Accessing notes in a computer rep

[Ellen Madono]

Hi,

I am asking how people keep notes accessible on the computer. The question is not that large, but just about. I've always done the traditional folders etc, but that gets really messy after a while. My tree just gets too complicated. I am also writing notes next to rubrics in Radar, but I can see that I will not be able to look for them afterwards. So why bother?

Here's what I have found and my wish. I am wondering what others do or are thinking in regards to these concerns.

Recently I came across a data base organizer. I think it will help with the study process and also with just keeping the information flow organized and accessible in general. It's on PersonalKnow.com I am using a free trial now. So far the forum help has been very good.

I have a tendency to get very distracted by the many rivers of information that pass in front of me. This is a way to keep the map to those various streams without feeling I have to dive in every one or totally lose the thread. Especially if it is something that I have already thought about and just can't worry about now. I don't want to lose it.

In the above data base program, you assign keywords to a file and it also has the logical parameters AND OR NOT in its search system for the total file system. You can save files, group them, and tab them. It's what I really wanted for my research years ago. At the moment it is messy to keep up on several computers, but they say they are working on that. I've only been using it for 4 days, but I feel pretty easy with it. That means it is intuitive and simple.

Also, I am wishing for some kind of sticky note system to paste into the computer rep, literature from the EH, or cases. But then accessing them later again becomes a problem. The good thing about a sticky note is it is very obvious and the reference of the note is obvious. For example, Radar has a bunch of alternatives to a rubric. After I have opened them all up, I have some general idea about how they are different. I want to record that instead of just going through the whole process a dozen times until I remember the set. (Does that happen??)

Irene mentioned that she searches through her notes on Radar with some powerful search engine. But communicating with Chris, the best support person that Radar seems to have, there does not seem to be a good way to access these notes on Radar. I have been uncomfortable with this lack of access to notes in Radar, but the above system will help me to keep track of those notes on rubrics that I squirrel away in Radar. Of course I have to take the additional step of noting that I have the note in Radar. A pain. I have to write down the rubric and a few keywords. Big deal I'll do it in the above data base if there is not some other better way to do it. Has anyone found a better way to keep notes in a digital rep etc accessible?

Best,
Ellen

[Shannon Nelson]

Hi Ellen,
Here's what I do:
Those emails that I want to keep, I prefer to convert to documents, as
then I can edit, select, combine, etc.
general sorter, e.g. if my main interest in a post / document regards
therapeutics, I begin the name with t- (e.g. t-sciatica); materia
medica=mm- (mm-calendula); case- ; resource= res- ; etc. Sometimes
I add more info, e.g. "mm-viola-t compiled;" or "t-tetanus will T"
etc.
"materia medica" etc., but most now are filed kind of anywhere, and I
pull them up by doing a search on e.g. name of remedy or whatever.
E.g. I might have accumulated a number of smallish bits re a certain
topic (let's say e.g. "cancer"), so I might combine them, number the
posts, and then put a brief index at the top. E.g.
1. Quick high point and/or whose post, etc.
What kind of notes does Radar let you take? Do you mean notes on
materia medica or about cases, or ?
I gather that Radar's structure is in some ways different from MacRep's
and in other ways similar, but I'm not at all clear on them!
Shannon

[Ellen Madono]

Dear Shannon,
That's good. The system has to be really simple and quick. Narrowing down enough but as few as possible categories is essential. I like your abbreviations except t-tenus. Patho-tenus is the way I would do it.
Best,
Ellen

[Tanya Marquette]

hey ellen,
when i search for personalknow.com a dating service comes up.
for sticky notes that dont come off, have you looked into the filing system
tags that come in several shapes, sizes, colors, etc. you can buy specific
tags or complete sets.
and why not use a spread sheet program to record notes. you can create
columns of information which can then be sorted according to categories
that you design. so shannon's concept of assigning a classification would
be, let's say, column 1. then maybe remedy name would be column 2.
column 3 could be your personal notation about the remedy. you could
create a 4th column which might note a book reference or maybe a case
that represents this remedy. the sky is the limit and then you could sort
this list by category when you need to. and you can manipulate the list
in many different ways.
tanya

[Ellen Madono]

A dating service. Last thing I need. Here's the website. I was really off. Sorry.
http://www.bitsmithsoft.com/?source=P30520700051501

I think this program is better than an excel spreadsheet. The idea is to maintain some flexibility. A spreadsheet would be very limited by comparison.

