Discourse map!

Posted by Lucas
Nov 16, 2022 at 07:54 PM

Yes, the Discourse Graph tool for Roam is interesting as a type of concept mapping tool. I was delighted to notice recently that the developer put out a survey implying he plans to continue developing it. For concept mapping I currently use a variety of tools:

- InfoQube (“Surface” view)
- linkfacts.link
- stemic.app
- Flying Logic
- CmapTools (a bit outdated but still unparalleled in certain regards)

My ideal is to be able to outline ideas moving back and forth between an editable outliner mode and an editable concept-map mode. (Mind maps, which limit items to one parent, are too limiting for me.) Most tools which offer both types of views offer editing in only one of them. InfoQube is the only tool I’ve found that current allows editing in both modes in a usable way, although linkfacts.link does have a quasi-outliner mode, and TheBrain does something vaguely similar as well.

I am hopeful that the Roam Discourse Graph tool could be enhanced to allow easy editing in both regular Roam outline mode and in the special map mode.

(From what I gather, the coming Obsidian tool will be more like Heptabase, Scrintal, and Tinderbox, which offer a canvas for mapping relations between notes, but not for drilling down into greater granularity within notes. It’s a bit like the difference between two-pane and one-pane outlining, the former being for a more macro-level of outlining, the latter being conducive to micro-level outlining.)