#Marginnote andriod code#

#Marginnote andriod code#

I use color to code for different kinds of items on the mind-map: blue for signposting (what is happening here?), green for definitions and concepts that are introduced, yellow and orange for important points, red for counterarguments, purple for things I find interesting but not immediately important, dark blue for quotes that I’ll need later and gray for everything else.Įverything is searchable across papers and even mind-maps. In doing so, I try to extract the argument and interesting thoughts so that I can come back in a year (once I have invariably forgotten everything about the paper) and just have to briefly look at the mind-map. When I have the luxury of a desk, I often try to split the task of reading and annotation between devices: I read and mark out sections on a tablet, and then move into the mind-map and annotate the sections. Once I am finished, I go back and, with the benefit of hindsight, mark up the section or chapter. To avoid this, I read without marking anything, a chapter or section. I’ve found that using any system (even pens) to mark up while reading brings with the danger of the reading becoming mechanic, not aimed at understanding, but building up annotations and markups. Being able to see the notes next to each other on a large canvas becomes useful in the later stages of reading when one focusses more on the entire debate as opposed to the text at hand. I maintain a few mind-maps which each contain many papers centered around a topic or project. They’re also viewable in a hierarchical outline. The highlights and notes I take are arranged in a (hierarchical) mind-map. I use MarginNote (iOS, macOS, 24$ for students) to read and annotate papers and digital books both on a laptop and a tablet. That being said, the tools below do work for me. Likewise, using tools comes with the danger of distraction and being pressed into certain ways of thinking.

Tools are no substitute for being productive: if one isn’t productive with pen and paper, then these likely won’t change that. Combined with a tendency to optimize my work processes instead of actually working has led me to build up a stack of useful technological tools over the years. I’m a firm believer in outsourcing as much cognitive work as I can. Operations of thought are like cavalry charges in a battle - they are strictly limited in number, they require fresh horses, and must only be made at decisive moments. Civilization advances by extending the number of important operations which we can perform without thinking about them. It is a profoundly erroneous truism, repeated by all copy-books and by eminent people when they are making speeches, that we should cultivate the habit of thinking of what we are doing.