lifehacker.com: You have about a billion options for notes apps on your computer and your smartphone. Picking one that works for you is surprisingly tough, and chances are that none of them are going to perfectly fit your needs. For apps, these usually fall into two categories: the "everything bucket" of something like Evernote, or the minimalism of a plain text app like Simplenote. Here's who those apps are best for, as well as when pen and paper does the job just as well.
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In my opinion, our world is getting too technology oriented. Paper and pencil is the best way to go because it will never fail you (unless you cause some natural disaster to happen, i.e. spill your coffee on it). I'm sure the apps are nice, but they are really unnecessary. They just make it so that people can be more lazy and less organized. The programs organize the note for the human so that the human doesn't have to bother with such a simple task. There is no need for something to organize notes for you; you should learn how to do it yourself. It will help you in the long run of life, especially when your phone doesn't turn on and you are unable to access those electronic notes that you so carefully types up.
While I agree with Miss Clark that our world is getting to technology oriented, I strongly disagree with the rest of her statement. I, myself, find that a pen and paper works best for me when taking notes. But then, I'm a very old-fashioned person. Of course, even I can't live without my iCal in order to tell me what I have going on at any given moment of the day. But there are a lot of people out there who are technological-minded, and who can make those apps work better for them than anything else. I actually have this conversation with one of my friends on a regular basis. We discuss the pros and cons of working with technology, apps, computers, and doing things by hand. He takes notes on his laptop in Evernote, and organizes just about every other thought he has in the app. I saw firsthand how well that could work when we were in a lighting class and we went from taking notes in a lecture-style situation, to all being gathered around a console without any room for laptops or notebooks. He was able to pick up his phone and continue taking notes in the same place on Evernote because of the instant automatic sync across all devices. I may not be that into technology and apps, and I take all of my notes by hand in a single notebook, but I also find a way to use those apps. Evernote is great for tracking recipes and articles online. With the clipper app for Google Chrome, you can easily take something from a webpage, and save it directly into your Evernote. When I find a recipe I want to make, I can clip it from Chrome into Evernote, sync it with my phone, and then I can use my phone to refer to the recipe instead of finding a place to put my computer in my kitchen, or wasting paper and ink by printing the recipe. It all depends on the style in which you work best, and the needs you have of each organization app. In the end, all that matters is that you are able to work within your system, and make you system work for you. If you can accomplish everything you need to with an app, that's great. If you need to do it by hand, like me, that's great too. Just make sure that you're not spending more time on figuring out your organizational system than you are on accomplishing the tasks your organizational system is tracking.
I knew there were many options for electronic note taking but was unaware of how detailed they can be. It is very useful that you can have these apps available to you and so many different devices. That makes it simpler whether you have your phone, laptop or tablet on you, the notes are there. Personally though that is too much for me to handle, all the process that goes with note taking in an app. I would much prefer a simple notebook and pen. My notebook will never run out of battery on me mid-class and is much easier for me to organize my thoughts. I tend to ramble in my notes and bounce between thoughts and ideas so these apps would not be as helpful for a person like me.
Since I am a person who likes to stick with old ways of doing things, I haven't really pay a lot attention to these new apps which are popular in public now. Looking at the video of introducing Evernote, it is very interesting and I found it very useful because students can forget to bring their paper for note, but they will definitely have cellphone with them. So I think they will have more consistent notes than people with paper and pencil. However, looking at the features that Evernote have, I think recording the voice can cause a serious privacy problem. Although if a person asks for permission, the person can record the lecture under teacher's permission, a lot of teachers do not like students recording lectures whether they are videos or just voices. Since the recording is one of the important features in the app, I am afraid that students will take this to be allowed and record without being caught. Also, I am not sure if the app has backup system or not, but I am afraid that one might lose every note for every class if someone accidentally erases the app. Other than that, I think it is so cool. Also, although I have preferred taking notes on paper because every notes has difference and doodling on it, ever since I started to take notes for some of classes with computers, I found that it is useful when I have some other things to do and I can still do multi-tasking. So, I think using any method depending on various situation is really fine and I can't really say someone not to take notes with computer because everyone has different styles. So I read this article as helpful tips for future note taking, rather than being controversial on some methods.
I disagree that Evernote is cumbersome to use. If I want to write an idea down on my phone, I could simply open the app, hit the "+note" button, type a title, my idea, and save it. Of course I have the options of choosing a notebook, tags, formatting, etc. but none of these are necessary and I don't believe they should be intimidating to new users. I personally use Evernote for note taking for projects, saving ideas/media/art that interests me, storing pictures/information I might need to reference in the future, and for note taking in my "academic" classes. For many of my design and production classes I may not have room on my desk for my computer or I often want to draw sketches or examples. Ideally, I would be able to draw in Evernote seamlessly like a notebook but that would require an iPad like device and a better interface. It does seem as if Evernote is making steps towards this with Skitch though.
