I also enjoy using the Pencil on iPad Pro. My current favorite application is PDFs of reports discussed at meetings, loaded into Notability for note taking during the meeting.

I don't care much for handwriting-to-text. First, my handwriting is so sui-generis and full of shorthand and various symbols to make note taking go quickly, that I don't care to change what I do just to satisfy someone's algorithm. Second, if it's text I want then I'll type text. (Or, occasionally, use voice-to-text.)

Hugh wrote:

I like handwriting with the Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro. That isn't to
say that I think handwriting-to-text technology is adequately
satisfactory yet. It isn't. But for the use of handwriting as a pure
recording medium as handwriting, it's pretty good.

Yes, for me the combination of the big iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil excels for proof-reading PDFs (the reason I forked out a small fortune for it). So much better than lugging around bundles of hardcopy.

Dr Andus wrote:

It sounds like Samsung is at the forefront of this. I haven't looked
into how iPad Pro performs in this respect. One day I would like to be
able to use handwriting on the same machine that I use for everything
else. As for the Surface, my impression is that it's a bit clunky (at
least from people who had switched to Chromebooks instead).

According to David Hewson, the Lenovo Yoga 920 with a pen is now usable with MS Word (on Windows). It wasn't entirely clear to me though whether these are handwritten notes or the pen makes changes digitally as if one was using a keyboard (crossing out a word deletes it):

https://davidhewson.com/2018/04/02/fine-tuning-the-last-revision-of-a-book/

Dr Andus wrote:

It wasn't entirely clear to me though whether these are handwritten notes or the pen makes changes digitally as if one
was using a keyboard (crossing out a word deletes it):

Word has had pen support for comments since v2002 and within the document since v2007:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U44Pum7e8mE

As for the Lenovo Yoga 920, it is a really nice device:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66gxroX_vX0

I personally prefer the Surface Pro form factor. If is so flexible and can be used everywhere, even where a keyboard connected device is risky, such as in the kitchen or while eating. More compact too when standing up.
I own a clone, the Lenovo Miix 700. Tablet itself is half the weight of the Yoga 920 and totally fan-less.

For the best handwriting experience, you'll want to try out the free app Write (from StylusLabs). It beats all others, hands down:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWyxTKa2tZ0


Pierre

Word has had pen support for comments since v2002 and within the
document since v2007:

Pierre, this made me smile. You are a fellow Windows Ink nerd! Microsoft was kind of ahead of it's time with it's first Tablet PC attempts back in...2003 was it? And I suppose Apple was even earlier with the Newton. I've been closely following tablet pc concepts since the beginning and it's frustrating that it's not the tech, but the adoption of it, that has been holding things up. Microsoft has been in the 'digital ink' game for at least 15 years now. I'm currently using a Surface Book and it's an absolutely amazing device that does full-powered laptop and digital pen-tablet equally well. So it's frustrating to see the bulk of the 'software for creatives' being developed for Apple. I didn't realize until recently that Macbooks STILL aren't touchscreen, let alone pen-enabled?!

I've got the full-featured DESKTOP versions of autocad, excel, outlook, 12 browser tabs, pdf editing, file explorer, dropbox, onedrive, gdrive, and three OneNote instances open at the same time and can shift to mobile tablet mode capturing ink and photos without even closing the other stuff, let alone have to shift to an entirely different OS/device to run to a meeting or report on something in the field. With a 9 hour battery. on something as sleek and light as a MacBook. Yet we are on here discussing improvements to stylus use on a mobile OS device designed for capacitive touch. The sad truth is that I know that many use-cases of using a MacBook/idevice for a fusion of power and mobile computing are at least as smooth if not better than with Windows....even though Windows does all this natively vs the clunky Apple workarounds. The only reason for that is that the vast majority of humans who deeply care about most use cases for 'personal knowledge management' software are Apple people. You guys GET IT, why not bring your talents to the better platform or at least demand that Apple keep up?

