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by Ixiaus 4791 days ago
Meh - bookmarks and the browser are, IMHO, a terrible platform for clipping information, knowledge, and data.

I used to maintain an enormous bookmarks list with Delicious but ever since I matured my use of Emacs with org-mode that habit has changed.

I now maintain a number of well-organized files with org-mode and remember-mode. It's not just the "files" though, it's also the process, org-mode, org-agenda, and remember-mode (now org-capture) is fluid and stays out of my way while being highly expressive. Because Emacs is always open and I'm practically always using it moving all of it into Emacs with org-mode has made my life much more streamlined when clipping/capturing the information I encounter throughout daily life.

I have these different files:

  - Prospectus
  - Spark
  - Grimoire
  - Dreams
  - Fashion
  - Food
  - Music
  - Bookmarks
  - Software
  - Recreation
  - calendars/parnell
(I've got more files than that, but they are less relevant to this discussion than those listed)

I keep ALL of my org-mode files in my ownCloud directory (like DropBox but I own it) - which syncs with my ownCloud server on Rackspace which backs up all the data daily.

Prospectus is an org file that contains all of my project ideas. I use a remember-mode template for this so all I do is hit M-F1 select [p] and it pops up a template for the project idea prompting me for the name, keywords, and description - it also auto-fills the date and time I created it. I then type C-c C-c and it's automatically saved into prospectus.org. Any project idea is captured here, electronics, carpentry, startups, opensource, whatever.

Spark is an org file for capturing pithy sayings, great comments on Reddit/Hacker News that I like, blocks of text that are important or memorable from anywhere (books, email, web, etc...). I capture conversations, inspirational stuff, anything that I've discovered from other people. I have a remember-mode template for this one too.

Grimoire is like my personal recipe/potion book - I use it to capture a unique and interesting process I've figured out; novel solutions to anything from cutting an X leg for my desk to software. Meditation and life-process; my own personal anecdotes; relationships; psychology; pretty much anything that I've discovered, experienced, or figured out on my own. This is NOT a journal though, it's restricted to process, knowledge, and observations. I have a remember-mode template for this one too.

Dreams when I remember my dreams I capture them in there with remember-mode.

Fashion any interesting styles I find on the internet, clothing/apparel makers I find, shoe makers, tips, etc... This has its own remember-mode template.

Food recipes (my own and others) and restaurants. Remember-mode template.

Music any artists/tracks I find that I like.

Bookmarks any websites that are interesting to me with description as to WHY it is interesting to me and a set of keywords. Remember-mode template.

Software any interesting software that I discover and that I'm using - I often times find neat little scripts or utilities that I install in the moment and use, but tend to forget about what it is named and where I found it.

Recreation I capture all of my own ideas and other people's ideas/activities for fun things TO DO. Specific locations for hiking/camping; science museums; etc... Remember-mode template.

calendars/parnell is my personal calendar synced with ownCloud, org-agenda, and my Android phone - pretty obvious why and what, but the system is remarkably smooth and really stays out of my way while still being highly accessible. Calendar TODO and EVENTs have their own remember-mode templates too; because it syncs with my Android phone through ownCloud from org-agenda; it means I can quickly insert new TODOs or EVENTs and still get the helpful calendar reminders on my phone.

1 comments

Your setup sounds perfect for your skills and experience.

Are you familiar with Gina Trapani's ToDo.txt? http://todotxt.com/

Seems like it might be up your alley if you don't have a system already. You should ping @ginatrapani with a link to your comment - I imagine she'd be interested...

Well, what's great about WebDav and org-mode is that there's http://mobileorg.ncogni.to/ which is open-source and works with my org files.

The problem with Gina's solution and any other solution is that the code is proprietary. I don't know what the data-format is used (sounds like it's just text, which is good) but I like that org is all text based.

Gina's solution also doesn't include highly customizable remember-mode templates (I have quite a few of my own elisp extensions to remember-mode).

Another thing that I can do right in emacs with org-mode: Spaced Repetition. Every day I run a spaced repetition routine using org-drill that runs through thousands of vocabulary words I've collected over time that I didn't know at that time (a remember-mode template, of course); I have org-drill cards for math, logic, science, &c... Anything factual that I want to remember I keep in org-drill and run through it every morning.

I also customized the org-drill system: http://ixmat.us/articles/2012-12-01_usable-org-drill.html

[EDIT] Here's the port of mobileorg from iphone to android: https://github.com/matburt/mobileorg-android