Thread by @artpi

I have started to build an alternative, visual interface for my @evernote notes.
I have about 3800 quality observations. There are layers of connections that can spark new insights between them.
So, in a true Artur fashion, I have kicked off my yearly review by building an app.

@evernote What @RoamResearch ( roamresearch.com ) is doing looks great, but Roam itself lacks certain features that are essential to me - mainly offline.

@evernote @RoamResearch The feature that is most appealing to me is graphs of note connections. I mean this:

https://twitter.com/visakanv/status/1208418432565178368

@evernote @RoamResearch It dawned on me that I can build an app that:
- hooks into local @evernote data from my OSX app
- Pulls all the notes
- Searches for NOTE TITLE inside all other notes
- Presents a graph of connections between them

@evernote @RoamResearch I present to you "NoteXplorer" for Evernote. Obv, work in progress, but pretty good for a 2-day hack

@evernote @RoamResearch Obviously, my graphing needs work. Relying on note titles instead of specific relationships is bound to introduce some noise, but I am blown away how cool visual interface for my notes is.

@evernote @RoamResearch Since my Evernote doubles as a GTD system and a Journaling system, there are connections like this:
These are journal entries referencing my "Packing List" note. Clearly, I must have packed for something on these days

@evernote @RoamResearch I had to introduce a button to delete nodes. Some terms are very heavily mentioned and others are mentioning a lot - introducing noise.
Case in point: my "The one thing" note where I summarize articles I read in 1 bulletpoint. It references a lot and sadly, has to go.

@evernote @RoamResearch For some reason, "Tony Robbins" is introducing lots of noise also.
Ah! Color!
Not(d)es from the same notebook have the same color of nodes.

@evernote @RoamResearch Thinking now about "EverNoDe" or "Nodebook" as names for this thing. I think the first is breaking some kind of Evernote brand guidelines or sth.

@evernote @RoamResearch "Health Plan" is it's own constellation, which is a very fitting discovery for New Years :)

@evernote @RoamResearch Now, on "Node Click" I have to open a new window with:
- Note overview
- Notes referencing this note
- What notes does this note reference
- Button to "hide" the note if it's introducing noise

@evernote @RoamResearch The issue is that a lot of nodes are introducing noise. So I built a menu to remove whole notebooks.
I have invoices, etc, etc. I don't want them to pollute my graph.

@evernote @RoamResearch I have built a menu to remove those notebooks.
But it's not easy - when you remove a node, what about neighbors?
If you remove node's only connection, should you remove it too?
I decided to remove these 'orphans' too.
Sounds like Graph Theory should be a discipline 🤔

@evernote @RoamResearch I added options to save / open data, because well, playing with this takes time.

@evernote @RoamResearch There is value here:

@evernote @RoamResearch I have to admit, the graph-drawing thing is a pain. The algorithm that will lay it out in an understandable way is really tedious. I am using fantastic cytoscape.js library, but it's for drawing protein and it has it's limitations :D

@evernote @RoamResearch I made the nodes with more connections bigger, making it easy to spot "superconnectors"

@evernote @RoamResearch I think we're getting pretty close to open-sourcing V1
Feedback very appreciated - especially on the color scheme, logo and fonts.

@evernote @RoamResearch Here is v0.1.0 for your enjoyment and criticism. Feedback appreciated :)

nodebook.deliber.at