Imagine the reverse. What if windows laptops right now weren't touchscreen, pen enabled, or even touch-tablet convertible? Imagine if they were only clamshells with the only 'interface improvement' over the past 10 years being a customizable 'touchbar'. Imagine if Apple's flagship MacBook was fully touchscreen and you could detach that screen from the keyboard, ink with a really awesome digital pen, and could 'go mobile' without having to give up any of the power of desktop apps? Put an Apple logo on the Surface Book and that dream is a reality. Imagine the praises that would be sung of Apple, built BY creatives, FOR creatives! We'd all be making fun of how clunky and old-fashioned Microsoft was for not even having touchscreen laptops in 2018! How is Apple still getting credit for being interface pioneers? Come on!

nathanb wrote:

Pierre, this made me smile. You are a fellow Windows Ink nerd!
Microsoft was kind of ahead of it's time with it's first Tablet PC attempts back in...2003 was it?

Hi nathanb,

Take 10 more years off this...
I owed and loved using a Compaq Concerto... It came out in 1993... !

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compaq_Concerto

p.s. notice how the Concerto form factor is so similar to the Surface Pro with its flip-up keyboard !

Pierre

Coincidentally, this video shows your new Surface Book alongside a 1993 Concerto !!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qhWoBb--mBw

Pierre Paul Landry wrote:

Dr Andus wrote:
> It wasn't entirely clear to me though whether these are handwritten
notes or the pen makes changes digitally as if one
>was using a keyboard (crossing out a word deletes it):

Word has had pen support for comments since v2002 and within the
document since v2007:

Well, it's one thing to have support for pen and handwriting, and another for the hardware and software and the OS to provide a satisfactory experience. I have experimented with a Windows tablet back in 2011, and it just wasn't up to par with the iPad back then, even just as a touchscreen device.

There have been many touchscreen devices and apps supporting various styluses, but whenever I tried them, they failed in real-life situations, such as needing to take handwritten notes quickly at a meeting. Either there was a lag, or it was too awkward to get to the app quickly, or something else.

There must be a reason why even in 2018 in a rich country like the UK, in academic, government, and corporate contexts, I virtually never see anyone using a stylus to work with their devices (other than the occasional Samsung smartphone or tablet user).

I am an early adopter of stylus technology. I was a big Palm fan, but even the Palm hardware just wasn't up to the job. I'm glad that there are more devices now that appear to be useable, but it seems a relatively recent phenomenon where people are suddenly talking more about taking handwritten notes on their devices.

I am mostly hearing about the Chromebook devices, such as Samsung Chromebook Plus and Pro, and the Pixelbook, where taking handwritten notes in a meeting context actually seems to work now (people tell me).

Dr Andus wrote:

Pierre Paul Landry wrote:
Dr Andus wrote:
>> It wasn't entirely clear to me though whether these are handwritten
>notes or the pen makes changes digitally as if one
>>was using a keyboard (crossing out a word deletes it):
>
>Word has had pen support for comments since v2002 and within the
>document since v2007:

Well, it's one thing to have support for pen and handwriting, and
another for the hardware and software and the OS to provide a
satisfactory experience. I have experimented with a Windows tablet back
in 2011, and it just wasn't up to par with the iPad back then, even just
as a touchscreen device.

There have been many touchscreen devices and apps supporting various
styluses, but whenever I tried them, they failed in real-life
situations, such as needing to take handwritten notes quickly at a
meeting. Either there was a lag, or it was too awkward to get to the app
quickly, or something else.

There must be a reason why even in 2018 in a rich country like the UK,
in academic, government, and corporate contexts, I virtually never see
anyone using a stylus to work with their devices (other than the
occasional Samsung smartphone or tablet user).

I am an early adopter of stylus technology. I was a big Palm fan, but
even the Palm hardware just wasn't up to the job. I'm glad that there
are more devices now that appear to be useable, but it seems a
relatively recent phenomenon where people are suddenly talking more
about taking handwritten notes on their devices.

I am mostly hearing about the Chromebook devices, such as Samsung
Chromebook Plus and Pro, and the Pixelbook, where taking handwritten
notes in a meeting context actually seems to work now (people tell me).

I am happy with the handwriting performance of the iPad Pro and the Apple Pencil. Over the weekend, I took the opportunity to try out handwriting on a relative's Microsoft Surface Book 2, and that was pretty good too - expensive, and early days for the technology, but pretty good. Of course, handwriting recognition is another matter.

