Share with us what is happening in your ZK this week. December 29, 2023

Will

This is about you! 🫵🏼

Swimming with Ideas

This is another installment of the What Are You Working On? thread. Please be courageous and add to this thread by telling us what is happening in and around your ZK journey. Join the community and enlighten us about your knowledge path trajectory. I do this for selfish reasons. It helps me clarify my goals and visualize my thinking. And sometimes, a conversation sparks an idea worth exploring. This is an invitation to you to up your participation in the discussion.

Ideas I'm exploring with my ZK:

• Tags can either be used to categorize notes or give an idea of the note's theme. My subatomic is a short summary or theme that replaces a theming tag. Tagging is unnecessary overhead. Tag for note status and grouping only. Let structure notes and linking dominate.
• Web Historical Trails breadcrumbs, GPS adventure breadcrumbs, and how the metaphor can be applied to how I explore my journey with life.
• Focusing attention is a skill much like wood carving. Focusing takes time to develop. It can be learned. There are better and worse ways to practice. A mentor boosts progress. This habit is susceptible to the usual biases—especially the Dunning-Kruger Effect.

Things I'm reading:

• Calvino, Italo. The path to the spiders' nests. 1947.
• Garmus, Bonnie. Lessons in chemistry. 2022.
• Parrish, Shane. Clear thinking: turning ordinary moments into extraordinary results. 2023.
• Voltaire. Candide. 1759.

Music I'm listening to:

• Jeff Oster
• Lofi Girl
• Angela Puxi
  ★★★★★

The "My rolling ten-day zettel production" is produced by a script for attachment to my daily journaling template. I do my journaling in Bear to keep personal journaling separate from my knowledge work.

Let me know if you would like to discuss any of these notes.

My ten day zettel production

andang76

These days I'm reviewing some of the concepts I've learned during last year about notetaking, thinking and zettelkasten.
Comparing notes taken eight months ago with note taken today, I think the things go better.
The method is much more simpler, less steps, less tools, simpler templates, less overthinking.

andang76

In the last weeks I've tried to use Zettelkasten to learn and develop first, and apply to real cases after, the principles and rules of website accessibility.
My goal was to develop an expertise and a framework too useful for verify and/or implement accessibility.
I didn't think at first it would have been a so challenging task. I think I've developed a good set of puzzle tiles (concepts, rules, guidelines, heuristics, ...), but I feel I've to resynthesize all together in a linear form if I want to have a practical framework.
I've inspired in this last thought reading your essay "Upgrade Atomic Thinking to Holistic Thinking". The framework I want to obtain can be considered the output of my zettelkasting about accessibility.
Before that reading I was tempted to use directly the note network as the tool, but is not a viable solution.

I need to develop the second whole of the "whole-part-whole" process.
It has been a very important lesson learned for me.

Will

@andang76, I agree the @Sascha's article Upgrade Atomic Thinking to Holistic Thinking • Zettelkasten Method is inspirational. It spurred me to reflect and create a prime shaker of a zettel.
Here it is. Feel free to critique it.

Upgrade Atomic Thinking to Holistic Thinking 202309142011

andang76

I like the title of your note, Will. It's very effective.
During my read I haven't catch enough the "holism" term, nor the jump from atomic to holistic.
Your title catch very well the point of the entire essay.
I think I cite your title in my note :-)

I've already written in the discussion of the article that how you interpret the creative part, the auto-review, is a very good point. Doing autoreview in the second phase even if you don't use your notes with the purpose of producing a publication closes the cycle.
I've already inserted your autoreview as one of the four kind of syntesis process that I've identified in what i've written in my note about this holistic approach:

• artifact production: it can be a publication, creating a book, an article, a presentation, a post or, more general, any artifact you can do using the knowledge acquired in the analytical phase;
• teaching or explain to others
• discuss with others
• autoreview, or in general writing for yourself

I like your first person style, too.
I rarely use fragments in this style, more often I write concepts in the form "bisogna...", "è opportuno...", "è utile..." "è meglio..." (they are in italian. In english is something like "it's useful", "it's better", "it is appropriate..." ). A more neutral form, even if they are still referring to my personal thoughts about things.

mhmcgrath

I’m launching my ZK journey in 2024. Up until now I have been a “notebook” guy (38 years a professional planner and kept notebooks throughout). Now retired and want to explore ZK as a way to stay sharp, learn, grow knowledge in new areas. Now looking at daily and longer planning and to-do with 3X5 cards - can I go that way with ZK?is my thought or should I try to implement ZK with continuing my notebook approach in writing ideas, etc.? I also have used Evernote for many years, but as a “capture” implement for stuff (mostly). I prefer to stay analog with ZK (I think!) but wonder if including EN in workflow may have advantages.
I am grateful for any insights from the ZK “Hive,”

mediapathic

My CHURN file report was originally written as a response to this thread, then of course expanded into something other.

