Hello!

Jet

Hi everyone! I'm really glad to have stumbled upon this community from reading some medium articles, and I have a few questions.

1. Do you always link back and forth between 2 notes that you have created? Or do you just create a one directional thought flow? It seems like a lot of work to always link back and forth between notes so I'm hesitant. I should probably just try it out and see but I'm curious about other people's experience.

2. I'm thinking about using bear notes. I'm excited about using iphone shortcuts to create most of my notes and bear notes is compatible with shortcuts. I like the idea of creating an iphone shortcut so that I am forced to verbalize my thoughts while I create the note. I've done some shortcut prototypes and, for me, verbalizing makes me think more in depth about the idea I am trying to create.

Thanks for reading!

Jet

Also, I was wondering your note ids include only the timestamp or if they also include a short note title.

henrikenggaard

I'll just preface this reply with saying that there are a multitude of variations on the ideas behind Zettelkasten. So take this as a point-of-view and not a truth.

---

@Jet said: Do you always link back and forth between 2 notes that you have created? Or do you just create a one directional thought flow? It seems like a lot of work to always link back and forth between notes so I'm hesitant. I should probably just try it out and see but I'm curious about other people's experience.

I don't think it would make sense to always add links both ways. I think of links as having many roles and sometimes, it only makes sense to explicitly form a connection in one direction. Say I'm making an argument, then a common format in my notes is something like:

Since [[dispersion-compensating fibers have narrow core diameter]}, losses are higher.

Where the [[...]] is a link. Often it only makes sense to form such arguments in one direction, especially when I'm linking many notes to form a single argument.

However, it is nice to know what is linked and any decent method should support some way of finding "backlinks" or reference to any note.

---

@Jet said: Also, I was wondering your note ids include only the timestamp or if they also include a short note title.

As in my example above, I use the title as a part of arguments and such (actually I forego other kinds of IDs, but that is a side-track.) I find that it helps me keep the notes of a high-quality by forcing me to be able to summarize them. Said in another way, I think the process of creating the title is a beneficial part of the workflow. But I'm pretty sure others do it differently and have good experiences with not having titles. Someone else has to chime in on that.

ctietze

Welcome, and I concur with what @henrikenggaard said

Also, +1 for timestamp and title. The machine needs the timestamp, but I need a title to make sense of anything.

I place forward links from A to B. To know which note links to B, i.e. to get to the backlinks, I search for B's identifier. (Some apps provide an interface for to list all backlinks.) So I can go in both directions already when I define one direction; no need for a mechanical task like "for each incoming link, place a link in this note back to the link origin." But sometimes, I want to link back because the Zettel form a mutual relationship, i.e. they complement each other.

Will

Welcome, and I concur with what @henrikenggaard and @ctietze said

@henrikenggaard said:
I think of links as having many roles and sometimes ...

Yes and I agree with @ctietze as I sometimes create an explicit backlink and the backlink plays the role of adding emphasis in both notes symbiosis. Usually, though I let the software app list all the notes that are 'backlinked' (contain the referring UID).

@henrikenggaard said:
... I think the process of creating the title is a beneficial part of the workflow.

This is a creative area I'm working on in my personal zettelkasting workflow. Thinking through the kernel of the idea that is expressed in a note to give it a meaningful title is a positive exercise when the note is created. When it captures the essence of the idea, it is very helpful in the future. I don't hold the titles as precious and change them when I can more accurately and meaningfully title the zettel. I have a place in the metadata block of my note template where I keep track of the history when I change the human-readable title and I do regularly make changes as I live with the note and see it in different contexts.

Here is a sample that I think shows and improvement in the title.

Jet

@henrikenggaard @ctietze @Will

Thanks for your thoughtful responses! The clarification on linking notes is very helpful. I'm thinking I will do the timestamp + title