Unlocking linked data: replacing specialized apps with an Org-based semantic wiki

Abhinav Tushar (he/him) - abhinav@lepisma.xyz, https://lepisma.xyz, @lepisma@mathstodon.xyz

The following image shows where the talk is in the schedule for Sun 2024-12-08. Solid lines show talks with Q&A via BigBlueButton. Dashed lines show talks with Q&A via IRC or Etherpad.

Format: 12-min talk; Q&A: Etherpad https://pad.emacsconf.org/2024-links
Discuss on IRC: #emacsconf
Status: Ready to stream

Description

I try to maintain a lot of personal information, annotations, etc. in Org files but have historically switched back to purpose built apps for different kinds of data. There are recipe managers for recipes, personal CRM tools for people related notes, bookmark managers for managing web links, etc. While these apps do good with the kind of data they work on, they don't operate well together in the sense that they don't treat links between entities as first class citizen. I believe this gap is where a lot of personal information live. As an example, consider the chain of links that tells 'person a' gave me 'this recipe' on 'my anniversary'.

After using zettlekasten via Org-roam for some time, I came to realize the power of links that we (can) form between data of different kinds. For me, these links offset the loss that comes with leaving specialized apps. With this, I have again gone back to Org files, but this time deriving good value from links between notes. Of course there are tons of other benefits of using Org files like better longevity, portability, versioning, and developer accessibility.

In this talk, I will cover my workflow of creating and managing different kinds of notes in Org mode based Semantic Wiki and the link types they tend to have. I will also show my workflow outside of Emacs, where I use small tools that sit on top of Org files to deliver missing features of niche apps (like availability on mobile devices, smart cross data-type queries, etc.).

About the speaker:

I am a Programmer and Machine Learning Engineer, and I love working with computers primary because of the early experiences of infinite extensibility that Emacs gave me. For this talk I will cover my journey of using Org files for notes, then leaving for specialized applications, and finally coming back to Org to unlock the benefits of linked data.

Another talk by this speaker:

• EmacsConf - 2023 - talks - MatplotLLM, iterative natural language data visualization in org-babel

Questions or comments? Please e-mail emacsconf-org-private@gnu.org