Lion Kimbro's notebook experiment

Eurobubba

Possibly of interest:

'I'm astonished by all the notekeeping programs that think you should categorize notes into one bin or another bin. "No!" Multiple-categorization. If you have a computer, you're not constrained to the physical filing system, where a paper can be in only one place at a time. You can store one piece of paper in 20 places, then. It can belong to 20 category trees. In fact, you can use category graphs- you don't need category trees.'

https://gilest.org/lion-kimbro.html

Eurobubba

Kind of a shame how wikis haven't developed the way he envisioned. At times these forums have actually come pretty close.

ctietze

Moving beyond constraints of the physical world is indeed a good mindset. Here's a fixed link while the OP's one isn't working: https://gilest.org/lion-kimbro.html

Highlights for me:

While I was in the thick of it, I tended to avoid movies, since they made me think so much. It was sort of like getting psychologically bombed.

Also, I like how he describes the interconnectedness of everything, and that a Zettelkasten (aka notebook system) can help you see the patterns unravel before your eyes:

You find yourself reaching towards some objective. Your notes are strategy notes, mental puzzling, things like that, to reach the objective. It all goes into the notebook system. Then you have some questions about life. They seem unrelated. It all goes into the notebook system. Then you realize that the objective is important to you. That goes into the notebook system. How do you place "important?" Well, that's connected to your life. But now it's also attached to your objective. A line is literally drawn between the objectives, and the questions about life. You now consider them together.

Then you see this, and that becomes a thought. It goes into the notebook system. You pay attention to this: You realize (because, it's there, graphically, right in front of you) that your notions about life are intricately connected to your objectives. Before, you thought you were just doing it for fun. But afterwards, you realize that it's part of this causal chain.

@Eurobubba The praise of wiki as a permanent storage of information reminds me of the distinction of Stream VS Garden (e.g. Facebook vs wiki) by Mike Caulfield: https://hapgood.us/2015/10/17/the-garden-and-the-stream-a-technopastoral/

ctietze

Here's the book "How to make a complete map of every thought you think", by the way: http://users.speakeasy.net/~lion/nb/

micahredding

@ctietze said:
The praise of wiki as a permanent storage of information reminds me of the distinction of Stream VS Garden (e.g. Facebook vs wiki) by Mike Caulfield: https://hapgood.us/2015/10/17/the-garden-and-the-stream-a-technopastoral/

I enjoyed that. Do you see Zettelkasten as a Wiki in this sense? I know I've seen some criticism of wiki technology here, but my guess is that this relates to the interface, and the approach to naming.

ctietze

The Zettelkasten is a Garden, and you can set it up like a wiki. The actual wiki-ness of wikis as software lies in technical factors we can ignore when we talk about a Zettelkasten. Maybe I'm too stubborn, but internally I separate the Zettelkasten as an idea from the wiki as one potential realization. Because of that, your question "is a Zettelkasten a wiki" only makes half sense to me

Also, yes, wikis aren't illegal. Use them to set up your Zettelkasten if you like.