Automatic detection and highlight of possible reference to existing rems, for new entries to KB

Archive Feature Requests
#1

This would serve as an assistant to find and create links between what I’m currently working on and the rest of my knowledge base, making my KB more consolidated.

Example:
What I had in mind was a module than scans all previously created rem and when you input new information would propose reference to existing rem.

Let’s say you have somewhere in your knowledge base the following rem:

Brain:: an organ that serves as the center of the nervous system

And somewhere else in your knowledge base, you input (either copy and paste or type) a text that contains the above-mentioned rem

There are two basic types of sleep: rapid eye movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep (which has three different stages). Each is linked to specific brain waves and neuronal activity

After leaving the rem, the module would detect that the text you created contains a segment (in this case, 1 word) that is the exactly the same as another existing rem in your knowledge base. The module would then hint at the possibility of reference to be created : discreet dash or dotted underlining the word brain, for example.

By limiting to auto-referencing to Concepts (→limiting the pool) , and running the module only after leaving the rem (→run once instead of running after typing every word), it would have a lighter implementation.
It also should be possible to trigger this module anytime in the future to revisit “old” rems and create connections there also.

Some examples of implementations of auto-detection and link between ideas (thanks @UMNiK) : napkin, mind

I know it’s possible to do it “manually” by selecting words one by one, but I think some sort of consolidation module of the overall system would be appreciated, at least by me :slight_smile:. It would assist me in making my knowledge base more consolidated, without taking the focus out of what I’m currently working on.

Automatically linking to existing rem reference
How to automatically substitute matched text with Rem reference
Automatic Suggestions for related Topics and Tags
#2

This is something I’d be interested in (and would find helpful). However, I’d like an example to ensure I understand it fully. Does will it merge these ‘new’ References with the manually created References?

#3

Hello! I’ve added an example to the original post.
I hope it’s clearer this way :slight_smile:
If you have ideas/opinion about this, I’d be interested to hear them

#4

I imagine the bottleneck to this would be running the search on all words constantly. Anyway, there are some programs that attempt this, e.g.

If you wouldn’t mind rewording the title to something like “automatically find and show Text References to words in the rem”, this could be moved over to Feature Requests.

1 Like
#8

Hello!
Yes, the 2 example you provide seem to fit with what I had in mind… I didn’t try them, and therefore I’m not aware of their implementation, but maybe it’s a hint that it is feasible :smiley:
Constant researching after every word is maybe a bad idea. Two option possible:

  • reduce the pool of rem to search, by limiting it to concepts
  • running the search only on leaving the rem for another one.
1 Like
#5

I presumed you meant this, and the example is excellent on how this Feature might be used. I recommend this Feature being part of the ‘core’ RemNote features, or maybe someone good create this fantastic plugin.

You should make a post in the request for this to the Feature Request board in this Forum.

A couple of questions … the example you game is excellent, but what about words like “the” “and”? If the Feature searches your Knowledge Base looking for possible connections, I think it might throw up suggestions regarding these types of words… you’ve mentioned “and” in this Rem, so it might be related to “and” in that Rem. This is not what we want.

Do you think this Feature should be restricted to certain types of Rem, i.e. Concept and Descriptor?

However, what would be helpful, and is in line with your idea, is for this Feature to search your Knowledge Base and look for connections based on synonyms. So, if you mentioned “Brain” in one note, then it might get a suggestion that says this other Rem mentions “Mind” or “Frontal Lobe” or “Cellebulum”; thus, these two Rems might be related.

As a side note, and what I do personally if I’m creating a note, I will use the “|” symbol if a Concept is known by a few terms. Example: Mobile Phone | Cell Phone. This helps me to find connections between my notes based on the same concept.

1 Like
#6

Thanks for your response!

