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You have sent me down a mad rabbit hole, my friend. Thank you!
You're welcome ;)
If you decide to give a try to a Zettelkasten and if I was to share a single advice it would be to keep it simple. Ignore all subtleties, you will know it when you need them.
I've started on obsidian and already I can see the benefit. I only wish I knew about zettelkasten back in University; it would have made my life so much easier!
Yep, it would have helped a lot. Back when I was in university, we did not even had a single note-taking/research course. We had to figure it out by ourselves, which i know a lot of my fellow students did not bother doing.
As for Obsidian, do not hesitate to share a few insights as I have yet to see how it can help me better than paper does. I mean, beside a faster search inside my notes (which is not what matters the most to me). For example, the fact I cannot manually/freely reorder my notes, in a note-taking app, is beyond me and it's something I do all the time with my slip of papers. But I'm also willing to admit I'm missing out on something important.
I chose obsidian for two basic reasons 1. Easy backups and 2. No physical storage space required. Those are really the biggest bonuses, especially the backups, using the 3-2-1 rule. If I'm going to invest in this system I want to make sure it won't just disappear one day, and with obsidian (or other zettelkasten programs) I can automate that process.
If those things aren't an issue for you then I would recommend that you stick with what you know. Yes, there are lots of fancy things you can do with plugins and so forth on the computer, but the system was designed to work with paper, so I don't see why you can't stick with that, if it's what you prefer.
Plus, the time cost of switching may not be worth it if you already have an extensive system in place.
I'm still not 100% sure I'm doing it right but it has definitely helped me organise and refine what's in my head and see connections and possibilities that I didn't see before, which makes me happy 😊
I might look up some tutorials next, but I don't want to overcomplicate things. With any system there's a point where you end up spending more time fussing with the scaffolding rather than just building the building, if you know what I mean.
Oh, one other thing; I love the idea of having physical papers that I can spread out on my desk and re-order and play around with, but when you put them back in the boxes, how do you do it? Do you put them in chronological or alphabetical order? And when you want to find one again, do you have to search through hundreds of cards just to find the right one?
Each card as a unique ID (it can take any form you fancy but it has to be unique) and I simply put each card back at its place following that ID, no matter the content of the card. What matters is the info you associate to each card, using its ID as a reference, in your index.
The index is a pile of cards alphabetically ordered that contain a list of keywords. Each keyword will then a have list of pointers to cards IDs and to other index entries to find any related content.
(For example in the D section of my index I will have a 'Dinosaur' entry and in my T section I will have a 'T-rex' entry. The Dinosaur index may points me to, say, the 222.1.1.10B card (in which I've written stuff about the latest attempts in recreating living dinosaurs) and to the 421.1 card (in which I have a few notes on my last visit at the natural history museum, where there are those great dinosaur fossils). It will also have refs telling me to go check the 'T-rex' and the 'Diplodocus' and so on index entries for more related cards, as well as say the 'Meteor' and 'Species (extinction)' entries.)
Using the index is akin to using Cmd/Ctrl+F to do a search on text: fast and almost instantaneous. This index is really the key to my Zettel.
Each of the card the index would have suggested I read may itself contain refs to other cards. Like you would have internal links between cards, using Obsidian.
Finally, I have my bibliographical references, an alphabetically-ordered series of cards. Those allow me to quickly find notes from any book and author I’ve read and to reference back to it, using its own unique ID. This also helps a lot when I’m reading to quickly take notes (on blank index cards, with that unique book ID written in one corner). So, while I’m reading it barely takes seconds to write down whatever idea or keyword I want to be able to find later on, plus the corresponding page number in the book. No need to reference the book itself, no need to write long comments or explanations (those will, or will not go later on in my main Zettelkasten cards, when I’m reviewing my reading notes) it’s really all about quickly jotting down a word or two + a page number, which saves a lot of time.
I use the index or the bibliographical refs, depending if I’m searching for an idea or a keyword in general or for some specific book annotations or author. Those point me to all relevant cards in my Zettelkasten. And like I told you each card can then also point me to other relevant/interesting cards on its own.
That said, at times I’ll randomly pick some cards and browse through them (just as a way to ’thought-provoke’ my own brain with random ideas and notions).
Regarding your first comment:
I take pictures with my iPhone of all new cards from that day, those photos are then automatically converted by the scanning app into a PDF and saved to my iCloud storage, it’s real quick. All my iCloud being regularly and automatically backed-up on external drives.
The app I use is ‘Scanner Pro’ by Readdle (I purchased the license many years ago and the scanner still works perfectly with the latest iOS). It’s very simple aka quick to use, it does an impressive job at auto straighten the card no matter how poorly I present it to the camera, then it creates a PDF with all the day worth of images and then save it to iCloud, all by itself.
It’s not really an issue for me as my Zettel is not that large. That said, it does take space but I can use it without a computer/screen (which also takes space)… and for storage, old shoe boxes don’t cost much ;)
100% agreed. If it works well enough, then it’s all one needs.
Watching a few videos to better understand the appeal of a digital Zettel myself, I realized it was something many ‘new’ users were not aware of and also something way too many video creators were not worrying enough about.
I mean, some of those videos are very well made but they’re also mostly empty chatting and/or trying to chase a unicorn by focusing on what to me seemed like insignificant details or an unrealistic desire for perfection. Doing so, they spend a lot of their time and energy, and a lot of their viewer’s time and energy too.
I do understand keeping the user watching as many videos as possible, for as long as possible, is the entire business model of making video on YouTube (more talking + more videos = more watching time = more ads viewed = more money) but as a user I don’t think it’s worth my time and efforts so I don’t watch them ;)
Do you mind if I send you a DM? I have more questions that probably don't need to be added to this thread :P
Not the slightest, I can't promise I'll answer them all but, at worst, you only risk receiving a 'Sorry, I don't know' ;)
The best way would be to send me an email, though. Check the bottom of the About page, on my blog.