Roam Research is great. Here’s why I switched to Obsidian.
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- Опубликовано: 12 июл 2024
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00:00 Intro
00:49 What is Roam Research? And what for?
02:39 How to take smart notes · book by Sönke Ahrens
04:06 Can I use Roam Research for free?
04:42 Why I left Roam for Obsidian
07:09 Alternatives to Roam Research
07:53 Migrating from Roam to Obsidian
Roam Research is a note-taking and note-management software. Through features like bidirectional linking and block-based working, it mimics the way the human brain thinks. Roam calls itself a "note-taking tool for networked thought."
It was Sönke Ahrens who gave me the final push to try Roam - after Ali Abdaal, Thomas Frank and others had already sparked my curiosity.
Roam Research is useful for researching, as the name already states, and writing on various topics. Seemingly unrelated topics are not a problem in this case, but a feature. They bring out the strengths of programs like Roam Research or alternatives like Logseq or Obsidian.
The app Notion is also often mentioned and very popular right now. But Notion is only comparable to Roam Research at first glance. More on that in the video.
Some Roam Research ressources:
Anne-Laure Le Cunff: How to use Roam Research: a tool for metacognition, nesslabs.com/roam-research
Mark Koenig: 100 ROAM TIPS: Beginner to Advanced in 25 Mins, • 100 ROAM TIPS: Beginne... (it’s hilarious!)
...and useful to strip Roam text from formatting: roam-tools.ryanguill.com/
Nicole van der Hoeven: Migrating from Roam to Obsidian, notes.nicolevanderhoeven.com/...
Nicole’s RUclips channel: / nicolevanderhoeven
David via Social Media: Say hello! 👋
Facebook: / dajolensing
Instagram: / dajolens
Twitter: / dajolens
Picture of Niklas Luhmann by Sonntag: commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
→ #roamresearch #obsidian #notetaking
Nice video.
I think there are so many of these kinds of apps floating around right now that it's very hard to tell who will survive and who will not. We do know that they won't all survive, however -- there are too many of them. Roam was the first to market, so they took advantage of that (which wasn't a dumb thing to do) and reaped some financial benefits both from the user fees and the attention that got from the financing world.
However, because there are so many of these apps, and because it is so easy to move and switch, the user bases are going to tend to be very fickle until there is some shake out in the market and the number of apps gets a bit more streamlined as people focus on a handful of them.
Obsidian is a great app, but I don't see it the way I see Roam and the "Roam-like" apps (things like Logseq, Rem) because it is fundamentally about Markdown text documents rather than a block/entry based database system. Obsidian has a great 2- person dev team that has performed heroically in adding things to Obsidian to make it kind of mimic the database-style features that the Roam-like apps have (like the ability to reference and/or embed things on a paragraph/block level), but it still feels a bit clunky to use as a database the way you would use, say, Remnotes or even Roam. Obsidian, to me, is more like a collection of Markdown text notes in paragraph format that you can organize however you like into files, and then link together using backlinks and use a graph to see relationships. That makes it extremely powerful and extremely useful, and I use it myself for higher level thought product (longer form writing, writing that is thought-complex in that it involves more than one thought, and writing that is text/paragraph based rather than outline based). It's a fantastic tool for this.
Still, I find that I prefer a native outliner app (yes, you can Outline in Obsidian, but Obsidian isn't built like an outliner, where each bullet is its own thought, it's a text editor where you can use bullets, and indent them) for early stage thought creation and development, and I like the granularity of the way Roam and the Roam-like apps treat each bullet as the base unit for the database. It takes thought creation and linking down to a much more granular level (linking of single bullet thoughts or a bullet with a few children) than feels natural to do in Obsidian, where the app really revolves around longer text based notes (even though you can now technically link paragraphs in Obsidian as noted above -- it feels very much like a workaround in an app that isn't based on paragraphs/blocks).
For my own workflow, then, I find myself using Roam-like for early stage thought collection and idea development based on linking at the granular level using bullets and outlines and the observation of relationships, and then I use Obsidian for longer-form text notes that take the ideas to more complex areas that are beyond the usefulness of outliners. This does split the notes up, but it's fine for me because there are two different levels of complexity in terms of thought complexity we are dealing with here, and so splitting it that way makes sense. After all, the Zettelkasten didn't have the actual published works and long form complex thought pieces stored away in them -- it was the early-stage granular-level stuff that was stored there, as the more granular-level designed apps emulate.
In all, these are all great apps, but not all of them will survive. Obsidian is a great app, and I love using it. Roam, Rem, Logseq are all great apps, too, and Logseq is local like Obsidian is, and free. At the end of the day I think a good deal of the moving around between these apps stems from the (understandable) desire of many people to use only one app to avoid splitting their thoughts and ideas up, and inherent preferences people have as between outliners vs text-based, cloud vs local, paid vs free, and so on. And all of that is fine. As I say, I do think it's an odd time for apps like these because there are, in a sense, too many of them right now relative to the number of people who are realistically in the market for them. It will be interesting to see how it plays out down the line as things consolidate naturally a bit, and how Roam fairs with its steep price -- I am sure Obsidian will be just fine given its large user base and its lightweight cost structure.
