#06: Designing digital ecosystems
Building a diverse ecosystem of notes deeply interlinked with one another
Hi there! I’m Mike Tannenbaum, the human behind this letter. You are receiving this email because you subscribed to updates at https://refinedmind.co. The Refined Mind is a bi-weekly review of public notes and ideas in progress. If you were forwarded this email, go grab your own!
Hi friends!
What a start to the year.
After 6 months as my daughter’s primary caregiver I am just now wrapping up my first week back at work. Oh how good it feels to feel my neurons firing again! 6 months of mostly baby and dog conversations can really mess up your thought patterns 😂
As such, I’ve gotten right to work with updating The Refined Mind to be more in line with the vision I have for the site. You’ll see all the updates below, but the tl;dr is:
Dark Mode (!!)
Bear is out, Obsidian is in
Recent updates on the changelog now include excerpts from each note. I’d welcome feedback on whether it’s better or worse than the bullet lists I’ve sent in past issues.
Alrighty that’s what I’ve got for you today! Enjoy the notes below.
If anything speaks to you please feel free to reply to this email or comment on Twitter.
‘Til next time,
Mike Tannenbaum | The Refined Mind
2021-01-19 — Obsidian, Roam Research, and note updates
Added
Obsidian is for tending my digital garden
The tool is designed for and automatically connects notes with one another to help you build out your web of thinking by writing similarly to how we think: non-linearly.
Newsletter signup form on notes pages
Updated
Renamed My new design system to my digital ecosystem and totally reworked the note
After much experimentation and exploration of new practices and tools, I’ve made significant improvements to my learning and knowledge management system. It’s considered a work in progress, however, as it’s always being iterated on and improved as my needs evolve and change.
Added products I love to Tools for managing information overload and improving how we think are on the rise
These tools can help you go from idea capture to new thing created if you use them effectively.
Renamed “How to take smart notes” to “How I take smart notes” because I can only share what works for me, not what others should do
Taking notes is about collecting information and ideas in this moment, and making them available for our future selves to act upon. We’re seeding ideas now and helping them grow stronger as we explore and learn new things.
Drafts is for immediate note capture and works in progress
Instead of having a thought and then thinking “where do I want to put this?”—and then having to think about what app to open, the only concern is immediately capturing the thought. BAM. done.
Evernote is for long-term storage
The content in Evernote is interacted with less frequently, but is housed in a trustworthy place. It’s a great place to store things that need to be recalled on occasion but aren’t interacted with regularly.
2021-01-10 — Rethinking education models
Added
Sitting at desks in classrooms with teachers is no longer the optimal model to prepare children to thrive in their futures. Coaching, mentoring, and foundational life skill courses are necessary for helping kids do their best.