Open Source Research — Note taking
My first post in this series on Open Source research tools showed my notebook. I like making notes in long hand and it often helps me process information in different ways. However, as many of the resources I use are digital and the research outputs need to be typed, I also type up notes as well. I have previously used a word processor for this. The challenge with using a word processor for note taking is that you need to decide where and how to save the files. One big document called notes? One for each topic? One for each day? How do you store them? By day? By topic. File structures on computers are based on the logic of old fashioned filing cabinets. Remember them? This doesn’t really take advantage of the flexibility that digital notes afford.
There are lots of digital note taking tools around and I have explored a few. The one I have settled in, and the one I am using to type this, is Logseq https://logseq.com/ Its developers call it “A privacy-first, open-source platform for knowledge management and collaboration.” It is of course open source and free as in beer and speech. There are paid storage options but the version I am using requires no payment. Logseq works with plaintext formats like Markdown and org-mode, and the data is stored locally on your device in order to give privacy and ownership of your data.
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When you open Logseq, you just get a blank page, which is pretty confusing if, like me, you are used to using a word processor for note taking. I found it really useful to watch a few videos before getting started. I watched @CombiningMinds videos. He has a ‘Getting Started’ playlist here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBtKHwFBn0k&list=PLNnZ7rjaL84JjFpgDxRlAOKRa9ie25gtp
I don’t really use all of the features but what I have found the most useful is tagging. Instead of starting a new document each time you make notes, everything is kept in a journal, with a new page for each day (a bit like an old skool paper journal) and your journal is automatically saved. The organisation of your data is carried out using tags. When you start a new topic you can just type in some tags. The notes for this post are tagged #logseq #mediumposts #OpenSourceResearchTools. All of these tags are then searchable, so later I can find all of the notes under a particular tag.
You can add tags at any time. So, if I later start writing about something else, I can just add a tag for that subject. I have found this really useful with some notes that I have been making on papers that explore a variety of topics. If I had just used a word processor, I would have to remember that when I was ready paper x, I made notes about a, b, c, d e, etc. I’m not sure that when later I was writing about topic ‘e’, that I would necessarily remember that I had made notes on that when reading paper x 6 months earlier. Now all I need to do is get Logseq to bring up all of the notes that have tag ‘e’, from whenever I have written them. It will also bring back the related areas I have made notes on for some serendipitous reflection.
Loseq s really powerful and there is clearly much more you can do with it than I am using but even so it has been a bit of a game changer for me in typing up notes. I still use my notebook as well though :-)
It also links with Zotero https://www.zotero.org/ for referencing but more on than in the next post in the series.
