The New[ish] Kid on the Block

-

I've written previously about potential systems and methods to assist in my continued learning and blogging processes, and that for the most part they remain untouched and unused. This is partly due to  shortcomings in the systems/processes themselves, and partly - probably mostly - due to my tendency to rely on a motley mixture of analogue and digital, online and offline stuff in a frankly ad hoc, pretty random kind of way: I have a messy mind to match the state of my desk [ for which, as it's winter, read dining table ].

My latest foray into such territory is a piece of software I've looked at many times before, but from which I was almost immediately turned off of at first look: Obsidian. This is free, runs on all main operating systems; Windows, MacOs, Linux, etc., as well as having mobile versions available, but it always struck me as as too obscure in its operation for my liking. As with all of these situations, my go-to is to find someone on YouTube to glean some instruction from and clarify things. Today, I found an introductory series of videos by an American writer and blogger on the subject of Obsidian, which turned out to be very easy to follow, and dived - or as the Americans will have it, dove - in.

It's certainly has very impressive note-taking, collating and linking capabilities, and runs entirely locally on your device, or devices, if networked, and does not require remote hosting or storage. This capability is available if required, however, and will sync with all the usual suspects such as your DropBox account should you have one. The power of the thing starts to open up as you put stuff into it: its total blank canvas at the outset is pretty daunting - a bit like a physical canvas to a painter, you settle into its emerging ethos with each mark you make - but therein lies its beauty and power. How far I go with this one remains to be seen, as it will have to co-exist with the myriad notebooks, scraps of paper and printouts that form the body of my current modus operandi. As always, I'll keep you posted...

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Of Feedback & Wobbles

-
Image
Many years ago I came up with an analogy for poorly damped feedback loops. The feedback loop that prompted this frankly tart analogy was indeed a horror. Anyone who remembers shame-faced their first attempts at clutch control resulting in the good old kangaroo launch across the lights only to stall in the middle of the crossroads will have some idea of the kind of data transfer lag involved in said system. The analogy I made was that of a large blancmange. Untouched, a model of stasis and eminently stable and predictable; but prod the bugger and the resultant chaotic behaviour needs a very complex physical model and some very decent computing horsepower to predict its outputs, if at all. The system in question was a large and complex audio-visual display at what eventually became 'The Electric Mountain' in Llanberis. We were ultimately contracted to maintain the thing having been witness to and peripherally involved in its installation. Certainly not involved in its des...
Read more

A Time of Connection

-
Image
I was just reflecting on the vacuum of continuity that's left behind when someone dies: that sudden sense of disjoint, of fracture, in one's personal history that takes one completely by surprise at the oddest moments. These pinch-points in memory can often yield some surprising revelations of fact about periods in one's past. One such occurred to me tonight, tending my rather lazy meal of pizza in its journey from shrink-wrap to mouth via the oven. Al's recent demise still catches me out from time to time: the space he left bounded by forty plus years of friendship. But the thing that struck me tonight was just how much change was happening on a personal and social level in the very early years of our acquaintance. Between moving here from Birmingham in September 1980 and our buying our first proper house eighteen months later, all manner of things occurred that would chart the course of our lives to the present day. At around the time of our meeting Alan & Irene [...
Read more

Sister Ray

-
Image
Ray Keats - aka Ann Key - local artist & family friend, died this morning. She'd been ill for some years, but never let it get in the way of her work or of tending to the massive network of friends, colleagues and fans she had accumulated over the decades. Her house on the High Street of Rachub, just below where we live - a former cockle factory(!) - bought many years ago when she and her late husband Ronald moved here from Manchester to set up home in Yr Achub, is currently still home to her paintings and drawings, and the front window displays her work, including the last drawing she made in hospital, just days before she died. Her good friend Colin has been a diamond in her latter years, looking out for her and just being there when she needed him. She will be much missed by this tiny community of ageing bohemians up here in the hills, but suffice it to say, George, her cat, will be well looked after now she's gone.
Read more