databases for note-taking with semantic search, and bibliographical metadata - Devonthink pro, and equiv on PC?

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Note: This message is from the outliners.com archive kindly provided by Dave Winer.

Outliners.com Message ID: 4327

Posted by talazem
2005-10-23 17:44:57

I recently came across an blog entry from earlier in the year by Steven Johnson about Devonthink Pro (http://www.stevenberlinjohnson.com/movabletype/archives/000230.html), and its usage as a good database for notes (such as one would take while reading books, etc.). He praises it due to a feature by which the bigger the database becomes, the better the searching therein becomes, because of its ability to not only do normal word-for-word searches, but also associative semantic searches (in which words with similar meanings, or word associations), which are also found/recommended .

I personally have been looking for the ideal program in which to store my notes and snippets (as well as other electronic material), that would have such a search ability. From readersí experience here, does Devonthink do it for you? And ñ since my only mac access is through the PearPC emulator which is too slow for heavy use ñ is there any equivalent on the PC?

My dream program would be one that could interface with a bibliographical database program (e.g. EndNote, Bibtex, etc.), or have its own, such that when notes are taken about a particular book, the material is necessarily given the metadata of that book (publisher, year, etc), in addition to the page number from which the notes were lifted from the book. Thus, if one then used this ìchunk of textî (quote or paraphrase) from the database, and put it into a word processor, all the bibliographical info necessary would be at oneís fingertips, either automatic (like EndNote tries to do with word), or manual; the important thing is that the quote is safely linked with its bibliographical data, such that one neednít reinput the bibliographical data into every single individual note out of fear that the note would be lost from its biblio data. Just entering notes into the notes pane in Endnotes, for ex., doesnít cut it; the digital equivalent of individual chunks of notes on individual note-cards is what Iím envisioning,

Due to the nature of my academic research, I need unicode support, to use non-latin languages. I assume the Orbis feature of Nota Bene would do this, but it doesnít support unicode and most non-latin fonts, so itís a no-go.

I have been using Onfolio as my database for my notes (which I have just been taking in Word) & other clippings & files, but it doesnít have the semantic search, nor the bibliographical abilities I mentioned, though the recent academic edition does have a level of interface w/ Endnote for things taken off of the net.

Anything else on PC, or otherwise?

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