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phd_wikis [2022/03/16 14:09]
admin
phd_wikis [2022/03/18 14:22]
admin
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 ====== PhD Wikis ====== ====== PhD Wikis ======
  
 +Note: Updated version of this, and with clearer images, now on Medium at [[https://davidjhburden.medium.com/my-second-brain-f66b03f2a0fa]].
  
 I'm interested in the whole idea of doing a PhD "in public" and the use of Wikis and other Personal Knowledge  I'm interested in the whole idea of doing a PhD "in public" and the use of Wikis and other Personal Knowledge 
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 Then last week (March 2022) I decided the time had come to make a choice between Notion and Roam, but in hunting out tutorial and comparison videos (I'd recommend [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opSENgc45Sw&ab_channel=MikeandMatty|this]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1zU-sA4u74&ab_channel=BryanJenks|this]]) I discovered [[https://obsidian.md/|Obsidian]]. Then last week (March 2022) I decided the time had come to make a choice between Notion and Roam, but in hunting out tutorial and comparison videos (I'd recommend [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opSENgc45Sw&ab_channel=MikeandMatty|this]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1zU-sA4u74&ab_channel=BryanJenks|this]]) I discovered [[https://obsidian.md/|Obsidian]].
 +
 +{{ :wargaming:phd:obsidian_-_notetaking.jpg?direct&400 |}}
  
 Obsidian may not look the prettiest (at least in note taking mode) but it's the best implementation I've seen yet of this "[[https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-4-levels-of-personal-knowledge-management/|second brain]]" concept. Note taking is quick and fast into a blank page, using Markdown syntax. The only thing I really miss are the tables from Notion, but there are hundreds of community extensions for Obsidian, some of which have better tables. Notes can be put in folders, but that is purely for human admin. What binds notes are the links you put in from one to another (again backlinks) and the tags. I'm already finding that taking notes is just as fast as taking them into a Word or text document, and the fact that I can do it on the iPad ideal when working one handed whilst reading a book. The key though is to enter every important concept you mention as a hashtag, as that not only links the notes in a graph, but also lets you just click on a hashtag in a note to see every other note with that hashtag! Obsidian may not look the prettiest (at least in note taking mode) but it's the best implementation I've seen yet of this "[[https://fortelabs.co/blog/the-4-levels-of-personal-knowledge-management/|second brain]]" concept. Note taking is quick and fast into a blank page, using Markdown syntax. The only thing I really miss are the tables from Notion, but there are hundreds of community extensions for Obsidian, some of which have better tables. Notes can be put in folders, but that is purely for human admin. What binds notes are the links you put in from one to another (again backlinks) and the tags. I'm already finding that taking notes is just as fast as taking them into a Word or text document, and the fact that I can do it on the iPad ideal when working one handed whilst reading a book. The key though is to enter every important concept you mention as a hashtag, as that not only links the notes in a graph, but also lets you just click on a hashtag in a note to see every other note with that hashtag!
  
-As you build your notes the graph view build automatically. It not only looks lovely but hovering on a node highlights all its links. The one downside is that although the graph shows the tag links and note links on the same graph, and connects pages to their own tags, you do sort of have two different ontologies to manage, pages and tags. Within those community plug-ins I mentioned there are already a number that implement different network graph algorithms, so I should be able to use them to start to analyse the graph and perhaps yield new insights that I hadn't spotted.+{{ :wargaming:phd:obsidian_-_tag_search.jpg?direct&400 |}} 
 + 
 +As you build your notes the graph view build automatically.  
 + 
 +{{ :wargaming:phd:obsidian_-_graph_zoomed_out_220317.jpg?direct&400 |}} 
 + 
 +It not only looks lovely but hovering on a node highlights all its links, helping you to see connectivity between ideas more clearly.  
 + 
 +{{ :wargaming:phd:obsidian_-_graph_focussed.jpg?direct&400 |}} 
 + 
 +The one downside is that although the graph shows the tag links and note links on the same graph, and connects pages to their own tags, you do sort of have two different ontologies to manage, pages and tags. Within those community plug-ins I mentioned there are already a number that implement different network graph algorithms, so I should be able to use them to start to analyse the graph and perhaps yield new insights that I hadn't spotted.
  
 One of the other big plusses of Obsidian is how it stores your data - it's all flat-file markdown files, one per note, on your PC. For something like a PhD with a 5-6 year life I need to know my data is safe and if the company folds I can get the data. This approach delivers that - particularly as I store my "vaults" on my Dropbox account, so they're backed up, and versioned, there. Obsidian sync then provides near real time (~2-3 seconds!) word by word sync between your PC and any other devices, and with iOS and Android apps that means you can have your whole Second Brain on your mobile device. One of the other big plusses of Obsidian is how it stores your data - it's all flat-file markdown files, one per note, on your PC. For something like a PhD with a 5-6 year life I need to know my data is safe and if the company folds I can get the data. This approach delivers that - particularly as I store my "vaults" on my Dropbox account, so they're backed up, and versioned, there. Obsidian sync then provides near real time (~2-3 seconds!) word by word sync between your PC and any other devices, and with iOS and Android apps that means you can have your whole Second Brain on your mobile device.
phd_wikis.txt · Last modified: 2022/03/18 14:22 by admin