For a moment I was tempted to install NextCloud on my laptop today, on a whim to see if I could use a local instance for note taking. Both as a step away from Evernote, as well as to strengthen my digital garden. Then I checked myself, and realised I need to think about my process and needs first, not think in terms of tools. Over the past weeks exploring posts and discussions about note taking and digital gardening, I noticed how much of it is focused on tools, and how little on envisioned or existing workflow, process or intended effect.
So I should take my own advice in the first of three follow-ups in a recent conversation on wikis, and look at my information strategy first. Starting from this 2005 image and posting about filtering:
If after such an exercise I conclude that running a local (non-cloud) instance of NextCloud makes sense, it will be early enough to install it.
As much as I’m a fanboy of Nextcloud, it wouldn’t be my notetaking tool of choice. Yes, it has a notes app, but that’s a thin veneer of bare-bones text editor over a loose collection of files. There’s no interlinking, no content besides text. I tried, and I couldn’t make it work. If you want to go this route, especially hosted on a non-public place, I’d stick with the loose text files, as it’s far less overhead.
Since it’s Evernote you’re getting away from, and not necessarily a wiki you’re running *to*, how about something like Joplin? That’s far closer to Evernote, you can link to other notes.
Of course, it all depends on the workflow, as you already mentioned, so maybe I shouldn’t wave $RANDOM_TOOL in your face to distract you from getting a clear view of that, first. π
Yes, you’re probably right on all three points π
I have Joplin installed since a while, but haven’t explored it much yet. Currently for ‘wiki’ style notes I use a local wordpress instance I already used for journaling. There I use pages for wiki (and webmention for two-way linking), and blogposts for journaling. I started keeping daily logs some weeks ago, and I noticed how it more easily spins off public blogposts and wikipages with info, snippets and pointers. Doing that made me realise that I need to look at my own motivations and needs more, before trying to tweak the toolset. It sort-of works as is, but what is it I am trying to accomplish in the first place?
The “motivations and needs” bit certainly is important.
For me, that’d rule out anything I’d have to run, even if locally, before I can access the data. Running a full web stack for some personal / local storage would feel a bit “weird” to me – but then again, my needs are mine. For me, cross-device without needing to set up is a big need, so that means that whatever tool I use, needs to store its data in plain text somewhere.
Funny thing how different people have such different wildly outlooks, when you think of it.
For what it’s worth, I use the Notes app in Nextcloud, and I like it. It does have some limitations, as Max says, but it does support Markdown relatively well, and it does what I need to have it do.
I’ve had considerable success otherwise in using the Reminders app on my Mac, synced to Nextcloud, for some of the things I formerly used Evernote for: when I have a new bill to pay, for example, I have an Applescript set up that creates a new Reminder, with a link to the PDF of the bill.
Oh, I certainly have a use for Notes, especially for the things that I absolutely need to be able to access, No Matter What. Since it’s simply a directory structure with some markdown files in them, which is synced across a couple of computers and a phone, by the time I lose access to all of them, my biggest problem won’t be the notes. π
Stephen Downes describes his routine for exploring and learning, and the role of his blog in that. Useful description to feed my own thoughts on my routines w.r.t. digital gardening.
Bookmarked Where Do Blog Post Ideas Come From? ~ Stephen Downes
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