Knowledge Management Apps with Robust Web Versions

Posted by nathanb
Oct 24, 2024 at 06:43 PM

I second Lucas here. I also went through this dilemma at work where I couldn’t use my preferred Obsidian or Logseq. I don’t know why RemNote doesn’t get more recognition. It’s fantastic. Maybe the focus on Spaced Repetition has pigeonholed them as something that’s only for students. If you completely ignore the SR, it competes strongly with all the modern PKM platforms (Tana, Roam, Capacities, etc).

However, I’ve recently realized how powerful Spaced Repetition is as part of a PKM and my life in general. Relying too heavily on a 2nd brain removes too many things from your mental RAM. There’s huge value in cementing key facts, ideas, intentions etc in your head. It can help save us from our own nerd spirals.

I’ve been expanding Spaced Repetition beyond learning technical facts and concepts to…well…everything… and have finally regained traction again after getting lost in the sauce of pkm indecision for years.

Examples of my non-traditional SR Cards:
-Our neighbor kids names
-My middle child’s fav color/desert
-that one really good joke
-another really good joke
-old quote to live by
-new quote to live by
-All the goddam jargon at work
-your coworker’s favorite kind of donut
-remember you decided to stretch your calves three times a day, is that going well? (if you answer ‘no’ it’ll keep nudging you, if yes then it reminds you in a month or whatever. Awesome way to build and break habits)
-when is the last time you rode your bike, it makes you feel good
-are you still holding your breath a lot without noticing?
-why do we specify that particular kind of stainless steel in this plant and not the other kind?
- keyboard shortcuts
-if your daughter is in a bad mood it’s very likely that she’s hangry, offer her a snack before engaging

It’s especially helpful for locking in the ARBITRARY decisions in your life that you tend to continuously overthink and re-invent.

Example:

-“when i have maintenance done on our cars, I scan the receipt/report to {X} and update the log {here}”

And here’s the beautiful thing about RemNote. That arbitrary decision about my car maintenance records lives inside that note where I see all the arguing with my past selves and why I’ve decided on this path. So when that card pops up I either think “yep that still makes sense” and don’t see it for another long while or think “wait, that’s dumb, wouldn’t Y enable me to automatically blah blah…..”

....That’s the moment where I usually sabotage myself by being a degenerate CRIMPer and fork my notes in favor of the new hotness. The interrupt of this angsty cycle is being able to click on that spaced repetition card to see it in full context. Then you see the note to yourself from a year ago where you had the exact same brilliant idea as you do right now but decided against because [pretty good reason that’s still valid]. Then you go “oh right, yeah this still makes sense”, set the card to remind you a little sooner and save yourself from letting such a low-value workflow steal too many brain cycles again.

Obviously nobody needs SR to internalize such trivial idiosyncratic minutiae. You just need to review your notes right? You got your “wife’s favorite thing page”, your “car maintenance notes”, your favorite quotes etc. Just set a reminder to do regular reviews, right? Well one of my degeneracies is I NEVER review my old notes unless they are active and urgent projects. There’s reasons for that but it’s my reality. I’ll angrily dismiss any reminder to review something because future me is never in the mood to review non-urgent fyi’s just because younger me scheduled it.

Instead, slipping that stuff into my Spaced Repetition decks guarantees the reviews I’ve always intended to do. It’s easy to pop open a deck a few times a day and go through some flashcards. Its kind of fun how random it can be. I had forgotten how powerful my brain actually is and how fast I can now “lock-in” things that used to slip away. It’s a momentum-building feedback loop.

I don’t forget the names of my neighbors kids anymore, I’m consistently building upon habits, and I’m learning ever. And, oddly enough, forcing myself to jam more things into my stupid 1st brain has made my 2nd brain more effective and current than it’s ever been.

Spaced Repetition isn’t just a rote learning tool for med students. In RemNote, you can “lock in” anything you want by flagging it as a card, inline, ensuring that note continues to pay dividends in your life instead of being long forgotten.

Lucas wrote:
Given your criteria, I would recommend RemNote, which functions fully
>both on the web and offline (or at least it has 99% functionality
>offline).
> >https://www.remnote.com/
> >(RemNote emphasizes features like flash cards for students, but it is
>also a robust knowledge management app that is quite similar to LogSeq.)
> >Or you could use Roam Research, which functions fully in the browser.
> >(In theory, you could also use a Windows 365 Cloud PC to access Windows
>programs via a browser at work, but that’s an expensive option.)
>