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+WEBVTT
+
+NOTE Introduction
+
+00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.799
+Hi, I'm Peter Prevos, and I'll be talking about Emacs
+
+00:00:02.800 --> 00:00:06.039
+Writing Studio. I'm a water engineer, a social scientist,
+
+00:00:06.040 --> 00:00:08.759
+and I dabble in theatrical magic. For each of those
+
+00:00:08.760 --> 00:00:11.399
+endeavors, I do a lot of writing. I take notes, I write
+
+00:00:11.400 --> 00:00:14.559
+reports, articles, books, and websites. I use Emacs for all
+
+00:00:14.560 --> 00:00:18.719
+my research, my writing, and my publishing. Emacs Writing
+
+00:00:18.720 --> 00:00:20.999
+Studio is an opinionated starter kit for authors who write
+
+00:00:21.000 --> 00:00:23.999
+for humans, not for programmers who write for computers.
+
+00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:26.879
+It consists of a configuration, some bespoke
+
+00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:31.119
+functions, but are not yet a package, a website, and a book.
+
+00:00:31.120 --> 00:00:36.279
+The book is completely written with EWS itself. The target
+
+00:00:36.280 --> 00:00:39.039
+audience are authors who are frustrated with using
+
+00:00:39.040 --> 00:00:41.239
+commercial software and hopping from application to
+
+00:00:41.240 --> 00:00:45.879
+application to achieve an objective. These are people
+
+00:00:45.880 --> 00:00:49.986
+without any Emacs experience or coding skills.
+
+00:00:49.987 --> 00:00:53.307
+The objective is to teach these people how to use Emacs,
+
+00:00:53.308 --> 00:00:57.648
+not how to configure Emacs to manage a complete writing project.
+
+NOTE Why?
+
+00:00:57.649 --> 00:01:00.479
+So why did I write a book about Emacs when the documentation is
+
+00:01:00.480 --> 00:01:04.719
+already so extensive? Most Emacs documentation focuses on
+
+00:01:04.720 --> 00:01:08.839
+configuration, burying potential new users with choices.
+
+00:01:08.840 --> 00:01:13.039
+It forces people to work on Emacs instead of with Emacs,
+
+00:01:13.040 --> 00:01:18.039
+and it quickly can become a productivity sink. Emacs is the
+
+00:01:18.040 --> 00:01:21.399
+ultimate free software platform, but with this freedom
+
+00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:25.879
+also comes a price. Barry Schwartz wrote about the
+
+00:01:25.880 --> 00:01:29.239
+paradox of choice, which is about the dramatic explosion in
+
+00:01:29.240 --> 00:01:32.119
+choices in the modern world. Just think about the amount of
+
+00:01:32.120 --> 00:01:34.599
+effort it can take to decide what cereal to buy in a
+
+00:01:34.600 --> 00:01:37.559
+supermarket that you haven't been before. So many
+
+00:01:37.560 --> 00:01:40.559
+different choices. Paradoxically, that's become a
+
+00:01:40.560 --> 00:01:44.239
+problem instead of a solution. Emacs can perhaps suffer
+
+00:01:44.240 --> 00:01:49.559
+from the same issue. Another objective, using a COVID-19
+
+00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:54.039
+trope: EWS is about flattening the curve--that is, the
+
+00:01:54.040 --> 00:01:56.727
+learning curve--by making these choices
+
+00:01:56.728 --> 00:02:02.451
+for the new Emacs user and avoiding the paradox.
+
+NOTE EWS configuration
+
+00:02:02.452 --> 00:02:05.593
+What about this EWS configuration?
+
+00:02:05.594 --> 00:02:07.839
+I decided to stay as close as humanly
+
+00:02:07.840 --> 00:02:11.039
+bearable to vanilla Emacs. I say that tongue-in-cheek,
+
+00:02:11.040 --> 00:02:16.026
+but also with some realism, centered around Org mode
+
+00:02:16.027 --> 00:02:18.279
+and Denote for note tagging, and citar for accessing
+
+00:02:18.280 --> 00:02:21.319
+bibliographies, and other convenience packages such as
+
+00:02:21.320 --> 00:02:24.959
+vertico for minibuffer completion. There's a
+
+00:02:24.960 --> 00:02:27.999
+dictionary, a thesaurus, and some other packages that are of
+
+00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:32.559
+interest to authors. EWS uses the standard keyboard
+
+00:02:32.560 --> 00:02:37.359
+shortcuts. Writing is much more about thinking than about
+
+00:02:37.360 --> 00:02:40.439
+maximizing the amount of words per minute. Just think
+
+00:02:40.440 --> 00:02:43.639
+about that the most used function for authors is
+
+00:02:43.640 --> 00:02:46.919
+self-insert. There's no need to use fancy keyboard
+
+00:02:46.920 --> 00:02:50.071
+shortcut systems when you write prose.
