reply to u/acosmicjoke at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/17bqztm/applying_zettelkasten_for_math_heavy_subjects/

Most of my math section in my ZK is primarily very basic definitions and theorems. I have very few proofs of basic things outside of my own personal work. There is an occasional useful example or two or lists of various lists of things that fit certain structures (lists of groups, rings, fields, categories, etc.)

Digital notes just don't work for me at all with respect to math, so I'm all-in on index cards and simply typeset all the necessary parts when I'm done with something if I intend to publish or share with others. Paper also makes it much easier to shuffle things around and reshape pieces as necessary to try out different structural approaches.

I also have a short stack of method cards (not dissimilar to Eno & Schmidt's "Oblique Strategies", but with a mathematical bent) to remind me of different approaches to try out when I get stuck which has been pretty beneficial.

I also take a fairly segmented approach between the writing I do for understanding a math text as I'm reading it and the permanent sort of notes I specifically make after-the-fact. My goal is never to recreate entire textbooks within the main section of my own zettelkasten, but create material for new works I might be writing for others to read.

reply to u/DunesNSwoon at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/16ad43u/zettelkasten_alphanumeric_method_vs_alphabetical/

Allow me an iconoclastic view for this subreddit: Given what you've got and your creative use case, I'll recommend you do not do any numbering or ordering at all!

Instead follow the path of philosopher Raymond Llull and create what is sometimes referred to as a Llullian memory wheel. Search for one of his diagrams from the 11th century. Then sift through your cards for interesting ones and place one of your cards at each of the many letters, numbers, words, images, or "things" on the wheels, which were designed to move around a central axis much like a child's cryptographic decoder wheel based on the Caesar cipher. Then move things about combinatorically until you find interesting patterns, rhymes, rhythms, etc. to compose the poetry you're after.

Juxtaposing ideas in random (but structured) ways may help accelerate and amplify your creativity in ways you might not expect.

They meant them to be used on a slower timescale, but Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies are not too dissimilar in their effect. You might find them useful when you're creatively "stuck". As a poet you might also create a mini deck of cards with forms on them (sonnet, rhymed couplets, villanelle, limerick, etc.) to draw from at random and attempt to compose something to fit it. Odd constraints can often be helpful creative tools.

Worth adding to the list of oblique strategies...

related to methods of proof: direct proofs by day, contradiction by night

Changing methods of approach to problems

via khimtan at https://www.instagram.com/p/CpkJHCfJnyW/

Reply to Bob Doto at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/14ikfsy/comment/jplo3j2/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 with respect to PZ Compass Points.

I'll agree wholeheartedly that applying methods like this to each note one takes is a "make work" exercise. It's apt to encourage people into the completist trap of turning every note they take into some sort of pristine so-called permanent or evergreen note, and there are already too many of those practitioners, who often give up in a few weeks wondering "where did I go wrong?".

It's useful to know that these methods and tools exist, particularly for younger students, but I would never recommend that one apply them on a daily or even weekly basis. Maybe if one was having trouble with a particular idea or thought and wanted to more exhaustively explore the adjacent space around it, but even here going out for a walk in nature and allowing diffuse thinking to do some of the work is likely to be just as (maybe more?) productive.

It could be the sort of thing to write down in your collection of Oblique Strategies to pull out when you're hitting a wall?

What would a list of prompts for teaching creatively look like if it were created using Brian Eno's Oblique Strategies as a model?

Inspired by Sophia Rahming (~09:48)

What are the differences and affordances in moving from cadavre exquis to Eno/Schmidt's Oblique Strategies to ChatGPT?

https://voiceisalanguage.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/jackson-mac-low/

https://austinkleon.com/2018/03/04/card-games/

I'm reminded of early French use of playing cards for note taking here...

A game by Austin Kleon for making jam sessions less boring using cards.

