Luhmann's Zettelkasten • Hacker News Board

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#31

Post by smartmic » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 8:52 PM UTC

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...

Also from me a clear recommendation. I have read the original in German, it is very good to read, entertaining and yet has depth. Suitable for all those who want to structure their work or thoughts better.

Btw, there is an own homepage of the book: https://takesmartnotes.com/

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#32

Post by jacobolus » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 8:53 PM UTC

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?

This kind of method used to be very common among scholars, before computers.

You can probably still find some in use among retired professors who started their careers 60 years ago and already had a system in place when computers started to replace physical organization systems.

Nowadays there are still many people who use digital equivalents.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#33

Post by rdiddly » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 8:54 PM UTC

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?

Any wiki is basically an example, isn't it? Or if I'm not quite ready to defend that statement, I can at least say, you could use (or maybe misuse) any wiki-builder to build a Zettelkasten. Just impose a length restriction on each page's content.

But I don't know how much of the advantage of the Zettelkasten is tied to its being in the physical realm. On the one hand, the more physically rich an experience (of browsing or traversing or entering info for example), the more it will tend to stick in memory. On the other hand one of the things computers are good at is remembering indexes and linking them to other places where that index was mentioned.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#34

Post by neurocline » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 8:55 PM UTC

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...

I'm just finishing this book, and I echo the recommendation. In fact, when I bought the book, I didn't know it was about Zettelkasten. This book won't satisfy those looking for concrete examples, but it will give you a lot of specifics and whys. Obviously, I'm in the early adopter stage at the moment, but what I'm reading fits my problem space (tons of notes, but I can't seem to find what I want, and I re-do research periodically because of it).

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#35

Post by smartmic » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

Also a good resource to learn more [PDF]: https://strengejacke.files.wordpress.com/2015/10/introductio...

The author of those slides is Daniel Lüdecke, who created Zkn3.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#36

Post by dredmorbius » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 9:01 PM UTC

colordrops wrote: post #26

Surprised there are no mentions here of org mode yet.

That and a set of wikis should have made my list.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#37

Post by baxtr » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 9:02 PM UTC

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?

I think the internet as such was thought of linked document, which comes very close to that concept

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#38

Post by yagurastation » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

colordrops wrote: post #26

Surprised there are no mentions here of org mode yet.

You haven't looked properly ;-) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22086716

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#39

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

idclip wrote: post #28

Its how many students, especially the industrious ones learn here in germany.

You are thinking of methods like "spaced repetition", which are neither the same as Luhmann's method, nor specific to Germany.

Re: Luhmann's Zettelkasten

#40

Post by sneak » Sat, Jan 18, 2020, 9:11 PM UTC

marvinblum wrote: post #15

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!

This is a silly comment; Bielefeld does not really exist. He’s just pulling your leg.