Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
organize data for research
dr_andus:
I want to gather data (text, rich text, diagrams, graphics, files, etc) and organize them for research purposes
I want to have a fully-featured text editor and rich text editor, a fully-featured diagram creator, a fully-featured table creator, a fully-featured graphics editor, a fully-featured file organizer, and all these inside an environment where I can organize in various ways (chapters, treeviews, etc) all that data
I lately figured out that there are some so-called desktop wiki programs, that seem interesting, do you know which is the best?
-kalos (November 04, 2012, 07:42 AM)
--- End quote ---
My first question would be: Why would you need to do all this within one software? Even if you find such a Swiss Army Knife of a software, chances are that at least some of its functions would be better performed by separate pieces of software anyway. It's just not possible to stay competitive in so many areas at the same time. Case in point: Mindsystems Amode 2 (which I like as a project manager but it also has most of the features you mention but which I have better software for).
As for desktop wiki programs, I haven't tried them all but the one that I did try I became a big fan of (using it on a daily basis for the research purposes that you describe) is ConnectedText. But with CT you only import text materials into the actual database, everything else (files, images, programs etc.) are linked to and kept externally, though they will be displayed within the CT document itself. To get started with CT, check out some reviews, tips and tutorials by Steve Zeoli, Manfred Kuehn, and yours truly.
dr_andus:
As for desktop wiki programs, I haven't tried them all but the one that I did try I became a big fan of (using it on a daily basis for the research purposes that you describe) is ConnectedText. But with CT you only import text materials into the actual database, everything else (files, images, programs etc.) are linked to and kept externally, though they will be displayed within the CT document itself. To get started with CT, check out some reviews, tips and tutorials by Steve Zeoli, Manfred Kuehn, and yours truly.
-dr_andus (November 05, 2012, 01:10 PM)
--- End quote ---
But I should add that working in a wiki requires a shift in mindset if you've been used to hierarchical organisation and WYSIWYG type editors. If a tree view and a single editing pane are essential, then I would also suggest hierarchical PIMs like Ultra Recall and myInfo or databases such as InfoQube, myBase or Brilliant Database.
kalos:
I want to gather data (text, rich text, diagrams, graphics, files, etc) and organize them for research purposes
I want to have a fully-featured text editor and rich text editor, a fully-featured diagram creator, a fully-featured table creator, a fully-featured graphics editor, a fully-featured file organizer, and all these inside an environment where I can organize in various ways (chapters, treeviews, etc) all that data
I lately figured out that there are some so-called desktop wiki programs, that seem interesting, do you know which is the best?
-kalos (November 04, 2012, 07:42 AM)
--- End quote ---
My first question would be: Why would you need to do all this within one software? Even if you find such a Swiss Army Knife of a software, chances are that at least some of its functions would be better performed by separate pieces of software anyway. It's just not possible to stay competitive in so many areas at the same time. Case in point: Mindsystems Amode 2 (which I like as a project manager but it also has most of the features you mention but which I have better software for).
As for desktop wiki programs, I haven't tried them all but the one that I did try I became a big fan of (using it on a daily basis for the research purposes that you describe) is ConnectedText. But with CT you only import text materials into the actual database, everything else (files, images, programs etc.) are linked to and kept externally, though they will be displayed within the CT document itself. To get started with CT, check out some reviews, tips and tutorials by Steve Zeoli, Manfred Kuehn, and yours truly.
-dr_andus (November 05, 2012, 01:10 PM)
--- End quote ---
dr. i am amazed by your work at your blog
i would be very interested if we could sit down and put together all the features we would like in a knowledge software and try to create it
for instance, i wouldnt settle for less that MS Word's capabilities for rich text editing, EmEditor's capabilities for plain text editing, and so on
but a single application is something essential, because we need a file format that will support all these
isn't html or xml or something like that, a format that can handle almost anything? ie. it can both display and be edited by numerous applications, MS Word, plain text, it can display embeded pdf with a pdf editing plugin, etc
dr_andus:
dr. i am amazed by your work at your blog
for instance, i wouldnt settle for less that MS Word's capabilities for rich text editing, EmEditor's capabilities for plain text editing, and so on
but a single application is something essential, because we need a file format that will support all these
isn't html or xml or something like that, a format that can handle almost anything? ie. it can both display and be edited by numerous applications, MS Word, plain text, it can display embeded pdf with a pdf editing plugin, etc
-kalos (November 05, 2012, 01:59 PM)
--- End quote ---
Thanks for the kind words :)
I do think that the more widely used PIMs can do a lot of what you're asking. Check out Ultra Recall, myInfo, RightNote, Notecase Pro, InfoSelect, Zoot etc. These are regularly discussed at OutlinerSoftware.com, just do a search for each, and you will find even more.
However, I am a wiki convert. Once you have masses of information in a traditional PIM, the hierarchical tree can get in the way of understanding (remembering, being able to visualise) what's in the database.
Yes, wikis are the closest to the universal html/xml file format and you can organise everything in a wiki, it's just that the linked files will not be part of the actual wiki files but remain external. There are programs that bring everything in (like NVivo), but it definitely affects the performance of the software. While with CT you can have 1000s of documents in a single project file and it still runs fast because it's all just text. You can still view your images within the wiki page and view PDFs in the internal browser. It's just technically not part of the wiki project file.
rgdot:
I have no connection of any kind to it but have enjoyed TreeProjects a lot, it's also mentioned a few times on OutlinerSoftware.com. It is a good option in my opinion.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version