“Tools for Thought” is an emerging category of inter-linked note taking and knowledge graph apps that are emerging.
Dylan Steck @Dylan_Steck is the creator of Cortex, which he is building to be Tools for Action.
Dylan will be talking about Cortex, how he built it over the past several years (it started as a full operating system project), and talk about his further plans. And a demo!
The Cortex Manifesto is also good background reading:
Cortex is a value-based technology organization. We want to reassemble tools to democratize knowledge and creation. All of the work that we do is led by a guiding thesis: we can re-purpose pre-existing tools to solve the easiest problems without starting from scratch.
We post this manifesto to hold ourselves and our community accountable to our values and our vision.
We hold these truths to be self-evident:
- Personal data and identity should be portable and secure across the Internet
- A tool should solve a concrete purpose, and can be gamified to make the experience more joyful, not corruptly persuasive
- Tools should help us perform multiple actions without compromising our focus.
- Access to knowledge and creation should be free and unfiltered, forever.
- Tech should give us the space and relational information we need to explore and understand.
- Structuring thoughts and actions into trails help us make quicker associations and smarter decisions.
- Our mental and physical wellbeing are crucial to the quality of our lives and our work.
- Organizations should strive to act as pro-bono government agencies.
- A connection with nature helps us better identify what is essential.
- If we can re-purpose pre-existing tools to solve the easiest problems without starting from scratch, then we will enter a golden age we haven’t seen since the likes of ancient Roam.
Resources
- Tools for Action blog post Tools for Action by Dylan Steck | UX Collective
- Twitter @cortex