Tag: note-taking
-
Gaming AI meeting scribes: Why organisational memory needs new governance
AI meeting scribes haven’t introduced new manipulation tactics—they’ve systematized existing ones. Meeting dynamics have always been adversarial: controlling agendas, timing interventions, using particular terminology. What’s changed is these dynamics are now more technical, less visible, more durable, and scalable. The technology didn’t create the problem; it made existing power structures harder to ignore.
-
Beyond silos: AI as a personal knowledge management system
The future of personal knowledge management lies beyond siloed note-taking apps. We need a system that integrates information across various platforms and formats, creating meaningful connections in our fragmented digital lives. Whether through browser-based solutions, operating system integration, or local AI models, the goal is a seamless, intelligent layer that unifies our entire digital ecosystem.
-
Zettlr is an open-source writing platform for academics
I’ve always been fascinated with the tools people use to write (I should write a follow-up to that post), and over the last couple of years that interest has been focused on what I think of as . Your one-stop publication workbench. From idea to publication in one app: Zettlr accompanies you while writing your…
-
BIP AI – AI for organisation and communication
In this workshop for the Blended Intensive Programme on AI in education and research, Antonio Lopes, Hugo Santos and I explore the transformative potential of integrating generative AI into personal and professional workflows for academics. Practical use cases demonstrate how AI can streamline tasks, from constructing lecture outlines to drafting emails. The workshop provides a…
-
My Physiopedia Plus courses on building skills for learning
In 2023 I put together a series of short courses for Physiopedia Plus, on the topic of building skills to support learning, which were published towards the end of the year. The stats (see image above) suggest that they’ve been well-received so far. Overview of all courses in the series, and here are the individual…
-
Physiopedia courses on developing skills to support learning
During 2023 I prepared a series of courses for Physiopedia Plus, aimed at helping students develop skills to support their learning. These courses are an extension of the Learning to Learn In Beta project I started a few years ago. Here are the courses on Physiopedia Plus, which are are accredited in Australia, South Africa,…
-
Stop taking notes on your phone
I can’t believe how many people I’ve seen taking notes on their phones at this conference. Surely they must realise how inefficient this is? Laptops are better. Tablets with a keyboard also work. Or seriously, use a notepad and pen.
-
A few thoughts on note-taking during conference presentations
When I take notes at a conference, I try to think of it as if I’m having a conversation with the presenter. My comments on the presentation will often initially be in the form of a question, which I then try to answer. The presenter says something that sparks a train of thought in my…
-
Calm Productivity course is on sale
Summer sale The Calm Productivity course is on sale until the 31st of August. The Calm Productivity course is aimed at busy academics who are stressed, under pressure, and working extended hours just to get through a ‘normal’ workload. By embracing a structured workflow, Calm Productivity helps create sustainable approaches to academia without sacrificing your…
-
Using Obsidian for academic writing and creativity
In this conversation with Dave Nicholls, I describe how I use Obsidian to support my academic writing and creative process, in response to Dave’s question: Is using Obsidian worth it? I explain how I’ve set up different vaults in Obsidian, depending on what it is that I’m trying to do, and use examples from my…
-
Using a ‘now’ file to prioritise new projects
Update: I’ve since published a ‘Now‘ page on this site after coming across the suggestion from Derek Sivers. I came across the idea of using a ‘Now’ file in the middle of last year and have incorporated it into my weekly review. The basic idea is that you keep track of all the big projects…
-
Resource: An overview of note-taking workflow and tools from Ton Zijlstra
There are hundreds of resources on note-taking systems so don’t take this post as anything more than a collection that caught my attention. Once you go down the ‘zettelkasten’ or ‘digital garden’ rabbit holes, you may find that it takes a while to get out again. If you already have a sense of what the…
-
‘Structured serendipity’ in collaborative writing
In this video I’m talking to Ben Gordon, a physiotherapist in Boston with an interest in the role of machine learning in clinical practice. Ben and I have been working on the very early stages of writing an article together, and quickly became frustrated with the limitations of working collaboratively in Google Docs. We started…
-
Quickly capturing the essence of a new idea
Sometimes I come across a novel idea or new concept that I’m unfamiliar with, and recognise that it’s something I should spend some time getting to grips with. But even though I’m interested in the idea and know that it’s important, I’m busy with something else and either don’t have the time or the bandwidth…
-
Expanding a note stub into a permanent note
In this video I walk through the process of taking a note stub (e.g. some information you’ve quickly captured) and expanding it into something more comprehensive and useful. I review the sources I use to add information to the note, talking about why I value some sources more than others, and explain what I’m thinking…
-
Using Zotero to create literature notes from video
In this video I talk about the way that I use Zotero to create literature notes from a video presentation. With the increase of video content online – especially academic content that’s now being recorded by default – I’ve been spending some time experimenting with different approaches to extracting useful information from video. Video remains…
-
Using Hypothesis and Zotero to create notes while reading online
In this short video I demonstrate how I take notes using Hypothes.is while reading on the web and in Zotero. I try to show the early stages of creating links between ideas that I’m interested in, and eventually where I add those ideas into my permanent notes. I didn’t do much planning for this video;…
-
Types of notes for academics
I used to think of all notes as the same regardless of where I took them, what I intended doing with them, and what purpose they served. Then about a year ago I realised that this ad hoc approach to note-taking was serving my needs as a knowledge worker and so started thinking about academic…
-
My top personal learning tools in 2021
This post was inspired by a recent post by Stephen Downes where he shared his own tools for learning. I know how much I enjoy reading about what other people use so I thought I’d do something similar in the hope that this post is interesting or useful for someone else. And besides, it was…