It’s difficult to define this web UFO. It’s databases, web pages, wiki, and more. It’s Trello, OneNotes and Evernote under steroids.
Databases rows are pages and columns are page attributes. Attributes have a type (text, date, checkbox, relation to another database, calculation, …). You can define databases views filtered and sorted on attributes, display all or some of them, using different display types:
In a page you can include text (markdown), objects (image, pdf, tweets, Google maps, …), links to other objects, views of other databases. These views can be filtered using their own attributes or if it’s linked with current page database with its attributes. Objects in a page (text, image…) are named blocks. You can move blocks, they each have an URL you can address, they can be shared between different pages.
You can share pages or databases you choose to the web, share your workspace to collaborate with other people, create multiple workspaces (genealogy, work, …).
And interact with the content of your databases thru Notion API with Zappier, Automate.io, … or your own program (my question).
I think I’ve listed Notion main properties and functions. I hope you see more what Notion is.
About usages: you can use it as your research log but also as your web site, your projects management tool, your to do list, your external links database, your personal knowledge management tool and more.
If you want I can post some screenshots.