Love your presentation and the background information you add.
Hey, I just discovered your channel and I really like your content. Thank you. I hope to see more tutorials on how to use Obsidian
Thank you, it' s in progress!
Hey there! I just had to drop a comment and congratulate you on this amazing video! As a fellow researcher and former Roam user, I stumbled upon this video while contemplating whether to return to Roam or dive into the world of Obsidian. Your video has been an absolute breath of fresh air in my decision-making process.
The quality of your content, the pace at which you present information, and that touch of humor you added - it's all just spot on! 🙌 You've made this so much more accessible and enjoyable.
Wishing you the absolute best of luck in all your future endeavors! Keep up the fantastic work! 🚀📚💡
Thank you very much! 🤗
I'm also using Obsidian now and love it. Also love the community. Opposed to the Roam Community, where the founder seems like a jerk.
Roam is still a charm to use ! The only downside for me is the price, but you get a beautiful interface for that. Tried Obsidian and Logseq a few times but it isn’t really the same experience for me. Feels like a Mercedes compared to a Volkswagen. Plus I prefer to have all of my not
*notes stored in the cloud (with local backups) so I can access them from everywhere.
@@redhocs I use Syncthing to make a personal cloud for my notes, plus Obsidian does have a cloud sync option.
@@logicalfundy It's not just about the features. The UI and overall feel is not that great when compared.
@@Subhamkumar-rp2mt obsidian just released 1.0 with a UI overhaul. it's a lot better now, they added tabs and it's a lot more minimal and consistent, also mobile version is very touch friendly now too
Obsidian is great. Double plus great with some of the addins such as Dataview, Calendar, Periodic Notes and many more...
Absolutely. Without the core and community plugins, it wouldn't be my tool of choice.
I experienced the same thoughts. Considered investing 500. Decided Roam was not a priority for the founders, hence it may not be around in 2 years. And I landed on Obsidian for my book project. Sub'd after reviewing the titles on your previous videos.
Do you document your Obsidian workflow on the book project anywhere? I would be very interested in this, as I am currently working on self-publishing a novel - relying heavily on Obsidian to organize and prepare all the content. Thanks for subscribing!
I like that! It's a very direct, no-nonsense approach to the problem, which is exactly how I feel about data. We own our data, and that's a good thing!
keep going bro, amazing video
If you stared into into sun 2 hours a day wearing mountaineering sunglasses while sipping dry martinis deeply contemplating the human condition you'd look just like Brad Pitt.
...contemplating the human condition is definitely something I would do. 😎
Have you tried emacs at all? Org-mode with Org-roam package is pretty dang good. Just to put a tool on your radar.
Your puns convinced me to like and subscribe! Thank you for the smiles and information! I am looking for a software that can help me research, organize, and synthesize practical protocols for blocking confusing metabolic pathways in stage 4 cancer. There is so many complex and overlapping mechanisms of actions and interfering and moving parts in anti-cancer compounds and it all get super jumbled in my head. Would you suggest a software that could be best in helping me map all of this out in a way that isn't a huge tangled mess?
I would actually (no surprise) recommend Obsidian. At first the learning curve is a bit higher, but after a while of getting used to this tool, you can really create clarity and structure with it. And to “map out” everything, the new Canvas feature seems to be just right. All the best to you!
@@djlensing Thanks so much for responding!
Hi! Du gibst dir viel Mühe mit den Videos, das gefällt mir. Habe auch erst vor ein paar Tagen mit obsidian angefange, stecke da seither viele Stunden täglich da hinein. Habe mal spasseshalber einen Discord Server erstellt zu dem Thema (noch komplett leer). Wenn Du mal Lust hast dich auszutauschen per voice, sag bescheid :)
Yup! I was huge on it back in 2020 but after about 6 months I jumped ship to Obsidian and never went back.
Wow, you were early on this!
Hi, obsidian for 2 years. What is destination you use it for to get?
I'm mainly using Obsidian for a book project at the moment. Planning, research, writing, everything takes place in Obsidian, which works very well so far.
Why not use Logseq instead of Roam since its more similar? I'm using Logseq for daily notes and tasks, Obsidian for notetaking, and Notion for project management.
Hey bud, why was Obsidian better for notetaking, when they others can do it?
I tried Obsidian for several days but could not. There is a big difference when it comes to dealing with backlinks. Roam is a winner by far. I failed although I tried several ways to view backlinks in Obsidian. To add. Using all these plugins is exhausting in Obsidian. It depends on one's needs, but it is always good to learn several note-taking apps.
I agree, you should try a few, and decide on the app that best suits your way of working. In the end, the work is more important than the app.
Have you tried other mentioned tools?
I tried Athens and Notion. Athens not to the point that I imported all my files and used it for weeks, but rather played around with it for a few days.