+
+NOTE How did I develop EWS?
+
+00:02:50.072 --> 00:02:54.534
+How did I go about developing Emacs? I declared Emacs bankruptcy,
+
+00:02:54.535 --> 00:02:57.096
+like we all have every now and then.
+
+00:02:57.097 --> 00:02:58.479
+I decided to write this book with
+
+00:02:58.480 --> 00:03:02.119
+vanilla Emacs and only configure the system as was
+
+00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:04.919
+required. The first thing I did, I hooked visual-line-mode
+
+00:03:04.920 --> 00:03:08.999
+to text-mode and off I went. The configuration grew as the
+
+00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:13.119
+need arose. I was actually surprised with how far you can
+
+00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:17.759
+get with just using Vanilla Emacs. I also developed two
+
+00:03:17.760 --> 00:03:21.953
+packages to enhance how I can use Denote.
+
+NOTE Overall workflow
+
+00:03:21.954 --> 00:03:25.375
+Well, let's get to a demo.
+
+00:03:25.376 --> 00:03:30.157
+EWS is based on a typical research and writing workflow.
+
+00:03:30.158 --> 00:03:32.759
+First step is you need to get some inspiration.
+
+00:03:32.760 --> 00:03:35.479
+Usually we do that by reading, by watching, by
+
+00:03:35.480 --> 00:03:39.319
+listening. Then the next step is ideation. You develop your
+
+00:03:39.320 --> 00:03:42.679
+ideas, summarize ideas from other people, write down your
+
+00:03:42.680 --> 00:03:46.439
+own ideas. For that, you need a note-taking system. EWS
+
+00:03:46.440 --> 00:03:50.279
+also talks about managing bibliographies. The third step
+
+00:03:50.280 --> 00:03:53.439
+is production. This is the actual writing process where, in
+
+00:03:53.440 --> 00:03:57.479
+this case, the EWS book. Once that is finished, we
+
+00:03:57.480 --> 00:04:00.639
+convert this Org mode file into something that can be
+
+00:04:00.640 --> 00:04:04.119
+published. That might be an e-book in an EPUB format, or a
+
+00:04:04.120 --> 00:04:08.759
+PDF for the interior of a a paperback book or perhaps as an
+
+00:04:08.760 --> 00:04:12.159
+e-book as well. There's also configuration in Emacs to
+
+00:04:12.160 --> 00:04:16.759
+produce MS Word documents if you need to collaborate with
+
+00:04:16.760 --> 00:04:22.359
+other people. Let's jump in to Emacs and walk through this
+
+00:04:22.360 --> 00:04:25.399
+workflow, give you a very quick demonstration of what's in
+
+00:04:25.400 --> 00:04:29.319
+the box.
+
+NOTE Inspiration
+
+00:04:29.320 --> 00:04:32.879
+So the first step in the EWS workflow is inspiration. We all
+
+00:04:32.880 --> 00:04:35.319
+stand on the shoulders of each other. Some giants; most of
+
+00:04:35.320 --> 00:04:38.079
+them are normal people. We get inspiration by reading,
+
+00:04:38.080 --> 00:04:40.799
+listening, and watching, and Emacs can help you access
+
+00:04:40.800 --> 00:04:44.279
+text, sound, and video. It depends on external software.
