Using Obsidian for academic writing and creativity

Thinking in public
17 Jun 202342:44

Summary

TLDRThe video script discusses the use of Obsidian, a note-taking and knowledge management tool. The speaker shares their experience with Obsidian, highlighting its usefulness for different tasks like daily note-taking, idea generation, and writing. They explain how Obsidian's linking feature helps in making connections between ideas but also emphasize the importance of being intentional with links. The conversation touches on the challenge of turning the complex network of ideas in Obsidian into structured documents like reports or theses. The speaker also mentions the value of Obsidian for stimulating creativity and managing the chaos of daily tasks.

Takeaways

  • 😀 The user initially had a poor impression of Obsidian but after further exploration, they found it useful for creative note-taking and linking ideas.
  • 😀 The user suggests curating YouTube links for those interested in learning more about Obsidian.
  • 😀 Obsidian has a concept of 'vaults' which are like folders separated from each other within the app, allowing for organization of different types of notes.
  • 😀 The user has three separate vaults - daily notes, commonplace book for ideas, and a writing vault, to keep different types of notes and writing separate.
  • 😀 When writing, the user doesn't copy and paste from the commonplace vault but uses it for inspiration and to make connections to what they're writing about in the writing vault.
  • 😀 The user finds value in the serendipity of searching their commonplace notes, sometimes finding unexpected notes that spark new ideas.
  • 😀 The user doesn't worry too much about preemptively imagining how they'll use notes in the future, instead letting connections form more organically.
  • 😀 Obsidian is currently free and stores information locally in markdown language, which the user appreciates for its simplicity and portability.
  • 😀 The user has been using Obsidian for about a year and a half and finds it helps them manage the chaos of their work and stimulates their creative process.
  • 😀 The user feels Obsidian has helped them generate more creative ideas, though acknowledges this could also be due to spending more time thinking about things while using the app.

Q & A

  • What is the main concern the speaker has about Obsidian?

    -The speaker is concerned about whether Obsidian is worth the effort, as it creates a complex web of interconnected notes which seems to get in the way of producing a simple, linear document like a report or thesis.

  • How does the person being interviewed organize their notes in Obsidian?

    -They use three separate vaults - one for daily notes, one for a commonplace book to collect ideas, and one for writing. The notes in these vaults don't directly interact with each other.

  • What is the purpose of the commonplace vault in Obsidian for this user?

    -It's a place to dump and play around with ideas, capture literature notes from books, articles, podcasts, etc., and make connections between different concepts to stimulate creative thinking.

  • How does this user approach writing in Obsidian?

    -They write in the writing vault, and if they hit a wall or need inspiration, they query the idea vault for relevant concepts rather than trying to incorporate all the linked notes directly into their writing.

  • What is the significance of the links between notes in Obsidian for this user?

    -The links help them discover related ideas and make connections that can inspire their writing, but they don't follow every link. They selectively use the linked notes that are relevant to the specific topic they're writing about.

  • How does this user handle the potential overwhelm of the exponential increase of linked information in Obsidian?

    -They don't try to preemptively imagine how they'll use every note and link. They create notes and links intentionally, and when writing, they dip into the commonplace vault with keywords to see what comes back, sometimes finding unexpected but useful connections.

  • What is the speaker's view on the value of Obsidian for producing structured documents?

    -They don't think Obsidian is the best tool for creating inherently hierarchical and structured documents like traditional reports or books. However, it can be used for writing such documents if the internal links are used for cross-referencing rather than connecting creative ideas.

  • How does this user decide what notes to keep or discard in their Obsidian vaults?

    -They don't constantly edit or prune the notes. They leave many notes in a half-formed state or as orphans without connections, because the text is still there and might be useful in the future even if it's not currently connected to anything.

  • What is the benefit of using Obsidian for this user despite the potential overwhelm of information?

    -Obsidian helps them find useful information more efficiently than searching through unstructured notes. It also provides a sense of delight and joy when putting things in and triggers creative connections that they might not have made otherwise.

  • How does this user's use of Obsidian relate to their overall academic workflow?

    -Obsidian is integrated into their workflow for managing daily tasks, capturing interesting ideas, and supporting their writing process. It helps them structure their day with daily notes, stimulates creativity with the commonplace vault, and provides a writing environment with the writing vault, while also connecting to their Zotero library for research references.

Outlines

00:00

😀 Introduction to Obsidian and Its Challenges

The speaker introduces the topic of Obsidian, a note-taking and knowledge management tool. They share their initial impressions and the challenges they've faced while using it. They mention how Obsidian is often discussed in terms of its creative aspects, such as writing notes, making links, and building a complex matrix of ideas. However, the speaker expresses concern about how to effectively use this matrix to produce linear, two-dimensional outputs like reports or theses. They also talk about the concept of 'vaults' in Obsidian, which are like folders that can be used to separate different types of notes.

05:00

😀 Using Obsidian for Daily Notes, Ideas, and Writing

The speaker explains their personal setup in Obsidian, which includes three separate vaults for daily notes, a commonplace book for ideas, and a writing vault. They discuss how they use daily notes for tracking tasks and meetings, and how the commonplace vault is a place to dump and connect ideas. The writing vault is used for actual writing projects, where they can draw inspiration from the commonplace vault without being overwhelmed by too much information. The speaker also mentions how they use Obsidian's features like local graph to visualize connections within the commonplace vault.

10:00

😀 Linking and Filtering Notes in Obsidian

The conversation focuses on how to link and filter notes in Obsidian to aid in writing. The speaker gives an example of a note about robots adapting to human norms and discusses how they would explore related notes to find inspiration and make connections for their writing. They emphasize that not all links are necessary to follow and that the key is to be intentional about which links are relevant to the writing topic. The speaker also talks about the potential for information overload and how to manage it.

15:05

😀 Evolution of Note-taking and Writing Process in Obsidian

The speaker shares their evolution in using Obsidian, from initially having a single vault to separating daily notes and commonplace notes into different vaults to improve their writing process. They discuss how they used to write in other apps but now prefer Obsidian's simplicity and markdown support. The speaker also touches on the idea of serendipity in note-taking, where unexpected connections can lead to new ideas. They mention that notes are constantly being edited and adapted, but they try not to be too prescriptive about how they build links.

20:06

😀 Obsidian's Features and Personal Workflow

The speaker talks about various features of Obsidian, such as its support for markdown language, local storage of notes, and the ability to edit plain text. They mention that while Obsidian is not open source, it is currently free and they are not worried about potential monetization. The speaker also discusses their personal workflow, including how they use Obsidian to manage their academic work, such as extracting useful information from past articles and presentations. They mention that Obsidian helps them find information more efficiently, but also acknowledge the challenge of managing a growing number of notes.

