La Martre lighthouse, QC

• Overview
• Introduction to Gthnk
• Installation
• Typical Use as a “Work Journal”
• Integration with apps and OS
• Conclusion

Log of H.M.S. Beagle

• Logbook
• Lab Notebook
• Work Journal
• Quote book
• Daily Diary
• others?

La Basílica del Voto Nacional

• time: a line that goes “forward”
• entries are organized by day
• gthnk uses this chronology to organize your notes
  • further organized by hour and minute
  • (seconds are not really regarded)

Medieval writing desk

• Gthnk is a database
• always running on your computer
• type your notes into a text file (“journal”)
• supports markdown, so links and formatting work
• notes imported into database at midnight
• web browser to search and view notes
• use whatever editor and browser you want

PowerMac G3

• Microsoft OneNote
• Evernote
• Emacs Org-mode
• Yojimbo
• DevonThink
• Google/Apple Notes

City Hall Toronto Public Library

• how much has Word .doc changed in 20 years?
• is there a future in digital formats?
• Gthnk’s simple text file format can be printed
• printed hardcopy can be scanned and OCRed
• scanned result recreates original Gthnk database
• imagine a 100-year record with archival ink and paper

Freud’s Handwritten Notes

• not all notes are suited to text files
• visual: drawings, schematics, diagrams, charts, graphs
• spontaneous: meetings, lectures, live events
• flexible: collaborative, multi-colors, outdoors
• Gthnk’s solution: attach to Chronology
• learn the standardized handwritten page heading
• scan pages as PDF, drag-drop onto Gthnk

mobile phone in the wild

• mobile is so convenient; always with you
• is the cloud secure? are your notes private?
• Gthnk is an offline database that runs on your computer
• Supports mobile text files via cloud drives
  • dropbox
  • google drive
  • etc…
• Gthnk’s cloud compromise: global write, local read

That’s my stapler.

• Attach digital media to a Day in Gthnk
  • PDFs, including handwritten notes
  • images: JPEGs, GIFs, PNGs, etc.
• drag-drop media onto drop target
• pages can be re-ordered after importing
• Attachments are stored in database

Ballads of the Bench and Bar

• a personal Journal
• supports long-term Archival
• technically, it’s a Database
• a Chronology of your notes
• including Handwritten Notes
• and Mobile Notes
• and image Attachments, generally

Classic “installer” icon

• http://install.gthnk.com
• step-by-step installation process
• overview
  • install Python
  • then install Gthnk
• Windows and OS X
• You will be using Gthnk when complete

Old Books at Merton College

• Use any reasonably-nice text editor
  • Supported: Sublime Text
  • Good: Microsoft VS Code
  • Good: Emacs AND vi
  • Android: Jota+
• Rules of the Journal format:
  • a day token is YYYY-MM-DD
  • an entry token is HHMM
  • tokens have 2 linefeeds before and 2 linefeeds after

Ansgar Nierhoff: Rotation (2003)

• Each day, Gthnk imports whatever is in your journal.
  • this is how stuff “gets into Gthnk”.
• “refresh” button triggers rotation.
• Your journal files are cleared during rotation.
  • you start a new day with the blank file.
  • NB: You need a text editor that “notices” this

Howard E. Tatel Radio Telescope

• Landing page provides a search box
• Search button in the UI
• results consists of matching entries
• entries are sorted by date
• clicking brings you to the original day

Aleph by Sjölén and Somlai-Fischer

• Each morning at 9am, Gthnk launches with the most recent entries.
  • usually, this is “yesterday”
• It’s automatic.
• reviewing the notes is a good daily practice

Mount Washington Cog Railway

• Gthnk is always running
• it is a web service
• there are many clever ways to hook into Gthnk
• integrations make Gthnk much faster

Dew on Spider Web

• load Gthnk with any web browser
• add Gthnk as a search engine
  • Gthnk is a web service
  • search your notes from your browser
• add Gthnk to your Desktop as an “App”
  • works with Chrome on OS X and Windows

Icon for Leafpad

• date and time macros
  • bind a hot key
  • never type these again
• file modification detection
  • editor auto-reloads changed files
  • most text editors have this

Shuttle Columbia Launches

• use a key combination to launch Gthnk
  • your notes are a keystroke away
• Launchers
  • OS X: Spark.app
  • Windows: AutoHotkey
  • others

Cloud Computing Icon

• Gthnk can import multiple journals during rotation
  • edit the configuration
• Pattern for mobile:
  • Dropbox/journal-phone.txt
  • Dropbox/journal-tablet.txt
• Now edit those files on the road
• Gthnk rotates them

Landscape near Laugavegur, Iceland

• Gthnk provides lots of ways to integrate
• opportunities to mesh with life
• work faster

Ballads of the Bench and Bar

• a personal Journal
• supports long-term Archival
• technically, it’s a Database
• a Chronology of your notes
• including Handwritten Notes
• and Mobile Notes
• and image Attachments, generally

Ballads of the Bench and Bar

• next step: install.gthnk.com
• Ian Dennis Miller
• @iandennismiller