3 ms·

Luhmann’s Zettelkasten – A Productivity Tool That Works Like Your Brain

6 points by Jimmc414 3y ago

ggm 3y ago
I attended a talk by Lawrence Lessig on computers, law and society where he used the kind of mindmap-as-powerpoint which I still think personifies how zettelkasten work best as an aide memoire to talk to. It felt like he'd used one, to make the talk. It drove me to use the pandoc slides tools to do some things, where you can skim or deep-dive, depending on the direction and a deep dive can branch itself, which isn't that far removed. They never really worked, but they did work better than the alternatives (Powerpoint) for me, as a branching deep/shallow talking tool. Something I have felt for some time, is that most electronic equivalents of a file cabinet of cards built up over a lifetime are in fact inferior to the physicality of the cabinet. And, the cabinet is a lifes commitment. You can't just arrive at a cabinet of 60,000 related cards of your memory, it takes the three decades work to get there. I did interact with the library card catalogue in my youth. It's interesting. I think when booksellers started providing information in library index tape format, and libraries started sharing their digital catalogues, and then publishers started pre-printing cards in standard format at one remove, the writing (ha) was on the wall: If you don't determine its filing and relationships yourself and can just stuff a card in a draw via junior labour, you aren't feeding the index, you're just padding it. Mike Lesk (UUCP) was a fan of Library sciences. I think he would relate to zettelcasting but probably have a more tech literate take on it.
Rochus 3y ago
> The process of linking cards is intended to work similarly to your brain. Well, quite a speculative statement given that many people use outliners or mind mappers instead. And if it worked similarly to a brain it would likely take its own conclusions, isn't it?
eternityforest 3y ago
They have some pretty good arguments for actually making a point to use linking instead of just purely relying on search and tagging, like I generally do.
- Rochus 3y ago
  Like the whole www does.

6 points by Jimmc414 3y ago

ggm 3y ago

I attended a talk by Lawrence Lessig on computers, law and society where he used the kind of mindmap-as-powerpoint which I still think personifies how zettelkasten work best as an aide memoire to talk to. It felt like he'd used one, to make the talk. It drove me to use the pandoc slides tools to do some things, where you can skim or deep-dive, depending on the direction and a deep dive can branch itself, which isn't that far removed. They never really worked, but they did work better than the alternatives (Powerpoint) for me, as a branching deep/shallow talking tool. Something I have felt for some time, is that most electronic equivalents of a file cabinet of cards built up over a lifetime are in fact inferior to the physicality of the cabinet. And, the cabinet is a lifes commitment. You can't just arrive at a cabinet of 60,000 related cards of your memory, it takes the three decades work to get there. I did interact with the library card catalogue in my youth. It's interesting. I think when booksellers started providing information in library index tape format, and libraries started sharing their digital catalogues, and then publishers started pre-printing cards in standard format at one remove, the writing (ha) was on the wall: If you don't determine its filing and relationships yourself and can just stuff a card in a draw via junior labour, you aren't feeding the index, you're just padding it. Mike Lesk (UUCP) was a fan of Library sciences. I think he would relate to zettelcasting but probably have a more tech literate take on it.

Rochus 3y ago

> The process of linking cards is intended to work similarly to your brain. Well, quite a speculative statement given that many people use outliners or mind mappers instead. And if it worked similarly to a brain it would likely take its own conclusions, isn't it?

eternityforest 3y ago

They have some pretty good arguments for actually making a point to use linking instead of just purely relying on search and tagging, like I generally do.

Rochus 3y ago
Like the whole www does.