25:07

😀 Balancing Creativity and Productivity in Obsidian

The speaker reflects on whether Obsidian is more suited for creative, unstructured thinking or for productive, structured writing. They mention that Obsidian can be used for both, but it requires different mindsets and approaches. For creative work, the commonplace vault is used to collect and connect interesting ideas. For writing, the writing vault is used to develop arguments and produce structured documents. The speaker also discusses the challenge of turning a three-dimensional knowledge map into a two-dimensional document and whether the effort put into Obsidian is worth it for different types of projects.

30:09

😀 Differentiating Vault Usage in Obsidian

The speaker differentiates between the usage of various vaults in Obsidian. They explain that the commonplace vault is for capturing interesting things that bring them joy, while the writing vault is for structured writing tasks. The daily notes vault is used for managing the administrative part of their job, providing structure and helping them plan their day, week, and month. The speaker also talks about how they extract passages from articles and add them to the commonplace vault with personal notes and links to other ideas, stimulating their creative process.

35:11

😀 Obsidian's Impact on Creativity and Note-taking

The speaker shares their experience with Obsidian, stating that it has brought them a sense of delight and joy. They feel that they have come up with more creative ideas since using Obsidian, although they acknowledge that this could also be due to spending more time thinking about things. The speaker mentions that they have been searching for a tool like Obsidian for over 10 years and feels that it has solved their note-taking and knowledge management needs. They also discuss how they used to write in different apps but now prefer Obsidian's simplicity.

40:12

😀 Personal Anecdote and Conclusion

The speaker shares a personal anecdote about a 3D printed figure they saw in a museum in Bologna, which they think could increase productivity. They conclude the conversation by expressing their enjoyment of the discussion and invite further questions about Obsidian.

Mindmap

Keywords

💡Obsidian

Obsidian is a note-taking and knowledge management application discussed extensively in the script. It's central to the video's theme as the entire conversation revolves around its usage and features. The speakers talk about how Obsidian allows users to create notes, form links between them, and visualize these connections, which is a core aspect of the app. For example, one speaker mentions using Obsidian to manage daily notes, a commonplace book of ideas, and a separate writing vault, highlighting the app's versatility in organizing different types of information.

💡Vaults

Vaults in Obsidian refer to separate folders that contain notes and are isolated from other vaults. This concept is crucial as it helps users compartmentalize their notes for different purposes. In the script, the speaker explains having three distinct vaults - daily notes, commonplace book, and writing vault. The daily notes vault is used for recording daily activities and meetings, the commonplace book vault is for collecting and connecting ideas, and the writing vault is for composing structured writings. This separation allows the user to focus on specific tasks without the clutter of unrelated notes from other vaults.

💡Linking

Linking is the process of creating connections between notes in Obsidian. It's a key feature that enables the formation of a knowledge graph, which is a visual representation of how different pieces of information are related. The script discusses how linking can be both a strength and a potential obstacle. On one hand, it facilitates the discovery of new connections and ideas, as illustrated when the speaker talks about using links to find inspiration for writing. On the other hand, the exponential growth of linked information can become overwhelming, making it difficult to filter through and extract useful content for a specific purpose, such as writing a linear report.

💡Commonplace book

A commonplace book is a collection of ideas, notes, and observations. In the context of the script, the commonplace book vault in Obsidian serves as a repository for the user's diverse thoughts and insights. The speaker mentions dumping ideas, literature notes, and other interesting findings into this vault. It's a place for free-form association and idea generation, where the user can play around with different concepts and see how they connect. For instance, the speaker talks about pulling out passages from articles that resonate with them and linking these to other notes in the commonplace book to stimulate creative thinking.

💡Writing process

The writing process is a significant theme in the script, as the speakers discuss how Obsidian fits into their writing workflows. They mention that while Obsidian is great for idea generation and note-taking, they often use separate applications or vaults for the actual writing of structured documents like reports or theses. The speaker explains that when writing, they focus on moving an argument from point A to point B and may refer to the commonplace book for inspiration but mostly rely on Zotero for supporting arguments. This highlights the distinction between the creative, unstructured aspect of idea generation in Obsidian and the more linear, structured nature of the writing process.

💡Knowledge management

Knowledge management is the overarching theme of the script, as it deals with how individuals organize, store, and retrieve information. Obsidian is presented as a tool for effective knowledge management, allowing users to create a personal knowledge base through note-taking and linking. The speakers discuss the challenges of managing a large volume of notes and information, and how Obsidian can help in finding relevant content more efficiently. For example, the idea of turning a 3D knowledge map in Obsidian into a 2D linear document for a review or report touches on the complexities of knowledge management and the need to balance creative, interconnected thinking with the practical requirements of producing structured outputs.

💡Markdown

Markdown is a lightweight markup language used for formatting text in Obsidian. It's mentioned in the script as one of the advantages of using Obsidian, as it allows users to edit notes in plain text without the need for complex formatting tools. The speaker demonstrates how simple keyboard shortcuts and markdown syntax can be used to create links, headings, and other formatting elements. This relates to the video's theme by showing how Obsidian leverages markdown to provide a flexible and user-friendly note-taking experience, making it accessible to users who prefer plain text editing.

💡Serendipity

Serendipity refers to the occurrence of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. In the context of the script, the speaker talks about the serendipitous nature of discovering unexpected notes and connections in the commonplace book vault of Obsidian. This concept is important as it highlights one of the creative aspects of using Obsidian - the ability to stumble upon ideas that may not have been initially considered but can lead to new insights and directions in thinking. For example, the speaker mentions that sometimes the commonplace vault returns unexpected notes that have proven to be useful in generating recent ideas.

💡Zotero

Zotero is a reference management software mentioned in the script as a tool used alongside Obsidian. The speaker explains that while Obsidian is used for note-taking and idea generation, Zotero is preferred for managing their academic library. This distinction is relevant to the video's theme as it shows how different tools can be integrated into a knowledge management workflow. The speaker mentions referring to Zotero when writing to find support for arguments, indicating that while Obsidian is great for creative and unstructured thinking, Zotero serves a more structured and research-focused purpose in their workflow.

💡Threshold concept

Threshold concept is a term used in the script to describe the point at which the user starts to question the practicality of using Obsidian. The speaker mentions that while they love the idea of making connections and creating a knowledge graph in Obsidian, they encounter a threshold concept when it comes to turning this interconnected mass of information into a productive output like a linear report. This concept is central to the video's theme as it addresses the challenge of balancing the creative, expansive nature of Obsidian with the need to produce structured, focused work. It raises the question of whether the effort put into building a complex knowledge graph in Obsidian is worth it when it comes to extracting useful content for traditional academic or professional outputs.

