I discovered Roam Research a few days ago. I've been using it a bit. Not as in depth as I'd like. Not for work, which is probably slowing down the power.
My favorite thing so far is that I can make associations without creating associations.
I can just type in my thoughts. Later if I create a page for one of those, the rest are found and I can create links. It's really cool
Sure sure - Why is it cool though?
I was creating a page about my books. I want to start documenting thoughts about the books I've read. Kinda like a review, but... not. Just "Thoughts". Simpler than trying to create a flow and narrative... which I suck at.
I added Beyond Legacy Code which is by David Bernstein. I'm intentionally tagging the author on the page.
I later was writing some memories about conferences and a discussion I had with David. OK, A couple of the conversations. A few days later I click on the link for David... and it's got all the other references I've made to him. Even the ones I didn't tag. I get to see the whole of my thoughts about, in this case, someone and not have to try to do them all. Or write them all in the same page/document. I write the thoughts where/when I'm having them. It makes the links and connections for me.
This is cool. It actually caused other thoughts/memories and I wrote them in. I'll just write them on the page I'm on and reference other things/pages. Maybe those are a better home for it? If so, it'll show there and I can clean up later.
An example of this was a time hanging out with David at Agile 2019. I thought of it while seeing all the other references on David's page and just wrote the thought on that page. While writing, I tagged Agile 2019. Now that blurb will show on the Agile 2019 page. It's associated with Agile 2019 because I put the association link in, I don't have to think about it.
I don't have to link
Another topic you may have heard me mention, MicroObjects. Clearly I'm going to create a page on this. And I did. A couple places I just wrote the word "MicroObjects"; I didn't tag it. LOST FOREVER!!!! .... Nope.
Roam Research flags those as 'unlinked references'. My thoughts are associated even though I didn't think to associate them. They are related and Roam Research provides that connection for me.
Multiple Associations
One thing I'm working on is organizing the notes I take in books. Not IN books, but on post-its I put in the book. These notes are associated with one or more concepts. How can I go through and organize them for multiple topics and then FIND them for each topic.
My original plan was to print them and have physical copies for each topic I thought they belonged to. It was a daunting amount of work... I kept putting it off.
Using Roam Research, I just create a page for the notes
and tag them.
Sure, I could tag in other tools. Would it be as effective? I don't know how to make it as effective.
With Roam Research, I can go to one of the tags and see ALL of the notes tagged with it. I can even start to comment and collect other thoughts. How many other tools would enable me to do both?
This is going to be invaluable to organize thoughts and create better posts. I will no longer need to just think up everything when I'm trying to write it. Information can collect throughout the system and be available in the topic I'm interested in.
It's really awesome.
It might now work for you; but seems to fit the way my head is disconnected on thoughts and ideas depending on the context I'm thinking about them in.