In terms of actual ZK work; I'm doing a bit of disambiguation and organizing in specific areas within my notes. I historically have created very few structure notes, and have relied largely on search. But, having had trouble finding some things recently, I'm embracing the idea (and the overhead!) of creating structure notes/MOCs/TOCs to allow for building categories and hierarchies that are modifiable on the fly. Specifically, as a fiction writer, I've collected a lot of particles about writing methods and techniques. So right now I'm building something like:

This allows me, amongst other things, to put things in multiple categories, where, presumably, I'll be able to more easily find them when I am researching a specific thing. For example, note that Draegera Structure is both an Example (because it's an analysis of a series that I really appreciate on a formal level) and Structure (because it's an analysis of a series that I really appreciate on a formal level).

Most of these notes are found with searches for slapdash and haphazard tagging that I've engaged in over time, and following links and vague memories. This particular document started because I was trying to research a topic and couldn't easily find the relevant notes. Hopefully, this will make that process easier in the future.

Jvet

After careful consideration, I've abandoned the notion of replacing my Mac with a gaming laptop. Prioritizing work and knowledge over gaming has become paramount for me. Perhaps a decade ago, the choice might have leaned in the opposite direction. Now, at 30, with time becoming a more precious commodity, I'm inclined to engage in activities that contribute more value than indulging in video games.

As a result, I've retained my Mac and reinstalled the Archive, a decision that has significantly altered my planned workflow. I'm using the following tools:

1. The Archive (main Zettelkasten): Serving as the primary hub for my notes.
2. BuJo Notebook: This will aid in organization, productivity, and the creation of collections. I plan to employ the barbell method of reading, processing annotations within the BuJo.
3. Card Buddy: Utilized for breaking down concepts into index cards, visually mapping their interrelations. Additionally, I'm considering using the app for drafting purposes.
4. Tinderbox: Not as a Zettelkasten but as a visual landscape to organize information and make sense of it.
5. PDF Expert: Ideal for annotating Kindle books converted to PDFs and other downloaded articles. I'll later export these annotations as markdown, processing them further with BuJo before incorporating them into the Archive.

Previously, I attempted managing multiple notebooks for different topics, but my ADHD-autistic mind found it challenging. Now, I'm following Ryder's advice, opting for a single notebook with a master index, a dedicated index, and specialized collections. This streamlined approach aligns better with my cognitive processes.

Jvet

@mhmcgrath said:
I’m launching my ZK journey in 2024. Up until now I have been a “notebook” guy (38 years a professional planner and kept notebooks throughout). Now retired and want to explore ZK as a way to stay sharp, learn, grow knowledge in new areas. Now looking at daily and longer planning and to-do with 3X5 cards - can I go that way with ZK?is my thought or should I try to implement ZK with continuing my notebook approach in writing ideas, etc.? I also have used Evernote for many years, but as a “capture” implement for stuff (mostly). I prefer to stay analog with ZK (I think!) but wonder if including EN in workflow may have advantages.
I am grateful for any insights from the ZK “Hive,”

I recommend embracing the Bullet Journal method for initial annotation processing, followed by transforming those annotations into Zettels using your preferred software. I found an interesting discussion on this approach on the Zettelkasten forum: A Notebook Zettelkasten.

Regarding index cards, I'm currently experimenting with an app called Card Buddy. However, I've gathered valuable insights from Ryan Holiday, Robert Greene, and Chris Aldrich during my research phase on using physical index cards. You might find their perspectives enlightening. While I have more references, starting with these three should provide a solid foundation. I opted for Card Buddy because, after processing books with my BuJo in an analog manner, I intend to retain the information in The Archive. Card Buddy then becomes a tool for exploring alternative ways to organize this information without investing in physical index cards and containers.

The choice between a physical and digital Zettelkasten depends on the depth of information processing. It spans from shallow approaches, like verbatim typing in Obsidian and connecting notes, to deep processes involving annotation, note-taking, analysis, and integration with existing Zettelkasten content. In essence, it's about progressing through Bloom's Taxonomy. In brief, prioritize processing information deeply and understanding its connections to create something new. Simply capturing and storing content, whether physically or digitally, may not yield the transformative impact you seek.