18,247 Matching Annotations
  1. Sep 2023
    1. I mean, just what I said. If you adapt the zettelkasten to meet knowledge management needs, that’s great. But it does need adapting (as your examples, none of which are conversation-partner zettelkästen but, as syntopicon implies, a collection of information gathered into categories) and is not the best way to do it. (Edit: Ryan Holiday’s system is, by his own admission, not a zettelkästen despite being a bunch of cards with notes on them categorized in a box). Even the source you use about Goitein admits that he was more in the commonplace book tradition, and that other people’s use of his cards is not common to the point of being remarked on here. He doesn’t even call it a zettelkästen, and shouldn’t. There’s not even links or reference numbers, which are integral to the ZK system.It’s not an argument. But as with everything ymmv.(For what it’s worth, my ZK is extremely specific to my individual projects and readings. But I imagine that yes, with time and heavy adaptations, you can make it into little more than a record of my knowledge into broad topics. That you can use it that way does not mean that’s what it is for.)

      reply to u/glugolly at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/16njtfx/comment/k1l8lyk/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      How is it that you're defining knowledge management or knowledge management system?

      I would argue that any zettelkasten of any stripe is taking knowledge/ideas from either content or one's own brain and transferring them into some sort of media by which they are managed or structured in some way for later linking, combination, or other reuse. By base definition this is clearly knowledge management. I don't know how one defines it otherwise except by pure denial.

      Your view of zettelkasten seems remarkably narrow. As a small sample the original Maschinen der Phantasie Marbach exhibition in 2013, which broadly prefigured the popularization of zettelkasten (and in particular the launch of zettelkasten.de) which we see today featured six zettelkasten of which Luhmann's was the only one with reference numbers or what we might now consider explicit HTML-like links. Most of the others contained either explicit groupings or implied links, but that doesn't diminish the value they held for their creators for creating a conversation of ideas for them. Incidentally most of the zettelkasten featured there prefigured Luhmann's and only two were roughly contemporaneous with his.

      If you look more closely at Adler, et al. you'll notice that the entire purpose of their enterprise was to create and nurture a conversation between themselves and their readers with texts and authors spanning over 2,500 years, a point which is underlined by the introductory volume which preceded the two volumes of the Syntopicon. Not coincidentally, that first volume of the 54 book series was entitled "The Great Conversation."

      Specifically from Adler's "How to Read a Book", the first edition of which predated the Great Books of the Western World:

      Reading a book should be a conversation between you and the author.

      This is a process which is effectuated by

      Marking a book is literally an expression of your differences or your agreements with the author. It is the highest respect you can pay him.

      and later,

      That is to make notes about the shape of the discussion-the discussion that is engaged in by all of the authors, even if unbeknownst to them. For reasons that will become clear in Part Four, we prefer to call such notes dialectical.

      (As an aside, why aren't more people talking about the nature of dialectical notes, which seem far more important and useful than either fleeting notes and permanent notes?)

      In your link to Holiday, he doesn't say his system isn't a zettelkasten, a word which an English speaker was highly unlikely to have used in 2013 in any case, even when referencing Manfred Kuehn from 2007. It simply indicates that "[Luhmann's] discipline seems to exceed mine because I am a lot less ordered".

      The Goitein source (which I wrote) may use commonplace book as a descriptor but that doesn't mitigate the fact that the entirety of the zettelkasten tradition arises from it (the primary difference being things written (usually) on bound pages versus slips of paper). Before these there was the closely related idea of florilegia stemming from the earlier locus communis (Latin) and tópos koinós (Greek).

