The act of note-taking has always seemed to have posed a major obstacle for software developers. Software running on tablet PCs seems to be making some headway, and there are several applications that are very good at overcoming specific obstacles; however, for the average laptop user, taking notes quickly and with the same quality of handwritten notes seems to still be impossible. I wanted to take some time to think about what's good in the world of electronic note-taking right now, and what could really use some help.

One application that I'd like to commend is an open-source tool called Freemind. Freemind is used to create mind-maps, or the simple bubble-based trees that you may remember making in elementary school. Freemind is very flexible in how these diagrams are created and organized, all while maintaining an intuitive interface that never requires a user to touch the mouse. These diagrams can be produced quickly and easily, and I find them especially useful when brainstorming ideas or trying to categorize my thoughts. Freemind captures the essence of what note-taking software should be: simplicity and flexibility. The ability to fully use the software without touching the mouse is an enormous benefit in terms of speed and ease of use. Other products should take a cue from Freemind.

I've recently been toying with a few proprietary OS X products called Notebook and NoteTaker. Both applications aim to emulate the feel of a physical notebook, and represent feature sets that are similar in intent to Microsoft's OneNote (from what I can recall of it). They offer pages for storing notes, and dividers for categorizing said notes. Users can insert images, clips from the web, PDF documents, and even video and music. If FreeMind is great for organizing thoughts and ideas, these notebook/binder type applications specialize in organizing collections of information. I find these applications particularly good for storing and retrieving notes that have already been recorded in a less rich manner. They provide an excellent place to store notes for later use, but they provide no facility for creating digital copies of diagrams or mathematical formula. As far as I'm concerned, this is a major detriment for those hoping to use this software for active note-taking during a class or presentation.

In the past, I've used Inkscape to quickly generate diagrams in econ classes. Aside from the fact that Inkscape (one of the best tools for very flexible, on-the-fly diagramming) is not available natively on OS X (a major shortcoming...  who wants to run an X Server), it is one of the best tools for diagramming because it is so simple and quick to use. As far as diagramming goes, Inkscape is pretty much my favorite. In an ideal world, I'd love to see a simplified Inkscape editor presented as a built component of a fully-featured note-taking tool. I'm not sure if Inkscape's design currently supports this, but it is something that I hope the developers would consider.

I haven't yet found a math formula editor that I love, but I haven't made an extraordinary effort to look. OpenOffice.org's Math is alright, and the fact that it integrates with OO.o Writer is a major step in the right direction, yet I'm still not convinced. Another point of contention is that I've never found a particularly good tool for typing out symbolic logic arguments, much to my dismay in more than one class.

I think about the clutter of software that I'd need to have running to be able to take notes effectively in my classes, and I long for an all-in-one tool that can do it all. I may never see it, but it is definitely an area that I'd like to look into. The technology is here: DocBook or XHTML, Scalable Vector Graphics, and Math Markup Language are excellent tools to begin such an endeavor, and because they are XML, they can naturally work well together. The idea of a web-based application with collaborative note-taking is also interesting, and it might be worth looking into to develop this idea further, with these other thoughts in mind. Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing new developments in note taking software, and possibly being a part of this crucial area of development. One day, we'll be able to put our pens and pencils away in class for good. I just hope it's while I'm still in class.