My own version of zettelkasten
After almost 2 years of thinking about how I implement the internals of my notes, I found one that seems would work on paper(and also everything else, sorry for the horrible pun).
My system used, but probably not entirely relied on two concepts:
1. Date numbering.
2. Family link.
Date numbering is simply what most people here already practiced, it's just inserting condensed form of datetime into our note such that it has a role as our note's identifier. Date number will be our notes primary identifiers.
Family link is my extended version of our usual notion of link. Instead of straight-up linking one note to another, like these:
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201911112105 Greek-God-Zeus.md
Overview bla, bla, bla, zeus copulates with a horse, bla, bla.
[[201911112108]] Zeus' offsprings.
[[201911112106]] Why Zeus is depicted as being with deprived morality?
[[201911112107]] Is Zeus morality are really depraved? Could it be that we see Hellenic Gods with wrong lenses?
=========================================================================================
I prefer to link each notes like these
=========================================================================================
201911112105 Greek-God-Zeus.md
Overview bla, bla, bla, zeus copulates with a horse, bla, bla.
=========================================================================================
201911112108 Zeus' offsprings.md
Family link:
1. 201911112105/1
=========================================================================================
201911112106 Why Zeus is depicted as being with deprived morality?.md
Family link:
1. 201911112105/1a
=========================================================================================
201911112107 Is Zeus morality are really depraved? Could it be that we see Hellenic Gods with wrong lenses?.md
Family link:
1. 201911112105/1a/1
If I want to do review about Zeus, I'll simply just type 201911112105 in search form, and add /1a behind it if I want to focused on researching whether Zeus is a big jerk or not.
That's it for today. That's basically the "how" part you need to start. If I want to say why this system works, it's because even if there's mistakes or errors in your notes, you can still easily salvages the good parts without getting corrupted with the bad parts. And there's more to it, instead of deleting the bad parts, you can keep it forever as a reminder of how you think at that time, you can do that without corrupting the good part of your notes.
Howdy, Stranger!
Comments
Note: Someone on this site said that Zettelkasten system resembles internet. Notice the form of family link, seems really similar with url address right?
You're using an approach that utilizes both unique IDs and what seems to be "folgezettel" (another term for your family link concept). I definitely think this both/and strategy is the way to go. Just to amplify your own helpful contribution, I've outlined my own preliminary experiments with folgezetteln and what I call "folgechains" here: https://forum.zettelkasten.de/discussion/comment/3151#Comment_3151
After some months of experimenting with it while writing my dissertation, teaching, and drafting conference papers, I have more thoughts on this method and how it relate to the zettelkasten that I really need to surface here for critical scrutiny. But I just wanted to thumbs up another positive use-case for the idiosyncratic use of folgezetteln!
Conceptually, not in terms of implementation and presentation, what's the difference between a folgechain and a structure note? Is there any reason the former couldn't just be implemented, if wanted, as an example of the latter?
I think that there is no necessary logical difference between the two, but I have the sense that people who benefit from using folgechains see an advantage in the freedom to branch without feeling mentally constrained to keep same level items logically parallel. In a structure note (at least in the way they work for me), I do feel some mental "push" to keep sibling items parallel in terms of scope, structure, epistemology, or some other aspect.
The brain is working hard to make sense of the world you are creating (constructivism).
I wouldn't fight it but use it.
I am a Zettler
I do feel some mental "push" to keep sibling items parallel in terms of scope, structure, epistemology, or some other aspect.
Oh, I don't fight it, nor do I think it is bad. My emphasis was on explaining to @Eurobubba what I think the distinction between folgezettel and structure notes is when put into practice.
However, although I am a constructionist also, I'm not sure the that my push for parallelism in outlines is a good example of constructivism. Everyone constructs meaning in their experience, but some people feel a push for parallelism in these kind of situations, while others are happy "constructing" branching links in a non-hierarchical way.