Highlights

The speaker discusses their initial impression of Obsidian and its potential for creative note-taking and linking ideas.

Mention of Ingo and Jason's podcast and how it influenced the speaker's understanding of Obsidian's use in academic settings.

The concept of 'threshold concept' is introduced as a barrier to using Obsidian effectively for productive output.

Explanation of the different 'vaults' in Obsidian and their separation for specific purposes like daily notes, commonplace book, and writing.

Demonstration of how daily notes are used for organizing tasks and meetings.

Description of the commonplace vault as a place for dumping and connecting ideas.

Discussion on how the writing vault is used separately from the idea-generating vault to avoid information overload.

The role of Zotero in managing the speaker's library and how it complements Obsidian.

Illustration of how to draw material from the commonplace vault into the writing process without copying and pasting.

The challenge of managing the exponential increase of linked information in Obsidian and maintaining focus.

The importance of not being too prescriptive when creating links and notes to allow for future serendipitous connections.

The speaker's preference for using separate vaults and the process of moving notes between them intentionally.

Reflection on the use of Obsidian for writing structured documents and the limitations of its hierarchical structure.

The speaker's experience with Obsidian as a tool for both creative and productive academic work, fitting in multiple places on the creativity to productivity scale.

Discussion on the value of Obsidian for personal knowledge management and the potential for increased creativity.

The speaker's personal journey with Obsidian and how it has become an integral part of their daily academic practice.

The mention of a 3D printed figure as a metaphor for productivity and the personal motivation it provides.

