How do you manage your knowledge base? What tools do you use for this?

Question

IT education

Good afternoon.
For a long time now I have been self-educating and still cannot find a convenient solution for how to organize storage and notes for already studied materials (books, courses (coursera, edx), articles). Now it's all scattered across different services in varying degrees of neglect :)
At the moment I use:
- dropbox to store books sorted by subject in different folders, as well as simply txt files as notes to these books. Now I'm already trying to write notes in evernote for courses and books. But here there is a problem in that my folders store not only books that I have read, but also those that I want to read. For 3 years, it has become like a dump of books that is difficult to understand;
- evernotefor book and course notes, also evernote web clipper to save an article or to read on the subway (like the read it later service, instead of a pocket'a);
- bookmarks for saving interesting articles to read later, or for interesting services;
- google docs for sharing documents, or just to share your notes;
- goodreads and livelib for literature searches and to-read lists. In the same place I sort books into "shelves" (categories).
I also wanted to be able to share my knowledge base (books, courses, articles) with my friends and colleagues, since in the discussion I often mention a book or a course. Perhaps it would just be more convenient for the dropbox folder to be public.
What do I want from an instrument?
- the ability to organize your materials into categories (for example - people management, java, javascript, ux / ui, psychology, economics, task management, etc.). And not only books, but also articles and courses.
- the ability to mark them as studied or to-do;
- it is desirable to read-it later the ability to read from the tablet in the subway;
- the ability to share your knowledge base with colleagues, instead of talking about the book in a personal conversation.
What tools do you use to solve these problems? Or how did you manage your knowledge base?

Answer 1

I use the following bundle:
1. Evernote
2. Xmind
3. Google Drive (+ Google Docs)
4. Quizlet
5. Paper notepad
6.
browser bookmarks 1. Materials by category. Unfortunately, Evernote has limited nesting depth, there are only Notebooks and Notebook Sets, but you can get by with that. I use sets for general categories (for example: Frontend). Within each category, I define subcategory notebooks (For example, for Frontend: CSS, JS, node.js, Optimization, ...). In each notebook, I highlight topics where I collect links with descriptions. Here you can also conduct a comparative analysis, categorization, keep a list of questions, ideas for experiments / projects, etc.
2. Lists of books, movies, gift options, places, medium-long-term to-dos, etc.
3. Diary, goals, plans.
Mindmap helps a lot to describe the subject area, the structure of the book, the list of books by direction in the context of topics, etc.
Storage of books. Completed books are accompanied by a mindmap and/or abstract (docx or Google Docs). Collaboration is possible, simple sharing is available.
for reinforcing knowledge in especially important topics/areas. Collaboration and sharing is also possible.
For tasks for the day, notes and notes during the day. In the evening, what is needed is transferred to Evernote. You can immediately in Evernote, but I'm more comfortable that way.
1. Favorite sources by area (Web, News, City, Science, ...)
2. Folder with sub-folders - topics that do not require deep knowledge, but are of interest (Music, Running, History, ...)
3. Folder for preservation of interesting materials during the week, which at the end of the week are either re-read and deleted, or sent to the repository.

Answer 2

I think that it is not necessary to store this rubbish, to leave only what you are doing now.
All notes, articles, links will turn into a bunch of information that will take more time to organize than to study.

Answer 3

I do not hope that the average member of the toaster will tell you something other than the mainstream, which you probably know about, but still I will try
Archivarius 3000: full-text local search on the
OneNote book dump: arranging everything and everything in a hierarchy, convenient search, tags (for example " todo", "question", "important" - everything is configurable), formulas, synchronization with mobile. I've been using it to maintain a knowledge base for several years, evernote is not a competitor. Not suitable for dumping materials, but ideal for notes and organizing work information.
Anki: decks of question and answer cards along with a smart memorization algorithm by periodic repetition

Answer 4

I always read non-fiction with a pencil and self-adhesive bookmarks, marking important sentences and paragraphs with a vertical line in the margins, and bookmarking pages that I think are "juicy". A month after reading, I leaf through the book reading the marked passages - this is a very effective method of memorizing and applying techniques from books.
For e-books, I mark bookmarks, and then transfer them to Evernote (in a special notebook) and also re-read in a month.
In order not to keep in my head "oh I need to re-read book X on January 31" I make notes with the date in Todoist (this is my main GTD tool). You can also use Google Calendar.

Answer 5

I do as described here: habrahabr.ru/post/241965 I believe that I did not describe it in the most successful way, but there is no desire to rewrite it yet. The approach has been successfully solving for me all the tasks you described and many others for more than a year.
Please note that the following is very important.
1. Clearly distinguish: 1) task management and file management, 2) form and content.
2. Do not do unnecessary actions.
For example, you have a page open in your browser with a description (for example, on Amazon) of a book that interests you. And then there are the important questions.
* Will you immediately set the task of reading this book in the near future, or will the layout of the projects change later, and there is no need to rush to set the task of reading the book?
* If you set a task, then actually how: in the task manager or will you manage to save the book in files?
* How will you save the book: in the browser as a link to this page with a description, in evernote as a link, spend your energy searching for a book on goodreads and adding it to your lists on this service?
* And how will you come across this book when you will be working on some project for which it is important in a year?
What if it's not a book, but an article or something else?
That is, the solution here is always - the system is in the head, the tools are secondary.

