Information Organizers: Eleven Tools to Manage Complexity
[KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT]
“In all scholarly and scientific fields, organizing information is important for establishing frameworks for thought used in research and teaching. It assists in the formation of useful concepts and it serves to clarify terminology to assist both authors and readers.”
Source: Dagobert Soergel — Organizing Information
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A new wave of collaborative information-organising tools offers the ability to to
- gather, find, collect
- organize, categorize, tag, classify
- present, illustrate and showcase
- clip, collect,
- visually organize (into categories, spaces, folders)
- present existing information resources, documents, files and notes into professionally-looking reports, visual plans, directories, catalogs, guides.
These tools are different from the previous generation of consumer-level knowledge management, note-taking and wiki-like tools, that generally focused only on two or three basic key functions, like:
* collaborative editing
* note-taking
* linking and previewing external resources
* clipping and collecting
* categorization and tagging
* visual presenting
See: Pinterest, Diigo, Evernote, OneNote, Google Docs.
Now all of these abilities, and more, are integrated into one tool.
More specifically this new emerging set of tools is characterized by a well — defined set of features. These are:
- clip and save full web pages, text passages, images or videos found online
- link and embed all kinds of information resources and content types (maps, videos, spreadsheets, social media posts, forms, etc.)
- upload and save content in many different formats
. - structure / organize / cluster information elements — e.g. creation of sections, pages, boards, sub-sections
- use templates
. - annotate, highlight, comment
. - present information in a more orderly, clean and elegant, structured fashion to facilitate easier scanning, reading and understanding
- allow multiple views
(e.g.: Table, list, info-card, timeline, calendar, presentation, kanban boards, etc.) - integrate robust search and filtering functionalities
. - keep private or publicly share
- assign selective permissions to individuals and groups
In addition most of these information organizers also offer:
- ease of use
- no forced software to install
- works across OS and devices — web + software + apps
- export data in multiple formats
- a free functional version
and in some cases advanced functions may include:
- Analytics
- Alerts and notifications
- Content discovery
- API
Information Organizers: Six New Tools
1. Notion.so
The information organizer everyone else is looking up to. It collects, categorizes, tags and previews many document types, while offering also database, basic CRM, planning and bookmarking abilities. It can create catalogs of resources and aid in planning tasks and projects. It also offers templates for many kind of uses, collaborative wiki-like features and export functions.
2. Additor
A modern information organizer offers plenty of content modules, the ability to link and preview all kinds of files, templates, categorization and tagging options. It creates pro-looking, clean and orderly multimedia documents which are ideal for H&R, L&D, training departments, documentation and manuals as well as for curating catalogs of resources. It works with Google Drive, Dropbox, Slack, Asana and many other tools. A 100% free version called Additor Air requires no registration and integrates video conferencing.
3. Papyrs
Intranet-oriented knowledge organizer allows to create mini-sites (and sub-sites) that contain and organize information resources of all kinds. List documents, files while integrating tables, forms, maps, checklists and discussion areas. Ideal for H&R, onboarding, organization policies and training.
4. Journal
Information organizer integrating note-taking, bookmarking, lists, and other content types. It allows to categorize, tag and organize information inside “spaces” and “notes”. Rapidly evolving.
5. Slite.com
Similar to Notion, Journal and others, Slite is a collaborative knowledge manager that allows categorization, tagging, integration of multiple content types, private and public access, templates and cross-platform availability. It has commenting, tracking and versioning features as well as integration with major apps and platforms.
6. Clickup
To-do lists, project management, collaborative docs and wikis, spreadsheets and events rolled into one app that can also do screen recording, track goals and manage reminders. 10+ alternative views accessible in one clic. It is considered an alternative to many “productivity” tools like Trello, Asana, Basecamp, Todoist, Jira, Excel, Airtable, Monday. It integrates with many tools and it is available across all platforms.
Information Organizers: Alternative Tools
1. Milanote
Infinite visual canvas allows to link, embed, organize and layout many different content types, including video, images, text, PDFs and a lot more. It can be the ideal solution where to manage resources and files for different clients/projects as well as a special visual archive where to efficiently organize information, images and files. It’s great for creating custom visual portfolios, mood boards, brainstorming canvas and high-value visual resources, infographics and content-magnets.
2. Mindomo
A classic mind-mapping tool with unique superpowers. It can link and preview many types of content, create complex maps and organograms, learning paths, full-screen slideshows. It has real-time and asynch collaboration functions, user permission controls and the ability to export content in a number of standard formats. Other mind-mapping tools may also be adequate tools to organize information effectively.
3. Airtable
Airtable is a wonderful platform capable of transforming database and spreadsheet data into mini-apps that can be easily accessed online. It can be used in many different ways to better organize and share information. It offers ready-made editable templates for many use cases.
Information Organizers: Classic Tools
1) Evernote
This is the grandfather of modern information organizers. Still used by tons of people after more than ten years from its original release. It is essential a clipper-collector of content that can be tagged/categorized, with integrated note-taking abilities. Supports OCR and voice notes. It also integrates directly with Google Drive, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Teams, Slack, and Salesforce as well as with IFTTT and Zapier.
2) Microsoft OneNote
Born as a digital note-taking app, it allows to organize information, resources, files and images into different notebooks which can in turn be organized into sections and pages. Allows for team collaboration, highlighting and commenting. Available across devices and platforms.
Conclusion
The more we go ahead in producing and sharing information, the more we will be in need to better search, organize and present it to ourselves and others.
As information is now scattered across online resources, files, documents, videos, maps, lists it is vital that we have at our disposal tools that allow us to perform this information-organizing tasks efficiently.
There are a number of new interesting tools that lend themselves perfectly to this one key critical task.
It is interesting therefore to pay attention to both the old guard and new tools emerging in this area, as they are not only the best instruments we have now to help ourselves in this effort, but they may also help set the stage, reference and ideas for the information-organizing tools that are being conceived, designed and built right now.
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