Another idea occurred to me about how to use index cards to ensure that key activities (and associated projects) are covered every day (or that one is compelled or reminded to do them), and am wondering if there could be a digital or hybrid implementation.

I have four key areas of activities that I'm supposed to engage in daily, or at least make progress on a weekly or monthly basis, if one one dominates due to reasons outside of my control (such as a heavy teaching schedule):
#research, #teaching, #admin, and #personal.

I could start each day with four blank index cards (analogue or digital), and as the day progresses, record on them the activities for each category. Perhaps one half (or side) of the index card has the planned todos, and the other half/side the completed ones.

The idea is that by having these 4 cards in front of me would remind me that time is running out and that if e.g. my #research card is still blank, I better switch to it for the remaining part of the day.

The completed cards could serve as a record in my archive and help write the diary entry at the end of the day.

This could be implemented with analogue index cards (with different colour for each category).

Digitally speaking, I could use Google Sheets with 4 columns for the 4 categories, with the date in a column in front of them.

Or Gingko's calendar template, where each day would have 4 additional sub-cards with the given category.

Any other possibilities (online preferrable)?

@Dr Andus
How has the system evolved that you were developing?

Franz Grieser wrote:

@Dr Andus
How has the system evolved that you were developing?

Franz,

many thanks for asking (especially as it prompted me to work more on this problem).

Short answer: it didn't.

Long answer: I tried to work with paper index cards for a few weeks to represent time blocks, but events took over, meaning a crisis occurred. I was seconded to a management project (within my university), and my system collapsed, as I needed to focus on managing a single very complex and demanding project involving many people. My tools for a while revolved around project management. I did have one analogue tool: a little notebook that I needed to capture thoughts in meetings when I was out and about (Silvine Pocket Notebook: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B006O8ACCI/r ). I did learn a lot about project management, but that's another story for another thread.

But now I need to get back to a more balanced academic life, where I need to juggle 1) research, 2) teaching, and 3) engaging with the public, which are three different types of activities.

So I'm back to dealing with the original problem. But I've made some progress figuring out the intellectual and practical operations involved that need to be covered by the system.

One thing I figured out is that I need to implement some kind of an internal market for my weekly (and possibly annual) time, so that the time blocks planned for each of the above three activities can be protected. I was inspired by the idea of carbon trading markets, where there is a limited amount of carbon vouchers trading in a market that in total add up to the total CO2 emissions allowed.

Basically I have decided that my total weekly work time is 40 hrs, out of which I want to spend 20 hrs on research, 15 hrs on teaching (incl. all activities associated with teaching, such as planning, marking, and any kind of admin), and 5 hrs on public engagement. I need to make progress in all three of these areas, and to some extent they represent ongoing long-term projects, which are in turn composed of multiple smaller projects.

So what I need is the ability to plan an ideal routine (a template that has time blocking with an ideal allocation of the above, which is research happening in the first 4 hrs of each day, teaching in the next 3 hrs, and public engagement in the final hour of the day. There is a 1 hr lunch break between the research block and the teaching block.

Then I need to be able to have an overlay of the actual plan, whereby e.g. I may have teaching scheduled in the morning, thus displacing the research time block, plus other events scheduled by other people, which is outside of my control.

This means I should also be able to alter my template for the given week (which thus turns into the "time block marketplace"), by reallocating my unused research time to a later time in that day or the next day, and moving the requisite teaching block forward to when it actually happened.

My most precious activity is research, so the whole system is about protecting my research time somehow, to make sure it happens, even if everyone else conspires against me and schedules my teaching or other meetings into my ideal research time. So it's about moving 1 hr dedicated time blocks around in a 8 hrs x 5 days = 40 hrs grid. It is also about not exceeding the 40 hrs, as the rest of the time is allocated to eating, sleeping, exercise, family time, and entertainment, plus the weekend.

Another need is to have a record of the whole week, once it all happened.

It would be possible to implement the above system on paper, with the template being a photocopied A3 size paper, and the time blocks represented by 40 index cards or post-it notes. But based on my prior experience this would quickly turn into a mess, especially when things get busy, and desktop space comes at a premium (as usually computers and monitors crowd out desktop space). Plus keeping a record of it all would be challenging.

