I'm suffering from information overload -

namffuak

I have video tutorials, bookmarked web pages of tips and tricks, saved web pages of hints and suggestions, and pdfs of tutorials, web pages, and other such - with the net result being that I know I have something that explains the problem I'm running into, or the technique I'm having problems with - but I can't find it!

I'm looking for info-management suggestions. Effectively, I'm buried in data and need to convert it to useable information. HALP! :-)

SixDs

I wish that I could help, but all I can offer is "I feel your pain!". :)

Pulling all this stuff together in some comprehensive way is certainly a monolithic task. The video tutorials that are so popular nowadays are particularly problematic, since they provide no clue to contents beyond the title - no index, no table of contents and no way of searching them.

CypherFOX

Greetings,
Try 'Google Custom Search Engines'. It can do interesting things if you put your bookmarks in it. It's not trivial to do, but it can be very powerful.

-- Morgan

namffuak

Well, if Google still had their desktop search available; compounding the problem is that my local internet access is dial-up and the box with all the downloaded goodies doesn't even have that.

ETA: This has prompted me to look at desktop search again, and it looks like the full version of Copernic Desktop Search 5 for Windows may just do the job; looks like I need to pull down the trial on Sunday.

Taoz

For webpages I can recommend Inquiry - it will save any webpage with one click and you can search and organize the pages in different ways:

http://www.metaproducts.com/mp/inquiry_standard_edition.htm

For more general information management (including capturing and storing webpages) RightNote is a great tool and includes a free version:

http://bauerapps.com/rightnote/

ShawnBooth

namffuak said:

Well, if Google still had their desktop search available; compounding the problem is that my local internet access is dial-up and the box with all the downloaded goodies doesn't even have that.

ETA: This has prompted me to look at desktop search again, and it looks like the full version of Copernic Desktop Search 5 for Windows may just do the job; looks like I need to pull down the trial on Sunday.

Dial up?! 2015 and still on dial up?! I didn't know it was still around... Why don't you upgrade?

solarview

namffuak said:

I have video tutorials, bookmarked web pages of tips and tricks, saved web pages of hints and suggestions, and pdfs of tutorials, web pages, and other such - with the net result being that I know I have something that explains the problem I'm running into, or the technique I'm having problems with - but I can't find it!

I'm looking for info-management suggestions. Effectively, I'm buried in data and need to convert it to useable information. HALP! :-)

LOL!! Man, do I feel your pain.
But, I think I have a very cool solution to share with you all.
What I've just recently realized and started doing is using Evernote for this very thing. I have a "Notebook" category saved that is titled "3D Reference Info".
Within that, Evernote allows you to save your notes, which can be bullet-point, numbered, or literally however you want to format it.
But the big thing is, you can save webpages, which includes a full-page screenshot of that page, with the imbedded hyperlinks. So I can literally read the web-page from within Evernote, and follow a hyperlink to the actual site page suggested.
If you're not familiar with Evernote, when you install it to your machines/devices it syncs between them. (I'm on a Mac, iOS system, but I understand it's the same on a PC.) so if I'm reading DAZ Forums, and find info in a thread, from right within my browser I select "save to Evernote", and a box comes up allowing me to name my webpage reference. So I will let the title autofill to e.g. "Daz Discussion Forums - iRay Tips & Tricks..." And then I will add my note to that title such as (post #) "#125-skin shaders" and I then have a reference title to the location of the webpage and why I saved it. And it's immediately synced across all my devices. Very cool, and it least better than things were before. Oh, and yes, you can actually text search your webpages from within the Evernote app!

Taoz

RightNote which I mention above actually has a sync feature for Evernote:

http://bauerapps.com/evernote-tree/

robkelk

ShawnBooth said:

namffuak said:

Well, if Google still had their desktop search available; compounding the problem is that my local internet access is dial-up and the box with all the downloaded goodies doesn't even have that.

ETA: This has prompted me to look at desktop search again, and it looks like the full version of Copernic Desktop Search 5 for Windows may just do the job; looks like I need to pull down the trial on Sunday.

Dial up?! 2015 and still on dial up?! I didn't know it was still around... Why don't you upgrade?There are still some people who don't live in cities, or even towns. namffuak might not have any other option available.

(Which is why it's a pity DAZ3D doesn't offer the "burn your order to disk and mail it to you" option any more.)

tl155180

Some of us have been saying it for a while now, but what we need is a Daz wiki where all the useful information and tips can be pooled in one easy to search place, with hyperlinks all over the place.

Unfortunately it needs an industrious and highly capable Daz pro to start it up and maintain it, to avoid it getting bogged down with incorrect information and conjecture (which rules me out :)).