    2. Well one obvious drawback is that zettelkästen is not a knowledge management system.

      reply to u/glugolly at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/16njtfx/comment/k1fn8w4/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3 and

      Well, Zettelkasten is not a knowledge management system. [...] Update: I mean digital ZK. Shoe-box ZK is a combination of knowledge management system of that time and "thought system" of Niklas Luhmann. u/Aponogetone at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/16njtfx/comment/k1f23nj/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      I'm curious to see some evidence for why both you and u/Aponogetone say that a slip box (analog, digital or otherwise) is not a knowledge management system? Perhaps you don't think of it that way or use it solely to that end, but I find it difficult to see in light of the way I use mine and others have in the past. I suspect that if I had access to either of yours I could use it as a knowledge management system and it would tell me a lot about your interests and what you know and with a bit of work I could continue using it as one.

      Even an argument against the more encompassing group nature versus personal or individual knowledge management systems is blunted by the use of a Zettelkasten by Adler, Hutchins, et al. to create the Syntopicon, the group uses by the Mundaneum effort (which went to great lengths to standardize information to be findable), the Oxford English Dictionary compilation, Thesaurus Linguae Latinae (TLL), Wörterbuch der ägyptischen Sprache, or even the academics who still use photocopies or microfilm versions of S.D. Goitein's zettelkasten.

      What are the rest of us missing in your argument?

    3. But I’m increasingly inclined to the view that the genius of ZK is the simple fact that it forces its user to continually interact with, and create connections among their thoughts and the thoughts of others.To the extent that’s correct, the work that ZK demands is not a drawback at all. It is in fact ZKs primary benefit; it’s a serious feature and not at all a bug.

      reply to u/TeeMcBee and u/taurusnoises at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/16njtfx/comment/k1ic0ot/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      And two more big yeses.

      There is a growing amount of literature in the educational social annotation space in which teachers/professors are using it specifically to encourage their students to interact with class material and readings. The mechanics on the front end are exactly the same as in most ZK set ups, the difference is what happens with the annotations one makes.

      An entry point into some of this research:

    1. There are no privileged places in the note-card system, every card is as important as every other card, and no hierarchy is super-imposed on the system. The significance of each card depends on its relation to other cards (or the relation of other cards to it). It is a network; it is not "arboretic." Accordingly, it in some ways anticipates hypertext and the internet.

      Niklas Luhmann's zettelkasten system doesn't impose a heirarchy upon it's contents and in some ways its structure anticipates the ideas of hypertext and the internet's structure.

      Also similar to the idea from Umberto Eco: https://hypothes.is/a/jqug2tNlEeyg2JfEczmepw

    2. Luhmann also described his system as his secondary memory (Zweitgedächtnis), alter ego, or his reading memory or (Lesegedächtnis).

      Zweitgedächtnis, the German Word for secondary memory, might also have been translated as "second brain" and thus the root of this word in the note taking space.

      ref: https://hyp.is/hV9LKm71Eeq9s_f_oWRkEg/takingnotenow.blogspot.com/2007/12/luhmanns-zettelkasten.html

      Originally 2021-12-31 at https://hypothes.is/a/3tjzWGqjEeyDSae3OLOEWw

    1. It looks like the system is also very similar to Luhmann’s Zettelkasten. Though again, his discipline seems to exceed mine because I am a lot less ordered.

      Fascinating to see Ryan Holiday referencing Manfred Kuehn blogposts from 2007 here.

      Specifically it was a link to http://takingnotenow.blogspot.com/2007/12/luhmanns-zettelkasten.html

      Given the popularity of this original Thought Catalog post and the alternate which appeared on Holiday's site, this reference would likely have helped to push the popularity of Luhmann and his Zettelkasten in English speaking territories after 2013-12-23.

    1. The colors represent categories, you are correct. So, for instance, with the War book, blue cards would be about politics, yellow strictly war, green the arts and entertainment, pink cards on strategy, etc. I could use this in several ways. I could glance at the cards for one chapter and see no blue or green cards and realize a problem. I could also take out all the cards of one color to see which story I liked best, etc. It also made the shoebox look pretty cool.

      Robert Greene used a color code for his index cards which also helped him to realize gaps in certain areas. He also liked them because "It also made the shoebox look pretty cool."