Transcripts

00:02

right I've got I've got a very specific

00:08

we've got a list all right excellent a

00:11

little list because I wanted to

00:14

um I wanted to ask you about this first

00:17

before we crack into obsidian in in some

00:19

depth

00:20

I wondered if we could frame the

00:22

conversation just a little bit

00:25

and so I'm gonna I'm gonna pitch this

00:27

idea to you and see what you think

00:30

so

00:32

I'm coming at this

00:35

from a position of well

00:39

a bit of background you told me about

00:41

obsidian

00:43

months ago and you said go and have a

00:45

look and I went and had a look and did a

00:48

poor job of having a look tester he said

00:51

but my immediate impression was

00:53

has actually persisted

00:56

since I've been doing more work on it so

00:58

I come to the conversation today with

01:00

quite a specific question

01:03

now I I wonder whether it's not

01:05

worthwhile if we're going to distribute

01:07

this message out to people to say there

01:10

are resources to go and look at on

01:12

YouTube and maybe we can curate some

01:14

links for people if you just want to get

01:16

a flavor of what obsidian is and when

01:18

you see the screen share that hopefully

01:20

you're going to see from you

01:22

it'll make a bit more sense but we can

01:24

do a bit of background stuff but rather

01:26

than getting into the background stuff

01:27

because the problem that I've had with

01:29

obsidian so far

01:31

is everything I've heard about has been

01:33

about what I think is probably the first

01:35

half of obsidian which is maybe in

01:38

simple terms the kind of creative part

01:40

of writing notes and making links and

01:44

then seeing those links

01:47

grow

01:48

and this enormous Matrix built

01:52

around all of these kind of ideas that

01:54

you might have

01:55

I listened to Ingo and Jason's podcast

01:58

you know on the rig

02:00

which is a great podcast series although

02:02

the last episode I think is two and a

02:04

half hours long

02:06

yeah so I mean there's quite a bit of

02:09

chat in the first half there about

02:11

what's going on in their lives which you

02:12

can kind of I think you can skip through

02:14

I do yes yes nice but but

02:18

in Jason's case he was he's a real

02:21

obsidian evangelist it seems he's come

02:23

to it and he loves it and the example he

02:26

gave was a great example of

02:28

doing in Australia what's called a Texa

02:31

review which is I think if you work in

02:32

higher ed every five or six years your

02:35

whole university gets reviewed for its

02:37

academic quality so it's everything from

02:39

the highest level governance right down

02:41

to the delivery of individual courses

02:43

and all the minutiae so he's taken on

02:46

this project for his university and it's

02:48

an enormous piece of work and I've known

02:51

people spend three or four years at the

02:54

very high level building up rooms full

02:56

of documentation to support one of these

02:58

reviews

02:59

so he's using obsidian

03:02

to

03:03

find all of the material that he's going

03:06

to need for this review but not just do

03:09

it in a traditional kind of filing

03:10

structure it seems but to create a 3D

03:12

Matrix a map

03:14

of the links between things so this is

03:17

the point where I get to and I think

03:18

yeah this is great

03:21

although nagging in the back of my mind

03:23

is this constant question about

03:26

is this going to be worth it

03:30

what happens then is where I start to

03:33

become interested and where I think my

03:35

barrier my obstacle is this is the

03:37

threshold concept for me

03:40

I love the idea that you can make all

03:42

these connections it sounds really

03:43

creative that you can make these notes

03:45

and you can pull all these things

03:46

together it seems to me at that point

03:48

then the whole project Falls over

03:50

because instead of having something

03:52

simple to turn into what's going to have

03:54

to be a two-dimensional linear

03:57

report for Texa or a PhD thesis or a

04:01

book or something like that you've now

04:03

got this overwhelming mass of swirling

04:06

stuff with multiple networks and nodes

04:08

and that seems to me to be exactly

04:11

getting in the way of actually doing

04:13

something productive with it right so

04:15

the conversation I would love to have

04:17

with you today

04:18

is about what you use it for and how you

04:21

actually use this Matrix once you've

04:23

built it yeah yeah that's how you filter

04:26

through everything to make something

04:28

actually useful to it

04:30

so

04:31

I think that's fine and I think the

04:34

to start off with I would say that in

04:37

obsidian you have the concept of volts

04:39

which is it's like a folder

04:42

um but it's a folder that's separated

04:44

from other vaults within obsidian and so

04:47

what a lot of people

04:49

tend to do when I've seen people using

04:51

obsidian is they combine all of these

04:53

things together so I have three

04:55

different vaults for obsidian the one is

04:57

called daily notes the one is called

05:00

commonplace like a commonplace book

05:02

which is the collection of ideas and

05:04

then I have a writing Vault and those

05:07

three things are separate and those

05:09

notes don't talk to each other and

05:11

they're not aware of each other so your

05:13

question about how do you write and not

05:16

have all those things get in the way of

05:17

it well I write in a writing Vault

05:20

that's completely separate to the idea

05:22

generating vault

05:24

so

05:26

I

05:28

just start sharing my screen

05:31

are you happy for me to interject the

05:33

questions or do you want me to just let

05:34

you flow for a while no you stop it what

05:37

would you prefer anything you want can

05:39

you just okay can you see my screen I

05:42

can see me

05:44

can you see that now yeah there you go

05:47

right okay so straight away I've got a

05:49

question which is that the stuff that

05:51

goes into your daily notes

05:53

if you then want to

05:57

write with it you've just said that that

05:59

vault is completely separate and doesn't

06:01

talk to the writing box so presumably

06:04

you have to move it from one into the

06:05

other no

06:06

no because I'm writing so I'll write and

06:09

I'll just write and then if I hit

06:13

if I come up against the wall and I

06:15

don't know what to write anymore then

06:16

I'll go to my idea Vault and I'll query

06:18

something from the idea Vault I'll go to

06:20

the idea Vault for ideas not to write

06:25

so what are you writing about if not

06:28

ideas

06:29

so

06:31

I feel like I need to show you

06:34

um yeah

06:35

um

06:36

all right so okay so what you're looking

06:38

at now this is my daily notes fault so

06:40

just to give you an example I'll start a

06:42

new note and I'll start it here on

06:43

Monday the 21st

06:45

says the file does not exist you want to

06:47

create it so this is my daily note

06:50

template so yeah because it's text you

06:53

can create your own templates and these

06:56

are all the things that I'm going to be

06:57

doing for the day and I use this to um

07:00

like if I have a meeting then I create

07:03

links to meeting notes and and blah blah

07:05

blah so this is the kind of just every

07:08

day I make notes in this vault

07:12

but also have this commonplace vault

07:15

and that's obviously just from

07:17

commonplace book and this is a place

07:20

where I just dump ideas and you'll see

07:23

it kind of looks the same here but it's

07:25

a little bit different so I've set up

07:26

the tabs

07:28

um on this side the panels on the right

07:30

and the left side a little bit

07:31

differently

07:32

so if I pick this one then you can see

07:36

that the local graph displays here so

07:38

immediately I can get a sense of how

07:40

many other things this note is connected

07:42

to but that's only within the

07:45

commonplace Vault this is only within

07:47

commonplace so these notes are all very

07:49

short they you know tags I connect to

07:52

other notes I can see incoming links I

07:55

can see outgoing links I can see

07:56

unlinked mentions

07:58

this is where I capture all of my

08:00

literature notes so if I'm reading a

08:02

book

08:03

um like at the moment I'm reading this

08:04

book on embodied Computing as I'm

08:07

reading all of this content everything

08:10

that I highlight and annotate in that

08:12

book gets pulled into these literature

08:14

notes so that's all an automated process

08:17

same thing happens with articles

08:18

podcasts tweets

08:21

um

08:21

I've got conference notes going back 10

