User-determinable method and system for manipulating and displaying textual and graphical information

1. A system for transforming source data in order to display a work product, the system comprising at least one computer configured to:

enable a human user to select at least one rule relating to content compression;

display source data on a display for the user to view;

enable the user to select from the display at least a portion of the source data less than all of the source data to form a selected portion of the source data and an unselected portion of the source data with the selected portion of the source data having some of the source data and the unselected portion of the source data having the remaining source data;

compress the selected portion of the source data, with the unselected portion of the source data removed therefrom, according to the at least one rule relating to content compression to form a compressed portion, wherein the at least one rule relating to content compression includes at least one rule relating to an integrity, a position, or a compression format; and

display the compressed portion on the display in lieu of the source data for the user to view, the compressed portion being the work product.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one computer is further configured to:

enable the user to select at least two rules relating to content selection,

the at least two rules relating to content selection including

a first rule for selecting primary content and

a second rule for selecting secondary content.

3. The system of claim 1 wherein the at least one computer is further configured to:

receive a plurality of customization rules relating to customizing the display of the work product; and

customize the work product according to one or more of the plurality of customization rules.

4. The system of claim 1 wherein

the display is of at least one device selected from the group consisting of personal digital assistants (PDAs), smartphones, cellphones, mobile devices, personal media players, and e-book readers.

5. The system of claim 1 further comprising

a database in communication with the at least one computer so that the at least one computer may retrieve reference information from the database for inclusion in the work product.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein

the at least one computer is further configured to present the work product aurally, visually, or both.

7. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer readable program code embodied therein, the computer readable program code when executed by a computer performs a method for transforming source data in order to display a work product, the method comprising:

enabling a human user to select at least one rule relating to content compression;

displaying the source data on a display for the user to view;

enabling the user to select from the display at least a portion of the source data less than all of the source data to form a selected portion of the source data and an unselected portion of the source data with the selected portion of the source data having some of the source data and the unselected portion of the source data having the remaining source data;

compressing the selected portion of the source data, with the unselected portion of the source data removed therefrom, according to the at least one rule relating to content compression to form a compressed portion, wherein the at least one rule relating to content compression includes at least one rule relating to an integrity, a position, or a compression format; and

displaying the compressed portion on the display in lieu of the source data for the user to view, the compressed portion being the work product.

8. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:

enabling the user to select at least two rules relating to content selection, the at least two rules relating to content selection including

a first rule for selecting primary content and

a second rule for selecting secondary content.

9. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises:

receiving a plurality of customization rules relating to customizing the display of the work product; and

customizing the work product according to one or more of the plurality of customization rules.

10. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the selected portion is selected by highlighting, boldfacing, underlining, italicizing, or any combination thereof.

11. The computer program product of claim 7 wherein the work product is displayed as an outline using at least one outlining format selected from the group consisting of roman numerals, bullet-points, and numbers.

12. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises preventing changes to the order of the content of the source data.

13. The computer program product of claim 7 , wherein the method further comprises presenting the work product aurally, visually, or both.