Organize all the input (and get smarter)

[HairyHun]

There is a LOT of useful, practical and fun information out there.

RSS readers have made our access to information much more efficient.

The problem then, is that you get all these feeds from social bookmarking sites as well as blogs. This adds up to a LOT of good stuff - even if only 1 or 5 % of the material interests you.

My dilema is this:

How do you organize all this things for retrieval later or to come back to it to assimilate the knowledge more in depth?

I created bookmarks ( that's great for a site)
Some sites would fall under mutliple categories (do you duplicate the bookmark entry?)
I created writeboards on basecamp (aff) which i categorize like: design ressource, seo ressource, etc. But after a while i get lot of things and its hard to keep track of what was in each.

What there is to do to efficiently use and learn the most useful stuff and quickly sort things into an organized structure that is easy to use for filing and retrieval?

HH

 

[axxomarketing]

You read less and less. Don't put too much input to your fucking brain.

 

[LazyHippy]

I use Evernote for grabbing stuff and MyLifeOrganized for er organising it! (GTD methodology)

Works well if I keep on top on stuff... this reminds me, really need to go through my feed reader.

 

[-Matt-]

On the Apache install on my desktop PC I setup my own wiki install for quickly adding notes that I wanted to find later. I can easily search for the notes later. I also use Evernote.

 

[aim]

Here is the best advice I can give. If you're still learning, dedicate the next 60 days if your life to taking in all you can. Subscribe to every RSS, read every post in every forum, etc.

After that, when you're ready to build your business and make some money, cut out all BS and focus on yourself. Honestly forums are mostly a waste of time (good place to meet folks) and the blogosphere is just a big echochamber and very easy to get lost in nowhere-land. Keep blogs and RSS feeds to a minimum when you're ready to dedicated yourself.

 

[WildGunner]

Go with the top 3 sources in any field. Then one or two pundits. Scan for value, if you can't find it, it is not there or it is poorly written.

If you do not need daily info, schedule weekly RSS reading time. If you need daily, then only keep feeds that give you value daily.

 

[HairyHun]

Wiki is a good idea.

I was thinking of setting up a WP install for myself and sort the articles with categories and tags with this overview:

• Title
• Brief
• What i learned from it (the value)
• Link to original article

What i like about this is that its searchable, one article can be several categories/tags and its accessible from anywhere.

Then I was thinking of developping a routing that a couple of times a week I sort thru the clippings i collected on the rss readers and go thru this process.

Once a month i could review the material.

In a year, compile it into an ebook. lol just kidding

HH



So... how do you organize, structure your wiki?

 

[GeorgeB]

Here is the best advice I can give. If you're still learning, dedicate the next 60 days if your life to taking in all you can. Subscribe to every RSS, read every post in every forum, etc.

After that, when you're ready to build your business and make some money, cut out all BS and focus on yourself. Honestly forums are mostly a waste of time (good place to meet folks) and the blogosphere is just a big echochamber and very easy to get lost in nowhere-land. Keep blogs and RSS feeds to a minimum when you're ready to dedicated yourself.

So..... subscribe to all the blog and forum feeds you can then don't read them? :error:

 

[axxomarketing]

That's precisely what he's saying. LOL.

So..... subscribe to all the blog and forum feeds you can then don't read them? :error:

 

[Tedel]

Well, I am actually trying to make summaries of the most important things on the Internet on Heptagrama and to verify them with professionals. It's a responsible way to filter the Internet a little, as I see it.

 

[Supergeek]

I use FeedDemon for all my RSS needs. I organize my feeds into categories. Humorous stuff, News, SEO blogs, warez, etc.

Humor is for downtime and when I need a break.

News is for when I want to keep up with stuff. Eliminate feeds that show redundant news or news you don't care about. Set up a feeds for specific keywords you're interested in.

Subscribe to all the SEO/IM/AM blogs you want, then eliminate the ones that are shit and don't help you, or just don't read them.

FeedDemon will also allow you to do what they call "Watches" which are just searches for keywords. You can make lists. So you can subscribe to a bunch of junk, and then add your own watch words, like "WordPress" or "BANS" or "dangerous dildos" or whatever.

 

[kofiannan]

Well, I am actually trying to make summaries of the most important things on the Internet on Heptagrama and to verify them with professionals.

That's a pretty tall order...

 

[Xrproto]

Skynet > google

 

[aim]

So..... subscribe to all the blog and forum feeds you can then don't read them? :error:

No, read them while you're learning. But it can be so easy to get caught up in reading site after site after site. At some point you have to stop and do some work. That's all I'm saying.

 

[Stanley]

I try to keep tabs on which sources of information are relative to certain projects I am working on (or plan to work on in the future).

IMO Google Docs is particularly useful for recording ideas, especially if those ideas require collaboration with others.

 

[Gumby!]

You have to devote a cetain amount of time to "learning", doesn't matter if it's one hour a week or 10 hours a day.

Expand your brain!

I have a folder on my desktop, named "revisit ASAP", anything I want to look at later, I drag there, ebooks, articles, blog posts, etc (In Windows, if you have a bunch of windows open, drag it over the systray and wait, your desktop will appear and you can drop it in your "revisit ASAP" folder).

I have a specified time on Modays, Wednesdays, and Fridays (early on Friday so I can get to drinkin'), that I set aside and read. I try to clear the "revisit ASAP" folder whenever possible (by reading the shit, not just deleting it!).

No need for all the social bookmarking crap, unless your bookmarking your own shit so G,Y!, or MSN can find it!



Gumby!

 

[Supergeek]

Oh yeah, and keep notes in EverNote. Awesome application, and it's going web now... you can edit your info from anywhere..