08:24

years those are all in here and this is

08:27

just a place for me to play around with

08:29

ideas I'll go through these notes I'll

08:31

link to other notes and and so on so you

08:34

feel

08:35

fairly good with how that works and then

08:37

I have a writing vault

08:41

and

08:44

if I want to

08:46

I don't know there's a little thing on

08:48

citizen science this is for a course

08:50

that I'm running at the moment so this

08:52

is where I'll just write

08:54

um and if I need to draw from an idea

08:58

well then I'll go to my commonplace

09:01

notes and I don't think I have anything

09:03

on citizen science

09:10

no so I've got no notes

09:13

yeah so that might say to me okay well

09:17

before I can start writing about citizen

09:19

science I should go and do some reading

09:20

on citizen science then I might go to my

09:23

library which I use zotero for some

09:25

people will pull their Library into

09:26

obsidian and I feel like you can get to

09:30

a point where

09:31

obsidian becomes this Hammer that you're

09:34

going to use to hit everything with

09:37

um and I feel like the the library

09:40

um I think it can work

09:42

and I think some people have made it

09:44

work

09:45

I prefer to use zotero for my library

09:48

so I'll go to zotero and that's where I

09:50

track everything that I want to follow

09:52

up on and read and

09:54

you haven't got anything on citizen

09:56

science but let's say you were going to

09:58

do a piece of writing on artificial

10:00

intelligence now I know you'll have tons

10:02

of stuff so if you opened up a writing

10:04

note

10:07

um

10:09

on artificial intelligence yeah

10:13

show me how you'd go about drawing back

10:16

on your

10:18

um

10:20

I suppose your commonplace folder or

10:22

your or your what you call your daily

10:24

notes folder how would you pull that

10:26

material into what you're then going to

10:28

be writing about I don't

10:31

um so maybe this isn't a good example

10:34

because it's uh it's just a simple

10:35

definition so let me

10:38

look for

10:41

robots must adapt to Norms around

10:43

interaction so this is a more detailed

10:45

note

10:46

right

10:47

um so

10:50

I might look at this and the the concept

10:52

here is that we need to have robots

10:54

adapt to human Norms around interaction

10:56

and in order to do that we are really

10:59

going to have people who are building

11:00

robots who are familiar with human

11:02

psychology and sociology and all of

11:04

these ideas about how humans interact

11:06

because those are going to be the the

11:08

social and cultural norms that influence

11:11

the way that robots should behave what

11:13

we're seeing is that

11:15

um humans are adapting their behavior to

11:18

fit around what robots are capable of so

11:22

what I'm getting from this note isn't so

11:24

much the content but it's this idea so

11:27

I'm trying to capture an idea which is

11:29

that you know we need to design robots

11:31

that adapt to our behavior and our

11:34

sociology

11:35

um when I'm writing I'm not looking to

11:38

copy and paste information from this

11:40

note

11:41

I'm trying to find ideas within the

11:45

commonplace collection of notes that

11:48

give me inspiration or motivation or

11:51

that help me make connections to

11:53

whatever I'm writing about in the

11:56

writing vault

11:57

right but herein lies the Crux of the

12:00

issue because of course you could do

12:02

that in any form you could do that in a

12:04

Word document you could do that in a

12:05

traditional file system you could do

12:07

that in Evernote you could do that in

12:09

Ulysses you've got many places you could

12:11

do that in the point about obsidian is

12:14

not that you want to look you're

12:15

interested in that note but I look at

12:17

the bottom for instance at the green

12:19

related text yeah and the tags you've

12:22

got that little icon seems to suggest

12:25

that there are three four five six seven

12:27

eight additional notes that are related

12:29

to that theme and each one of those

12:31

might have eight additional notes

12:33

related to them and each one of those

12:35

might have it and it becomes exponential

12:37

right so if you're talking about this

12:40

just purely from a note by note basis

12:42

then I don't see obsidian as being any

12:44

different so how do you stop the Mania

12:48

of

12:50

the exponential increase information

12:52

you've got linked all together here and

12:55

then actually write something about how

12:57

robots must relate to human Norms well

13:00

because these ideas at the bottom here

13:02

with their link they're related but

13:05

if I'm thinking about the way that

13:08

um robots should relate to

13:10

um to us to groups of human beings some

13:13

of this is like yeah educational AI must

13:15

adapt to learning science that's a

13:17

related idea because it's talking about

13:18

how technology needs to adapt to

13:21

something that we value so learning

13:24

science it's a related idea but it's not

13:27

it's not going to be a part of what I'm

13:29

writing about with robots so first of

13:32

all not all of the links are necessary

13:35

for me to follow

13:37

um types of robots in clinical practice

13:39

you can you know I can without going

13:42

into the notes I can just pull it up

13:43

here and look at it well you know this

13:46

also isn't really relevant this is a

13:48

list of types of robot form factors and

13:52

um not behaviors but the kinds of tasks

13:55

that these kinds of robots might be

13:57

called to do this also wouldn't really

13:59

be useful for the article that I'm

14:01

writing about you know robots and and

14:03

human behavior

14:05

um this might be interesting social and

14:07

cultural norms dictate what information

14:09

is appropriate so

14:11

the point isn't just that I'm randomly

14:13

following all of these links I might

14:16

look at this

14:17

and say okay social and cultural norms

14:21

dictate what information is appropriate

14:22

to share with other people okay so how

14:24

does this relate to my idea around

14:26

robots adapting to our Norms

14:30

um so I'm going to pause with with the

14:32

note and say

14:34

you know really reflect on it does this

14:36

help me

14:38

take my writing in a different direction

14:40

does this spoken idea that I maybe

14:43

wouldn't have got to if I was just

14:45

writing

14:47

um so I think for me the linking of the

14:51

notes

14:52

um

14:53

if I just

14:54

come here to edit again

14:57

um while I'm reading this

15:00

um I don't know I'm just uh

15:05

virtual Norm so if I come back here

15:09

um

15:12

it's suggesting our social network

15:14

Theory

15:15

is that something that I need to look at

15:17

is social network analysis something

15:19

that I need to look at do I need to

15:21

because now that I've seen this maybe

15:23

it's boxed the idea that you know what

15:25

the thing that I'm writing about robots

15:27

what it lacks at the moment is some kind

15:29

of framework that it would you know give

15:32

what I'm writing about a little bit more

15:33

substance maybe I need to go look at

15:35

Social Network Theory maybe that's

15:37

something that will help me better

15:38

understand the interaction between

15:40

robots and people

15:41

so the way that I think about the

15:44

commonplace notes is not so much that

15:46

they're a kind of a source of

15:48

information although they definitely are

15:50

and and I do use them in that way but

15:53

while I'm doing the writing I just dip

15:55

into the commonplace and I sometimes

15:58

will just write keywords out and see

16:00

what

16:01

the this Vault gives back to me

16:04

sometimes it gives me back things that

16:05

I'm expecting but sometimes they're

16:07

really unexpected notes that come back

16:09

at me and that that kind of serendipity

16:11

has been

16:13

um really useful in generating some of

16:15

the ideas that I've been thinking about

16:16

lately

16:18

when you're reviewing notes do you ever

16:21

go back over some of the related notes

16:24

that you've highlighted in there and

16:25

think well

16:27

I've never really gone in that direction

16:29

with this so I'm just going to delete it

16:32

I mean when you're writing the note and

16:34

you're you're adding the your your

16:35

prospectively trying to imagine how

16:37

you're going to be using it in the

16:38

future so I'll put a tag in here just to

16:40

link it to

16:42

X Y and Z but you don't know in five

16:44

years time or two years time that that's

16:46

actually going to be the relevant link

16:47

