4 ms·

I think it is telling that most of the tools on this website (and in similar collections I have seen) are diagrammatic in nature. Diagrams might have been the m

I think it is telling that most of the tools on this website (and in similar collections I have seen) are diagrammatic in nature. Diagrams might have been the most important “tools for thought” since our ancestors invented lists, tables, calendars and maps, long before recent note-taking app startups used this expression for their marketing purposes (which is absolutely fair and I am always happy to see when thinking tools become more popular outside of business/science contexts). I think it has something to do with how intertwined structure is with diagrammatic representation. Models as well as systems are all about structure, which is why you often see them represented in diagrams (and if you don’t, you may still think about them in diagrammatic terms). And yet, historically diagrams have often been neglected in science until very recently. I believe digital tools are still missing a lot of their potential as thinking tools because of how text-centric they are. I don’t suggest that it could have been different, given technical constraints and demands, but maybe computers would aid our thinking much more if they would actually allow us to more freely and intelligently draw diagrams. Ivan Sutherlands Sketchpad was a great step in that direction (I am sure most of you have seen it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sketchpad) and more recently the work of Bret Victor (http://worrydream.com/MediaForThinkingTheUnthinkable/ http://worrydream.com/MediaForThinkingTheUnthinkable/). But in many regards I believe that paper is still superior to what we have done so far.

movedx 4y ago
I use miro.com because it lets me thinking visually. I can represent ideas and thoughts with sticky notes, images, tables, embedded videos, etc., and then draw conclusions or find problems, allowing me to go on to make better decisions. I think making "cave man drawings" (diagrams, lists, etc.), as I call them, when trying to think through some things is a clever way of starting out.
- ramoz 4y ago
  Similar with excalidraw.com
  - phforms 4y ago
    I agree, Excalidraw has been a revelation to me and I use it all the time to sketch out ideas/concepts, models and designs. Most diagram tools never embraced the “thinking in action” aspect of diagramming and rather focus on production of graphical artifacts for presentations. Excalidraw gets out of my way and just lets me focus on the thinking. Miro also has a very intuitive and well thought-out UI and I like how it is like a big desk where you can work on multiple sheets/frames, move them around, connect them, zoom in/out even in real-time collaboration. But it also (like most of these apps) seems to me very business-focussed, which is fine but I think everyone should have something like this (or like Excalidraw) as a standard app on their computer, just like every OS has some sort of Notepad.
    - movedx 4y ago
      Miro is deffo aimed at business, for sure. It's far more advanced than Excalidraw, by a long shot, only multiple levels.
chrisweekly 4y ago
Obsidian.md is a pillar in the modern "Tools for Thought" space (along with logseq and Roam Research). Obsidian's plugin ecosystem is enormous, and features robust, bidirectional integration with Excalidraw. Notes in your diagrams, diagrams in your notes... combining text and visual/spatial sketch and whiteboard tools is profoundly powerful. https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin Now there's also ExcaliBrain which builds on Obsidian's graph view: https://github.com/zsviczian/excalibrain https://github.com/zsviczian/excalibrain

movedx 4y ago

I use miro.com because it lets me thinking visually. I can represent ideas and thoughts with sticky notes, images, tables, embedded videos, etc., and then draw conclusions or find problems, allowing me to go on to make better decisions. I think making "cave man drawings" (diagrams, lists, etc.), as I call them, when trying to think through some things is a clever way of starting out.

ramoz 4y ago
Similar with excalidraw.com
- phforms 4y ago
  I agree, Excalidraw has been a revelation to me and I use it all the time to sketch out ideas/concepts, models and designs. Most diagram tools never embraced the “thinking in action” aspect of diagramming and rather focus on production of graphical artifacts for presentations. Excalidraw gets out of my way and just lets me focus on the thinking. Miro also has a very intuitive and well thought-out UI and I like how it is like a big desk where you can work on multiple sheets/frames, move them around, connect them, zoom in/out even in real-time collaboration. But it also (like most of these apps) seems to me very business-focussed, which is fine but I think everyone should have something like this (or like Excalidraw) as a standard app on their computer, just like every OS has some sort of Notepad.
  - movedx 4y ago
    Miro is deffo aimed at business, for sure. It's far more advanced than Excalidraw, by a long shot, only multiple levels.

chrisweekly 4y ago

Obsidian.md is a pillar in the modern "Tools for Thought" space (along with logseq and Roam Research). Obsidian's plugin ecosystem is enormous, and features robust, bidirectional integration with Excalidraw. Notes in your diagrams, diagrams in your notes... combining text and visual/spatial sketch and whiteboard tools is profoundly powerful. https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin https://github.com/zsviczian/obsidian-excalidraw-plugin Now there's also ExcaliBrain which builds on Obsidian's graph view: https://github.com/zsviczian/excalibrain https://github.com/zsviczian/excalibrain