There are clearly pros and cons to both sides, electronic vs pen and paper notes, but personally I am on the side of pen and paper. I haven't really tried using an app like Evernote mostly because I feel like I would spend way too much time formatting everything to get it like I would have it if I just wrote everything down. The problem I have with taking notes on pen and paper is that I, all too often, can't read my own handwriting which is an issue that electronic notes would fix. But I feel like the time it would take me to get everything set up the way I want it would outweigh the time I save while actually taking notes and the ease of being able to read everything clearly. Ideally I would love an app for an iPad that has a super accurate handwriting recognition feature that can even decipher my chicken-scratch so that way I can just write directly in the app and it would format that way.
Evernote is a great way to organize your thoughts and ideas if you're constantly attached to you computer. For classes, it's a great tool because you can take notes faster. However, I can't draw arrows and diagrams as easily in Evernote as I can in my regular notes. When I'm out and about I like to write things that I know I'll need later. I have a lot of sticky notes. I feel that typing on something like Evernote is such a useful tool for communicating your ideas with a large group of people, but for personal use, writing is the way to go. I feel that I remember things much better when I write them. I agree with Philip that I would love an iPad app where I can write and it turns my handwriting into a regular, typed document. But first, I need and iPad. For now, I'll just stick with my notebook and sometimes, my good old Microsoft Word.
Unlike Keith, I don't think that technology is becoming so present in every aspect of our lives. I think that it's great, and that it's how progress works: people come up with new or better ways to do things, and those methods become prevalent.
That being said, I'm a paper person. I don't take notes in an unconventional way or anything, but if I'm using a computer or phone, the information isn't necessarily gonna stick. I carry a small notebook everywhere with me, and I mostly just write to-do lists in it. I could do that on my phone very easily, but doing it on paper helps me think more clearly. I also brainstorm on paper more often than on a screen.
I do agree with the article that the right method depends on the task. For a complex, long-term project, I'm going to use my computer.
I think it's great that there are lots of different ways to do one single task. As long as I can keep on choosing which one I use, the more the merrier!
Pen and paper notes have always worked best for me. If there is an overwhelming reason to have a digital copy, I usually just scan it in or copy it over. If it’s important, in a pinch I can just take a picture with my phone.
My philosophy has always been that paper doesn’t crash, but cloud storage doesn’t burn. When a notes application that is flexible enough for me is developed, maybe I’ll think about digitizing my notes moving forward, but until then I’m sticking to paper.
My preference aside, Evernote is certainly a powerful program. All your data is available anywhere there is Internet. And just about anything can be stuffed into Evernote. If one likes to take notes in a specific format, a template is easy to configure and can even auto populate data for you.Evernote also prints a pretty decently formatted page. Tags and subjects can be applied and sorted pretty efficiently. In this way, Evernote may actually be too powerful for some to use, as there are literally 10 different ways to accomplish the same organizational system. This can seem clunky and time consuming for an end user trying to configure this Evernote they way they want it. Most people would are looking to use software like this probably don’t have the time to actually put it to work the way they need it.
It is worth noting that Evernote has a pretty solid privacy and data ownership policy, and is a fairly well established and successful company, so they can probably keep up with their claims. If this is important to the end user, Evernote may be a great choice.
I'm not going to patter on about what note taking style works for me or doesn't. Though I would say if you have a system that does work for you, I challenge you to try something new just to see what the drawbacks exist in your current note taking system are and if any improvements can be made. Or if you don't have a system and are constantly finding your thoughts and life scattered all over the place. Don't be ignorant. Find a system, it seriously will drastically improve your productivity. We as humans can only remember 7-9 things at a time. So while you're floundering from not having a system, you're losing information and compromising your retention.
But personal blabbing aside, I think it's extremely important to note that what note taking system works for you, may not be necessarily appropriate for all occasions. Especially when you delve into the theatre realm. I think about how as stage management having your computer out and open in a rehearsal room can really be problematic for others, and even in production meetings. It's always important to assess what the culture is amongst your environment is before you bust out your tablet or smartphone. The yellow legal pad is something that is never going to die so you should always have one on hand...
While I find myself using my iPad to take notes just for the convenience of always having them on my phone and computer without even thinking about it, I still see pen and paper as the best form for note taking. There is just something about pen and paper that sets it apart from other things. The act of using both your eyes, ears, and hands to take notes and truly form the letters helps to set it in your mind significantly better. I really hope that the act of note taking doesn't fade with the next generation of students.
While many good points are being brought up through the various arguments and comments, I believe that there is no true BEST way to take notes. Like most things in this world, it is all personal preference. What's best is what is going to work best for YOU, not for everyone. I personally prefer to type my notes for the sole reason that it is much quicker, I don't have to try and decipher my hieroglyphics, and that I can easily either print/e-mail/or send to another device of mine. But I will not always type my notes, much like how Sam said, physically printing notes goes a bit further in terms of how it is remembered. I believe that writing notes down does indeed help them be remembered in an easier fashion than typing them.
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