4 ms·

There is a ton of practical stuff written in this general area if you search for "mind mapping" or "zettelkasten" (links below). The biggest thing I've taken a

There is a ton of practical stuff written in this general area if you search for "mind mapping" or "zettelkasten" (links below). The biggest thing I've taken away from all of my reading and experimentation in this (and being a bit of an information hoarder myself) is that the link itself, or the article itself, is not information, it's "data." There is value to the data, and if you want to record it that's fine. I use tags (hashtags in Logseq) to classify data so at least it's in some type of taxonomy, but Logseq full-text search is also pretty good so as long as you have words around the URLs that you'd be likely to search for you're good. Information is what you derive from the data. It's your summary, or paraphrasing of the core point(s), or connections you make between a thing and some other thing you previously recorded. Tools like Logseq and Obsidian exist to allow you to easily create those connections, and that's very much based on the zettelkasten method, though amplified by what the technology now allows, which is more complex and nuanced. Don't hoard URLs and headlines. Hoard your thoughts about them, what you think is important about them, what you saw that related to another thing you saw. That is information. https://zettelkasten.de/introduction/ https://zettelkasten.de/introduction/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zettelkasten https://logseq.com/ https://logseq.com/ https://obsidian.md/ https://obsidian.md/

iLoveOncall 4y ago
You didn't read the article did you? He's just saying that he has too many links to go through and your answer is "what if you wrote a massive note about each of those links?"...
- pprotas 4y ago
  That's different from how I understood his comment! There is no point in hoarding links; this is just "information." Information by itself is not useful; we need "data" instead. To turn this information into data, you could use something like Zettelkasten. Instead of hoarding links to articles, hoard notes about these articles and link them together. Basically, stop hoarding links due to your FOMO. Actually read articles that interest you and learn from them by writing your thoughts.
  - captaincaveman 4y ago
    normally you go : data -> information -> knowledge. Although the definitions are some what murky, this is the generally accepted model. I think what you are talking about is personal knowledge management.
    - pprotas 4y ago
      You are right, I mixed the terms “data” and “information” up
  - iLoveOncall 4y ago
    > I like seeing what people are working on, but there’s too much information and I have a small problem with that.. While it’s manageable to read through a smaller batch of 30-40 links, it’s time-consuming and overwhelming when the number grows to 80+ in a single week. The author writes his problem very clearly: he doesn't have time to go through the links. Suggesting that he not only goes through the links but also writes a Zettelkasten note about it is simply ridiculous. I'm not saying that the original comment is wrong, just that it's completely off topic and presents something as a solution when it's actually just a bigger problem.
    - pprotas 4y ago
      The autor mentions that they are spending a huge amount of time on hoarding links. This is a waste of time. They should stop doing this, instead spend that time on reading a few articles and writing notes.
      - wahnfrieden 4y ago
        Why should they start spending time on writing notes on links, even if it requires looking at less links to make the time for it? It's really not obvious that writing notes habitually is good advice or a healthier use of time
- guntherhermann 4y ago
  Yo, be kinder. Don't accuse people of x, y or z. It's unnecessary. Chill out, and if you're in a bad mood, don't post inflammatory comments on the internet. Peace.
PebblesRox 4y ago
I like this distinction between raw data and processed understanding; thanks for sharing your insight!
kixxauth 4y ago
> There is a ton of practical stuff written in this general area if you search for "mind mapping" or "zettelkasten" (links below). I think sometimes we can overweight the impact of tools and systems for retaining knowledge. These tools can be useful (I'm working on my own home grown versions of them) and I am getting better with the systems as I get more practice. But, still, this is a race you can never win. As you digest more information, you consume more. Eventually you've got to get out there and be a maker.
safety1st 4y ago
Came to say this as a light user of Obsidian. I don't think "hoarding" information is a bad habit. These are potentially bad habits: A) Allowing yourself to be distracted by useless information B) Under-organizing (or over-organizing) the information you collect The OP may over-collect pieces of information that aren't important (URLs of random things that are novel) and may not spend enough time adding context to what he collects (e.g. via notes in a tool like Obsidian). I find the ideas behind zettelkasten very useful. Our brains are not able to remember everything of value, therefore it is worthwhile to invest a little energy in an external or "second brain" where information is stored with some degree of organization for future retrieval. I have a cache of notes on all manner of subjects going back about a decade. I only recently discovered Obsidian and have been gradually linking those notes together, adding context etc. This has had a real impact on my understanding of certain topics because I've re-discovered insights and knowledge of many things I had simply forgotten.
reactspa 4y ago
> so as long as you have words around the URLs that you'd be likely to search for you're good. This is key. If you didn't choose the right words, it could be lost forever. I gave lots of tools a go. Really really tried. Logseq was one of them. Eventually, it had too many features I didn't need, and needed me to be too careful about how I input text. I've settled on using about 200 plain text notes based on different subjects. And I use my bookmarks as a knowledge graph. What I am waiting for is a killer-app bookmark manager with very powerful search, and tagging. Maybe some way to import into a tool like Logseq. FLOSS of course.
eichin 4y ago
In the last few years I came to understand that the main difference between "hoarding" and "collecting" is "having stories attached" (though my context for that was retrocomputing hardware in particular.) Just in the last week I went through about 300 tabs and either discarded them or put them in logseq, with notes about why I care (or at least grouped with others, so I can go back to a topic and find them specifically. chrome tab-groups had not been helpful for this.) It took a bit to realize that I was applying the same principle...
michaelhoney 4y ago
Don't hoard URLs and headlines. Hoard your thoughts about them, what you think is important about them, what you saw that related to another thing you saw. That is information. ^ this is good stuff

