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Luhmann's Zettelkasten

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Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#11

Post by coolswan »

darkpicnic wrote: post #5

Zettelkasten has to be the least explained concept I've discovered online. Sure, they'll explain the _technique_ of it, but I've almost never seen any solid examples of it in _use_. I was so excited when I first heard of it, but I'm a person that learns by seeing examples and I couldn't find any good ones anywhere. Does anyone have any good examples they've seen?

Tbh, I haven't seen a real-life example that perfectly clones this method but I've adopted parts of the system that makes sense for my own workflow. I think that's how it should be approached. Luhmann developed this in a non-digital world after all.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#12

Post by pzumk »

I’m from Lüneburg, Germany and have never heard about Niklas Luhmann nor have I seen any Zettelkästen.

I unfortunately have nothing else to add to the topic of Zettelkasten, but if anyone is in Hamburg or near Lüneburg and wants a little tour through our lovely town, let me know!

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#14

Post by Schlaefer »

dredmorbius wrote: post #7
darkpicnic wrote: post #5

Zettelkasten has to be the least explained concept I've discovered online. Sure, they'll explain the _technique_ of it, but I've almost never seen any solid examples of it in _use_. I was so excited when I first heard of it, but I'm a person that learns by seeing examples and I couldn't find any good ones anywhere. Does anyone have any good examples they've seen?

"Getting Started": https://zettelkasten.de/posts/overview/

I sat in the same boat as OP and that page wasn't that helpful. It's starts backwards with

- How many of things I know nothing about should I have. - Don't use this aspect in the thing, use the other. …

And every article is a text wall of minutia addressing questions which are going to be relevant later on, but are just information overload if you try to understand What is it?

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#15

Post by marvinblum »

pzumk wrote: post #12

I’m from Lüneburg, Germany and have never heard about Niklas Luhmann nor have I seen any Zettelkästen. I unfortunately have nothing else to add to the topic of Zettelkasten, but if anyone is in Hamburg or near Lüneburg and wants a little tour through our lovely town, let me know!

Well, now you have to visit Bielefeld if you'd like to see one :) But Hamburg and Lüneburg are also nice places to visit! I highly recommend!

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#16

Post by marvinblum »

coolswan wrote: post #11
darkpicnic wrote: post #5

Zettelkasten has to be the least explained concept I've discovered online. Sure, they'll explain the _technique_ of it, but I've almost never seen any solid examples of it in _use_. I was so excited when I first heard of it, but I'm a person that learns by seeing examples and I couldn't find any good ones anywhere. Does anyone have any good examples they've seen?

Tbh, I haven't seen a real-life example that perfectly clones this method but I've adopted parts of the system that makes sense for my own workflow. I think that's how it should be approached. Luhmann developed this in a non-digital world after all.

Yes I agree to this. It has some very nice concepts which can be adopted to a software solution, but he designed it for his personal use.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#17

Post by jaynetics »

pzumk wrote: post #12

I’m from Lüneburg, Germany and have never heard about Niklas Luhmann nor have I seen any Zettelkästen. I unfortunately have nothing else to add to the topic of Zettelkasten, but if anyone is in Hamburg or near Lüneburg and wants a little tour through our lovely town, let me know!

If you have any interest whatsoever in liberal arts ( Geisteswissenschaften), you should really have a look at Luhmann. Maybe peek into "Einführung in die Systemtheorie". I found him to be one of the most insightful sociologists of recent times.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#18

Post by pfortuny »

Schlaefer wrote: post #14
dredmorbius wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Getting Started": https://zettelkasten.de/posts/overview/

I sat in the same boat as OP and that page wasn't that helpful. It's starts backwards with - How many of things I know nothing about should I have. - Don't use this aspect in the thing, use the other. … And every article is a text wall of minutia addressing questions which are going to be relevant later on, but are just information overload if you try to understand What is it?

The page honestly reads like Hesse’s “description” of the glass-bead game: lots of things and no true explanation.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#19

Post by Tomte »

pzumk wrote: post #12

I’m from Lüneburg, Germany and have never heard about Niklas Luhmann nor have I seen any Zettelkästen. I unfortunately have nothing else to add to the topic of Zettelkasten, but if anyone is in Hamburg or near Lüneburg and wants a little tour through our lovely town, let me know!

The Zettelkasten itself is at the University of Bielefeld.

Some time ago they finished digitalizing it, you can find that somewhere I'm my submissions.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#20

Post by nextos »

coolswan wrote: post #9

How to take Smart Notes is a very good book that explains this technique well. Highly recommend. https://www.amazon.com/How-Take-Smart-Notes-Nonfiction/dp/15...

Seconded, it's a really well written compact book.

It's possible to tweak deft and org-mode a bit with some functions to make it very Zettelkasten like: https://efls.github.io/zetteldeft

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