you're going to be making so do you have

16:48

to go back and constantly edit the notes

16:50

and the links I try not to preemptively

16:54

imagine what I'm going to use the note

16:56

for so with this note

16:59

um I don't know

17:02

if I just say yeah sharing the wrong

17:04

information with the wrong people at the

17:05

wrong time I can decide that that might

17:08

be a note worth making at some point

17:10

even though it's not a note now so if I

17:12

surround it with brackets now this

17:13

becomes a note

17:15

um you can see it's included now here

17:18

um it's a note that doesn't exist that's

17:20

what this icon means but now if I start

17:26

and now I've got a new tab it's called

17:28

Untitled and I just type some random

17:31

stuff

17:32

and I've got a template that I just used

17:34

to add this in and now I start saying

17:37

wrong

17:39

information ah here's a little note and

17:42

so I click that and now these two notes

17:44

are connected so I'm trying not to be

17:48

too prescriptive about how I build the

17:51

notes

17:52

um

17:53

and you know what I'll probably just

17:56

leave this link here

17:57

um because who knows maybe in the future

18:00

I'll be I'll be trying to think about

18:01

what is the wrong information mean

18:04

um you know

18:05

I don't know does that does that kind of

18:09

give you some

18:11

suggestion about how I might be thinking

18:13

to be honest when I'm writing this

18:15

linking the notes I'm not thinking about

18:17

it too much I literally come here to the

18:19

related part

18:21

and I start thinking so I might say this

18:25

is about information

18:26

uh information Theory so here's

18:30

something about noise this is what the

18:32

field is how do we think about error

18:34

correction in information Theory so I

18:36

might just add that as a keyword and

18:38

then just scroll through the existing

18:39

notes that I have

18:42

this will also search this you can see a

18:44

literature notes article I've got an

18:46

article on Claude Shannon the founder of

18:47

information Theory

18:48

maybe this is enough for me to now say

18:51

you know what I should actually go and

18:52

read this note so this is a note now

18:55

I've got some highlights so at some

18:56

point I've I've read this article

19:00

um so I guess that's a very long answer

19:03

to your question about yes the notes are

19:06

constantly being edited adapted pruned

19:11

um

19:12

but I don't think about that too much in

19:14

the moment when I'm creating the notes

19:18

so your preference is to use three volts

19:22

but you said that some people will just

19:24

throw everything into one volt and then

19:27

presumably for some people as well they

19:30

will they will literally cut and paste

19:32

from one note into another as they're

19:34

building a text document yes I actually

19:36

I started doing that so I started with a

19:38

single Vault that included daily notes

19:40

commonplace notes

19:42

and I I always found it difficult to

19:46

write in obsidian when it was linked in

19:48

with the daily notes and the commonplace

19:50

notes so I've always written in

19:54

something else and for a while I was

19:56

using vs code which is just another text

19:58

editor

20:00

um I've tried loads of different text

20:01

editors I used to write a lot in

20:03

Evernote when I still use the Evernote

20:06

I've used simple notes

20:08

um so I have tried to keep the writing

20:11

process separated

20:13

at some points I realized that combining

20:16

the daily notes and the commonplace

20:18

notes just wasn't working for me

20:20

um

20:21

because what I found is that I was using

20:25

the daily notes typing up notes and just

20:26

creating links to everything you know

20:29

it's it's you know just because

20:30

something it because it's so easy to

20:33

link

20:33

I was just linking everything whereas

20:36

I'm far more intentional about creating

20:39

links between notes

20:41

um when I've got them separated out into

20:43

this different Vault and then in my

20:45

daily notes which is just my you know

20:47

what did I do today with you know

20:49

meetings and random thoughts

20:52

sometimes I'll be in a meeting and I'll

20:55

have a thought about something somebody

20:57

says something and I think oh that

20:59

that's an interesting point I'll make a

21:01

note of it in my daily note and then

21:03

after the meeting I'll go and recreate

21:05

that note in my commonplace I won't link

21:07

I won't try and link to it

21:10

um

21:11

and then I might just you know keep the

21:13

quote there and then just leave it and I

21:15

might only come back to it in six months

21:16

time when it gets surfaced as part of my

21:19

kind of serendipitous search for other

21:22

ideas you know it may be something I've

21:24

completely forgotten about so I leave a

21:27

lot of notes in kind of half-formed

21:30

um you know just I don't know

21:33

it it clearly isn't a real thing

21:36

um it's got no connections it's gotten

21:38

the links and I do have a lot of notes

21:41

that are orphans so they're not

21:42

connected to anything else

21:44

which also is fine I mean it's text so

21:47

who cares you know if if that note never

21:51

ever comes up again and it remains in

21:53

orphan for the next 20 years who cares

21:55

I'm not going to go and try and prune it

21:57

so that it looks pretty in the graph

21:58

View

22:01

and there's definitely some things about

22:03

obsidian that I know

22:05

probably resonate with you very strongly

22:07

you've talked about this before with me

22:08

about the fact that I mean I think it's

22:11

still free

22:13

um the software

22:15

I think Inger and Jason mentioned that

22:16

that it was free for the time being and

22:18

while they would

22:19

expect it at some point it's going to be

22:21

monetized at the moment it's free it's

22:23

completely open source

22:27

um

22:28

all the information is stored on your

22:31

local computer so it's not in a cloud

22:32

anywhere

22:34

and it's all written in markdown

22:35

language and again this might be

22:37

something that people

22:38

who are not familiar with that stuff

22:40

wouldn't maybe not know about but is a

22:43

really useful thing to use if you could

22:44

just open up a note which has got some

22:46

markdown on yeah so here's my

22:48

commonplace fault and here's my daily

22:50

notes fault so that's stored on your

22:52

computer yeah yeah so if I go here to

22:54

commonplace like these are all in plain

22:57

text yeah

22:59

um

23:00

categories of distraction costs got no

23:03

idea what's in this note but you can see

23:08

um

23:09

oh well weird this is a very old note

23:11

because this template

23:13

is not something that I've had for a

23:15

long time so I'll just go here and I'll

23:16

say hi Dave

23:19

and if I save this note and go back to

23:22

obsidian and I go open

23:26

transaction costs so we go to categories

23:28

of transaction costs it says hi Dave

23:31

yeah so the fact that you can

23:34

yeah just edit you can edit the plain

23:36

text

23:37

um

23:40

so you don't need any fancy there you go

23:42

there's the markdown language those use

23:44

of

23:45

hashtags and brackets it's basically

23:47

four or five little keyboard keys that

23:50

just allow you to do everything yeah

23:53

obsidian isn't actually open source

23:57

um oh okay it's uh

24:03

just hang on a sec

24:05

um

24:06

but they've they promised that it will

24:09

always be free

24:10

um however because all of the notes and

24:14

all of the links between notes it uses

24:16

these square brackets and this now is

24:18

the de facto standard for internal links

24:21

there's probably about five other

24:23

platforms that you can use that you just

24:26

basically

24:27

install this other program you point it

24:30

to your folders

24:32

um and you know off you go I've I've

24:35

experimented with using something called

24:37

dendron which is another type of I guess

24:42

note taking personal knowledgement app

24:46

and it works perfectly well so if

24:48

obsidian goes away tomorrow

24:50

there's three or four options that I can

24:52

choose from some of which are open

24:54

source

24:55

um and so I'm not worried about

24:58

um you know whether or not they start my

24:59

they actually are monetizing already so

25:01

you can pay for obsidian sync

25:05

um which is where you can sync between

25:06

devices so you can install the mobile

25:08

app on your phone and then it'll sync

25:11

the data between the mobile app and your

25:13

and your desktop I just use Dropbox to

25:16

synchronize notes across all my devices