I thought of constructing an electronic and cross-platform version of this in Gingko or Google Sheets, but it turned out to be too much manual work.

Eventually I was able to construct this system in Google Calendar, though I haven't tested it yet, as I'm on vacation. But basically I set up a separate calendar for the ideal routine template with the 20 + 15 + 5 hourly blocks for the three activities for the week. GCal allows me to display this calendar with my actual calendar as "overlay". Then when each week starts, I should be able to move any of the hourly blocks in the template calendar around, to reflect what happened in the real day (and calendar), which should then allow me to re-adjust my real calendar to ensure that I get to protect my reallocated research time.

I should probably also come up with an annual plan, so that I could reallocate unused time blocks as "vouchers" to be used at a later week, e.g. in case I don't do any of the 5 hr public engagement in a given week, I should roll it over to another part of the year, when it's easier to do (and in turn move the research or teaching time forward). Perhaps I could track the balance of these time blocks (or vouchers) in a dedicate Google Sheet.

One important activity that is not represented in this system is the process of prioritising tasks every day and probably at the start of each week. This will have to be done in a separate app (WorkFlowy or Google Keep).

Google Keep is a a strong candidate actually, not only for prioritisation but for capturing todos, especially as it's now integrated with both Google Calendar and Google Docs and Sheets, and can be toggled and viewed in a column on the right hand side of the screen, which is very handy.

I'll report back once I've managed to test this system in the real world. In the meantime I'd welcome any comments or suggestions about possible alternative implementations and tools.

Thanks for the detailed answer, Dr Andus.

One thing I figured out is that I need to implement some kind of an
internal market for my weekly (and possibly annual) time, so that the
time blocks planned for each of the above three activities can be
protected. I was inspired by the idea of carbon trading markets, where
there is a limited amount of carbon vouchers trading in a market that in
total add up to the total CO2 emissions allowed.

Basically I have decided that my total weekly work time is 40 hrs, out
of which I want to spend 20 hrs on research, 15 hrs on teaching (incl.
all activities associated with teaching, such as planning, marking, and
any kind of admin), and 5 hrs on public engagement. I need to make
progress in all three of these areas, and to some extent they represent
ongoing long-term projects, which are in turn composed of multiple
smaller projects.

That's an interesting concept: Starting with "a limited amount of 40 hours per week for work" and distributing them to what needs to be done. Until now, I have gone the opposite way: What needs to be done is done - ending up with 45+ hr work weeks. For the next years I was looking for a system to stop work taking over ever bigger amounts of life time.
Now that I look at it from a different angle, it does look pretty simple. Just needs a shift in priorities... (Don't ask, why I haven't looked a things from this perspective).

Again: Thanks a lot for the food for thought.

Franz Grieser wrote:

That's an interesting concept: Starting with "a limited amount of 40
hours per week for work" and distributing them to what needs to be done.

Depending on one's needs, this could be extended to all hours of a week (24 hrs x 7 days), e.g. for someone who would want to protect their sleep time or exercise time or family time or the weekend.

So let's say that on a Monday you stay an hour longer at work, costing you an hour of family time. Then you could re-allocate that hour and take it away from the last hour on Friday, so you go home an hour earlier and spend it with the family.

Using Google Calendar, all it would take is swapping those two hourly blocks in the weekly template for the week. The nice thing about GCal is that it asks you whether you want to make the change only for this event only or for all the following recurring events, meaning that you'd end up with an accurate record of this week, but next week's (etc.) ideal pattern would remain intact.

Ultimately this is all about using a system (in my case implemented in GCal) to manage a limited resource and its specific allocations, to protect each allocation, and to impose discipline upon myself by enforcing planning, prioritisation, and reminders (which again can be set up in GCal).

This ability to display and toggle multiple calendars as overlays on each other in GCal is a really powerful tool.

But I guess the main outcome of this thread is that I gave up on the idea of making this a hybrid (analogue + digital) system, and for now the heart of it is all digital (GCal + Keep).

Having said this I still have analogue devices for data capture when I'm being mobile, such as the aforementioned paper notebook and my digital voice recorder.

