Methods to Organize a News and Info Database

Talk Lounge
1

I have a question for you all. I am interested in building a database, but I’m not sure what is the best way to build it. Collections seem clunky for what I’m trying to do, but also creating a page with a bunch of headings and subheadings and notes beneath all that, it just seems like it would turn out ugly and not work the way I need it.

Side note. I also integrated PARA in my space, but not sure how that is going to work here. Right now I’m working out of an area.

Little background, I follow markets and read news, and the idea is to build a database of news, analysis, etc that I would draft notes and create thesis that I can also use to build narratives and reflect on for the future. An example would be like, new Fed chair, his policies and how would that affect the markets, what are his intentions. That kind of stuff.

I would appreciate any ideas I can get so it is aesthetically pleasing and actually practical.

2

You’ll need both.
Each news & info comes into a separate Object (for example from Type Page, but not necessary).
And these Objects belong then into a Collection.

Instead of using the Page Type, it can make sense to create an own Type, that comes with all the Properties you need.

I have no knowledge about markets, Fed, policies etc., therefore I can’t give good suggestions what you need.
But I can tell you that the PARA concept didn’t work for me. PARA is simply a concept how one could bring some structure into his data, but that doesn’t men that this concept fits for everyone and for every case.
I dropped it completely.

It may also be that you will not be able to built what you need at the moment.
That’s because Anytype still lacks some “basic” features that a database normally has.
For example, if you need some mathematical functions, where one Property shows the multiplication of the content from two other Properties, Anytype is not able to do that.
Formulas are on the roadmap, bat they are not available yet.

There are also no statistical functions for analyses. No bar graphs, no diagrams, no this no that.

3

Thanks. Are you suggesting a Type that comes in the medium of news (e.g. newspaper article, editorial, YT video) or a Type that is specific to my own analysis (e.g. breakdown of articles, other analysts opinions, etc.)?

If the latter, would you make of properties? What came to me when reading your message - was maybe properties like Region (APAC, EU, US, NA, ME), Topic (Economy, Geopolitics, Markets), like something like that. I’m curious what your opinion is on that for organization or if you have other suggestion.

Appreciate your time.

4

As said, I have no knowledge about markets, Fed, policies etc., therefore I can’t give good suggestions what you need.
You need to find your own way to organize everything so that it fits best for you.
But I believe that you’ll never be totally happy, no matter what you do, because Anytype still lacks features.

My own experience is, that it sometimes need some tries. Each runs into a dead end after a while of usage. Then one comes up with a better idea and one take the time to reorganize everything. But after a week or so, one runs again into a dead end.

Anytype lacks some features. Often there is this or that workaround that solves some of the restrictions to a certain level. But there are often multiple possible workarounds and one need to think and to try a lot till one has reached a stage that’s somehow acceptable.

Look for example what Excel can do!
It’s immense! You can do all kinds of diagrams and data input masks, and active level meters and this & that and more!
Anytype will maybe never reach to that. It’s a different software for different purposes.
If you need math functions and data analyses, Anytype is not the right tool for you (at least yet).

I believe there will come some of these functionalities this year, but better don’t expect too much and too soon.
Maybe a full AI integration will solve your problems.
I think that’s a good idea to put all variables that you have in individual Properties, so that an AI has the data well ordered. That will help. But at the moment, there is for me no very clear way in sight how to do that all.
If you simply try it (again and again) you will at least better know what you relly need.
If you have this clear, then it may be that you find a better suited software.
Or you get suddenly an idea how AI can interact with your data in Anytype.

But even if you put all your variables into Properties, you’ll recognize that even that comes with some problems.
For example, we have no good suited Properties for storing units. For example currencies.
You can store numbers in number Properties, yes. But what does the number mean?
– Is it some prize in Dollars? Or in Euro? Or in Yen? Or in Rubel?
Anytype can’t handle that.

As workaround, you could have a prize Property for every usual currency.
But then comes the problem that Anytype can’t do the necessary calculations if you always need the result in Euro (or Dollar, etc.).
Or the needed calculations for brutto, netto, tax. Anytype still can’t do that.

Formulas are on the roadmap.
Full AI integration in on the roadmap. Much more is on the roadmap. But if you need a solution now, then I’m sorry, but there is no good solution.
Maybe you can find a solution which which you can live for now and for a while.
But maybe you will not find such a solution for now.

Anytype has still not reached version 1.0
Whatever v1.0 will bring us, is not clear, nor when it comes.

5

@Code-Jack shares some great advice and general points. Anytype is not as fully-featured as other apps, so if you’re in need for more complex workflows then you may not be best served here. That being said, it’s worth just giving it a try in the beginning.

Create a custom type, add some properties, create special views with filters and sorts, then create some queries if you want to merge objects from different types.

Best to start simple and then build from there. If you’ve not used an object-based system before, it’s unlikely you’ll get your ideal setup on your first try. So just play around and have fun with it.

6

Thanks guys. I’m not really looking to do stats or anything with Anytype. Just trying to create a database of news that I found useful for viewing the markets short-term and long-term. It’s more a note-taking and self analysis setup I’m going for. Although, you all have inspired me to track some data points now, but if it is complicated on Anytype I could just move it to Excel.

I think I will utilize your advice and dabble a bit with the ideas you shared. I appreciate your time.