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Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

nototo.app

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Re: Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

#111

Post by ryugarden »

juliend2 wrote: post #12
danicgross wrote: post #9

This is very cool. Relatedly: I often run while listening to podcasts. When I do, I remember much more of the material. And when I revisit certain blocks around the neighborhood, I find myself recalling what I heard during the run. The spacial encoding of memories seems very potent and under-investigated.

It's called the Method of loci: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci Another term for that is the "memory palace". BTW, I wonder if anyone here in HN used it to learn significant things using this method?

I once memorized 200 digits of pi when I had nothing more fun to do on a long boring lecture. Sherlock popped into my mind, so I imagined a journey through my house where I chunked numbers to make them represent certain things or people, and me interacting or talking with them, like in a story of some sort. But it feels like I never applied this method to anything significant, apart from memorizing a few things from my biochemistry course. Although now I remember credit card numbers, every single phone number of my friends and family (by associating numbers with particular facial features or character traits), and some other things. I would say before that day I never fully realized just how much I actually like to memorize stuff like words and numbers. Anyway, I think everyone should give it a try, this is fun.

Re: Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

#112

Post by whiddershins »

chenxi9649 wrote: post #11

Hey! I'm actually one of the makers of Nototo. I'm quite surprised to find my own project trending on HackerNews! If anyone has questions feel free to ask me here! or at chen@nototo.app

I guess my concern is that my mental map isn’t private and I don’t have a backup of the data that I control.

Edit: I would happily pay for something like this if it worked well and addressed above concerns.

Edit2: I’m going to try it anyway.

Re: Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

#113

Post by citruscomputing »

cookingrobot wrote: post #31

Since this seems tailored for remembering content, it might be nice if you published some content in this format rather than just having it be a blank note-taking tool. For ex, let people explore a world that represents a biology textbook, or drivers-ed manual, or something else that commonly needs to be studied & memorized.

I think an example or two would be nice, but much like spaced repetition, I'd guess a lot of the value comes from building the material yourself.

Re: Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

#115

Post by tkainrad »

Cool idea! "Unfortunately", I have grown too accustomed to Notion's usability feautures (e.g. markdown, slash commands, organizing in databases) to switch apps again.

I think it would be cool to visualize notes of other apps (Notion, Evernote, ...) with maps via APIs. Maybe even automated somehow.

If you are interested in reading more about knowledge management in a software engineering context, you might like my blog post: https://tkainrad.dev/posts/managing-my-personal-knowledge-ba...

Re: Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

#116

Post by masukomi »

I love the idea. My concern is that it's _so_ specialized that when the developers eventually stop working on it, or paying for the servers, I'm going to be screwed.

I feel that apps like this can be incredibly useful but ultimately, if they work for you, you'll spend years shoving data into them only to have it lost the moment the site shuts down, or in the case of desktop apps, the app stops working with the latest OS upgrade.

If it was open source and I could host it myself I'd _seriously_ consider using it.

Re: Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

#117

Post by DonHopkins »

juliend2 wrote: post #12
danicgross wrote: post #9

This is very cool. Relatedly: I often run while listening to podcasts. When I do, I remember much more of the material. And when I revisit certain blocks around the neighborhood, I find myself recalling what I heard during the run. The spacial encoding of memories seems very potent and under-investigated.

It's called the Method of loci: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Method_of_loci Another term for that is the "memory palace". BTW, I wonder if anyone here in HN used it to learn significant things using this method?

I visualize and remember code that way. For me, it's hard to forget somewhere I've been, even if I only imagined being there.

Each function is a little building like an office or a shop, which has a sign out front telling what services or products it sells, and contains everything inside you need to solve some kind of problem or produce some kind of product or service (where equipment in the room is like references to other objects and functions and imported libraries).

You're standing behind the front counter, just about to receive a customer though the front entrance door with the parameters you need for one particular instance of that problem.

You go into the back room, solve the problem, then deliver the results out the exit door at the back of the building (or through any of the other earlier emergency exits, if you had to exit prematurely or throw an error and run away).

The front/back flow is a metaphor for the top/bottom flow of control through a function.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nassi%E2%80%93Shneiderman_diag...

If you squint you can see the example Nassi-Shneiderman diagram in that article as a map of a building, with its front at the top, and exit at the bottom.

You can have internal hallways and rooms for branches and loops, like a Nassi-Shneiderman diagram. The "Sub to Determine Wiki-Article" room is like the front entrance lobby of a theater where buy your ticket. The "Select Favourite Genre" room is like the stage of The Price is Right, and you get to pick what's behind door #1 (History), #2 (Science), or # (Geography), or else choose Other. They each have one or two rooms behind them with your rewards, and then they all finally exit out to the same back stage loading dock, where you take your wonderful prize (or consolation donkey) home.

Re: Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

#118

Post by karthikpaga »

Very creative approach. There are flavors of abstraction of information The spatial visuals / artifacts are definitely helpful.

Much more relevant and sustainable than logs of notes.

It's pretty interesting that people remember much more about their own Minecraft creation than their notes/ tasks. This balanced approach is very interesting! Cause of concern: business/ pricing model.

Re: Nototo – Build a unified mental map of notes

#119

Post by glup »

masukomi wrote: post #116

I love the idea. My concern is that it's _so_ specialized that when the developers eventually stop working on it, or paying for the servers, I'm going to be screwed. I feel that apps like this can be incredibly useful but ultimately, if they work for you, you'll spend years shoving data into them only to have it lost the moment the site shuts down, or in the case of desktop apps, the app stops working with the latest…

Exactly the same thought here: I absolutely love the idea, but my first and most important criterion for a note taking app is that it doesn't have vendor lock-in. Even if the display code is proprietary, I want access to the underlying data. Also I want a version that works offline.
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