[[!sidebar content=""]] [[!meta title="Emacs journalism (or everything's a nail if you hit it with Emacs)"]] [[!meta copyright="Copyright © 2022 Alfred Zanini"]] [[!inline pages="internal(2022/info/journalism-nav)" raw="yes"]] # Emacs journalism (or everything's a nail if you hit it with Emacs) Alfred Zanini (he/they) [[!inline pages="internal(2022/info/journalism-before)" raw="yes"]] # PART I - Where I started ## Figuring out what you want out of your workflow For me, that is: - note-taking and todos for admin and work tasks - project management - setting up deadlines for each task and reminders to check in with people - a writing environment when I need to focus on script work - a way to experiment with coding and integrating that into my work - storyboarding different scenes - scheduling interviews and reachouts for interviews ## Presentation of my previous workflow Using google drive, word, storyboarder, wechat, notion # Part II - Where I ended up ## Why Emacs ? ## Org-Contacts Setting up Org-Contacts to track documentary leads and keep up with them - also in use for personal contacts ## ORG Roam Using Org-Roam to link project ideas and leads, and add summaries of interviews / transcripts to contact files. Org-Mode and Org-Contacts to schedule interviews, reaching out, check-ins. All the while writing the script for the project on the Org-Roam page, with global project questions and specific interview questions for each scheduled shoot. ## PANDOC and working with colleagues Once my first draft of the script is ready, I need to be able to share it for review. This is where the "Everything's a nail when you hit it with emacs" part comes in. Using Org-Mode for comments and for coloring with HTML tags and source blocks Not the easiest nor the most fun way to collaborate, but it is where I have ended up on. ## Other packages I use regularly for a documentary workflow Mu4e Fountain.el hledger-mode bibtex for research papers present # Conclusions ## Forever Work In Progress A lot of features to be added and kinks to be worked out but getting to a state where you can use software that you love every day is the most important point to me So let's keep modding our configs! # Discussion ## Notes - Interesting things from the talk go here - WRT Literate programming, if you\'ve never read Knuth\'s Tangle/Web/Weave stuff, it\'s worth knowing about - Using the Calendar in conjunction with task managment and email show off the power off the holistic workflow of Emacs - CRDT\-- an easy way to work with other people in emacs \-- - Yes, liberal arts types. ## Questions and answers - Q: It\'d be interesting if you explained why WeChat is a necessity for you; outside China, most people have no reason to use it at all.  Thanks. - A: I think he meant Weechat (the IRC client) not WeChat \-- Chinese exigency  - The captioning did mention WeChat.  If he lives in Hong Kong, then I totally understand, so consider this question answered. - Oh nvm then - Yeah, you\'ve (Alfred) gotten WeChat spot on.  Most people here don\'t care much, but I\'m probably one of the only people in this country not using WeChat, and it\'s a major PITA to live without. - Q:Have you looked at CRDT.el for collaborative realtime editing? - A: most of my work is just versions - CRDT has great org mode support for task managent - CRDT - - - related: - Q:Sharing orgmode files is trickier than we expect. Do you do this? If yes, how do you do it? - A: Direct sharing was not successful. Exporting to docx or ODT is problematic (Latex structure).  - has tried github and gitlab, but that might require signups - is also suboptimal - Export profiles for ODT or DOCX is a better approach, or at least worked well so far - Karl Voit\'s notes on collaborative working with non-Org users: - \- -   - -   - Export to docx via pandoc and re-import via =pandoc \--track-changes=all= -     : pandoc \--track-changes=all Document.docx Compare\_to\_original.org - \- - \- : an implementation of Org mode without the dependency of Emacs. It is built for mobile and desktop browsers and syncs with Dropbox, Google Drive and WebDAV. - \- \[2021-06-08 Tue\] → discussion - Karl Voit\'s notes on collaborative working with Emacs users: - \- 2020-05-29 -   - special emacs setup that allows collaboration on the same LAN -   - needs separate emacs config (different host or user or move config out of the way) -   - \[ \] try it out myself - \- \[2020-08-31 Mon\] + -   - unmaintained: - \- \[2021-11-03 Wed\] -   - via Sacha Chua\'s EmacsConf21 Emacs news - Q:Do you use pandoc for incoming and outgoing docs? Do you find that repeated conversions lose document quality? - A: - Q: I am beginning on emacs (again) after falling off every time because of the \"working in config-files\" whole day. What was your moment when you really started to work in emacs instead of config-editing? - A: Had the click after finding text editor workflow. Don\'t be too frustrated :-) , use templates, put ideas off to a later moment.  - related: and - Q: Why is emacs recommended for journalism? -vidianos asks - A: I wouldn\'t say it\'s recommended\-- a personal choice\-- valuable as a tool\-- can be tailored so that it\'s easy to transfer skills from other disciplines\-- more scientific ones to journalism. Org-Roam is a game changer because it allows me to set thoughts aside and know that I can get back to it. Helps with self-control. - Q: Do you use any fancy solutions for annotation text onto particular video timestamps? - Clarification: Yes, asking about making notes on a video, when something happens  - Side Note: subd.el could be useful - A: Taking notes with org-roam and linking them to BiBTeX etc - Q: When you get stuck with an emacs problem-- is there somewhere you go to get help (nice place for non-tech people?) 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