25:18

and you know the number of times I am

25:20

ever out with my phone where I

25:22

absolutely have to capture a note it's

25:24

really rare and then I tend to use a

25:27

simple note-taking app for that

25:30

has this has this answered my question

25:34

okay so one of the one of the barriers

25:37

then that I think a lot of people have

25:39

when they hear about obsidian and they

25:41

see people's vaults libraries is they

25:44

think oh my God it just looks daunting

25:48

to document all that stuff I mean you're

25:50

a very disciplined

25:52

very productive academic in this respect

25:54

you're very conscious of the ways in

25:57

which you gather information store

25:58

information manage how you do your

26:01

personal academic acknowledgment I think

26:03

you're very

26:04

you're very disciplined in that respect

26:06

now how long have you been using

26:07

obsidian

26:09

uh probably about a year and a half

26:12

um and in that time just ballpark how

26:15

many uh days

26:19

during that year and a half have you not

26:21

used it

26:23

well I use it every day now I live in it

26:25

now every day

26:27

um I've been wanting something like

26:28

obsidian for almost as long as I've been

26:30

an academic I've been collecting notes

26:32

I've been collecting uh presentations uh

26:36

articles

26:39

um you know anything just collecting a

26:42

lot of things and never really knowing

26:44

exactly what to do with it I used to

26:46

have I used to have hundreds and

26:48

hundreds of notes in this simple note

26:51

folder okay this is AI and Society these

26:54

are notes that I I could have made five

26:56

years ago I could have made it seven

26:58

years ago I have no idea but I have

27:00

these notes

27:01

I try to if not daily then at least on a

27:06

semi-regular basis I try to go through

27:09

these notes and move these notes into

27:13

obsidian I'm trying to work through all

27:15

the articles that I've ever written and

27:17

move Concepts from those articles into

27:20

obsidian my conference presentations are

27:23

all going into obsidian

27:26

um where I'm trying to extract what is

27:28

most useful the kinds of things that are

27:30

most meaningful to me the kinds of

27:31

things that I keep coming back to

27:34

um so I've my PhD is now almost 10 years

27:38

old

27:39

I haven't done it yet but at some point

27:41

I need to go through my PhD and pull out

27:44

all the pieces of information that I

27:47

still refer to because what I do now is

27:49

I go back to the PHD and I have to do a

27:51

keyword search and those but it's not

27:54

about you actually is that about you

27:56

actually putting that material to use or

27:59

is it an archival project that

28:02

that you you expect never to use some of

28:05

that stuff but you want it in one form

28:07

no if I go through a presentation that

28:11

I've given in the past and I mean I

28:16

already have all of that stuff archived

28:17

it's all in my library it's all in

28:19

zotero so there is an archive of it and

28:23

I can find it and I can go through all

28:25

of that stuff really easily what I'm

28:27

trying to do is pull out pieces of

28:29

information that maybe I refer to

28:32

regularly or maybe I haven't thought

28:34

about it since I submitted my thesis

28:38

um but I want I want it to be useful and

28:42

you know I've got notes that I haven't

28:45

looked at so after I made these notes on

28:47

AI and Society I haven't looked at these

28:50

notes since I made them because

28:53

it's really difficult to go through you

28:56

know this long document and find

28:59

something useful because this is not

29:01

from a single Source this is all pulled

29:03

out from multiple sources but in reality

29:06

in I mean this is get better the Crux of

29:10

the issue with obsidian if you started

29:12

reading just the notes you got on

29:14

obsidian never mind the ones you've got

29:16

in Evernote and one note in zotero and

29:18

wherever else you've stored them over

29:19

the years

29:20

if you're anything like me you'll write

29:23

a lot of stuff all the time oh series

29:25

just wants to interject here hang on

29:27

let's shut that off

29:30

they'll be

29:31

millions of words of notes already in

29:34

there and of course every day that you

29:37

are using obsidian and writing more

29:39

notes

29:40

you would have to read 10 notes that

29:43

exist for every one that you write just

29:46

to get through them all

29:47

so the likelihood is

29:51

you will never read some of those notes

29:53

many of them perhaps most of them

29:56

so you're generating a ton of material

30:01

of which only the tiniest fraction

30:03

you're ever going to use and so I guess

30:05

obsidian helps in the sense that on the

30:09

one hand it would help you find the

30:11

stuff that you want in the moment much

30:13

faster more much more efficiently

30:16

than if you're just doing a hand draw

30:19

I get that

30:21

but there's an enormous amount of work

30:24

involved just on the off chance that

30:27

you're going to be wanting that note in

30:29

the future yeah it's worth it I mean

30:32

just to like go back to the Ingo and

30:34

Jason conversation there was a sentence

30:36

in there that struck me really strongly

30:37

that resonated very much with my kind of

30:39

state of mind about this

30:41

anger said to Jason this she was looking

30:43

at this rotating three-dimensional map

30:46

that he had of his vault for this Texas

30:48

review and she said it's beautiful to

30:51

look at wouldn't it be great if the

30:54

reviewers could just have that

30:56

and of course her point was similar to

30:59

me I think that

31:02

the kind of knowledge that's implied in

31:04

a Texas review is three-dimensional

31:07

you would want to review it to pursue a

31:10

link that goes in that direction or

31:12

possibly that direction or Texture in

31:13

that direction and to be able to then

31:15

track back and then go that way in this

31:17

way

31:18

of course that's not the document that

31:20

they ask for what they ask for is

31:22

section one is on standard one

31:25

how does the University

31:27

manage its governance to ensure the

31:30

quality of academic delivery

31:32

chapter two is about statement two so

31:36

she's saying

31:38

it's lovely to a point I think this is

31:41

what she's saying it's lovely to a point

31:43

but at some point you're going to have

31:45

to turn that three-dimensional map into

31:47

a two-dimensional document

31:49

and that's where I think a is all of

31:54

that work worth it

31:56

and B does obsidian just make the task

31:59

more difficult rather than making it

32:01

more straightforward yeah so I I

32:04

wouldn't use obsidian to create the kind

32:06

of documents that he's talking about

32:07

because that kind of document and that

32:10

kind of process in my opinion

32:13

is inherently hierarchical and very

32:16

structured obsidian is really good for

32:19

things that are unstructured like the

32:21

thoughts that bounce around in your head

32:23

and connect to other ideas

32:25

you know without you really thinking

32:28

about it too much so I think obsidian is

32:30

really valuable for that

32:31

I you I might write that other documents

32:34

using obsidian because you can still use

32:37

folders and separate notes and you can

32:38

still create links between the documents

32:40

so that it's easy to go from one to the

32:42

other but in that case it would be more

32:45

like a cross-referenced Word document

32:49

um and so obsidian can be used for that

32:51

kind of writing as well and I think just

32:53

using it as a plain text or markdown

32:57

writing editor works really well for

32:59

that so if I was going to write a long

33:01

structured hierarchical document that's

33:03

all about sections and chapters

33:05

I'd still use obsidian but the internal

33:08

links wouldn't be about connecting ideas

33:11

it would be about internal references so

33:13

if you want to see the policy documents

33:15

that this chapter is informed by well

33:17

then here's a link to that policy

33:19

document that might be worth doing

33:22

um but I was less enthusiastic about the

33:25

way that he's using it for that project

33:29

so if there was um this is a very binary

33:33

kind of image but on a line that goes

33:36

from fully creative Innovative

33:39

um messy thinking through to the kind of

33:43

productivity so creativity to

33:45

productivity at this end where

33:46

productivity is the most mundane

33:48

quotidian every day

33:51

much of the work we have to do in

33:52

Academia

33:53

um the actual production of an article

33:55