For daily prioritisation and time blocking I also use the Boogie Board, when I work from home, as I have enough space to place it in front of me on my desk. Otherwise it's done on a piece of A4 size paper.

Dr Andus wrote:

Using Google Calendar, all it would take is swapping those two hourly
blocks in the weekly template for the week. The nice thing about GCal is
that it asks you whether you want to make the change only for this event
only or for all the following recurring events, meaning that you'd end
up with an accurate record of this week, but next week's (etc.) ideal
pattern would remain intact.

Ultimately this is all about using a system (in my case implemented in
GCal) to manage a limited resource and its specific allocations, to
protect each allocation, and to impose discipline upon myself by
enforcing planning, prioritisation, and reminders (which again can be
set up in GCal).

This ability to display and toggle multiple calendars as overlays on
each other in GCal is a really powerful tool.

I'll do that in Outlook.It supports overlaying calendars (right now, I have 2 overlaying calendars, adding a third one for time blocking is a matter of a few mouse clicks); for time blocking I will not use recurring events but copy&paste "event blocks".

What a cool thread!

I don't think of my organizational stuff as hybrid, but I'm also never without 3x5 cards. It bugs me when I start to deplete a spiral notebook. With index cards, I can always just pack a few along. I am (almost) never without 3x5 cards and a pen. This is inelegant, but part of my usual attire - https://www.rainwriter.com/Rite-in-the-Rain-C991T-Index-Card-Wallet-p/ritr-c991t.htm . Otherwise, a Levenger pocket briefcase is in my shirt pocket - https://www.levenger.com/men-s-22937/pocket-briefcases-22944/luxe-midnight-shirt-pocket-briefcase-16302.aspx .

Although they might get bunged up in Rite in the Rain card wallet, I used to keep my cards in several categories in the pocket briefcase by putting the smallest post-it index tabs on cards that served as dividers. Worked great, but I really only need two categories - blank cards in reserve, and cards I've recorded something on. Blank on the top of the stack, used on the bottom. There's never too many to just flip through.

Come to think of it, I also carry a pen and cards in a Yellow Birch Outfitters PocKit Organizer, which is just the thing for the cargo pockets I've found I can't live without - https://yellowbirchoutfitters.com/collections/get-organized/products/the-pockit-edc-pocket-organizer-classic-carry-coyote-brown

Bic Cristal pens fit the loop in the Rite in the Rain device and in the PocKit organizer better than more elegant writing devices, except they are too long. Fortunately, if you score a groove on a Bic pen, they will snap off at any length you want. Snip off the ink tube appropriately, which works fine even if you cut through the ink. A few seconds with fine grit sandpaper will leave the cut off tube looking like it came that way, then super glue the plug from the snapped-off stub back into place. Now you've got a custom length pen. My inspiration for that came from the sage known as Shortypen - http://www.shortypen.com/shorty/shortypen/

The depleting resource concept is great. I see it could enhance a recent tagging method I've started using in OmniFocus. Apologies if I've already posted this idea.

Tasks in folders, projects, and subtasks in OmniFocus is a critically nice feature, but adding alternate hierarchies with tags makes the day longer in a good way. It's like having an extra hour or two.

One tag hierarchy is location so I can see what I'm supposed to do at a site that may be associated with more than one project.

Another tag hierarchy is under a tag I called Agenda, and that is for tasks that have my priority. Currently I'm using subtags for Morning, Lunch, Afternoon, and Evening, but tags for 8-9, 9-10, etc. could work well. I may have to try that. As it is, I've been paying more attention to the Agenda tag tree than my calendar. When the alarm goes off in the morning, I grab my iPad and reset the Agenda tree tags.

Deadlines and due dates are poisonous. I respect and implement them as possible, but the key to getting any good out of a hundred to-do items is to control triage. Managers and bosses set due dates, I execute tasks and sort the bodies. In other words, a due date means nothing if it flouts reality. You can't let anyone else control your task list.

Finally, regarding e-ink, you can find demos of full motion, flicker-free video on e-ink. Most implementations of e-ink are laggy and blinky, but I don't think that means fast and smooth e-ink displays aren't possible. Nobody will want 4-bit grayscale video, but for a writing device, it should be practical, or at least possibly practical. I have hope.

