We are drowning in information, while starving for wisdom!
It's 2021 and we are still missing a neat solution for connecting the dots. Here's why we need Napkin! Mission Thread ⬇️
Conversation
Thousands of years of human thought are right at our fingertips. Unfortunately, our brains and current technologies are ill-equipped to harness this tremendous potential.
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Our goal is to lower the entry hurdle for personal knowledge management, increase coherence for individuals and ultimately for communities and societies.
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Napkin is a knowledge management system to easily save thoughts and connect them automatically. Its interface is optimized for flow and inspiration and built around a dynamic network instead of a classic file tree.
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While the human brain is still unbeaten in its ability for creative thinking, memory retrieval is lossy and unreliable. Therefore we rely on a variety of tools.
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These tools can become the bottleneck when accessing, connecting and applying information – leading to an illusion of knowledge.
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Pen & paper notes are hard to organize, search and communicate. Classic digital solutions are still designed around folders and pages like the analog predecessors: File cabinets.
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The file cabinet approach is not interconnected. Files are divorced from context, often remaining unused in a static archive instead of being part of a dynamic framework of knowledge.
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The knowledge graph approach relies on a far more flexible data structure. Any given information unit can have multiple positions simultaneously allowing for structuring of complex non-linear relations and quick population of changes throughout the graph.
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Each thought becomes a node in a dynamic network and can convey more information than its mere content through defined relationships to other thoughts.
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While this is the superior information architecture it is currently only available for a niche of deeply passionate people, willing to take paid, multi-day courses and tutorials in order to get value from the systems.
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Napkin lowers the bar to use a knowledge graph through intuitive user interface design and data visualization. The information architecture and interface make it inherently easier to store, recall and cross-reference ideas.
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In product development we prioritize efficiency over effectiveness. We rather go with a valuable solution for many users than with a more valuable solution for just a few users.
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The focus on scale allows meaningful use of artificial intelligence (natural language processing) to steer curation and find new associations between a user’s thoughts.
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Napkin allows to share (parts of) knowledge webs in an engaging way. Recipients can experience the shared knowledge web in direct relation to their existing knowledge web, strengthen associations, find overlaps or discover contradictions.
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Unlike a book, podcast or any other linear medium, Napkin allows entering new knowledge territory on the path with the smallest cognitive distance possible.
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Imagine a non-fiction book starting exactly where your existing knowledge ends and where your curiosity leads, instead of starting with the same line for every reader.
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Napkin embraces serendipity. Brute force doesn't work well for thinking differently. It takes novel stimuli to break out of common patterns. Napkin's inspiration mode allows to add noise to the signal. Starting with randomness, ending with AI based curation.
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We want to help as many people as possible to utilize the current explosion of knowledge, gain more clarity, realize their potential and live a happier live.
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