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Firstly, thanks to the author for taking such time and care with the illustrations. However, by way of contrast to many of the other comments on here, I found
by laingc 6y ago
Firstly, thanks to the author for taking such time and care with the illustrations.
However, by way of contrast to many of the other comments on here, I found this particular explanation quite unhelpful, both in terms of the presentation communicating the idea as well as the parts of the idea that I was able to glean.
It’s probably an individual thing, but I don’t want to combine things into projects, and I certainly Don’t want to go down the route of having a folder structure.
Having recently converted my somewhat-organised notes into a Zettelkasten workflow, I have been amazed by the freeing nature of the medium. The core of my method is simple markdown files that can be easily written without the aid of any software. I have had fun building a significant amount of automation around the notes - building a traversable and plottable graph, implementing backlinking, templating and that sort of thing, but it is purely assistive and not necessary.
Some sibling comments make the point that BASB seems to be more of a complete theory, where as a Zettelkasten is a method alone. Here, I humbly beg to differ. It is the simple and mechanical nature of the Zettelkasten that frees the mind from the burden of too much information.
This is obviously an individual preference, but I think I’ve found the method that suits me.
- AnonC 6y agoWhat tools do you use for your workflow? Is there a write up that you have done on it (or you have followed)?
- laingc 6y agoI don't have a writeup, but I posted the following in a sibling comment [0]. > The software I use is, at its most basic, a text editor. In my case, Sublime text. > Everything else is a Python package with a CLI, dockerised for portability, and written entirely by me to support my workflow. > I am absolutely sympathetic to the "I want a tool not a hobby" idea of using prebuilt software, and indeed I have tried many of them (including every one I have seen linked on HN), however I have found that building my own automation has really helped me to think carefully about how I use my Zettelkasten and what it implies for my own thought process. > This reply probably falls into the category of "unhelpfully helpful advice", but that's what has worked for me personally. 0: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23522098 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23522098
- ralphstodomingo 6y agoI was curious about that as well. For notes or thoughts that don't fall into a specific project, I wouldn't know where to put them.
- FakeRemore 6y agoI'm also interested in what software you're using for this. I've looked into tools that support Zettelkasten and they all seem to have made inexplicable changes to the system. The most significant to me is the change from using a hierarchical, meaningful numbering scheme to using timestamps that lack all form of context/hierarchy. Context in the sense that unless you're the Rain Man, there's no way to fit timestamps into a conceptual framework to refer to in your mind. You're always 100% reliant on your tools to find what you need.
- laingc 6y agoThe software I use is, at its most basic, a text editor. In my case, Sublime text. Everything else is a Python package with a CLI, dockerised for portability, and written entirely by me to support my workflow. I am absolutely sympathetic to the "I want a tool not a hobby" idea of using prebuilt software, and indeed I have tried many of them (including every one I have seen linked on HN), however I have found that building my own automation has really helped me to think carefully about how I use my Zettelkasten and what it implies for my own thought process. This reply probably falls into the category of "unhelpfully helpful advice", but that's what has worked for me personally.
- jmiskovic 6y agoCan you mention how you organize files themselves? Things like subdirectories, naming, solving name clashes, and how do you decide when to split content into two or more files. I've always struggled with mapping any note organization mapping into strict directory structure with ascii file names being the only meta-data. I'm currently using Trilium Notes which solves most of these by using SQLite instead of filesystem.
- laingc 6y agoNo subdirectories for notes, everything is flat. I have three directories: zettel for the Zettel, Daten for the data, and Kasten for software/scripts. Zettel are named as follows: z{%Y%m%d%H%M%S}_{slugified title}.md Tags are formatted as +{hyphenated tag name}. Scripts parse all the Zettel, construct a bipartite graph of tags and Zettel, and populate tables in the index with lists of Zettel under each tag, a visualisation of the graph, various other meta statistics etc. The point (for me) of my Zettelkasten is that through links and tags, the structure of the notes is emergent rather than dictated a priori.
- sandspit 6y agoUsing Roam Research?
- blackoil 6y agoWhat kind of work / notes are you taking, are they more academic in nature or operational?
- laingc 6y agoEverything in my intellectual life that I find interesting. I am an Applied Mathematician by education running an AI unit in industry, so there is a bit on that, but personally my intellectual life has always been defined by breadth, and my Zettelkasten is as broad, weird, and eclectic as I am. And that, to my mind, is rather the point :-).