+
+00:04:44.280 --> 00:04:47.639
+Emacs acts as a beautiful interface, and EWS helps you
+
+00:04:47.640 --> 00:04:50.919
+with the configuration. But we also need a tool to manage our
+
+00:04:50.920 --> 00:04:53.631
+electronic library, and BibTeX
+
+00:04:53.632 --> 00:04:56.054
+and citar package by Bruce D'Arcus
+
+00:04:56.055 --> 00:04:58.119
+provides a perfect interface to manage this
+
+00:04:58.120 --> 00:05:02.959
+literature. If I open my bibliography here, you see that
+
+00:05:02.960 --> 00:05:06.959
+I've got 1864 references in my BibTeX files. There's a
+
+00:05:06.960 --> 00:05:11.999
+whole bunch of stuff about, I guess, the weird things that I
+
+00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:14.479
+read. Let's look for Emacs, right, because that's a joint
+
+00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:18.679
+interest that we have. Let's open here this paper by
+
+00:05:18.680 --> 00:05:23.799
+Marcus Birkenkrahe, who did some research using Emacs to teach
+
+00:05:23.800 --> 00:05:26.679
+data science. Data science is my day job, so that had my
+
+00:05:26.680 --> 00:05:29.759
+interest. We have here a Denote file, which I'll talk
+
+00:05:29.760 --> 00:05:33.399
+about in a second. There's a library file, which is a PDF, but
+
+00:05:33.400 --> 00:05:35.599
+it could be a whole collection of different files in
+
+00:05:35.600 --> 00:05:39.119
+different formats, even video or sound. We can create a new
+
+00:05:39.120 --> 00:05:42.279
+Denote file, or there's a link to the document object
+
+00:05:42.280 --> 00:05:46.959
+identifier. Let's go to the PDF. Here we can now do our
+
+00:05:46.960 --> 00:05:50.479
+reading. We can get our inspiration by what Marcus has
+
+00:05:50.480 --> 00:05:52.679
+written here about teaching data science with literary
+
+00:05:52.680 --> 00:05:54.760
+programming tools.
+
+NOTE Ideation
+
+00:05:54.761 --> 00:05:57.599
+Next step is ideation. Taking notes is
+
+00:05:57.600 --> 00:06:00.999
+the core of all creativity. When I read that paper, I might
+
+00:06:01.000 --> 00:06:05.079
+want to copy some ideas, I might get some of my own ideas, and I
+
+00:06:05.080 --> 00:06:07.679
+need to write that down. I basically write everything in a
+
+00:06:07.680 --> 00:06:10.919
+paper notebook, but then I transfer the things that are
+
+00:06:10.920 --> 00:06:14.079
+worth keeping to the Denote note-taking system. Now, there
+
+00:06:14.080 --> 00:06:17.519
+are many systems that exist out there that promise you
+
+00:06:17.520 --> 00:06:20.639
+note-taking heaven when you just follow a certain process.
+
+00:06:20.640 --> 00:06:24.919
+My advice: don't worry about Zettelkasten, PARA, or
+
+00:06:24.920 --> 00:06:28.479
+whatever is out there. Just write your notes and worry about
+
+00:06:28.480 --> 00:06:31.479
+structure and all that later. Even Niklas Luhmann, the
+
+00:06:31.480 --> 00:06:34.639
+inventor of Zettelkasten, called his system a septic tank
+
+00:06:34.640 --> 00:06:38.319
+of ideas. I call my collection of notes a primordial soup
+
+00:06:38.320 --> 00:06:43.439
+from which my books emerge. Now, Denote by Prot Stavrou is a
+
+00:06:43.440 --> 00:06:45.919
+flexible note-taking system that can implement any of the
+
+00:06:45.920 --> 00:06:49.119
+popular methods. I transferred thousands of files to
+
+00:06:49.120 --> 00:06:54.319
+this format, so all my information is at my fingertips. We
+
+00:06:54.320 --> 00:06:59.759
+can jump to the Denote directory. In my case, that's
+
+00:06:59.760 --> 00:07:04.279
+~/documents/notes. We see here the marvel that is Denote,
+
+00:07:04.280 --> 00:07:09.759
+which is its ingenious file naming convention that has a
+
+00:07:09.760 --> 00:07:15.279
+timestamp, a title, and some (what do we call them) tags or
+
+00:07:15.280 --> 00:07:18.559
+categories, whatever you please. This is a very quick way
+
+00:07:18.560 --> 00:07:28.763
+to find things. Then there is an ews-dired-narrow function.
+
+00:07:28.764 --> 00:07:30.799
+For example, I can find anything,
+
+00:07:30.800 --> 00:07:34.679
+_ews means anything that has the EWS tag, and
+
+00:07:34.680 --> 00:07:39.112
+there we go, it's narrowed down in my EWS notes.
