythm of the paragraphs and graphical ideas appear.
    At the latest now the application of a text processing provides a lot of advantages. If there are already general formats for the headings, paragraphs and images, it facilitates the subsequent work, even if these are not the final formats.
  • Elaborating
    At any time the elaboration of the final texts and pictures begins. The contentual, common themes that will be used become conclusively fixed e.g. which metaphor fields or which constant illustration style (e.g. photo, diagrams, and cartoons) you want to use. From now on contents are taken with a pinch of salt and brought into the final condition.
    You are still not in the intended format. But the ultimate contents should now be formulated and arranged to over 95%.
  • Formatting
    In order to eventually format it is necessary to decide the target format – A4-PDF, E-Book, printing book (A5, standard book, text book A4). This leads to the requirements of the concluding format. The footers, cross references, frames, and additionally the imprint, blurbs etc. require now the conclusive text.
    You see for the first time, how the end state will look like. The concluding checks and the last contentual changes are accomplished in this format.

During the production there is no way back. The print copies fall out of the printing process and can only be changed with much effort. Changes can only be integrated by pasting corrections over the wrong parts, by putting some pages manually into the text or by correcting the next edition. Depending upon the size of the edition the preparation needs more or less accuracy.

The largest mistake in the procedure to be made is skipping a step. If for example an illustration is immediately finalized without scribbles. Or, if in the absence of ideas, the formats are prepared at an early stage. Nobody develops a concept from scratch in one go to the final contents. The formats prevent the free flow of ideas.

Bottom line: Each step in the development of new topics has its best format. From talking, to sketching, to outlining, to elaborating, to formatting there is always a format. The discussion facilitates a kneading of the own thoughts; the sketch creates the draft structure free of complicated formulations; the elaboration of the topic is facilitated by an appropriate text processor; most of the programs support all possibilities of formatting.
If a format is used too early in the procedure, it slows down the development. Contentual elaboration is the obligation; the format is the free style. Therefore: The form follows the status of the life cycle of a text – and not the text the format.

What remains for most of us?

A gate agent of an US airline recently denied boarding to passengers for improper clothing (leggings). The Paris Opera expelled a Muslim woman from the hall due to her niqab. In Mallorca it is forbidden to walk in bath clothes through the city. The so to speak public areas are more and more limited and regulated. When do we start regulating buying in the supermarket, going by bus, visiting the cinema and all the other profane things of everyday life, with an order that extensively limits the individual rights and privacy? What remains for most of us?

The whole thing is intensified by the fact that less and less areas are common property that you can use at will. The desired behavior in these areas, like buildings, roads, parks, forests, and places, is regulated by private or governmental bodies. With the increasing provision of generally accessible places by businesses and the retreat of public areas, the free spaces are narrowed, where the general public can fulfill itself – sometimes free of charge and sometimes with an entrance fee.

All these places are subject to different regulations. The green may not be entered. On public streets are less and less parking lots. This leads to the fact that on one airline you may not fly with leggings and in the other one you may; you may enjoy a performance veiled in one opera hall and in the other not; you may enter one building with a dog and the other one only without; you may be under video surveillance in one road, without knowing, what they do with the images and in the other one you may not; you may spend the night in one park and in the other one not;  you are not allowed to mountain-biking in one forest and in the other one you may.

In the US some companies drain the water reservoirs of communities for a small fee. Afterwards, they sell the water filled in bottles for a lot of money to customers – also to the residents of the communities, who got in the meantime water problems. The remaining common properties, like air, streets and education, will become administered on a trust basis and likewise chargeable – for each breath.

The regulation of the everyday life is progressing continuously. The consequences are already visible, although deterring futures were already extensively depicted in literature and in movies.

  • The big brother is watching you in 1984 by George Orwell – nowadays also during Internet usage (more here).
  • The prohibition to read books in Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury – nobody knows, which filters are already restricting the access to certain information.
  • The consequences of the virtualization in Matrix by the Wachowski brothers – it is worthwhile to look into the near future with Ray Kurzweil (Transcendent one).
  • The assisted suicide in Soylent Green by Harry Harrison – so far only the multi-media attractions are missing.
  • The preventive pursuit of future perpetrators in Minority report of Philip K. Dick – for the time being potential suicide bombers get already electronic tags before the first criminal act, in order to prevent that they blow themselves up.

In extreme cases you can only live your personal style in the context of certain rules. The related convictions will limit the variety and colorfulness of the world. Do we really want this?

Bottom line: Since more and more examples arise frequently that mean restrictions for the majority of the population, the time has come to observe these trends. The community gets more and more limited. Everywhere evolve regulated zones. At the same time other cultures are pointed at and their local rules are stigmatized as unfree. The question that arises is what remains, if we get in the so to speak public areas more and more rules imposed. Which dress-code is valid for the evening walk or shopping? When do individuals make money with common goods like fresh air, good streets or education? And what is the cost of using it? What remains for most of us?
Obedience?