ok, i'm not going to read the book. lol. i just want to quickly learn how the system works. -superboyac
I know. I did too. And I tried. But it took a lot of time because the book spread the good stuff in lots of other stuff that wasn't relevant to me.
my initial instinct is to have all the notes in one folder, and let the linking and other content stuff link to the other notes. but i also like what you are doing with categorizations. not sure what the categories should be though.
so i just read some more about zettel, and it seems that using a single zettel for everything is recommended. i'll try that. and my real practice will be to stick to the one topic, one idea. -superboyac
A lot of people seem to have different zettels for different projects.
But I only have one zettel for everything.
The folders are simply an aid to workflow. I need folders because all my notes are separate files. I need an easy way to decide where to put the files. And potentially, if it gets huge, a way to reduce the search parameters. They are also a way for me to know where I am and what I need to be doing next. None of it is an issue if you are using a program to do it.
All the academic zettels have links to references often in a reference manager. My Sources folder contains all the sources that I have used that are linked in teh zettel. So, I have a copy of the Ahrens book in there. Luhmann had one of these and I've seen it called his second zettel, but it is just a necessary companion to the actual zettel.
My Resources folder is simply an equivalent of stuff I've developed or written myself. Some are things I might copy into an individual zettel note, some might simply be references. For instance, my zettel might contain zettel notes about an experiment. In this folder, might go the dataset and the results. They would be linked to the notes.
Writing simply contains the actual writing. Includes outlines, drafts, first and second edits etc.
The contents of all of these are linked to the zettel, but aren't part of the zettel. necessary because I'm using files and the file system.
I also have a Temp folder - this is for notes I haven't processed yet - for instance they might be named, but not had the unique identifier added. Often they will be what Ahrens describes as 'fleeting notes' (ie temporary) - highlights or clips with very short comments from me. The next stage is to go through those and give them more thought; at that point my methodology is simply to add the deeper reflection on to the note and put them into the Annotated folder.
When I go through the Annotated folder, I will try to develop my ideas based on the combination of all the annotations. One idea, one note. At that point, I move the lot into the zettel/Notes folder, add the tags, and add the links (have to do it this way round or the links will be broken before I have even started).
i heard that the zettel inventor would also write a lot of books. so he must use the zettel to organize his thoughts, but i doubt he was writing the book in the zettel.-superboyac
Yes. he used the zettel to organise and develop his thoughts, but wrote outside the zettel. His notes were already written in appropriate language and it was easy for him then to rewrite them. Rather like putting Scrivener cards in order on on the corkboard and then tidying and correcting the writing in single document format. Adding anything necessary.