Context is brilliant!

[Extropy 68]

You really hit the sweet spot with context. The external context offered on some of my notes has already paid off. In particular, the Wall Street Journal articles were spot on, and the ability to immediately clip them was an instant winner. Enough so that I was motivated to buy a subscription to the WSJ – I hope that partnership works out for both of you.

 

I look forward to more connections to high end news services and data through Evernote.

 

A few suggestions:

 

Wolfram alpha

Time

Newsweek

Economist

Harvard Business Review

Nature

Other scientific journals

 

[Frank.dg 1,385]

How about related comic strips? Start with Dilbert. 

Seriously, I have my own Peanuts database which employs Evernote's OCR to find search phrases in more than 17,000 comic strips. Often I see these pop up in Related Notes... or even in a Google search (Simultaneous search activated) - and I often find some relevant ones that hit the sweet spot mentioned above.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

I'm pleased to read this. I like the idea, in principle, but I have had a hard time seeing the use for it, at least in terms of what I am capable of imagining. I like seeing how others are using something that I'm not sure about. Broadens my horizons a bit. 

 

Anyway I'm glad to see that others find it useful and I definitely look forward to seeing how this feature matures over time. 

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I'm pleased to read this. I like the idea, in principle, but I have had a hard time seeing the use for it, at least in terms of what I am capable of imagining. I like seeing how others are using something that I'm not sure about. Broadens my horizons a bit. 

 

Anyway I'm glad to see that others find it useful and I definitely look forward to seeing how this feature matures over time. 

 

I wrote a post about this some time back... just need to update it with Context. It fits right in there. I often rely on certain information surfacing without being all that conscious of the fact (Chuck VS the Evernote):  http://www.productivitymashup.com/blog/2014/08/11/chuck-vs-the-evernote

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Thanks for the link. Great blog, by the way.

 

Related notes has been helpful to me, for sure. I'm still just not sure I fully understand how people can really put Contexts (that is, beyond related notes) to use in the ways that Evernote claims they would be useful. Again, this is largely due to my narrow worldview more than anything. Not dismissing Context, just need to see how someone really puts it into action I think to understand how it might be useful. 

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I see a lot of articles popping up from Fast Company, Tech Crunch and Inc at the bottom of my notes on iPhone and iPad. It simply gives you related material on those specific blogs, plus other sources such as Linkedin, WSJ, etc. 

 

At the moment it seems to be a little clunky on iOS... in that one cannot copy and cite text from those sources like one can on Mac (in-app feature). I don't have a Mac, but it sure looks cool (from what I see in this video):

 

http://blog.evernote.com/blog/2014/11/03/context-dont-just-work-best-work/

 

It is only available on iOS and Mac currently... so I guess they've got some ways to go to make all Premium users happy, (if that's what the face of happiness looks like).

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

I understand the way it works and what it does, but I suppose I'm not sure how this is supposed to really enhance our "work", make for better "research" and so on.... I'm just not aware of a use case in which tech crunch or Fast Company would be worthwhile sources for research, except perhaps in the domain tech journalism itself.

 

As I see it the feature seems like a great addition to using Evernote as a "read it later" service. If I clipped an article on X, perhaps I'd also enjoy reading an article on X+1?

[Frank.dg 1,385]

I see what you're saying. For many it could just be a distraction. Also, if one is into the blogs they're currently including in the Context feature, the chances are you would already have subscribed to email updates or followed via twitter,Facebook or Google+

 

The only way it would really be of significant use, is to have a much wider variety of sources included, which will grow in time, I suppose. Imagine millions of people using the new Work Space - all of them citing material from a limited set of Context sources in a work presentation. Not very expansive. Unless the internet itself is Evernote's playground, I think Contexts is going to be only partially useful... people will not stick around all day in the new Work Space environment. It simply cannot be your one-stop shop.

 

I know you've mentioned Zite before... so we both know how limited Context currently is - if they are trying to, in part, be a sort of news aggregator. I think they simply give us a few pickings from the sources now available. 

 

I don't know if this is even a reality right now... but somewhere I read or heard that the idea would also be this: As you're writing within Evernote, related material will present itself in real time, from the Context sources you have activated on your Accounts Page. Once again, even if that became really efficient - it may simply be a distraction. Imagine writing an article in a Google-search-engine-text-editor sort of setup.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

I'm with you Frank, I think we're more or less on the same page. 

I guess my main issue is that I am having a hard time matching the marketing of Context with the actual utility of Context as it currently exists. 

 

Context is super new, of course, and I'm sure that once they get new partners and flesh the service out, some things will become clearer. 

[Extropy 68]

I understand the way it works and what it does, but I suppose I'm not sure how this is supposed to really enhance our "work", make for better "research" and so on.... I'm just not aware of a use case in which tech crunch or Fast Company would be worthwhile sources for research, except perhaps in the domain tech journalism itself.

 

As I see it the feature seems like a great addition to using Evernote as a "read it later" service. If I clipped an article on X, perhaps I'd also enjoy reading an article on X+1?

Well, I'll cite the example that prompted me to make the post. I'm going to see a major potential client tomorrow, and was reviewing my notes on their business. In contexts, up pops an extremely relevant Wall Street Journal article about this client, and the subject area we are going to discuss tomorrow. Read it, clipped it, and added it to my notes for this client. It got my attention.

[ScottLougheed 1,316]

Bam, there we go! Interesting. Thank you for sharing!