About NoteScribe: A Hopeful Online Collaboration Tool

Searching For a Better Organizational Method: NoteScribe

In trying to seek out an even better way than Google Docs to keep an organized system for the research I am currently conducting, I stumbled across a product called NoteScribe (www.NoteScribe.net) available both for your computer as well as for use online. This product offers a simplistic, yet very structured manner of storing information. It allows the user to create workbooks both on and offline containing notes for both viewing and editing purposes. The workbook(s) created offline using the program may also be synced with an online account. Although online collaboration with this is not yet available, NoteScribe claims on their web site to be in the process of creating a feature to allow this. The product offers a free 30-day trial and is a worthy time investment. I used to squeeze all of my information into a large word document and attempt to create an index in the beginning to organize all of my information. This former system would easily take up an extra three hours of my time, depending on the project and often resulted in over-sized documents, making reviewing the information also a tedious task. Finding this new tool has made note taking a much quicker, effective, organized, and efficient task. If you are someone looking for a fast and simplistic way to solve similar issues, NoteScribe is a product to try out.

Using the Tab Feature on NoteScribe

NoteScribe allows users to store notes under what the product calls “levels,” referring to a topic. There are various levels, beginning with “L1” being the main topic and decreasing as sub topics as you reach such levels as L2, L3, L4, etc. Each note has the ability to be stored under up to three separate locations. These locations represent different topic areas within the workbook.

---FOR EXAMPLE---

I currently use NoteScribe to store information for my research on Social Media.

I have created a note titled "NoteScribe" to document all of my information on the product’s current features, upcoming features, and uses as part of my research. I have multiple “L1” topics within my workbook, which is titled “Social Media Research,” that I would like to be able to access this note from as it pertains to more than one category within my studies. In order to accomplish this need, the individual note, “NoteScribe,” is placed under two series of L1 topics (categories). Starting from the main workbook title (overall topic) to the lowest level under these sets of categories, here is an example of the two listings I used for this note.

1. The first listings goes as follows:

*(WORKBOOK TITLE) Social Media Research – (L1) Social Media Blog – (L2) Topics – (L3) NoteScribe

In this case, the note “NoteScribe” is considered level 3 (L3). It is under the level titled “Topics” (L2). The title "Topics" refers to a category within the topic in Level 1 called “Social Media Blog” (L1), which is a subcategory of my overall workbook, “Social Media Research.”

Having this note stored like this allows me to locate NoteScribe information when searching under research I have done and plan to use for future blog posts. (See Figure A below for a screenshot of the note editing as it relates to this first example.)

2. The second listing goes as follows:

*(WORKBOOK TITLE) Social Media Research – (L1) Social Media Platforms – (L2) Productivity Applications – (L3) Upcoming Tools – (L4) NoteScribe

In this case, the note “NoteScribe” is the L4 topic under Upcoming Tools (L3). This L3 category is a subtopic under Productivity Applications (L2), which is under Social Media Platforms (L1). Similar to "Social Media Blog” (L1), Social Media Platforms (L1) is a subcategory of my “Social Media Research” workbook. This tab allows me to locate that same note used in example one under a different level, or category. (See Figure B below for a screenshot of the note editing as it relates to this second example.)

Had I needed to, I have the capability of storing that note in one other location, making a total of three separate locations. In a situation where notes you make refer to multiple categories you have already or ones you wish to create, NoteScribe breaks the limitations of needing to use that information only in regards to one topic by allowing you up to three correlations. It is important to note that although my example only went down to L4, you may add over ten levels for each of the three allowed locations.

Ultimately, this system creates an easy to read index for use in referring back to information, coordinating information shared by multiple topics, editing and adding more notes under each topic, and creating an organized system for information storing. The tab index is collapsible, making a large-sized workbook less overwhelming to navigate through. (See Figure C below for an example of what the index looks like.)

Other Features

The basic note-editing window allows a limited, but sufficient enough, list of options. Text may be bolded, underlined, or italicized. Font size, color, and style also may be chosen using the editor. The alignment settings allow the user to chose between left-justified, centered, or right-justified. Highlighting is also a provided option, offering a list of several colors. Lastly, bullets, numbering, and outline styled formatting are available. First time users should be aware that the formatting capabilities for lists and outlines are limited and partially confusing at first. When going from one line of noted information to the next line of information below it, where the bullet is to be decreased in indentation, you must manually use the up and down arrows next to the numbering button to choose the proper number correlating to that bullet in its sequence. In addition, the simplistic bullets (not the outline formatting) are preset to only offer one standard circular bullet making that feature mainly only useful for a simple list as opposed to an outline. (See Figure D below describing the editing window, tool bar buttons, and limitations in lists and outlines.)

The premium account, offered for a free 30 day trial, allows a user to store multiple resources correlating to each note using a detailed source generator. A drop down menu lets the creator choose what type of source it is: book, dissertation/thesis, journal article, lecture/speech, multimedia, online, and periodical. Another menu lists styles for displaying the resources including "generic by author", "generic by title", ACM style, ACS style, AMA style, APA style, APSA style, CSE/CBE style, Chicago style (author-date), Chicago style (humanities), Harvard style, MLA style, and Oxford style. As information is typed into the provided fields or chosen from a menu a sample of what the source listing will look like appears on the bottom of the window. The authors, publishers, and completed sources are stored in the system for selection in future source generation making source creation easier and faster. The sources correlating to each level are shown when viewing that relative note. (See Figure E below showing the basic source-editing window.)