They have digital sticky notes, but searching for them is not their strong point or so it seems so far.

Best,
Ellen

[Irene de Villiers]

Um - I can't remember my wording but my notes are not actually on
RADAR, so there is a misunderstanding.
There is a need to easily search notes with a search engine as it is
too easy to "file" the same idea under several categories and so
"lose" it.
Hence the need to get it fast with a search engine.

I actually use folders in my email system on my Mac. It has a
fantastic search system, and so I just keep my email open and write
myself "notes" (emails) with subject containing keywords, and then I
put it in a folder. I have lots of folders and subfolders.
The search speed is so good that I can tell it to search a thousand
emails to look for a specific word or words in there, and the result
is there almost faster than I can issue the command. It will list and
rank the responses too, plus date - so you can tell it to list by
date or by likely relevance or whatever.
(Date is handy as an option - as I tend to remember whether the note
was recent or not. )

I tend to work by homeopathic sort order - so it is easy to set up
folders accordingly, under a "Radar" folder.
Better to have less folders, not too many, (just one per section -
GENERALS, MIND,STOMACH, etc, etc) so do not subdivide as the search
engine can find stuff in a big folder fast, and you need to search a
folder at a time. IF you want folders in homeopathy order as I do -
and not the default alphabetical - just add a-,b-,c-,d-, or some such
- or 2-digit numbers - in front of the folder names in the order you
prefer.
I do not add notes to Radar directly. Sorry I did not explain what I
had in mind before.
Another item I am playing with is Omni Outliner (comes free with
Mac). It's software with hierarchical options, but I have not learned
it well enough to know what it can do yet, and I do have great
familiarity with my email system.

This way the notes are handy whatever rep I am using, and as it is on
my laptop, it goes where I do.

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Soroush Ebrahimi]

If you allow the Google tool bar on your computer, then when you do a search under Google, it first searches your computer and it is FAST!
Rgds
Soroush

[Ellen Madono]

Dear Irene and Soursh,

Now I understand. The database that I found is really appropriate. It is a weak substitution for the organizing system of the Mac. I use a PC (shucks) which searches really slowly and does not have multiple keywords so I feel things get lost. Now I have way too many folders inside of folders and just wish I could go back and re arrange. Maybe I will. There is something in me so "metal" in the periodic table of remedy interpretations of a metal personalities that says the organization of something like folders actually has to make sense to me. Even if I rearrange my folder system, still as Irene said, there will be conflicts and overlapping of key words. So either a Mac or a relational database are needed.

Soroush, I wish I could let go and let google into my computer. It made me so nervous when I tried it that . As a result, I just increased my security system on my computer. Huge corporations like IBM, Microsoft and even little Google having complete access to my computer gives me the creeps. I know this is paranoid thinking, but when you see what happens to medicine through the eyes of modern homeopathy, it is hard to be trustful. Again, I wish I had a Mac.

Best,
Ellen

[Shannon Nelson]

Ellen,
If it's for notes on your whole computer rather than within Radar,
there's software (many computers come with it) that does that quite
efficiently. Mine offers a choice of searching on titles (e.g.
everything I've named with, say, "cham" in the title) or on contents
(every document that contains the given word anywhere in it). Do you
have that?
Shannon

[Ellen Madono]

Thanks Shanon. Yes, my computer will search titles， but not what is inside the document. That's what Google will do. The real problem is to keep track of notes in Radar or not to do them at all.
Best,
Ellen