Amontillado wrote:

This is inelegant, but part of my
usual attire -
https://www.rainwriter.com/Rite-in-the-Rain-C991T-Index-Card-Wallet-p/ritr-c991t.htm
. Otherwise, a Levenger pocket briefcase is in my shirt pocket -
https://www.levenger.com/men-s-22937/pocket-briefcases-22944/luxe-midnight-shirt-pocket-briefcase-16302.aspx

Your index card paraphernalia look positively classy compared to the stuff I went for at the cheap end:

A6 Small 6 Part Expanding File Folder Stud Wallet Case Tab Organiser

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00HLM6WGQ/

OSCO Acrylic Index Box

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B002P85E92/

Unfortunately the paper index card system didn't work out for me, and as for my note-taking system, I'm back to looking at setting up a Dokuwiki instead.

Occasionally I have moments of doubt when I think "Should I just go back to an entirely paper-based system for everything?", as I used to be a lot more productive back when I was reading hard copy books and writing with a real pen into real notebooks.

But then reality steps in, as most of my reading and note-taking is done electronically now, and the search function and cross-platform availability are so very handy, and I don't want to carry both my laptop (and other electronic gadgets) and my paper-based system around, and the cloud and automatic backups take the pressure off from having to worry about losing stuff.

But the doubt still persists...

"That’s an interesting concept: Starting with “a limited amount of 40 hours per week for work” and distributing them to what needs to be done. Until now, I have gone the opposite way: What needs to be done is done - ending up with 45+ hr work weeks. For the next years I was looking for a system to stop work taking over ever bigger amounts of life time."

Well, that's the difference between lavishly-taxpayer-paid, and self-employed professionals (who must really deliver for what they'll eventually get). I have found a means for not getting overwhelmed by my work: I invariably use week-ends for lose-ends (never understood why Americans split Sat/Sun in their calendars anyway), and if that comes to bother me, well, then it will have obviously been my own fault (or some urgency: well, that's "fate" or something like that then - of course, with enough financial means = personnel...).

Also, the elephant in the room, for self-management, is the fact that entering data in today's mobile devices takes 5 times the time (at least) as does taking notes on a sheet of paper (incl. the time to copy to new sheets here and then), and not speaking of the sharply different degree of urgency between the two media.

And since those sheets of paper tend to get ugly quickly, in the ancient times people experimented with cardboard cards, put into scale panels (there was even some mobile version from some German manufacturer (Novo GmbH, Bonn)), but that was up to around 30 years ago, and today, people trying to use cardboard cards invariably get stuck by the fact that it's a lot of manual fuss to get some general view of things, or even worse, they lack that general overview most of the time.

Those latter problems will be resolved whenever there will be reliable speech input into 1-key (to display the app) plus 1-tap (into the field-in-question) accessible iPad pidgeonhole (like spreadsheets) apps. And there's of course the remaining problem that Apple doesn't want to sell another, modern tablet which gets into your interior jacket pocket, as the old "Mini" did - not every man wanting to walk the streets with a bag anymore (what was it called again, that Seventies' song with all sorts of disguised men: cowboys, some larger-than-life Indian / plumber, etc.); those days are over, and thus, current iPads are suboptimal I dare say.

This looks similar to previous similar devices to write on, I'm not recommending nor buying before release and reading user reviews though, still pretty cheap:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mobiscribe-the-e-ink-notepad

washere wrote:

This looks similar to previous similar devices to write on, I'm not
recommending nor buying before release and reading user reviews though,
still pretty cheap:

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mobiscribe-the-e-ink-notepad

Here's a blog post with some information about this tablet. It sounds grotesquely underpowered, even for the low price.

xtabber wrote:

washere wrote:
This looks similar to previous similar devices to write on, I'm not
>recommending nor buying before release and reading user reviews though,
>still pretty cheap:
>
>https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/mobiscribe-the-e-ink-notepad
>

Here's a blog post with some information about this tablet. It sounds
grotesquely underpowered, even for the low price.

https://blog.the-ebook-reader.com/2019/01/18/new-6-8-mobiscribe-e-ink-notepad-on-indiegogo-for-199-video/

(Sorry, hit return too fast and AFAICT, there is still no way to edit something after posting it here)