Main Area and Open Discussion > General Software Discussion
I'm thinking of going primitive, with discursion into zettelkasten
superboyac:
superboyac, yes it is about digital hoarding... and yes dormouse, it is time-consuming and hard. For myself, I treat the zettel information as theory, something to strive for and capable of producing insights into my own process and information-saving ability. But I dont strive for 100% compliance, or anything close.
I have topic notes which can be just lists of links to internet articles, links to my other main type of page (sources). Source pages are so I can either: save the article, save the bits of the article I like, or pull the article apart because I'm trying to understand it. The topics allow me to collect different sources. Sometimes my topics have been refined and rewritten, sometimes they are basic.
My point is that the hard part of zettel is also the most rewarding. The topics that I spend the most time on... are the ones I go back to the most. The sources that I take the most time to understand are the ones that have impacted me the most. But I do allow for different kinds of processing.
Superboyac: regarding why I didnt choose connectedtext. I almost did. Then I found the zettelkasten.de site and went on a text-only binge for a year and a half or so. This was great because I saved money. When I found dokuwiki, it added just the right amount of frills, cheap, and I could access it from anywhere. My biggest problems with connectedtext right now are the cost and the fact that it is not maintained. Also, I feel like starting minimal allows you build your process without all the frills. Add the frills as you find the use for them, not just because they are there.
Once again, use the zettel idea to help you understand what you're looking to do. Just like GTD... if you try to follow it religiously... you're following it religiously. But it has some incredibly insightful ways of thinking about things. And again... feel free to mix and match. I copy entire articles... I summarize them... just depends on how much time I have and how much I want to understand the article.
-kfitting (October 30, 2019, 04:57 AM)
--- End quote ---
very helpful again thanks.
So I am still going to try all this. In my searches for windows software for zettel, this is what i've come across.
infoqube is pretty good in that it naturally has IDs and db-like for the notes created. it doesn't feel quite "natural" for this though.
then there are the purpose-built zettel software, of which there are no windows commercial versions. other than connectedtext, that is, which everyone thinks is going to soon not be developed any longer.
there is the sublime text editor. someone made a plugin specifically for zettel for it. it's ok. difficult to setup and install. i couldn't get through the search plugin installation as i dont know how to compile binaries and stuff like that.
but then, i found this:
https://forum.zettelkasten.de/discussion/226/renes-sublimeless-zettelkasten
now this seems cool!!
this is similar to what the mac software "The Archive" which people consider a brilliant zettel software. so i'm trying this open source windows version and it's FANTASTIC! so i'll be trying this out for a while. it's beautiful looking, it is true zettel and files are all text files, and it's fast, and its free and open source, so we can modify it!
superboyac:
if this method requires me revisiting notes, and rewriting parts-superboyac (October 29, 2019, 05:40 PM)
--- End quote ---
I don't think it requires rewriting notes. A revision would be the result of a new thought. A new thought requires a new note.
Additions to notes, yes, - especially in the way of new links.
Better than versioning really because you have a history of why you have changed your idea.
Of course, I might be wrong about this. But, for me, that's the logic derived from the principles.
-Dormouse (October 29, 2019, 05:55 PM)
--- End quote ---
ok i am not really understanding completely then.
So Ive started practicing this...i am writing an outline for a screenplay.
so i created the note, a zettel, if you will.
now, i am going to work on the note and finish it. so now what? i start typing all over the note, however it makes sense.
i am done for now.
some time passes
now i am ready, to work on that outline a little more.
do i continue working in the note i created previously? or do i start a new note? shouldn't i keep working in the first note?
Dormouse:
So Ive started practicing this...i am writing an outline for a screenplay.
so i created the note, a zettel, if you will.
now, i am going to work on the note and finish it. so now what? i start typing all over the note, however it makes sense.
i am done for now.
some time passes
now i am ready, to work on that outline a little more.
do i continue working in the note i created previously? or do i start a new note? shouldn't i keep working in the first note?
-superboyac (October 30, 2019, 05:43 PM)
--- End quote ---
First, remember that the system is designed for academic research. Sources, notes on sources, thoughts about those sources, new thoughts.
You are doing creative writing. Maybe you have no research, no sources. That means that you have to make decisions about how to structure your zettel. Remember each note is limited to one thought.
I'm using folders purely as stages or components of the zettel. So I have one for sources. One for resources (stuff I have written myself that's a resource for the writing part - might be a setting). Another for the writing. And then the Notes/zettel itself. One might be about the purpose of a scene. Another might be about the style of dialogue and why. Each new thought has a new note. Ultimately there would be the writing of the scene - probably in segments. The sequence, of course, can be the other way round; depends how you work.
So you have your note. If it's an unfinished note, then you simply continue. If you're not happy with it, you should probably write a critique explaining why. And then a new note which is effectively the second draft.
These are just ideas as they come. I've not started anything creative in it yet myself. The important constraint is one thought per note (but up to you what constitutes a note). And not constantly rewriting in a note (because then you are losing all the thinking about why you want to change it, and it's the thinking the system is designed to capture).
Here's a quote from the Ahrens book about the writing stage of an academic paper:
Turn your notes into a rough draft . Don’t simply copy your notes into a manuscript . Translate them into something coherent and embed them into the context of your argument while you build your argument out of the notes at the same time . Detect holes in your argument , fill them or change your argument . 8 . Edit and proofread your manuscript .
--- End quote ---
For me, the writing itself would be outside the zettel but available for linking. Including the outline.
The zettel would contain notes with ideas, comments, criticisms.
sphere:
but then, i found this:
https://forum.zettelkasten.de/discussion/226/renes-sublimeless-zettelkasten
now this seems cool!!
this is similar to what the mac software "The Archive" which people consider a brilliant zettel software. so i'm trying this open source windows version and it's FANTASTIC! so i'll be trying this out for a while. it's beautiful looking, it is true zettel and files are all text files, and it's fast, and its free and open source, so we can modify it!
-kfitting (October 30, 2019, 04:57 AM)
--- End quote ---
I have not gone fully down the zettkasten rabbit hole, but I do find myself circling around to it often. I have seen a number of people compare this to https://www.zettlr.com/
As I understand it it uses a graph database, where each item is a container- so rather than emulating a "card" for each thought/note/idea, it is a container... which makes it more friendly for storing other types of media. It is opensource with Windows, Mac and Linux versions.
Similar programs I have been intending to look at are https://mindforger.sourceforge.io/ (I believe windows and Linux- though originally just Linux) and also https://github.com/zadam/trilium which is windows.
I personally really like it when there is a way to easily link to email. I can generate an email link, but would rather it was done automatically.
wraith808:
I lost a lot of the work I'd done organizing with it when I had to switch, so that was a bummer. Just something to watch out for.-wraith808 (October 30, 2019, 11:05 AM)
--- End quote ---
If it saves tags in the filename, what got lost?
-Dormouse (October 30, 2019, 12:44 PM)
--- End quote ---
Well, if I had another client that would actually use that format, then I suppose nothing would have been. But moving to something else that doesn't do the same... Not vendor locked is not the same thing as usable in another platform. There's also the matter of the time spent color coding the types of files/folders.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version