Upcoming Session on Digital Note-Taking at CUNY IT Conference

ZettelDistraction

I write to inform you about a session at the upcoming 22nd Annual CUNY IT Conference that might interest you. The "Linking Your Thinking with ChatGPT" session runs at 1 PM on Thursday, November 30th.

The session focuses on creating links between digital notes and articles, a practice relevant to us using or interested in Zettelkasten methods. A group of research assistants and Ph.D. students from the Electrical Engineering department at The City College of New York will lead the discussion, covering approaches to organizing and managing digital notes.

While the session announcement doesn't explicitly mention "Zettelkasten," it is my first opportunity to interact with Zettelkasten aficionados offline and--in case they aren't aware of it--advertise the Zettelkasten.de site.

I plan to attend this session and will be taking notes. I am willing to share a summary with the forum afterward for those interested but unable to participate. I aim to provide an objective overview of the session's content and discussions and explore how they relate to our ongoing conversations about Zettelkasten.

Please let me know if you have any questions you want me to raise during the session. The text of the session announcement follows.

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Linking Your Thinking with ChatGPT
(Research and AI)

In our ever-growing digital age, our habit of collecting articles and notes has inadvertently led to an overwhelming amount of digital noise, drowning out the valuable signals we once cherished. The joy of using our digital note libraries can slowly erode. As our article collection grows, our original thoughts become buried, making it challenging to retrieve our own unique insights. This phenomenon can result in a form of “digital dementia.”

However, there is a solution. Enter “thinking through linking.” This revolutionary concept allows us to effortlessly create connections between our notes, transforming our fast notes and free notes into linked notes. We can now create links as quickly as we think of them, no programming skills required. By relying on links as the primary way to relate our notes, we’re taking a significant leap beyond traditional folder-based systems. These links mirror the way our brains naturally work, encouraging the development of ideas and enabling us to see the bigger picture with ease.

“Thinking through linking” addresses both the issues of cluttered digital libraries and the loss of our original thoughts. It allows us to develop ideas rapidly through direct links and provides a comprehensive view of our knowledge repository. The value of this approach extends far beyond the short-term; it promises to infuse joy and confidence into our digital note systems for decades to come.

In essence, by embracing linked notes, we can unlock the true potential of our digital knowledge and enhance our digital note-taking experience.

Aicha Mustapha, Research Assistant of Electrical Engineering

Abrar M Abd Elbary, Ph.D. Student

Mohammed M Elsayed, Ph.D. Student

Kirn Zafar, Ph.D. Student

Jatin Jain, Ph.D. Student

Dhruvil Savaliya, Ph.D. Student

All of Electrical Engineering, The City College of New York

Nido

I am just seeing this now? Please share with us your impressions of the event.

Sascha

VERY interesting.

ZettelDistraction

Unfortunately, while I was at the conference, I could not get away in time to attend the session I wanted to. I had hoped to obtain the slides from the presenters.

I did locate some online documents hosted at CUNY on the Zettelkasten method. In February, the Writing Center at the CUNY Graduate Center announced a webinar and a biweekly working group. The Writing Center prepared a document of online resources on Zettelkasten that might be of interest. I'm afraid I have to disagree with their evaluation of ZKM3 versus The Archive.

nikpanaousis

@ZettelDistraction Thank you for sharing this! I was planning to attend in person after seeing it advertised at Baruch college, but could not make it. It's very exciting to see discussion around the Zettelkasten in CUNY. I thought I was in a vacuum.