Inspired by Oblique Strategies and The Creative Tarot.

http://stoney.sb.org/eno/oblique.html

Digital version similar to WTFEngine.

https://www.oblique-strategies.com/

A web-based version similar to WTFEngine.

http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/Acquire.html

http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/Acute.html

Acute Strategies are a crowdsourced deck of advice and aphorisms collected by Gregory Taylor as an homage to the original deck of Oblique Strategies.

https://www.oblique.pouruntemps.com/

Looks like this was built with WTFEngine (https://github.com/soulwire/WTFEngine)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv7epY75Wa0

https://www.enoshop.co.uk/product/oblique-strategies?filter=Oblique%20Strategies

https://www.reddit.com/r/antinet/comments/z3f8kb/oblique_strategies_a_custom_zettelkasten_for/

Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt published a card index of un-numbered and purposefully unordered ideas in 1975 as a tool for increasing creativity. They called it "Oblique Strategies". Each card contained an aphorism for helping one to reframe their approach to problems or questions they faced.

Black box with cards containing aphorisms to help increase creativity. Photo by V&A Images from the David Bowie Archive.

Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies<br /> Canonical site with complete list of versions: http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/OSintro.html

ZK practitioners might profitably have a subsection in their box with these strategies to help themselves randomly increase their own creativity while working either inside or outside of their boxes. Potentially useful for writing, music, art, etc.

https://www.maier.co.uk/insights/oblique-strategies/

David Bowie used a pack of Eno/Schmidt's Oblique Strategies

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRc7MUybCsE

Interview with BBC in which Brian Eno discusses the origin of his Oblique Strategies with Peter Schmidt.

Changing the order in which you do things. —Brian Eno, Oblique Strategies

This sounds like the sort of shift Walter Murch made in his sound editing by doing his first cut completely without sound. If you can't tell the story visually without sound the whole thing will fall apart. But you can use the sound, music, etc. to supplement, gild, and improve a picture.

https://www.openculture.com/2013/07/jump_start_your_creative_process_with_brian_eno_oblique_strategies.html

How might we ground Oblique Strategies in research-based outcomes?

Austin Kleon made his own deck of Oblique Strategies by handwriting them onto the front of playing cards with black sharpie.

Making my own Oblique Strategies deck. https://t.co/a1FpNifdLp pic.twitter.com/XsnRBt0GNW

— Austin Kleon (@austinkleon) November 1, 2015

What sorts of prompts or questions could teachers and learners use on a regular basis, similar to Brian Eno and Peter Schmidt's Oblique Strategies, to improve their learning environments, creativity, and learning outcomes?

http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/OSintro.html

https://www.evernote.com/shard/s204/client/snv?noteGuid=5b7828b7-c4f9-4242-b62f-788eeb44c76e&noteKey=34f69bfeebbb6bca&sn=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.evernote.com%2Fshard%2Fs204%2Fsh%2F5b7828b7-c4f9-4242-b62f-788eeb44c76e%2F34f69bfeebbb6bca&title=Powerful%252C%2Bnon-judgmental%2Bquestions

Powerful, non-judgmental questions

• If you had to guess, what would have to be true for you to...?
• If you did know...
• (on tangent) ...and how does that relate to you?
• What's not allowing you to...?
• What prevents you from asking…?
• Do you want to go into this?
• What's your criteria for saying yes?
• What would have you say yes?
• What are the things we're lacking?
• What's the scary question that you're not asking?
• What are the qualities you want for [being, action, process, etc.]?
• How would you behave if you were the best in the world at what you do?

I'm starting a list of powerful, non-judgmental questions for coaching or just relationships in general. Here's the starting batch https://t.co/ktsYVxkQna pic.twitter.com/Dq1zQnWqAS

— Tiago Forte (@fortelabs) January 15, 2019

These questions and similar ones (work this out) could be interesting prompts to be included on a syllabus or as starts for an annotated syllabus. (eg: What do you want to get out of this class? What do you already know about these areas? How can we expand on what you know? What would you like to explore?, etc.)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oblique_Strategies

So much to unpack here.

Similar to experiments I've seen by Henry James Korn (esp. The Pontoon Manifesto), John Irwin, etc.

Similarities to means of forcing Llullan combinatorial creativity, but in alternate form.