{ claus.conrad }

Personal knowledge management tools and methodologies

📅 Oct 24, 2021
2 minutes

I am looking into organizing my notes in a better way, here is a collection of the tools and related methodologies I have come across so far.

Hierarchical knowledge silos

Strengths

  • Easy to get started; user-friendly, intuitive UX
  • Built-in synchronization
  • Freemium

Weaknesses

  • Hard to get data out (proprietary XML etc.)
  • Do not impose/enforce structured note taking

Examples

  • Microsoft OneNote (for Windows 10+, for Office 365/2019+)
    • Proprietary software and storage format
    • Limited API available (Office version only)
    • Primary copy stored in the cloud (OneDrive or SharePoint)
    • Collaborate on “Notebook” level
  • Evernote
    • Proprietary software and storage format
  • Atlassian Confluence
    • Proprietary software and storage format
    • Collaborate on “Space” or “Page” (item) level
  • Microsoft SharePoint
    • Proprietary software and storage format
    • Collaborate on “Space” or “Page” (item) level
  • Google Keep
    • Proprietary software and storage format
    • Stored in the cloud (only)

Graph-based knowledge silos

Examples

Local-first, graph-based knowledge management apps

Usual features

  • Notes often stored locally in a non-XML text format (Markdown etc.)
  • Graph-based navigation (links, tags)
  • Block references

Examples

Methodologies