How do you record data? Notes, MP3's, eBooks etc..

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#1 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 11:10

As salaamu alaii kumm,

How do you keep a record of things / information you come across on the net or off the net?

For example,

1. you hear a great anecdote in the lecture and you wish to keep a record of it..
2. an eBook you download..
3. a specific story you come across online...
4. a lecture / bayaan..
5. you wish to annotate an eBook...
6. anything everything you wish to reference back...

Such that all of it is one single place or in places where you can access them without much ado..

Cloud storage, bookmarks..??

-------

What I used to do and also what I presently do:

1. Used to have mini pocket books and used to note the important points while at the same time listening to the speaker (Deen or Dunya) - or any brainwave I used to get..

2. Then came smartphones, so used to email myself, so that stays in the inbox and can be accessed everywhere.
3. Turned there were lots of emails and in-spite of filters et al. had a hard time locating what I wrote and emailed myself, forgetting the subject of the email was another problem in locating the email.

4. Then emailed to my another email ID - again the same problem - but it helped a bit.

Note that if I had to reference back to these things I used to have to search a lot..

5. Then created a private blog only accessible to me and where I could post through emails.

6. If I had to annotate an eBook and keep it in one place and updated - I first downloaded the eBook itself to a cloud service, for ex. SkyDrive, and read it from there using PDF- Xchange viewer, and if I have to highlight any points or annotate, I used to do that through PDF Xchange and save it (write it over the file) - so the eBook can be accessed from anywhere even if there is an OS crash and along with the eBook the notes stay too.

7. When I used to use Opera browser - I copied anything worth to its Notes feature which can be accessible anywhere - but now Opera isn't what it used to be.

8. Used to record notes (type them out) on phone, but too lazy to back them up.

Relying on memory esp. in these days when everyone is asking for daleel, daleel, daleel (proof) isn't a good practice, but is there a better, faster, and esp. reliable way of doing this?

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#2 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 11:28

Mobile apps are handy...I.e. note pad, task manager, bookmarks.

For storage which is synced to all devices...dropbox.

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#3 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 11:42

Taalibah wrote:

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Did I say I'm a cheap middle class man who doesn't like to pay for the (esp. intangible) services? So dropbox is free up-to 2GB, which certainly isn't a lot...again using many services is a lot of work in itself, I used to keep my recorded audio vid ebooks files in 4shared then it went totally commercial and now its full of ads and restrictions even for downloading your own stuff. So its a lot of (again) to and fro stuff hopping between services.

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#4 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 11:49

I stopped short of buying an eReader last month (Kobo - if you are interested) because of having to keep updated with another ecosystem - what if I wish to change platforms to Amazon, or from Amazon to some other device? So those notes don't stay with me...and through that can't access normal cloud storage services or even the net perhaps.

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#5 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 12:30

file folders for everything (computer and filing cabinet)
draft e-mails (I love this method and have never had a problem with it, still use it despite dropbox)
'task' lists for work and education e-mails (in addition to folders)
different e-mails for different functions and specific labels/folders to file necessary e-mails under
dropbox (can get more free space if you rope others into joining too)
multiple private and public blogs
Titan-pad
hard-drive from old computers (as external hard-drives)
Cell-phone note pad (only to store very limited information like a new address until I memorize it)
Sticky notes (on laptop for things I want quick access to and manual little notes only if I need it for a day or two)
Colour paper (if I'm trying to wrap my brain around a concept, I will doodle out a diagram and key words on colour paper... or if there are specific du'aas I want to read, I'll print them on colour paper)
Margin notes (for books and note-books)
Dragon naturally speaking (don't use as much as I had intended to - a bit frustrating to use but works well for notes)
Garmin connect (to keep track of certain detailed/precise information)
different software for different functions (invoices, research, word processing, etc.)
Cubicles that hold topic specific notes and books (limited to a handful of certain topics)
accordion folders for financial records
a very specific day-timer (I've had serious problems with other ones - found one that works for me and have stuck to it for the past 6-8 years)
thin 30-40 page note-books (81/2x11) for to-do lists, work related notes, course notes - with name and range of dates covered listed on the cover
MP3 player for tafseer and lectures (but I have had to stop using headphones b/c get headaches... not sure if I just need a different kind of headphone or what)

etc. etc. etc.

