Setevi: expandable note link trees

ctietze

Preface

I received a recommendation for the iMapping tool (German only) the other day. I think it's best described as: iMapping is to OneNote what Prezi is to PowerPoint. Take a look at the German videos to get a feel for what the app can do. Look for zoom action, which are quite surprising in the intro video on the website.

Its premise: have a single canvas with (infinite?) zoom and infinite storage to lay out notes and connect them with annotated arrows.

The iMapping tool blog pointed me towards Setevi, which is supposed to be a cure for the "lost-in-hypertext syndrome". That intrigued me. I sometimes get lost in my own Zettelkasten for sure. You know you're "lost in hypertext" when you cannot remember how on earth you got from a Wikipedia page about "cereals" to an article about "euthanasia rollercoaster".

Setevi

So Setevi promises to always provide context by expanding linked pages in place instead of taking you from one page to another.

Here's a demo: http://felixbenzbaldas.de/setevi/en/

Thanks Felix for translating the German demo page for us so we can discuss it here!

Circular link structures will of course result in circular expansion of articles.

This is just a tech demo; I was thinking about how this could be made useful for our daily work. But I have no answer Let's hear what you think.

rene

Thanks, @ctietze, these are some interesting tools. I've always been searching for an app that would be as flexible as my "postit collages" for planning and organizing myself. iMapping looks intriguing.

Buuuuuuuut!!!! Setevi!!! Yeah! Even has 'vi' in its name . I woud find it very interesting to write a program (python script, .exe for Win) that converts an entire Zettelkasten or part of it starting from a selected note into the setevi format. That would be awesome, to export to a web space for mobile consumption of notes. I am also thinking of adding a #tags and maybe even a cited sources section for finding relevant notes. #tags and citekeys within a note would also point to (include) referenced notes there. That would eliminate the currently missing search feature to a great extent. Now all that's needed is to know setevi's data format / an exchange format. Can I contact Felix here? I am all fired up

ctietze

I suspected something along these lines Exporting the Zettelkasten note archive to an interactive Setevi page could provide interesting results when you casually browse in the notes. Or so I'd like to think.

I have sent Felix a link to this discussion. The Setevi demo page has his email address if you cannot wait to see if he joins

rene

@ctietze said:
I suspected something along these lines Exporting the Zettelkasten note archive to an interactive Setevi page could provide interesting results when you casually browse in the notes. Or so I'd like to think.

I second that. Cool, we're on the same page here

I have sent Felix a link to this discussion. The Setevi demo page has his email address if you cannot wait to see if he joins

Done!

I noted that he is from the KIT, I've been to twice as my employer has a cooperation with the KIT. Then I found a photo of him and think I've even seen him there. That would be a cool coincidence. Let's see if he replies. Fingers crossed.

fbb

Hello

@ctietze
thanks for the good description of Setevi. Yes you could say the main feature of Setevi is, to open links always in place.

I wrote a mail to Rene giving him some material he could use to code the export.

rene

@fbb This is awesome! Thank you so much! I received everything needed to create a rough prototype. Will check it out, should have more time to play with it this evening. I am excited, would be interesting to see how an export, or a partial one, of an actual Zettelkasten looks like. Will put stuff on github soon.

ctietze

That's awesome, go @rene!

Note: I split the script writing progress into another thread: Rene's Setevi Converter Script

fbb

... Setevi is now Sems: http://sems.inetwebspace.de/sems/
(At the moment it is only in German language)

GeoEng51

@ctietze The result on the setevi page still looks more linear than circular or web-like to me. I like the result, but it is similar to some other wiki-like products that I've seen. I wonder what will happen when @rene or someone else exports a ZK with lots of crossing note connections into a setevi engine? (I'm thinking a ZK that contains say 10 or 20 or more thought trains, many of them crossing over one another, with individual Zettels being the cross-over point for multiple thought trains.) At best, there could be a lot of tripping.

fbb

@GeoEng51 I sent you a message

GeoEng51

@fbb - Yes, saw it; I replied. We can continue part of the discussion in this thread, or just keep it between the two of us - up to you.

fbb

I will make an english version of Sems and ellaborate on your arguments.

fbb

English version: http://sems-web.de/en/

fbb

A new version of Sems is online (26th October 2020)