Notes may be accessed using four different search methods. First, each level and its note or notes associated with that level may be found using the basic index located on the left toolbar created as a result of the use of different categories. After creating one or more sources, a person may also search for notes that correlate to that note or to multiple associated notes. For each written note, a field box is available on the bottom-right of the note-editing window offering a user to add relevant keywords, which may later be used to search for relative information. The final organizational feature allows information to be color-coded and searched using this method. You will find on the left-hand side of the main workbook page, on your NoteScribe main window, a frame with the four tabs: categories, sources, key words, and colors. These tabs may be selected to search according to each of these four methods. (See Figure F below showing each of the tabs for locating information based on the four categories.)

Limitations Of NoteScribe

There are a few immediate issues noticeable by a user. Unfortunately, the document editor on this program is even more limited than that of Google Docs, as shown in the section title “Other Features”; however, its organizational capabilities do make it more effective than other means of information storage when there is an abundance of content regarding a similar topic. It also cannot be directly converted to documents readable by other programs at this point causing users to need to take alternative steps to format the information in a separate program for sharing purposes. These issues do make the product slightly less attractive, but still worth the investment if you are willing to see past these flaws.

What Does This Mean for Social Media?

If NoteScribe’s claim to create an option for sharing notes proves to hold true, it will become a perfect tool for information organization with collaborative capabilities. Having this type of organized collaboration available may, to use the education example again, assist students and teachers in information sharing in a way that most other commonly used tools cannot. It may also benefit business professionals in organizing and sharing company information, for example a conference agenda or notes from a meeting. If NoteScribe implements proper settings, organizations could soon be resorting to NoteScribe for most of their information sharing.

Suggestions to NoteScribe: Organization Portal

An idea for NoteScribe to consider is to create a system that allows organizations to create an “Organization Portal,” similar to a large company file, capable of having subgroups and categories (various workbooks with many levels). The organization will designate one or more head moderators (President, IT staff, CEOs, managers, etc.) who will:

(1) Have the privilege to choose which individuals are members of the organization, granting them access to the portal but not necessarily access to all content on the portal

(2) Oversee, control, and grant access to all workbooks posted by the head moderator(s), which, it may be assumed, will often times represent general company content as well as information form upper management

(3) Oversee all workbooks posted by the individuals given “membership” to the organization

The head moderator may create what is considered general organization content through the use of workbooks, serving as subcategories to the organization as a whole, choosing which members of the organization may view each individual workbook. The purpose is to give the head moderator the opportunity to share certain information with designated groups of members within the organization as seen fit.

Even if the head moderator doesn’t grant a member of the organization access to view all of the moderator generated content, or even any workbooks by other members, being an approved member allows the person to still create content through the use of workbooks. This individual may also be granted access to another member’s (outside of the head moderator) workbook allowing for team collaboration within the organization. Workbooks created by individuals not acting as a head moderator will still be supervised by the head moderator but are now given a sub-moderator position having the right to designate access and control content.

Five levels of accessibility will exist:

(I) This is the highest level, allowing a person to view and edit all information on the workbook that he or she is granted access to as well as control which individuals may see and edit the information: a moderator (not necessarily head moderator) position.

(II) A step below (I), this person is granted similar privileges but without being allowed to control other individuals’ accessibility.

(III) This is the third level of access allowing the individual to view and make changes to content in a manner that will resemble the “track changes” option seen in many word processing programs; Changes made by level (III) members will need to be approved by the immediate moderator of that workbook before becoming an actual part of the content.

(IV) This level grants an individual rights to view documents but not edit them.

(V) The last Level designates an individual without any access to view or edit any content. This person may be a member of the organization who is restricted from that workbook or someone who is not a current member of the organization.

Having distinct levels will allow an organization to implement a system, when seen fit, to ensure information has the opportunity to be reviewed before considered accurate.

Final Words To NoteScribe

Lastly, to make this product even more effective, adding a more detailed menu bar for document editing will help really push this product towards popularity. One step further, allowing the creation of other types of files will greatly increase interest and help NoteScribe, once it allows sharing and collaboration, to compete against other file sharing tools such as Google Docs.

Why Use This System?

Items such as paper, emails, and simple unorganized documents may easily be lost. Often times, using means such as these for collaboration, may allow for error in translation from one person to the next without a controller to see over the information. Multiple duplicates, which may slightly vary, could result from emails and sending documents the traditional way. With a system like this, all information can be stored in an organized manor and easily viewed and edited when needed. Also, in an eco-friendly generation, utilizing digital means of communication helps reduce our carbon footprint and produce a healthier environment.

I strongly urge each person to check out this growing application. Although many features seem basic now, it has potential to one day greatly assist in the sharing of valuable information among users and already proves to be a great tool for note sharing.