Writing by hand also lets me /think/ better.
I don't have to change tools to draw a shape or change the layout. I have a thought, and my hand creates some visual representation of that thought. There's no middle step.
Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
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Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#92I personally find taking notes at all distracts me from retaining information during a meeting or lecture. The notes are useful for reviewing afterwards, but my best strategy is to just be fully focused in the meeting/lecture, and have someone else take notes that I can review later.
Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#93maybe typing _slowly_ works the same way ?
Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#94I can attest to this and took all of my notes on paper in college. However, once I started a real job I realized that this strategy doesn't scale to all situations. In college, I needed to be able to recall all of the information I had ingested: it was low-write, high-read. In the workplace, there's much more information, but I'm unlikely to need most of it: it's high-write, low-read. I need to be able to reference t…
I used Confluence which is excellent for inputting data, but the search functionality is abysmal.
Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#95I can attest to this and took all of my notes on paper in college. However, once I started a real job I realized that this strategy doesn't scale to all situations. In college, I needed to be able to recall all of the information I had ingested: it was low-write, high-read. In the workplace, there's much more information, but I'm unlikely to need most of it: it's high-write, low-read. I need to be able to reference t…
It's come to the point almost the opposite is the case: I actively try not to remember most information but try to make sure it's registered somewhere as plain text so that I can find it easily should I need it. People are surprised I can answer them so quickly when they ask about some trifle from last year - but it's only because I managed to register it (e.g. by refusing to proceed on the basis of an oral request and asking them to write an email instead).
Moreover, I choose what to remember very carefully as it's something that also influences my personality.
Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#96Earlier quoted context omitted.
I actually lost the ability to write after a small stroke. Comes out as nonsense. Can still type at 80wpm just fine. Apparently different parts of the brain.
How interesting! Have you done any experiments to try to identify the “line” between the two skills? For example, can you write individual letters in isolation? Like a single letter “T” by itself? And can you still draw shapes? (Like a circle? Which is basically an “O”.) If so can you draw a series of shapes? A circle, a square, and a triangle? Have you tried writing words with your non-dominant hand? It won’t look v…
I can write for about 10-30 seconds. Then characters turn to scribbles. If I’m insanely slow and careful I can last a minute or so. It has improved in the last few years.
I was a minor artist before. I could still draw mostly fine even at my worst.
Work stuff was weird. If A bug report came in I could find the root issue faster then most anyone. But I could no longer solve the problem. Even if was totally trivial.
Got by mostly by helping other people find out what was wrong with code.
Thankfully I’m getting close to my old ability to write code.
Brains are weird
Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#97I can attest to this and took all of my notes on paper in college. However, once I started a real job I realized that this strategy doesn't scale to all situations. In college, I needed to be able to recall all of the information I had ingested: it was low-write, high-read. In the workplace, there's much more information, but I'm unlikely to need most of it: it's high-write, low-read. I need to be able to reference t…
What are you using the host your wiki and write markdown? I'm looking at self-hosting a similar system.
It might not be exactly what you need, but I use Zim for this purpose.
Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#98I'm looking into buying a iPad with a pencil for better organizing my work and personal notes with added searchability. The only thing I'm afraid off, as I have ADHD and as a result trouble learning/retaining information, is that the iPad + pencil won't have the same effect as pen and paper. Anyone made the switch from paper to iPad and can't share their experience?
I tried to switch but I never use it anymore. There's a weird... I don't know, almost burden to it.
Pen and paper is always on, always available. The interface is completely blank and unassuming. You have a page, you have a writing utensil. Text is always visible, nothing needs charged, there's a pleasant tactile sensation, minimal noise.
On the iPad, you have to turn it on. Launch the application. Navigate to the right notebook or page or whatever. (Unless you use Notes, maybe, and there's a double tap to launch option) There are ambiguous icons everywhere. Sometimes palm rejection doesn't work and you zoom, move the page, or mark on the page. There's a bright backlight, distracting notifications, the sound of the pencil tapping on the glass. It doesn't lie flat without a case. It all just feels very unnatural to me. I never got used to it.
Of course there are benefits. Optical character recognition for instant search, backups, unlimited 'paper', multiple notebooks in one thin place.
Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#99Is it just me or do dribble and enjin seem to yield positive results for (almost) any name, however returning broken links?
Re: Writing by hand is still the best way to retain information
#100I just want to add a gigantic caveat: NOT FOR EVERYBODY. I know a lot of people who insist writing by hand helps them. But I also know it's TERRIBLE for me personally. The article claims: > Writing by hand on paper creates a tactile, personalized experience... The complex experience of hand writing on paper contains a multitude of variable elements: the creativity of an individual’s written representation of language…
Agreed. IMO, the real crux is whether you have the inclination to write down what you're taking notes on verbatim. In fact, I think it comes down to one of the following:
1. If you have an inclination to write things down verbatim, which tool/method is slow enough to force you to paraphrase?
2. If you don't have such an inclination and already tend to paraphrase, which has the least cognitive load in using? Not which engages the most senses or motor skills.
Once you develop a habit of putting what you're taking notes on into your own words, you can move from 1 to 2. However, I think most people have the inclination of 1 and tend to fall back to it when they move to 2.
Because I'm one of those people, handwriting was the best method for me for a long time, until I started my master's program where all the professors have either put out a list of learning objectives at the beginning of the course or at beginning of each lecture/unit. Now, I type my notes. I form those learning objectives as questions and try to answer them as I take notes. Outside of classes, I list the objectives of the meeting/research as questions, adding new questions as they come up, and trying to answer them.
This method has been more effective than anything else I've done and typing is really the only way to do it fast enough for me.