+
+NOTE denote-explore
+
+00:07:39.113 --> 00:07:45.040
+Now, this is all very well, but I also decided to
+
+00:07:45.041 --> 00:07:47.102
+write a package called denote-explore,
+
+00:07:47.103 --> 00:07:54.071
+which helps us sort of explore these collections of notes.
+
+00:07:54.072 --> 00:07:55.519
+One of the fancy things we can do is
+
+00:07:55.520 --> 00:07:56.519
+do some visualization.
+
+00:07:56.520 --> 00:08:02.159
+Let's go to the network function and create a community of
+
+00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:05.359
+notes. A community is a collection of notes that match a
+
+00:08:05.360 --> 00:08:10.039
+regular expression, _ews. All the notes here
+
+00:08:10.040 --> 00:08:15.599
+that are on this list, the ones with the EWS tag. In a second,
+
+00:08:15.600 --> 00:08:22.159
+my browser pops up. I shall move that to my other window in a
+
+00:08:22.160 --> 00:08:28.599
+second. There we go. denote-explore creates a SVG file and
+
+00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:33.213
+it creates an arrow between all the nodes that are linked.
+
+00:08:33.214 --> 00:08:36.199
+It puts a title up there when the node has more than two links
+
+00:08:36.200 --> 00:08:39.599
+going in or out. We can also click on the note to read it in
+
+00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:43.679
+the browser, if you choose. If you set up Firefox properly,
+
+00:08:43.680 --> 00:08:49.639
+I'm sure it can also go into Emacs. This is the note tagging
+
+00:08:49.640 --> 00:08:54.580
+that's available within EWS.
+
+NOTE Writing with Org
+
+00:08:54.581 --> 00:08:57.021
+Now, we've taken all these notes. Now we need to
+
+00:08:57.022 --> 00:09:00.518
+start writing stuff. Org mode, for me,
+
+00:09:00.519 --> 00:09:03.559
+is the ideal tool. Org mode is what you see is what you
+
+00:09:03.560 --> 00:09:06.919
+mean. The text and the syntax instruct the computer on how to
+
+00:09:06.920 --> 00:09:10.479
+produce the final result. This means that one file can
+
+00:09:10.480 --> 00:09:12.879
+become many different formats, an e-book, a printed book,
+
+00:09:12.880 --> 00:09:16.759
+or a website. It doesn't matter. Now, a lot of people talk
+
+00:09:16.760 --> 00:09:18.959
+about what you see, what you get, and that we should have a
+
+00:09:18.960 --> 00:09:21.079
+what you see, what you get mode in Emacs. I think that's
+
+00:09:21.080 --> 00:09:24.799
+irrelevant, because showing the final result while you're
+
+00:09:24.800 --> 00:09:28.639
+writing is actually a distraction. Traditional writing,
+
+00:09:28.640 --> 00:09:31.359
+producing the content, and designing the layout and
+
+00:09:31.360 --> 00:09:34.119
+typesetting are separate processes done by different
+
+00:09:34.120 --> 00:09:38.079
+professionals. In Emacs Writing Studio, the writing is
+
+00:09:38.080 --> 00:09:40.359
+still done by a human. There are no provisions for large
+
+00:09:40.360 --> 00:09:45.039
+language models in EWS. But layout and typesetting is done
+
+00:09:45.040 --> 00:09:49.599
+by external software, be it CSS, LaTeX, or XML, all mediated
+
+00:09:49.600 --> 00:09:50.359
+by Org mode.
+
+00:09:50.360 --> 00:09:57.399
+EWS also has some other tools for case conversion,
+
+00:09:57.400 --> 00:09:59.799
+thesaurus, a dictionary that I haven't got time to show,
+
+00:09:59.800 --> 00:10:02.909
+but what I will show you is how the book functions,
+
+00:10:02.910 --> 00:10:05.919
+and then how we create these publications.
+
+NOTE The project file
+
+00:10:05.920 --> 00:10:11.639
+Okay. Let's go to my project file.
+
+00:10:11.640 --> 00:10:17.058
+So these are the EWS chapters,
+
+00:10:17.059 --> 00:10:20.200
+and each chapter is an Org mode file.
+
+00:10:20.201 --> 00:10:25.079
+Let's go into the main document, which is set up with
+
+00:10:25.080 --> 00:10:30.359
+olivetti-mode just to make it easier to read. What we see
+
+00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:34.839
+here is all the fluff from Org mode. These are all the
+
+00:10:34.840 --> 00:10:37.719
+various bits of metadata that I used to create the final
+
+00:10:37.720 --> 00:10:43.439
+result. Then for each chapter, I have an inclusion.