I should add... if all technology failed and I lost every bit of information I've been meticulously filing away like this ^ I could care less insha'Allah. It is useful and works for me but if I lose it, it isn't worth crying over. It has happened and I don't doubt that it can happen again. There is just way too much information out there and the more I access or find ways to keep, the more I feel my memory is weakening. In fact, I'm trying to move away from all this info clutter by purging information and have been thinking about switching away from many of these things.

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#6 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 13:29

Brain and for creating articles, email, SF and MS and notepad for links. I was speaking to Mufti Kamaluddin and he said wait don't tell me, let me remember iy and he recalled it from his brain...

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#7 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 13:55

Muadh_Khan wrote:

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Aha! wrong, a wasaawis! Don't tell me that mufti K didn't keep notes or annotate books while studying them, plus this exercise actually makes you remember the facts fully and properly...why then was the need to record Quran / ahadith in so many forms? that too is a type of recording, laymen may yet not doubt a scholar but what if I relate an incident or story? Hope you get the point.

we don't have memories like ibn battuta where the shaikh never kept notes of his travels of 29 years but could relate the whole of his stories from memory - though its also one of the reasons some historian doubt about some of his incidents...

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#8 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 13:59

Can we kindly keep ulama out of this discussion جزاك الله خيرا

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#9 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 13:59

clicked informative for sis Acacia's posts mainly for the fact she has listed so many services, true, partly beneficial though, but this mainly about 'recording' keeping data somewhere its easily, cheaply accessible using as less services as possible.

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#10 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 14:33

I share here or elsewhere; learn better that way too. Ajeeb, but I've noticed I struggle a bit when sharing verbally only because I haven't had many chances to 'practice' yet... do more typed sharing than verbal.

All those other tools help me connect and link to other things but when it comes to stories and talks, I don't really keep them stored anywhere other than perhaps some notes (but limited to teachers).

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#11 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 14:36

I have always wanted and tried many digital note taking apps and task manager on different mobile os. But certainly all failed after a short novelty period. And what is intended to cut the work only managed to increase it because of extra time maintaining it, and playing with it! To be frank. And since last year a bought a nice small dairy of good quality and nice pages without dated page. And it always and certainly always managed to keep my importants notes and data's save and handy. And using it is anytime easier than any digital notepads , task manager I have ever used(and the list isn't short). I remember some tech head when asked about the safest place store to passwords, he shockingly said write it on paper and keep it in a pocket! I now know why.

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#12 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 14:37

Muadh_Khan wrote:

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Was it Imam Ghazzali whose notes was robbed by a highway robber after which he committed everything to memory? I wish I had good memory.

@Desi tadka
-I usually bookmark it in firefox, or with an bookmark addon called pocket. But its very difficult to search through them. I just checked, I have bookmarked over 1500+ pages in pocket addon. lol don't know if its useful that way unless you classify it in folders.
-Another technique i use is, post it in sunniforum. Easy to google it from sf for future reference. But might not work for everything.

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#13 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 14:38

For photos and bayans I have it on my memory cards.

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#14 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 15:11

Number 5 is an excellent idea for so many reasons.. It's free and allows organisation of all sorts... something you can actually always keep open in at least one tab

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#15 [Permalink] Posted on 17th December 2013 15:36

I don't rely much on notes and not because my memory is exceptional but because I need to speak to people and you can't google or pull out devices during discussions . This is my refutation bank.

Then I read and save links for creating articles and this is my article generation bank.

Then I use posts here or the blog for initial drafts which feeds into the bank above.

i NEVER record Bayans or Islamic facts etc for personal use because if I have to catalogue them they are cumbersome and unwieldy, they either get memorised , practised, blogged, written or deleted!

its not a perfect system buy works for me.

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How do you record data? Notes, MP3's, eBooks etc..

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