  • Regarding the | that you use, wouldn’t you be better off using the Aliases feature of RemNote? Maybe there is something that I didn’t understand in your use of |.
  • Synonyms: this is tricky because not all things are synonyms depending on the context. For example, brain might be synonym to cerebellum ,for me and you, but would be an awful mistake for a neuroscientist ^^. Therefore I think, the implementation of Aliases is probably more suited for this, as “aliases” are user and context-relevant synonyms (I think).
  • of course and & the would break apart the module if you have a Rem with only the in it. Maybe the search engine should only be run at leaving the rem (pressing ENTER).
1 Like
#7

My use of “|” is essentially what the Alias does, but the reason I went with this approach is that I wasn’t clear what would happen (in my Knowledge Base) if I created a Document (in the future) with a title that I also used as an Alias. Example: Mathematics has an Alias Maths, but I make a Document with the title Maths in the future. Are these notes connected via the Alias?

Regarding the Feature, using user-defined Alias would also be helpful (and I would like to see that implemented). Still, it limits the - new and unexpected Rem connections because it is based on user-defined inputs such as giving Rems Alias. Presume a user does not use the Alias feature (like me) would the Feature work?

Granted, I take your point on synonymous - however, this Feature would only suggest possible connections; the user does not have to accept them. How do the tools already mentioned, like Napkin, connect notes?

#9

From my understanding, the two would be different. However, you click on your rem maths you will see a button merge at the bottom to merge the two (because they have the same name).

Yes, I agree this would be a non-problem because creating the link is optional. However, I think, it would still be best to have another module which propose to create aliases based on a dictionary of synonyms. Then the two modules would be compatible :slight_smile:

1 Like
#10

Thanks for the explanation regarding the workings of the Alias… I’ll give this a go.

I like your thinking :wink: Does somebody want to request this in the Feature Request board?

1 Like
#11

It’s done, I’ve moved the topic to feature request :wink:

3 Likes
#12

Think I’m speaking about same thing I thought it was main point of creating references. Bug? when I create Rem reference and click on it it doesn’t highlight references in text? - Feedback / Bug Discussion - RemNote

#13

Hello!
well, I think it’s two separate issue. What I’m asking, a novel module that would scan your database and actively propose rem-references.
In the current use of remnote, these references are to be encoded manually

1 Like
#14

Introduction:
In my opinion there are a few important steps to keep a Knowledge Base useful and accessible:

  • avoid duplicate Notes on the same or very similar topics → single source of truth
  • connect your notes and ideas using Tags, References and Portals
  • take good and useful notes (obviously ^^) in your own words

Feature Request:
I do think that software can help us here - at least with the first two steps mentioned above! Matter of fact at this very moment of typing this forum-post the forum gave me suggestions for possibly related topics - in order to avoid duplicate postings!
I would like to see the same functionality build into RemNote!

This way RemNote could help us avoid duplicate notes on the same topic in our knowledge base.
On top of that I also thinkg that RemNote could help us find connections between notes and give us suggestions for fitting Tags and References.

Suggestions for implementation:

  • While writing a new note search for existing notes in my knowledge base, which might be related → give me those as a suggestion in a sidebar for example
  • give me the ability to merge my current note with a suggestion from that “sidebar” (or whatever UI is chosen) → that means copying my current Notes over to that page
  • give me the ability to move this note to the existing one as a child
  • allow me to quickly add those suggestions as references to create a link (connection) between them
  • allow me to quickly add a portal to those suggestions to pull information from there
  • show me suggestions for fitting Tags in that same sidebar (UI-Section) → prefer exsiting Tags, but also include new ones (based on recurring words etc.)

Conclusion:
These are just some random ideas that came to mind while thinking about this functionality. Maybe you find more useful things to do with it. In my opinion this feature could greatly improve our note-taking experience. Let’s create tools that help us take notes and create a clean and well-connected Knowledge Base!
I’m very open for discussions on this topic! What do you think?

1 Like
#15

automatically linking to existing rem reference

1 Like
#16

Agree. I think the app could use the list of existing rems and try to find match or close match (in case something like pluralization and same word with different form like transport and transportation) then suggest to user the possible rems to link to and the user can choose. This would make copy pasting new data and linking them so much faster.

2 Likes
#17