    2. According to his biographer, Michael Keene, General Patton used to use a similar system: “He read every treatise on warfare ever written. He would take copious notes on 4-by-6 index cards for every book that he ever read. It was that immense knowledge of history that he had that he could bring to battle. So he could almost anticipate what the enemy was going to do next.”

      via SAMUEL MORNINGSTAR comment on August 14, 2014 at 5:22 pm

      According to Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer by Michael Keene, General George Patton used a 4x6" index card system for note taking.

    3. I was searching for notecard systems after reading Will and Ariel Durant’s dual autobiography and not having much luck. The book talks a lot about his writing and the use of “classification slips” to cover the depth of material, especially for The Story of Civilization series they did.

      via SAM on January 15, 2017 at 8:54 pm

      Apparently Will Durant and Ariel Durant used a form of commonplace book set up in which they used "classification slips".

    4. -It looks like the system is also very similar to Luhmann’s Zettelkasten

      Ryan Holiday's system puts some of the work farther from the note taking origin compared with Nicholas Luhmann's system which places more of it up front.

      How, if at all, do the payoffs from doing each of these vary for the end user of the system?

    1. Doto, Bob. “Folgezettel Mechanics.” Bobdoto.Computer (blog), March 1, 2022. https://bobdoto.computer/folgezettel-mechanics.

    2. For note makers who find themselves creating an unwieldy amount of so-called "orphan notes," the folgezettel sounds the alarm. When faced with a sea of parents without children (9A 9B 9C 9D 9E, etc) it makes these "empty nesters" all the more apparent as the note gets added to the stack.

      There's an interesting dichotomy which seems to be arising here. It's almost as if he's defining a folgezettel note in opposition to orphaned notes, most often seen in digital settings when importing lots of "stuff" but which Doto indicates can happen in analog systems as well.

      Orphaned notes in an analog space, however are still linked by proximity even though they're not as densely linked (even from a mathematical topology perspective.)

    3. It's the kind of friction needed to help note takers who tend to drown in capture bloat—always onboarding, never offloading.
    4. "Using the Folgezettel to capture some connections and hope that their nature will reveal themselves later on is just another form of Collector’s Fallacy." I can tell you for a fact that, in my experience, the above quote is fundamentally false. I often find myself doing exactly what's expressed here—using the folgezettel to capture "some connections" in order to get the note-making process started—and am consistently rewarded having done so.

      Strong agree with Bob here.

      Quite often collecting can create huge value in slowly building a substrate for serendipity to do its work. Some of the key to overcoming this is in the affordances of one's system to find or discover these tidbits in one's collection.

    5. Whether or not a note maker increases their knowledge "sufficiently" at the time of import or at the time of writing longer works, is a moot point. So long as it happens.

      "So long as it happens." And here lies the rub: when will you put in the work to make the note useful and actionable? Will it be now or later?

      Some notes are certainly more mission critical than others. Some work towards one's life's work while others are tidbits which may be useful at a later time. Distinguishing along this spectrum isn't always easy, particular in build a bottom up view of one's research.

    6. folgezettel pushes the note maker toward making at least one connection at the time of import.

      There is a difference between the sorts of links one might make when placing an idea into an (analog) zettelkasten. A folgezettel link is more valuable than a simple tag/category link because it places an idea into a more specific neighborhood than any handful of tags. This is one of the benefits of a Luhmann-artig ZK system over a more traditional commonplace one, particularly when the work is done up front instead of being punted to a later time.

      For those with a 1A2B3Z linking system (versus a pure decimal system), it may be more difficult to insert a card before other cards rather than after them because of the potential gymnastics of numbering and the natural tendency to put things into a continuing linear order.

