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What's the point of literature notes?
I'm a beginner that's been using the Zettelkasten method (found out about it from Sönke Ahrens' book) for a few good months but I find myself worrying over the fact that I spend more time writing literature notes than permanent notes. When I began writing for the first time they were huge essays so I tried writing them… -
At what point does adapting a Zettelkasten stop being a Zettelkasten?
Hello Folks, I’m still quite new here, so I’m genuinely curious about this. What Are We Actually Trying to Preserve in a Zettelkasten? When we try to build a Zettelkasten today, are we trying to preserve Luhmann’s method, or are we trying to preserve what made his system so effective? Those might not be exactly the same… -
What's A "Zettlekasten" (Oh, no, not again!)?
We seem to be having a lot of discussion (argument?) about what a "Zettelkasten" is or should be or if it's even a well-defined concept. Is it "the Method"? It's probably foolish of me but I'm going to chip in with my own take. Here is my current thinking, right off its z-card: A note system should - * Align with peoples'… -
Facsimiles of Luhmann 9/8 zettels laid out on canvas
How does the layout of zettels influence our perception of Luhmann's folgezettel structure? Here's an experiment that uses facsimiles of all zettels in branch 9/8. Note sequences are indicated by overlapping zettels. The black arrows indicate new note sequences branching off. The red arrow indicates a note sequence… -
Visualizing Luhmann's Folgezettel in Logseq
This is a contribution to The Great Folgezettel Debate. What exactly are those "Folgezettels", that Daniel and Sascha debate? And why do they matter? I think that we need better visualizations of Luhmann's actual zettels to answer those questions. I suggest an experiment. Explore the online edition of Niklas Luhmann's… -
Re: Zettelkasten - Term and Definition
If I had to simplify Luhmann's basic model even more, I'd go with only two note types: * Zettels with the unique numbering scheme that creates an outline with small addressable units. * Source notes that combine bibliographical data and a few short reading notes. Conceptually I don't think of the indexes as note types but… -
Re: What's the point of literature notes?
You can find examples of Luhmann's literature notes in comment 24883 and comment 25053. The point of literature notes depends very much on your reading goals and reading strategy. I found the advice in How to read a book valuable. The point also depends on your note-taking goals. What kind of notes do you want to have… -
How to download Zettels and JSON files from the Luhmann Archive
The Niklas Luhmann Archiv in Bielefeld has scanned the entire content of Niklas Luhmann's famous "Zettelkasten" (aka slip box, card index). The digital edition of the Zettelkasten is available online. You can search for zettels on the search page. If you want to download an individual zettel, click on the desired zettel in… -
On Zettelkasten Productivity
Let's start with some data from reconstructions of Luhmann's second, sociological Zettelkasten: * Permanent Notes: about 67,000 cards. * Literature Notes: about 15,000 entries (mostly books and articles). * Books he authored: a bit over 70. This means as an estimation, not a directly documented figure: * For each book or… -
A few questions about the folgezettel and zettelkasten
Hello, I'm a new user here. I have a few questions I'm unsure about, and I hope you can help. I've decided to use the folgezettel, which is more suitable for me. * If I have, for example, 6 notes on a given day that I want to enter into the zettelkasten as part of the folgezettel, do I insert them in random order, from…