or production of a book or production of

33:57

a report or production of a class

34:00

schedule or something

34:01

would you say that obsidian for you sits

34:04

closer towards the creative messy end of

34:07

the scale

34:08

no it fits it fits in multiple places

34:11

that's why I have three votes

34:14

right so you have a vault for different

34:16

kinds of yeah so it like the create the

34:19

creativity side of things is my

34:20

commonplace fault and that's where I

34:22

dump ideas and that's where I'm trying

34:23

to extract information from things that

34:26

I've done in the past or I see a picture

34:28

or a cartoon I put all of that stuff in

34:30

there those are things that make me

34:32

happy and give me delight and you know

34:35

just the world is an interesting place

34:37

and I want to capture interesting things

34:39

about the world so a quote that I come

34:41

across I've got poems in there

34:43

you know it's just a place that

34:47

give me joy when I come across them

34:50

again and I may not have other

34:52

opportunities to come across them again

34:54

and so there's that part of it it's

34:55

common placing and that's why I like the

34:57

commonplace name for it

35:00

um

35:00

it's just this collection of things that

35:03

I think are wonderful in the world

35:06

um there are definitions and and that

35:08

sort of thing in there as well

35:10

um

35:11

but I'm in a very different mindset when

35:13

I'm working in that compared to when I'm

35:16

in a writing when I'm in the writing

35:18

Vault and both of those mindsets are

35:20

very different to where I'm at when I'm

35:23

in the daily notes fault when I'm in

35:25

Daily notes I'm in meetings I'm in

35:27

emails I mean the administrative part of

35:30

higher education and I spend most of my

35:32

day in my daily notes fault

35:35

unfortunately

35:36

but it's given me a structure and a way

35:39

of managing

35:41

what can sometimes feel like the

35:44

overwhelming chaos of everything that's

35:47

going on around me

35:48

in the part of my job that um

35:52

maybe is a little bit less structured so

35:55

my daily notes gives me structure and it

35:58

allows me to plan out my day plan out my

36:00

week plan out my month I set objectives

36:02

I allocate time to those objectives it's

36:06

as you say it's the mundane kind of

36:09

daily operational stuff that allows us

36:11

to make progress

36:13

um so that's my daily notes and I spend

36:15

a lot of time in Daily notes

36:17

but for about an hour a day

36:19

if I'm reading an article and I see a

36:22

passage that resonates with me I'll pull

36:24

out that Passage

36:25

in the whole article I might pull out

36:27

five passages Maybe

36:29

they resonate with me

36:31

I saw the article in zotero

36:34

and that's my library it's now there and

36:37

I take notes and but I may only pull out

36:40

five passages with a little bit of a

36:42

note about what those passages mean to

36:44

me

36:44

they may be completely disconnected from

36:47

what the auth from what the author meant

36:49

but when I read this it made me think of

36:51

this I pulled that into my commonplace

36:54

I put the quote reference it and then I

36:57

write a little thing when I read this it

36:59

made me think of this I'll link that to

37:01

other notes

37:03

it's a way of trying to for me

37:06

stimulate a creative process that I

37:10

don't feel when I'm writing when I'm

37:12

writing I'm trying to move an argument

37:14

from A to B sometimes I get stuck

37:17

sometimes I refer to the commonplace

37:20

but not always I'm actually mostly

37:21

referring to zotero because I'm looking

37:23

for support for arguments and I'm

37:25

getting that out of zotero so I'm using

37:28

excuse me so in

37:30

in Practical terms you do your writing

37:33

in a different app

37:36

it might as well be for the longest time

37:39

I did my writing in a different app so

37:41

that I kept it separate from

37:44

um you know the creativity the

37:46

operational stuff and I've used vs code

37:50

um to do quite a lot of writing in the

37:52

past as I say I've used Evernote simple

37:54

note

37:56

um and then I realized I just had this

37:58

app you know I can do the same thing in

38:01

obsidian and

38:04

with obsidian with a few keyboard

38:07

shortcuts I can strip away all the

38:09

Chrome so that it really is just a

38:10

cursor on a blank screen and that that's

38:13

what I'm going to be writing in I'm just

38:15

wondering you know where we go next

38:17

because I love this conversation it was

38:19

really cool

38:20

I I've already started looking around

38:22

for something that I can pull into

38:24

obsidian that's going to surface notes

38:26

for me

38:27

um

38:28

when I need it

38:30

I want you know you kind of touched on

38:33

this idea

38:34

um am I am I just recreating in obsidian

38:37

something that looks a little bit

38:39

prettier is maybe a little bit more

38:41

efficient than trawling through some of

38:44

my existing notes

38:46

I don't think it is and and maybe I

38:48

don't have a good reason for that but

38:50

I do know that when I saw obsidian I

38:53

felt like

38:54

I I saw the solution to a question that

38:57

I've been asking for more than 10 years

38:58

and

39:00

Jason said the same thing to me in the

39:02

podcast really

39:04

um yeah yeah yeah so for me it was you

39:08

know I I saw it and I thought my search

39:10

is over I've I've found the thing that

39:13

I've been looking for

39:15

maybe that says more about my

39:17

personality and my need to

39:20

gather things control things

39:23

um I I don't know

39:26

um but I I can definitely say that I I

39:30

feel a sense of of delight and joy when

39:34

I'm putting things into obsidian and it

39:37

triggers off sometimes a series of

39:40

connections that

39:43

maybe I would have had anyway

39:46

um but I really do find that I have

39:50

I feel this is I mean completely

39:52

subjective obviously but I feel like I

39:55

have come up with more creative ideas

39:57

since using obsidian

40:00

than before

40:02

and maybe the same would have been true

40:04

if I was making notes on a piece of

40:06

paper maybe it's not obsidian maybe it's

40:07

the fact that now I'm spending half an

40:10

hour to an hour a day

40:12

thinking about things maybe that's what

40:15

has led to me feeling like I've got more

40:18

creative ideas

40:20

but

40:22

for me there there has been enormous

40:24

value in in the process

40:28

well I've got one more offering for you

40:29

before we go

40:32

and

40:33

I've been away after I saw you but we

40:36

met in the UK I went to Italy as you

40:38

know

40:39

and I went I started working bologna

40:42

and in the bologna Museum of Modern Art

40:46

they had this

40:49

see this

40:50

uh yeah

40:53

so it's a 3D printed guy yeah and in

40:58

Bologna they have local slang for this

41:01

kind of thing it's called umalil

41:03

okay and it says on the box here

41:07

the hardest thing to do is to work hard

41:10

when nobody's watching you

41:12

so they have these like in probably most

41:16

cities men retirement in older men who

41:20

stand outside usually building sites

41:22

where the grill where the wire meshes

41:24

around the building site and they stand

41:25

there like this

41:29

and they look and they kind of comment

41:31

on the fact that they shouldn't be doing

41:33

it like that and they stand there for

41:35

hours

41:36

so this has been made as a 3D printed

41:38

thing increase your productivity with

41:40

your personal email just place it on

41:42

your desk and let him watch over you

41:45

that beautiful I love it I love it do

41:49

you know so I have my own personal email

41:52

I I love that I need one of those

41:54

because something one of the earliest

41:56

things that I put into obsidian was a

41:59

little quote

42:00

um

42:01

that uh

42:02

I just think about all the time it says

42:04

somewhere someone is working harder than

42:06

you

42:09

and I always think of that and I always

42:12

think ah damn it paranoia I need I need

42:15

to I need to do more I need to be better

42:18

yeah

42:20

Marx would be turning in his grave cool

42:26

all right if you have any other

42:27

questions about obsidian

42:30

come back to me I know where to come I I

42:33

enjoyed this conversation it was good

42:35

took us into different places

42:37

it certainly did

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Related Tags
ObsidianNote-takingCreativityProductivityWriting ProcessKnowledge ManagementAcademiaIdeas LinkingInfo OverloadStructured Writing
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