If you have markdown format files (.MD) you can import them into InfraNodus to visualize the main topics, their relations, and discover the structural gaps in order to generate new ideas. If you use Obsidian, you can also use the InfraNodus graph view plugin that visualizes connections between your pages and ideas directly from your Obsidian vault.
Normally, apps like RoamResearch or Obsidian make it possible to create links between different notes using the [[wiki-links]] format, so one note can refer to others. However, you might not always have time to tag all the important concepts yourself. That's why importing your notes into InfraNodus offers another advantage: you can use its text analysis capabilities to identify the most important concepts and visualize the connections between them automatically.
This sort of visualization helps you better understand the structure of your knowledge both on the meta- and granular level.
Here's a short video introducing the workflow to import and to analyze your RoamResearch notes (or any other note-taking app format), followed by the step-by-step guide below.
Tutorial Video on Roam Research Analysis
Short Introduction to RoamResearch Analysis
Tutorial on Analyzing Your Obsidian Vault
Step 1: Open the Markdown Import Roam Research App in InfraNodus Apps. Note, that you can also use this app for your Obsidian .MD files, Rem Note files, or Zettelkasten .txt files written in Markdown language.
Step 2: Gather the files with your notes. Most of the note-taking apps like Roam Research allow you to export all your notes as MD files, so you can use them to visualize all your ideas in InfraNodus.
If you use granular notes (short, interlinked blocks of ideas, like Andy Matuschak's evergreen note-writing format), it's better to import all of your files at once.
If you use long notes, we recommend to import the files one by one, so you can get an insight into every note that you made separately. You can import them either into the same graph or into different graphs and then view all the notes simultaneously to find the relation between them.
Step 3: When you import your notes, the default option will only import the content of your notes, skipping the connections between the notes. This can be interesting if you want to have a general overview of your ideas.
If you would like to see the connections between your notes, please, choose the first option: the content and the connections between the notes.
You also have an option to see the connections between the notes (excluding the content).
Important: Make sure that if you want to see the connections between the notes that "include the selected files as the nodes as the graph" option is turned on!
Step 4: You will then see the graph and can use the Analytics panel on the left to discover the main topical groups in this note and the relations between them:
Step 5: To zoom into onto a certain idea, click on the relevant nodes on the graph. The blocks of the note that contain the highest concentration of those terms will be selected:
Step 6: Go generate a new idea or an insight, click on the Insight button in the Analytics Panel. InfraNodus will detect the structural gap in the network — the two clusters of topics you use that could be connected but are not — and propose you a research question that would link these two topics together, helping you generate a new, surprising and interesting idea:
Step 7: One of the most useful elements of the workflow with InfraNodus is to start deleting the the most important nodes from the graph to see what's hiding behind them. In order to do that, select the nodes, and click the Trash button at the top right menu:
Step 8: You can then start adding more notes into this graph. In order to do it, use the Roam Research import app or simply click on the editor button, switch to Edit, and then click Import > File:
Step 9: You can import your notes into the same graph (one by one) or into a new graph if you want to analyze them separately. Gradually, you will have a full overview of the ideas in your notes and the relations between them:
Step 10: If you imported both the content and the connections between the notes, but would like to only see the content (omitting the [[wiki-link]] connections from the graph), you can use the filter feature (right menu) and select the "All Except Mentions" option in the filter:
Alternatively, you can also choose to see Only Mentions / Categories and in that case you'll only see the connections between the notes, skipping the content (which is the standard Graph view in Roam Research, except that InfraNodus version is much more precise):
Special thanks to Robert Haisfield for his advice and his public Roam Research notes! https://twitter.com/RobertHaisfield
Comments
0 comments
Please sign in to leave a comment.