I want to write faster. I want to write better. But I struggle with research in a way that’s more like hoarding than sense-making.
The zettelkasten method of note-taking has given me a simple way to organize my research and bring a lot more clarity to the information I’ve collected. But I still get bogged down with my stack of “cards”, often digging myself into a rhetorical hole from which I can’t escape.
Sense-making through Proximity
Apparently this is a pretty common problem for writers. In her article Design Thinking for Writing Jordana Globerman describes how she would map out her essays by printing out her notes, highlighting them in different colors and cutting them into strips that could be rearranged and finally taped into place.
Arranging notes spatially can help you understand how ideas relate to each other and discover new meanings.
Sascha Fast describes a similar process of sense-making using his zettelkasten (box of notes):
Sometimes I just begin with an empty file and just make a list of Zettels related to that topic. After a while clusters will form to topics and subtopics, which I mark up as headings and subheadings.
What Fast and Globerman are describing is exactly what the software application Tinderbox does.
Tinderbox is an amazingly powerful and quirky XML editor for the Mac OS platform that makes it easy to work with a large number of notes in either concept maps or outline view. Since that barely scratches the surface I’ll let Steve Zeoli explain more of the details about what Tinderbox is and does.
The bottom line, however is that Tinderbox makes it possible to slice and dice your information in ways that no other software does. According to political research and writer Alex Strick van Linschoten, Tinderbox excels at bringing structure to “unstructurable ideas.” He groups ideas using Adornments, colors and links related topics. He also makes use of Tinderbox’s timeline features.
What Makes Tinderbox Different?
When people first come across Tinderbox they often mistake it for mind-mapping software like iThoughts or a chart-making application like Visio or OmniGraffle. In truth it is a little of both. You can create mind maps in Tinderbox. You can also make flow charts, tables, timelines and all kinds of other graphic representations of your data.
But Tinderbox is also an outliner with some exceptionally powerful automation features.
Jeff Taekman is an academic physician who deals with a lot of detailed technical information. He prefers working with Tinderbox in outline mode and uses a lot of power features. First Taekman processes his notes outside of Tinderbox and then imports them in a uniform format. He uses a Tinderbox Agent to perform a query that assembles the information into structures based on topic.
The result is the ability to rapidly find related Information, in an organized fashion, on virtually any topic I’ve read. As I digest new information, I add the abstract and metadata to my Tinderbox Inbox and the agents do the rest—duplicating the abstract into the relevant topics throughout my outline.
Where Tinderbox Fails…
All this aside, Tinderbox isn’t for everyone. I’ve fallen in love with, and divorced myself from, this application repeatedly over the years. And yet I keep coming back.
The first problem with Tinderbox, aside from its rather hefty price tag, is the quirkiness of the whole thing. Notes can “live” inside other notes which then become containers. But then there are other containers called “Agents” that can perform automated actions such as keeping an eye on notes for changes.
All of this is managed through attributes and elements that you assemble in a very idiosyncratic UI. Tools aren’t where you expect them to be and the documentation is frustratingly obtuse in places.
It’s difficult to get your stuff out of Tinderbox even though it’s really just a big XML file. You have to apply specific templates to post-process the data for your target application. Once you’ve figured out how to find and configure your template for, say Scrivener, the export works great. But getting to that point can be a real march to Bataan.
…No iOS Version
I can deal with a steep learning curve. In fact, getting started on Tinderbox isn’t all that hard. In a few minutes you can build some useful maps and you’re off to the races. In that respect it’s not really any different from other pro level software such as Photoshop or Illustrator.
The near deal-breaker for me is that there is no iOS version of Tinderbox, nor will there ever be one unless a miracle occurs. This means that your Tinderbox files are siloed on your Mac and virtually inaccessible to your iPad or iPhone. There are some work-arounds – Tinderbox syncs very nicely with SimpleNote. It syncs a little less nicely with DevonThink To Go. Some people have gone so far as to suggest an nValt-to-DevonThink-to-Simplenote-to-Tinderbox workflow to get the perfect combination of power and portability.
So I don’t know. At the Day Job I get a lot of value using Tinderbox to write documentation. I’ve had less success with my side hustles which require more mobility. I keep going back and forth between going all-in or giving up on the whole thing. But like Peter said to Jesus when the 70 disciples got frustrated and walked away – hey, where else can I go?
