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One process I still can’t do well in available software is structuring talks & essays. Requires a spatial canvas that handles text well. Always still happens in a notebook, or a giant sheet of paper. Miro is decent, but unconnected to existing notes in Roam, links to refs, etc.

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Maggie

visting SFO

@Mappletons

The software adds some affordances over paper; I can rearrange, edit, expand in any direction. But it’s not emerging from existing notes, helping me spot logical flaws, enrich arguments. (And yeah there’s a “diagramming” feature in Roam, but lets be honest; it’s hot trash)

8:24 AM · Apr 24, 2022Twitter for iPhone

Replying to

Final complaint; I can’t export this spatial map into anything other than a PDF or PNG. If directional arrows = logical flow I should be able to export as an ordered list of text, images, and links. An outline of the essay to fill out back in a text-focused app.

Had a bunch of good ideas sent my way. Hacky solution for the moment is embedding Miro and

@tldraw

boards into Roam. Not really “integrated” but at least the content is side-by-side and gives you the ability to map and draw

RL Nabors is hiring a technical writer

@rachelnabors

Apr 24

Replying to

@Mappletons

A lot of hot trash out there. Is this even a solvable problem?

I definitely think so. Many of the “note taking” / knowledge management apps are just missing the spatial canvas interface. They’re all focused on linear text w/o enabling spatial arrangement, drawing, or visual inputs. Newer ones are getting close:

@scrintal

@Heptabase

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