      See also: - https://hypothes.is/a/ToqCPq1bEe2Q0b88j4whwQ - https://hyp.is/WtB2AqmlEe2wvCsB5ZyL5A/docdrop.org/download_annotation_doc/Introduction-to-Luhmanns-Zette---Ludecke-Daniel-h4nh8.pdf

    7. Speed and efficiency are, in my opinion, arbitrary gauges of success. The shear number of productivity czars prophesying about a "future without friction" are innumerable to be almost comical. In contrast to these efficiency futurists, when it comes to zettelkasten, I am pro-friction. But, not just any friction. Eufriction. Eufriction is good friction. Just as weight training, writing a book, and giving birth can all be considered a form of eustress[6], so too is folgezettel a form of eufriction.

      https://bobdoto.computer/folgezettel-mechanics

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/325821466702

      Gaylord Bros. library card catalog offered on 2023-09-21 for $4,995.00 from South Bend, IN.

      60 Drawer modular cabinet with four sections of 5x3 drawers and two separate sections of two pull out writing drawers (for a total of four). Appears to be in good condition, made with internal plastic drawer/trays. Lilely from 60s/70s or later.

      Cost per drawer: $83.25

    1. We should only write on one side of these papers so that in searching through them, we do not have to take out a paper in order to read it. This doubles the space, but not entirely (since we would not write on both sides of all the slips). This consideration is not unimportant as the arrangement of boxes can, after some decades, become so large that it cannot be easily be used from one’s chair. In order to counteract this tendency, I recommend taking normal paper and not card stock.
    1. The Topic Concentration chart above lends the clearest picture into the implied rationale behind the bans. Namely, the bans are not and have not been about the physical removal of a book from a shelf. The bans instead are meant to: Virtue signal by people in positions of institutional power to voting-age parents interested in school choice, parental rights, and wedge social issues to the detriment of non-voting age students Reject and exclude topics that challenge a perceived status quo from the public discourse (e.g. non-heteronormativity, non-cis identity, non-traditional gender roles, and non-Judeo-Christian books are targeted)
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/195819504280

      Brodart 72 drawer library card catalog offered for sale for $1995.00 in at least mid 2023 if not earlier. Local pick up from Twin Lake, MI. A bit beat up. Appears to be maybe late 60s/early 70s. Has plastic drawers.

      Two sections of 6x6 separated by three pull out writing desks.

      Cost per drawer. $27.70

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/225779061741

      Listed on 2023-09-17 for starting bid of $600 with a purchase price of $795.00. With $100 shipping to Los Angeles from Bartow, FL.<br /> In excellent looking condition. Restored?<br /> two drawers, but each one has two rows of cards, so technically four drawers.

      Missing card catalog rods, so likely used for something other than cards at one point.

      Cost per drawer: $150 per "drawer" at the opening bid price.

    1. We all threw a lot away. In general I’m good at avoiding or throwing away paper. But I cannot throw away books, so I have rather a lot of them piled on the shelves.
    2. in the offline world I am a big fan of Moleskine reporter’s notebooks. They are just the perfect size. I always said I wanted an iPhone the size of a Moleskine notebook, and that’s what the iPhone 6 Plus is.

      While mostly a digital guy, Tom Standage uses Moleskine's reporter's notebooks which he likes because they're the size of an iPhone 6 plus.

      iPhone 6+ (6.22 in x3.06 in)<br /> Moleskine reporter's notebook (3.5 x 5.5 inches)

    1. Harl, Kenneth W. The Vikings: Course Guidebook. Vol. 3910. The Great Courses. Chantilly, VA: The Teaching Company, 2005.

      Vikings. Streaming Video. Vol. 3910. The Great Courses. Chantilly, VA, 2005. https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/vikings.

      annotation URL: urn:x-pdf:e17d7b3a22a4a56be07f2afb64548410<br /> search

      Started 2023-09-18

    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iRzF_ZAdUI

      Scott Sheper demonstrates one of the lowest forms of zettelkasten: simply indexing an idea from a book into one's index. This includes skipping the step of excerpting the idea into it's own card.

      He describes it as zettelkasten knowledge building for busy people. It's definitely a hard turn from his all-in Luhmann-esque method.

      In the end it comes down to where one puts in the work. Saving the work of having done some reading for a small idea one may tangentially reference later is most of the distance, but he's still going to have to do more work later to use the idea.