iLoveOncall 4y ago

You didn't read the article did you? He's just saying that he has too many links to go through and your answer is "what if you wrote a massive note about each of those links?"...

pprotas 4y ago
That's different from how I understood his comment! There is no point in hoarding links; this is just "information." Information by itself is not useful; we need "data" instead. To turn this information into data, you could use something like Zettelkasten. Instead of hoarding links to articles, hoard notes about these articles and link them together. Basically, stop hoarding links due to your FOMO. Actually read articles that interest you and learn from them by writing your thoughts.
- captaincaveman 4y ago
  normally you go : data -> information -> knowledge. Although the definitions are some what murky, this is the generally accepted model. I think what you are talking about is personal knowledge management.
  - pprotas 4y ago
    You are right, I mixed the terms “data” and “information” up
- iLoveOncall 4y ago
  > I like seeing what people are working on, but there’s too much information and I have a small problem with that.. While it’s manageable to read through a smaller batch of 30-40 links, it’s time-consuming and overwhelming when the number grows to 80+ in a single week. The author writes his problem very clearly: he doesn't have time to go through the links. Suggesting that he not only goes through the links but also writes a Zettelkasten note about it is simply ridiculous. I'm not saying that the original comment is wrong, just that it's completely off topic and presents something as a solution when it's actually just a bigger problem.
  - pprotas 4y ago
    The autor mentions that they are spending a huge amount of time on hoarding links. This is a waste of time. They should stop doing this, instead spend that time on reading a few articles and writing notes.
    - wahnfrieden 4y ago
      Why should they start spending time on writing notes on links, even if it requires looking at less links to make the time for it? It's really not obvious that writing notes habitually is good advice or a healthier use of time
guntherhermann 4y ago
Yo, be kinder. Don't accuse people of x, y or z. It's unnecessary. Chill out, and if you're in a bad mood, don't post inflammatory comments on the internet. Peace.

PebblesRox 4y ago

I like this distinction between raw data and processed understanding; thanks for sharing your insight!

kixxauth 4y ago

> There is a ton of practical stuff written in this general area if you search for "mind mapping" or "zettelkasten" (links below). I think sometimes we can overweight the impact of tools and systems for retaining knowledge. These tools can be useful (I'm working on my own home grown versions of them) and I am getting better with the systems as I get more practice. But, still, this is a race you can never win. As you digest more information, you consume more. Eventually you've got to get out there and be a maker.

safety1st 4y ago

Came to say this as a light user of Obsidian. I don't think "hoarding" information is a bad habit. These are potentially bad habits: A) Allowing yourself to be distracted by useless information B) Under-organizing (or over-organizing) the information you collect The OP may over-collect pieces of information that aren't important (URLs of random things that are novel) and may not spend enough time adding context to what he collects (e.g. via notes in a tool like Obsidian). I find the ideas behind zettelkasten very useful. Our brains are not able to remember everything of value, therefore it is worthwhile to invest a little energy in an external or "second brain" where information is stored with some degree of organization for future retrieval. I have a cache of notes on all manner of subjects going back about a decade. I only recently discovered Obsidian and have been gradually linking those notes together, adding context etc. This has had a real impact on my understanding of certain topics because I've re-discovered insights and knowledge of many things I had simply forgotten.

reactspa 4y ago

> so as long as you have words around the URLs that you'd be likely to search for you're good. This is key. If you didn't choose the right words, it could be lost forever. I gave lots of tools a go. Really really tried. Logseq was one of them. Eventually, it had too many features I didn't need, and needed me to be too careful about how I input text. I've settled on using about 200 plain text notes based on different subjects. And I use my bookmarks as a knowledge graph. What I am waiting for is a killer-app bookmark manager with very powerful search, and tagging. Maybe some way to import into a tool like Logseq. FLOSS of course.

eichin 4y ago

In the last few years I came to understand that the main difference between "hoarding" and "collecting" is "having stories attached" (though my context for that was retrocomputing hardware in particular.) Just in the last week I went through about 300 tabs and either discarded them or put them in logseq, with notes about why I care (or at least grouped with others, so I can go back to a topic and find them specifically. chrome tab-groups had not been helpful for this.) It took a bit to realize that I was applying the same principle...

michaelhoney 4y ago

Don't hoard URLs and headlines. Hoard your thoughts about them, what you think is important about them, what you saw that related to another thing you saw. That is information. ^ this is good stuff