Answer 6

From the very beginning of the formation of google.docs I have been using this service. from the very beginning adhered to a certain order: uploaded files are placed in folders, in a structure by topic. Personal files are compressed with a password. Links are stored in personally created tables in which bookmarks are created by topic. I do the same with small instructions for setting up devices and programs that I have to work with.
From the point of view of functionality, it is very satisfying: the ability to send another person a link to the document or calculation under discussion, the possibility in one environment, regardless of location. Sometimes even converting data to the desired format - when there was no reasonable version of Excel on the working computer that understands the xlsx format.
On the other hand covers all my needs.
Six years ago, I first tried two systems (protection against loss of access) - in LivDrive and GoogleDocs. But then restrictions were found in the microsoftware that were not in Google and the second account was frozen for that period. Evernot and other dirty tricks at that time had not yet been observed. I supplemented the system with the ability to store very private data (encryption system in the browser) and I'm not particularly going to migrate anywhere. Although I do backups periodically in encrypted archives on other network storages: microsoftware, Yandex and dropbox.

Answer 7

It is unlikely that you will find something that will allow you to cover all these needs "in one fell swoop" (or at least two or three) ...
By books - the best book cataloger that I have seen - Caliber *. Well, there is a Reading List plugin for it .
For the rest - everything is the same.
*If you try:
- Without specifying reliable metadata (and they are not always registered in the meta tags of books), the subject, like any cataloger, loses its meaning
- The subject "imports" the books thrown into it; it is most logical to remove the existing "file" library from the dropbox, in the subject set the path to "his" library - in the dropbox, and from the "old file" library upload the files to Caliber. They are available without the program, it just scatters them into folders / subfolders in accordance with the hierarchy.
- If there are series of books, it also makes sense to indicate them, and this plugin will help with this .
- Storage method, tags, columns in the interface, file names are finely tuned, you just need to rummage around. For example, you can set files to be named %author% - %series% %series number% - %book name%, or whatever you like.
- A good converter of different book formats (non-OCR) is built into the subject.
and there are plenty of such resources.

Answer 8

I use cherrytree ( www.giuspen.com/cherrytree ) to store notes. I bribed with its simplicity, speed and the ability to put a password on the notes database

Answer 9

For Book Readers: For taking notes, as well as for reading, I use Bookmate .

Answer 10

To save information from the web, I use the FF ScarpBook plugin. Tree structure, tags.
For a to-do list, use Google Calendar.
The reference book that is always at hand is Evernote (+ appropriate browser plugins).
To save for "reading for later" - Instapaper.
When downloading software / warez, I save the related information in mht and then store the resulting file along with the software.

Answer 11

First of all, I recommend that you read the book - "How to deal with cases" by David Allen .
For organization in general, the book will allow you to supplement/develop your existing system or shake it up thoroughly.
My "knowledge storage system":

• Catalog of books - "Caliber" , I have been using the program for many years.
  Allows you to store any files, add any custom fields, sort, search, process, share books on devices.
  Regarding your requirements, it is systematization and the ability to mark what has been read, set a priority and make a reading plan, set your rating, add tags, comments, "attach" files and much more.
  
• Browser bookmarks - for storing links . Both systematized links and "for later". There is always something to read in the resulting "window" in the chart.
  
• Google Keep - Notes . Convenient, practical, with a smartphone, notes are always at hand.
  

Answer 12

Pocket for posts is almost perfect.

Answer 13

I also use Pocket
.

Answer 14

if you just need to save small records in a tree, I can recommend workflowy.com

Answer 15

To organize a knowledge base that would be used as a reference, I have long wanted to raise a local wiki. I think this is the best option.
And so I use everything that you listed for different purposes :)

Answer 16

I use brain neurons. Highly recommend. Free of charge, open-source, lifetime license ;)

Answer 17

Created a folder in the volume. There are other folders in it under the sections C #, Books ... In these folders there are other folders, already in narrow directions.
What I need to do I write on a sticker (windows 7+, a small window on the desktop in the form of a notepad sheet).
200GB+ of materials, everything is convenient, I quickly find what I need.
If too many things accumulate, then nothing is being done.

Answer 18

I do not trust cloud services, and I only use my computer's hard drive. I created an html-rubricator for everything that I downloaded / found.
I also leave small articles in my browser bookmarks.

Answer 19

the most effective and versatile tool: the brain! human brain! the possibilities of the brain have not been studied so far, they are beyond! and you need to train it, pump it and there will be happiness!

Answer 20

Google docs + Excel for storing various materials.
The rest of the programs are just distracting.

Answer 21

evernote + google docs + regular notebook (paper). I try not to store or accumulate information unnecessarily (including in my head).

Answer 22

The main knowledge base is your head. Everything else is tools.