4 ms·

Ad-hoc Ask HN: Zettelkasten sounds a lot like a private Wiki. Is it different? How?

• qznc 6y ago
  I'd describe it as a certain style of private wiki. It comes with certain conventions how a wiki page should be. The article describes it as atomic, self-contained, permanent, and concise.
• vicek22 6y ago
  It is similar to private Wiki in how the notes are linked. My understanding simplified: Wiki - linked notes Zettelkasten - Wiki + process on how to read and work with resources, guidelines on how notes should be added, structured and tagged
• x775 6y ago
  It largely is. It seems as though Zettelkasten, despite being a relatively old phenomenon (e.g. see Niklas Luhmann), is experiencing a renaissance these days. Ultimately, it is just (yet) another way of keeping track of your notes and thoughts. You can think of it as cataloguing everything you write down. I reckon whether you stand to gain anything from converting your existing note-taking to a Zettelkasten operation depends entirely on how you currently take notes. What really matters is that whatever approach you employ works for you. In general, I wager the mere act of actually writing something down and approaching material in a critical, thoughtful manner as opposed to merely consuming is what drives both retention and understanding. Zettelkasten might help you attain that. It might also not.
• vvillena 6y ago
  The difference lies in how it's organized. An encyclopedia such as Wikipedia is organized using an encyclopedic hierarchy of knowledge. That makes no sense for a personal linked notes system: the key is to avoid hierarchy, and tag and link the notes in a way that helps them surface on the contexts you need.