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Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

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Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#11

Post by WhatIsDukkha »

Refreshing the context when I resume some project.

I get my mind back in the groove from sometimes years ago by just opening my orgmode section or file.

The brain finds the connections again and the thought train picks up and off I go.

As a side note, I use orgmode and I wouldn't consider any other program (that I know of) for a specific reason -

What other setup could I be GUARANTEED of being able to pickup in 5, 10 ,30 years and have it work just as it did?

A paper notebook for sure but orgmode gives me much more (and less in some areas).

orgmode and emacs lets me INVEST my time and effort and know I won't lose the data and time because some webservice thing went down/changed business models/lost interest.

Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#12

Post by yodon »

tyrex2017 wrote: post #4

another benefit: writing something down burns it more into your brain, so u more likely will remember it without even looking it up

> writing something down burns it more into your brain

Yes, and the recall effect is much stronger if you use handwriting vs typing[0]

[0] see for example https://redbooth.com/blog/handwriting-and-memory/amp

Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#13

Post by budhajeewa »

I put project related information in Google Drive, organized in per project folders. I do this for both my personal and company projects; personal ones using my Google account, and company's using its G Suite account.

For technical notes, I use the blog[1].

---

1. https://blog.budhajeewa.com/

Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#15

Post by hollander »

About fifteen years ago I started to use a wiki as my personal knowledge base. Since then I've added several thousands pages. Last year I started using Evernote, primarily because it works on the phone syncs with my desktop, and since then I don't use the wiki much. The good thing about Evernote is that you can export the notes to xml, so if they ever stop, I still have access to my notes.

I started to use the wiki as a notebook for problems that were too complicated to solve in one day. Plus it was a good way to keep these notes together, searchable, from home and work. I started to use it for installation and configuration manuals for applications that I had to maintain. I did keep work related stuff in it, but only general things like how to setup a webserver.

Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#16

Post by josephjrobison »

I’ve realized recently that I spend hours and hours a week reading and saving stuff to Evernote. Like I’m always in research mode. I think focused research is good for the career, but unfocused is just a distraction and waste of time. I save sooo much stuff and rarely go back to read it.

My one idea for recovering the lost/wasted time reading and saving this information is curating and publishing it online as blog posts for others to learn from. I’ve spent so much time categorizing an filtering through information out there, only to have it sitting in a private file, might as well make it public for humanity’s benefit (and my own).

Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#17

Post by cocacola1 »

Crontab wrote: post #8
realproto wrote: post #5

My question, what program would one use to start his/her own personal knowledge base? Or do I have to be a software developer and create my own?

This is what I am struggling with right now. Many people recommend org-mode but I don't like Emacs very much.

* A personal Wiki. * Evernote is a good choice and works across several devices. * Figure out a folder structure you like and just keep assorted .txt or .md files. * Google Sheets. * A commonplace book.

Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#18

Post by csnewb »

I write my notes in a plain text file using Vim and just push them to my github repo for backup. I like this method because I can grep for keywords and find information quickly. The point of this personal knowledge is to record important information from books I've read, but so that I don't have to read through the whole book again to find information.

Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#19

Post by sumnole »

WhatIsDukkha wrote: post #11

Refreshing the context when I resume some project. I get my mind back in the groove from sometimes years ago by just opening my orgmode section or file. The brain finds the connections again and the thought train picks up and off I go. As a side note, I use orgmode and I wouldn't consider any other program (that I know of) for a specific reason - What other setup could I be GUARANTEED of being able to pickup in 5, 10…

You bring up a good point about longevity. I currently use OneNote which was easy to be effective immediately taking notes with rich content, but I know there's always the risk of it shutting down forcing me to deal with the process of recovering my notes onto a different platform.

Re: Ask HN: Why do you keep a personal knowledge base?

#20

Post by DoreenMichele »

I journal to keep a health record. I know someone who had cancer and was able to prove with photos that their chemo wasn't working, the cancer was getting worse, and get their chemo changed sooner rather than later. A personal health database can be a powerful tool for health management. I also keep articles pertinent to my health, plus links to interesting HN comments, etc.

When trying to decide where to move next, I kept a lot of information on various places that were under consideration. This included not only US states and cities, but at least one other country as well.

I did a lot of therapy in my youth. I find that having stuff I wrote that I can refer back to is enormously helpful for my state of mind, for keeping my goals on track, for tracking progress, etc.

I see the world differently from most people. If I don't keep track of links to articles, comments and research, I get dismissed a lot as crazy, not knowing what the hell I am talking about, etc. and other people typically do not back me up, even if I am saying it in the same forum where I originally read the information.

So I try to keep track of certain kinds of info so that the next time I make a comment on that subject, I can back it up without having to put up with so much disrespectful crap off of people. They don't have to agree with me or see the world the way I do, but I don't care to wallow in their contempt either. Supporting links goes a long way towards preventing the worst of such behavior.

(There are probably other reasons. This answer not guaranteed to be comprehensive.)

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