3 ms·

Folks who are familiar with Zettelkasten: Would it be correct to say that most of these tools are identical to Wiki software with one exception: the ability to

• scribu 6y ago
  It's not that. Wikipedia, for example, has a separate "pages that link to this" view. What makes Roam Research different is "block addressing", i.e. you can get a reference to a single paragraph and use it in other docs (either referencing it or embedding it). (and of course a nice UX for editing)
  • wenc 6y ago
    I see. What else separates it from Wikis? (genuine question) Side: I've read books and articles in an attempt to understand what sets it apart from other techniques. I know Niklas Luhmann used it to write tons of books and articles, while others claim to have been able to use it as a "second brain". But I'm still having trouble understanding how to deploy the Zettelkasten technique effectively -- a lot has been written about the technique, but not much has been written about actual use cases where someone has used it to accomplish something useful, which they couldn't have as easily or at all without Zettelkasten. Due to the lack of examples, I'm trying understand by analogy, by comparing Zettelkästen to something familiar like Wikis.
  • mikro2nd 6y ago
    A nice UX? Personally I've found Roam to be flaky as hell. (Perhaps it just doesn't like Firefox very much.)
• mikro2nd 6y ago
  So Zim-Wiki with the Backlinks plugin, then. Notes (wikipages) are stored as ordinary text files in a directory structure that is whatever hierarchy you've used in the notes. (I tend not to use hierarchy much for my every-day notes.) Zim doesn't use Markdown as it's native or input syntax, but can copy text as md if you so wish. Honestly one of the most underrated, understated tools I've ever come across, and one I would hate to have to live without.
• marvinblum 6y ago
  Hm yes and no. They are quite similar, but I would say a Zettelkasten is focused on connections rather than the "articles" itself. Cards probably won't contain as much information as a fully fledged article. I wrote about it here: https://emvi.com/blog/luhmanns-zettelkasten-a-productivity-tool-that-works-like-your-brain-N9Gd2G4aPv https://emvi.com/blog/luhmanns-zettelkasten-a-productivity-t...
• sradman 6y ago
  > Would it be correct to say that most of these tools are identical to Wiki software... It would be correct to say that a personal Wiki is a modern way to implement a Zettelkasten system [1]. Zettelkasten (Slip-Box is the literal translation from the German) is a paper-and-pen system where personal notes are written on index cards and stored in a box (like the library card catalogs of yesteryear). The trick to building the knowledge graph is giving each card a unique identifier and having a convention for referencing other cards. Apple Notes and other similar products are simply missing the ability make links to other notes. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten