<h2 id="start-here---the-philosophy-of-this-vaultmd"><a aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" href="#start-here---the-philosophy-of-this-vaultmd"><span class="icon icon-link"></span></a>START HERE - The Philosophy of This Vault.md</h2>
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<div class="callout-title error" style="background-color: undefined1a;"><span style="color:undefined" class="callout-icon"></span><strong><p>WARNING</p></strong></div>
<div class="callout-content" style=""><p>Please do not touch or edit the Templates folder. The files in this folder are pre-designed for the course exercises and assignments. You will learn about these files in the coming week.</p></div>
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<p><strong>What is Obsidian?</strong><br>
Obsidian.md, founded by Erica Xu and Shida Li <a href="https://obsidian.md/about">About - Obsidian</a>, was created as a durable, note-making, knowledge management system that uses <code>[[wikis]]</code> or <code>#tags</code> to link your notes together for knowledge creation. Your notes are written in markdown language (.md), a plain text format that is durable and future-proof; readable on any device or future devices. Obsidian.md features a large, community-driven plugin ecosystem that enables complete customization.</p>
<p>Visualizing relationships within Obsidian is simple, as the software features a graph view that facilitates the visualization of your notes and their connections to other notes through nodes and edges, similar to Network Analysis. However, it is more of a gimmick and shows what you personally consider connected; it is not the software making these connections for you. Thus, you need to be mindful and critical about why you are making connections if you use Obsidian for any form of academic research. Here is a shameless plug. Go to my blog, <a href="http://www.roguehistory.ca">www.roguehistory.ca</a> where I write a lot about the software. In particular, read <a href="https://www.roguehistory.ca/blog/creating-your-vault?rq=theorizing">Theorizing the Vault</a></p>
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<div class="callout-title note" style="background-color: undefined1a;"><span style="color:undefined" class="callout-icon"></span><strong><p>FYI</p></strong></div>
<div class="callout-content" style=""><p>Notice how you can link to outside sources from within the vault.</p></div>
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<p>First, Obsidian will not provide all the resources you need for academic research. However, with the ever-expanding quantity of community-developed plugins available for Obsidian users, the software's potential is encouraging. Plugins like <em>Dataview</em> and <em>DBfolder</em> (found in settings/community plugins/browse) allow you to import and query data in customizable ways for your research goals. The DBfolder plugin simplifies the creation or import of CSV files, while Dataview enables you to query the data in your vault. Obsidian has also introduced a new core plugin called <code>Bases</code>, and we will explore this during the course.</p>
<p>For types of queries that you can make, <a href="https://blacksmithgu.github.io/obsidian-dataview/"><strong>click here</strong></a>. The query language is simple and easy to learn. For those who do code, DataviewJS (JavaScript) can be used to create more complex queries and in-line code. Python can also be implemented.</p>
<h2 id="the-principles"><a aria-hidden="true" tabindex="-1" href="#the-principles"><span class="icon icon-link"></span></a>The Principles</h2>
<p>The structure of this vault and the tools we are using are based on a few simple but powerful principles designed to serve you long after this course is over.</p>
<p><strong>1. Your Notes Belong to You, Forever.</strong></p>
<p>Unlike cloud-based services like Notion or Evernote, everything in this vault is stored locally on your computer. You are not dependent on a company's servers, subscription fees, or continued existence. This is your data, and it stays with you.</p>
<p><strong>2. The Power of Plain Text (Markdown).</strong></p>
<p>Every note you create in Obsidian is a simple .md (Markdown) file. This is just a plain text file with some simple formatting syntax. What does this mean?</p>
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<p><strong>Future-Proof:</strong> You will be able to open and read these files with any text editor on any computer, 50 years from now. The format is open and will never become obsolete.</p>
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<p><strong>Durable:</strong> Plain text is the most resilient digital format. It is not prone to the corruption that can plague complex file types.</p>
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<p><strong>No Proprietary Lock-in:</strong> Because your notes are just text files, you are not locked into Obsidian. If a better tool comes along in five years, you can simply open your folder of notes with that new tool, and everything will still be there. You are investing in your own knowledge, not in a specific piece of software.</p>
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<p><strong>3. A Structure for Growth.</strong></p>
<p>The folder system here (<code>01 Weekly Journal</code>, <code>02 Notes</code>, <code>03 Consolidation</code> ) is just a starting point. It's a simple framework to help us distinguish between different kinds of thinking: daily reflections, notes on what we've read, and our own atomic ideas. We will build upon this structure throughout the semester. I want you to push the boundaries and explore the concept of Personal Knowledge Management and <strong>Note-Making</strong>. The goal of this course is not only to learn about digital history, but also to develop a practice of digital thinking that is durable, personal, and powerful, where knowledge is emergent from the connections you make within this digital ecosystem.</p>

Welcome

1. Course Description

2. Learning Outcomes

3. Course Schedule

4. Evaluation

5. Course Communications

6. Common Regulations

6. Contact the Professor

how the course tech is built; how the course came to be

7. Colophon

8. Reuse

Orientation and Digital Setup

Week 1

Personal Knowledge Management and Linked Thinking

Week 2

Thinking about the “Craft” of Digital History

Week 3

Crusading into the Digital Age of LLMs

Week 4

Consolidation & Check-In Week

Week 5

Digital Excavation

Week 6

Defining Data, 'Dark' Data, & Identifiers

Week 7

Fall Break

Week 8

Seeing the Past?

Week 9

Week 10

Authority and Positionality in Your Digital Research

Week 11

Publicly Crafting a Historical Argument

Week 12

Open-Access Notebook Workshop

Week 13

Exit Ticket

Week 14

1 Setting up your vault

2 Create your first note

3 Templater Plugiin

4 What Goes into a Note?

5 Properties

Hypothesis

The Simplest Online Memex Worfklow

How To Read An Academic Article

FAQ for Common Tech Issues

Where to Find help

Text Formatting

Introduction to your vault

index note

Atomic Note

Literature Note

Process Note

Weekly Journal

Topic Proposal

Weekly Work & Tasks

Consolidation Reflection

Open Access Notebook/Memex

Benchmarking Your Memex

Exit Ticket/Final Project

1 Welcome to Crafting Digital History Transcript

2 Obsidian User Interface (UI) Guide

3 Templater and Hotkeys Setup

4 How to use PDF++

5 Canvas Core Plugin Introductory Tutorial

6 Hypothes.is and Annotating the Web

7 Omnisearch Plugin for Obsidian

8 How to Use Process Notes for Digital Research Projects in Obsidian

9 Properties, Identifiers and Data Management with Obsidian Core Plugin Bases

1 Welcome to Crafting Digital History

2 Some Logistical Updates

3 Welcome to Week Two

4 What is Digital History?

5 Crusading into the Digital Age of LLMs

6 Week Four Exercise Example

7 Using Obsidian for Digital History Research and Note-Making

8 Reflection Feedback Update and Hypothes.is

9 Week Five Update

10 Consolidation Reflection Submission

11 Module Two Wrangling and Critiquing

12 Week 7 Update

13 Week 9 Welcome Back

14 Consolidation Week Number 2

1. Course Overview

Module 1 Contextualizing

Module 2 Wrangling & Critiquing

Module 3 Arguing & Communicating

2. Schedule

01  memex help

8. Course Files

3. Tutorials

4. Assessment

5. VideoTutorials

Crafting Digital History

News