+
+00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:46.721
+This references another file. I've got some properties.
+
+00:10:46.722 --> 00:10:49.839
+In this case, the forward is unnumbered. There's some notes.
+
+00:10:49.840 --> 00:10:53.599
+In this case, Prot actually wrote this for me. Then we
+
+00:10:53.600 --> 00:10:59.039
+can jump into that text. Then what we see at the bottom
+
+00:10:59.040 --> 00:11:02.919
+here is some inclusions for HTML. This is the EPUB version,
+
+00:11:02.920 --> 00:11:07.159
+but it's different in LaTeX. Again, the same file can
+
+00:11:07.160 --> 00:11:09.479
+serve different purposes.
+
+00:11:09.480 --> 00:11:14.719
+So now let's, as the final part of this demonstration,
+
+00:11:14.720 --> 00:11:17.759
+actually create the book, because the book's freely
+
+00:11:17.760 --> 00:11:23.159
+available. You can download the source files from GitHub,
+
+00:11:23.160 --> 00:11:29.839
+and you can roll your own. Let's open the dispatcher.
+
+00:11:29.840 --> 00:11:33.468
+We'll export the LaTeX and we want to open the file.
+
+00:11:33.469 --> 00:11:37.349
+Now this takes a minute because there's a lot happening within
+
+00:11:37.350 --> 00:11:42.199
+all this code, so I'll shorten this video. I'll be silent now.
+
+00:11:42.200 --> 00:11:49.959
+There we are. This is the Emacs Writing Studio PDF version,
+
+00:11:49.960 --> 00:11:53.439
+which will eventually become the interior for the
+
+00:11:53.440 --> 00:11:55.159
+paperback version.
+
+00:11:55.160 --> 00:12:02.399
+So the EWS book is available in all major e-book shops.
+
+00:12:02.400 --> 00:12:05.319
+I'm also working on a paperback, which I hope to finish when
+
+00:12:05.320 --> 00:12:09.279
+Emacs 30 comes out. But the Org Mode files that I use to
+
+00:12:09.280 --> 00:12:11.039
+produce the book, they're available in the GitHub
+
+00:12:11.040 --> 00:12:13.999
+repository, so you can also roll your own, because the EWS
+
+00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:18.719
+configuration is the one that I use to produce the book.
+
+NOTE Conclusions
+
+00:12:18.720 --> 00:12:22.799
+Now, some conclusions from this journey is that the best way to
+
+00:12:22.800 --> 00:12:26.239
+learn is to teach. That was my personal objective. I
+
+00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:28.599
+learned a lot from systematically working out how to
+
+00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:33.559
+implement the EWS workflow. One of the surprising things
+
+00:12:33.560 --> 00:12:35.759
+that I learned is to have reliance on external software
+
+00:12:35.760 --> 00:12:39.359
+throughout the writing process. I spent a lot of time in
+
+00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:42.159
+the book about explaining these connections that Emacs is
+
+00:12:42.160 --> 00:12:46.399
+not just a text processor, it is also an interface with other
+
+00:12:46.400 --> 00:12:49.599
+software. Now, future developments, as I mentioned,
+
+00:12:49.600 --> 00:12:52.119
+there'll be a paperback version of the book when Emacs 30
+
+00:12:52.120 --> 00:12:55.959
+comes out, and I might reconfigure things a little bit. I'm
+
+00:12:55.960 --> 00:12:58.719
+only planning to update the configuration when packages
+
+00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:04.639
+break or with another major Emacs release, because I want to
+
+00:13:04.640 --> 00:13:08.079
+work with Emacs, not work on Emacs. A big thank you to
+
+00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:11.199
+Prot Stavrou, who helped me with Denote packages, and he
+
+00:13:11.200 --> 00:13:14.999
+also wrote the forward to the book. There's also several
+
+00:13:15.000 --> 00:13:18.119
+test readers that I met through Mastodon that helped me out
+
+00:13:18.120 --> 00:13:20.719
+quite a bit. Of course, all the Emacs and package
+
+00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:25.519
+developers without which none of this would exist. Thank
+
+00:13:25.520 --> 00:13:27.559
+you all for your attention, and I look forward to your
+
+00:13:27.560 --> 00:13:30.720
+questions and suggestions.