Is a LIST of context or a project?
 

I know there's always an argument for each side, but how would you classify a list of similar items: a list of books to read, a list of articles to write, a list of places to visit...?

Alway like to hear how other people do things...

Thanks!

In most cases, for lists of things I would like to do in the very indefinite future, that's a single-action list inside my Someday/Maybe folder. I've got a few of these (e.g., Books to Read, Games to Play, Craft Projects - actually these are almost always personal entertainment; work things or responsibilities tend to be more concrete). The whole list is on-hold, but items may be pre-assigned to appropriate contexts. Then when I want to start one of them I drag it to an active single-action list, or promote it to a project, depending on what it is.

Some people will make an argument that content-specific holders for these types of wish lists are more appropriate, and keep it out of OmniFocus (e.g., Goodreads for books). For me, the things that I put in OmniFocus are a little more concrete than that - like for books, it has a list of books that I already have and really do plan to read, not just everything that might be nice to read sometime.

Sure, I can see the logic of keeping a list outside of your work list. But one of my examples actually is a work list: articles to write.

I suppose a single action list within OmniFocus may be the simplest way to manage it.

Ah, I also meant to add - things that are more definite go straight to active single action lists. I have a Blogging single action list, with a list of up-coming articles. Sometimes one of them gets an action group of sub-tasks if there's prep to do. If the list is empty, it's time to brainstorm new topics.

This is still project organization rather than a context, at least for me, because they're grouped thematically (e.g., things I need to do for my role as an author), rather than necessarily things I can do in the same setting. An opinion piece I can write/post whenever I'm online, but for a photo-based tutorial I need to be where my materials are.

I too have a "Someday/Maybe" folder with a bunch of SALs.

At this point I use a "Eventually" context (loose translation), because it seems more logical for me to leave the individual entries there, but change their "status". Some actual examples:
- soon-to-be-released book/movie/album: start date in the future, context "online review", maybe flagged: when it is out and I read the review, it might stay there but change to "eventually", be deleted, become a project to go see with friends, etc.
- something reminds me of an entry, i might "activate" it with the proper context
- as part of my project review, i will activate / put to sleep some entries, which constitutes one reading list

And so on.