    1. The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education. 27th Printing. Vol. 1. 54 vols. The Great Books of the Western World. 1952. Reprint, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1984.

      I read the first edition.

      Hutchins, Robert M. The Great Conversation: The Substance of a Liberal Education. Edited by Robert M. Hutchins and Mortimer J. Adler. 1st ed. Vol. 1. 54 vols. Great Books of the Western World. Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 1952.

      urn:x-pdf:0ce8391ed9f9f1cfc78c28b6c923abac<br /> Annotation search: https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?user=chrisaldrich&max=100&exactTagSearch=true&expanded=true&addQuoteContext=true&url=urn%3Ax-pdf%3A0ce8391ed9f9f1cfc78c28b6c923abac

    1. Market analysis of library card catalogs in 2023.

      As card catalogs lost their functionality in libraries and were de-acquisitioned there was a wave of nostalgia which caused people to purchase them, often in auctions, at higher than expected prices. Once they had them, most of these purchasers realized that they didn't have functional uses in their homes for them (beyond wine or liquor bottle storage, small crafts, or use as a zettelkasten, which seem to be the only reasonable upcycling use cases I've seen and the last seems to be very rare and niche). They sit and take up space for very little value in return beyond some esthetic beauty and nostalgia. As a result many soured on their ownership. Most owners naturally want to recoup their original purchase price thinking that relative rarity will save them.

      Combined with this there was a resurgence in mid-century design esthetic which had some furniture restorers and designers buying and doing full (and very pretty) expensive restorations of older 20s - 40s versions which sold at auctions for $4,500 and up. Given the rarity of some of these older, fine furniture versions along with the work in restoration and the limited market only those who had a tinge of nostalgia and money to burn made purchases which resulted in a limited number of actual sales.

      These two factors mean that almost all of the listings for library card catalogs are heavily overvalued on eBay, Facebook Marketplace, Craig's List, Etsy, etc. The fine furniture restorations have set an artificially high price point which some feel theirs must match as well. The difference in quality however is stark. Because of their size and lack of functionality, there is a relative glut of them on the market which all bear inflated prices. Those who originally spent inordinate amounts for them, feel they will still have that same value to others, so they list them online for inflated prices.

      I've been closely watching the online "market" for them for over a year and see the same several dozen or more listed across the country usually in the range of about $30-$60 per drawer. Many are listed as local pick up only, which further hampers the overall market. This also brings up the issue of shipping a 60 drawer card catalog which can easily run in the $800-$1,500+ range which usually requires additional shipping logistics involved with freight. Most catalogs are already overpriced, but adding an additional $1000 tax on top is a bridge too far for all but the highest end of the market. Some platforms like Etsy and eBay which take cuts of the final sale also add to the cost of the sale.

      In the year and a half or more that I've been watching, I've only seen a handful of actual sales, all of which were local, and many of which were in the Los Angeles area. All of these sales have been for listings which eventually were reduced down to the $15 per drawer range. One local sale was in Wisconsin was for $10 per drawer (a 30 drawer file) and another in Los Angeles was for $12.50 per drawer (on a 20 drawer file).

      A note on condition

      Outside of a small handful of fine furniture listings in the $4,000+ range, most ex-Library card catalogs are generally very well worn and not in great condition which makes them less valuable as decoration pieces. In fact, many are often missing their original card catalog rods, have dents, dings, or other cosmetic issues. Some are missing drawers or have replacement drawers which don't match. Some may be slightly mismatched having been purchased in different eras as modular pieces and put together. Frequently they have been modified from their original states to include inserts or other material to fill in the holes which where almost standard in the bottoms of the drawers.

      Advice

      If you're in the market, know that it is tremendously inflated, a fact which most sellers are aware of as they've got them listed, some for many years, not resulting in actual sales. If you really want one and find it in a reasonable condition, I highly recommend making an offer for it at about $10 per drawer and potentially go up to $15. Anything higher than that is overpaying based on actual recent market conditions. If you have the money to burn, feel free, but keep in mind that like many others in the past, once the initial nostalgia has passed, you've probably got a large piece of relatively non-functional furniture in your home.

