Building a second brain using AI and automation

Optimising workflow using AI and automation tools enables a researcher to work more efficiently and effectively. It’s the basis for building new knowledge.

Using technology to build a second brain to compensate for my cognitive limitations has become an obsession. Two years into a doctoral research project exploring the contribution of public relations to management, I have long since lost the ability to keep track of sources of data and information.

There’s a truism in academic research that you can read dozens of papers to find a single citation. There are also occasional eureka moments when a single study either supports or destroys a hypothesis.

You’ll likely forget both within a few days.

I’ve developed 20 hypotheses about the relationship between public relations and management. These are based on reading more than 250 papers and tens of books. Keeping on top of so much information has long since become impossible.

Tiage Forte describes how technology can extend the human mind's capability in Building a Second Brain. He has designed systems and trained individuals and enterprise organisations around the world.

My approach to knowledge management was originally old school. It was based on marking up books or printed copies of research papers. I’ve invested in original or second-hand copies of books and source papers via the university library.

A diary, notes, and Mendeley reference management system, helped me keep up with everything. This system worked until I reached around 50 data sources but it wouldn’t scale.

It’s simply impossible to keep track of such much information. I’ve wasted ten times more time searching for a reference than it took to read and make notes about the material initially.

I’ve recently started over, scrapped my original reference management software application, and rebuilt my workflow. It’s a lot of work, but efficiency and effectiveness are already paying dividends.

Reference management

Papers and books are logged in a reference management system called Paperpile. It’s the most open system I’ve found and can be configured to cross-reference metadata with multiple research databases. It also pulls in a copy of the source document as a PDF if you have licenced access.

Knowledge extraction

There are many tools to extract information from a research paper. Wordtune is my favourite. Claude, the large language model developed by Anthropic, is also worth checking out.

It takes a few months to think like an academic and scan a paper for the key argument, abstract, method, research study, and conclusion. All these points are extracted in note form.

Knowledge management

Building a wiki using Notion has been my single biggest productivity breakthrough. The argument, author, methodology and summary are all recorded. I’d love to be able to publish this as part of my final thesis. I’ve previously written about my application of Notion.

Where I can access a PDF of a paper, I upload a copy to Wordtune. It creates a summary and adds it to a project library.

Building new knowledge

The role of public relations is under-researched. I’ve identified countless knowledge gaps. These are developed through written arguments.

Notion provides multiple ways to organise and search the wiki I’m building. Wordtune enables papers to be searched semantically for concepts, themes, or simply by asking a question. Critically, both tools maintain the integrity of the source.

These tools act as a superpower enabling me to keep track of multiple concepts and sources. They will almost certainly become mainstream integrations into DropBox, Google and Microsoft cloud solutions within 18 months.

The public laboratory

Argument and debate is an important part of the research process. That happens in the safe space of supervision meetings, but there is also a greater power in sharing work more publicly.

Conferences, events, and workshops are the traditional way to share ideas. I’ve also found that blogging and posting on LinkedIn has enabled me to get rapid feedback for my ideas. It always takes me to a better place. My supervisor calls this a public laboratory.

A methodical and disciplined approach ensures that a second brain system works effectively. It can only be as good as the information that is recorded.

But work it does. It eliminates stress, especially moving back and forth between research and my day job. It gives me confidence and helps me develop stronger arguments.

A note of caution

Research librarians will advise you not to rely on third-party software systems or store data in the cloud.  These risks are mitigated by having a robust data management and backup policy.

The cost of tools is also an issue, but the outputs will be valuable beyond my final dissertation and the project's lifetime. They are already making a direct contribution to my work.

I recognised that I am in a privileged position that my company is funding my research project, fees, and costs. An established professional network that can help me test ideas is also a huge boom.