NoteBook LM - how to use for own learning / research

 Notebook LM has now been around for over a year. Many of my colleagues and research network have provided feedback on it's efficacy and its quirks. To date, I have dabbled with using it and found the user interface to be intuitive. The main advantage with Notebook LM is the facility to upload a range of sources - text (pdfs, .doc), multimedia (video, etc.) and websites. Curating a notebook takes very little time. The payoff comes in drawing on the selected material in the notebook, to provide answers/clarifications etc. to queries.

There are many resources on how to use Notebook LM - for example from androidauthority and a research slant with Andrew Stapleton, along with various blogs exampled by future learning and xda developers.  Xda developers also provide a good overview on how to use NotebookLM with Onenote as a study/ research buddy. 

However, as with most AI tools, there are caveats. For example, one NZ author's experience (from last year) on how the podcast generated on the book, missed important cultural nuances https://nzareblog.wordpress.com/2024/10/17/a-disconcerting-encounter-with-an-ai-doppelganger-of-my-work/

Therefore, as always, it is important to understand how the technology works and how it has influences/biases which arise from the app/tools' ontology. A reminder is provided through this article which proposes a manifesto for teaching and learning in the time of Gen AI. It calls for "robust, evidence-based research and conscious decision-making to ensure that GenAI enhances, rather than diminishes, human agency and ethical responsibility in education."