A bit bonkers, but as a student of European Philosophy, I would have sooo loved to use a tool named "Athens" for my Personal Information Management. But then the software was just too buggy, and the documentation is too »half-baked«, I couldn't get over that.
I've been using Notion for a while and I still love the user experience. But before going "all in" with my notes (and emotions), I wanted to see to what extent I can use Obsidian for databases as well. So far: Surprisingly good, no need for Notion right now - yet I still have this software in mind as a possible addition to my toolbox.
Also, I've watched several use cases for Logseq in RUclips videos. I like the fact that it is open source, but I haven't tried it out.
Thanks for this. I got worried about Roam's leadership - being so rude and arrogant to wonderfully nice RUclipsrs like Tiago Forte. And besides OBSIDIAN does nearly everything ROAM does, without a the risk of a loss of data (obisidian database stored on hopefully to your local dropbox/onedrive rather than as ROAM does - in the cloud and no where else, if there is a dataloss - then big big risk). And you dont have to pay for it . And you can have several vaults - I have one for LIFE AREAS an one for WORK PROJECTS. But thanks for this great video.
First video .., and subbed! The videos are so high quality!
Suggestion: Please back your claims with more evidence: you never showed HOW the twitter responses of the CEO were demeaning!
Hey, thank you. Yes, I should have provided evidence. Because the internet may not forget, but it buries stuff quite well. For now, anyway, I can’t find any »mean tweets«, only traces of deleted tweets and this apology from Conor: twitter.com/Conaw/status/1219765633576919043?s=20&t=73vrpoImQmGkFqUIwrUaOA
I don't even want to give this matter much weight in my reasoning because it doesn't add much as an argument.
I don't want a decade of note taking and my own thoughts to be locked into some program I suddenly could have to start paying a lot of money to access.
Sub’d. And not just because of Old Roads Lead to Roam
Roam is the undisputed GOAT. Obsidian isn't even have native block level transclusion. Logseq is better, but still not as elegant to use.
LOL have you ever looked at the graphs in Roam? Or compared start-up speeds. Ever compared search? shift+command+9 to see context of blocks? you are joking!
@@ToriZealot i have never felt the need to see my graph as a graph. Never.
I just want blocks as first rate citizens, which is how Roam is designed.
My Roam starts instantly and Command shift 9 is cool, but not enough.
@@danielr2194 blocks work the same in Logseq. Obsidian starts 10 faster on Android.
But if you are happy, you are happy.
Sharing in roam is not good though
@@Adrian-so3vi fair enough, I wouldnt know about that
i like ur channel
But there is no practical examples in this video :(
If my guess on your age is remotely accurate, I’ve been moving through platforms with my code and files longer than you’ve been alive, and that right there is a HUGE point for me choosing Obsidian for notes management more complex than Windows Notepad.
Applications come and go, as do their companies behind them.
Platforms come and go, I have experience with that.
Even using ASCII has largely been there and gone in my time, though UTF-8 is an extension.
Using something as simple and human-readable as Markdown means even if Obsidian self-destructed, I can still use low-level tools like grep (known in C/C++/Unix realms) for searching things via the command line. The one thing I’d like to know the details to write code for backup purposes are the hashing algorithm used for transclusion of text from notes.
And as a personal user on multiple platforms, that it supports multiple out of the box, and it’s free, well, all the community plugins are icing on the cake.
Thanks for this video.
Tip: Try to make the videos shorter.
at 1:40 you are actually showing the antikythera mechanism (an ancient greek computing device) which is much much more advanced than an astrolabe. 💫 ruclips.net/video/-I_Ns7O35cE/видео.html
This makes me glad that obsidian didn’t raise any money.
roam research is great at marketing and generating hype and getting praise from the hipster crowd; this is their biggest strength, sizzle>steak.
they want to target the same demographic that buys apple's products, you know "creatives"
Yup, I agree with that.
Und ich frage mich warum ich dich so gut verstehe 😅😂
Empty.
Deep.
@@djlensing Full.
Both are bad 😂😂😂 Remnote❤
How’s Remnote better?
@@djlensing use it then you will know....only downside is that there is no iOS app but it's coming soon
After watching Danny Hatcher's comparison (ruclips.net/video/0f26LYrkBa8/видео.html), I feel really no need to try RemNote myself.
Besides, already in the Pricing Guide of RemNote (www.remnote.com/pricing) I see clearly listed the features of the free version in which I'ld miss important things like aliases. But thanks for the suggestion. To each their own. ✌️
@@djlensing obsidian is good but for student and learners no one can beat remnote it's notion+anki combine...obsidian doesn't have flashcards so it's not good for learners
Oh, but Obsidian has flashcards! As for pretty much every request, there's a plugin for it. Flashcards can be created with the plugin Spaced Repetition by Stephen Mwangi.
I use it for Greek and Latin vocabulary in philosophy studies. Visually maybe not as appealing as Anki (that’s matter of taste), but if it's possible as a feature within my knowledge base, I'll gladly take it!