      It's not common, but some government auction sites will list card catalogs for auction from time to time. Because they actively want to sell them these can be purchased in the $2-10 per drawer range or less. Often they tend toward the larger 60+ drawer range, aren't in good condition, or need to be picked up and shipped to your final destination, usually within a few days of purchase as the original owners don't or explicitly won't handle shipping. These are likely to need some restoration work to be decorative pieces in many homes.

      If you want something brand new, you can check out Brodart, which is the only remaining card catalog manufacturer/sales firm I'm aware of in the United States. Their systems are modular, so you can pick and choose what you'd like to have. The only caveat is that they start at $1,700 for their smallest 9 drawer model and can go up to $11,648 (plus shipping) for a full 60 drawer model. The other potential drawback, for some, is that they are made of a mixture of wood, metal and plastic versus the all wood and metal fittings of older vintage models.

      If you're in the market primarily for nostalgic reasons, then you might also consider looking at some of the older desktop wooden card catalogs which are often much less expensive, take up far less space, and can be wonderfully decorative. Some of the smaller two to six drawer desktop models have the benefit of potentially serving as recipe boxes or paper rolodexes, zettelkasten, or simply small office storage. Here again, the online markets are likely to be heavily overpriced with 2 drawer models being continually listed at $150 and 4 drawer models in the $250-400 range. These sellers know that these prices don't result in actual sales as they've been sitting on them for long periods of time (presumably hoping to get lucky). Here I'd recommend you make offers in the $20-30 per drawer range to see what you can find. Another benefit is that these smaller models are far cheaper to ship across the country. For additional advice on these, see: The Ultimate Guide to Zettelkasten Index Card Storage.

    1. https://www.amazon.com/How-Make-Notes-Write-Allosso-ebook/dp/B0B7FSQP35/

      Dan Allosso purchased a 30 drawer card catalog (three sections of 5 x 2 without any base) for $300 in 2022.

      It's pictured on the cover of his book "How to Make Notes and Write".

      Purchased at $10 per drawer.<br /> local sale

      Price mentioned at the end of Dan Allosso Book Club 2023-09-16.

    1. Underlines and margin notes in an unknown hand are interspersed throughout the texts. Volume I includes a daily devotional page that has been used as a bookmark. The back endpapers of Volume IV has been copiously annotated.

      Jack Kerouac followed the general advice of Mortimer J. Adler to write notes into the endpapers of his books as evidenced by the endpapers of Volume IV of the 7th Year Course of The Great Books Foundation series with which Adler was closely associated.

    2. estate certification signed by John Shen-Sampas, executer of the Kerouac Estate. John Shen-Sampas is the son of John Sampas, friend and brother-in-law of Jack Kerouac, and the brother of Stella Kerouac, Jack’s wife.
    3. Volume VIII: Freud, "The Interpretation of Dreams, Chapter VII" and Shaw, "Man and Superman"

      Book covers of this prominently featured the names of the authors as:

      Shaw | Freud

      Which reads as "shaw and freud" or by association the German world schadenfreude.

    1. the obliga­tion of finding the unity belongs finally to the reader, as much as the obligation of having one belongs to the writer.
    2. What do you do then? You can take the book to someone else who, you think, can read better than you, and have him explain the parts that trouble you. ("He" may be a living person or another book-a commentary or textbook. )

      This may be an interesting use case for artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT which can provide the reader of complex material with simplified synopses to allow better penetration of the material (potentially by removing jargon, argot, etc.)

    3. Your success in reading it is determined by the extent to which you receive everything the writer intended to com­municate.

      The difficult thing to pick apart here is the writer's intention and the reader's reception and base of knowledge.

      In particular a lot of imaginative literature is based on having a common level of shared context to get a potentially wider set of references and implied meanings which are almost never apparent in a surface reading. As a result literature may use phrases from other unmentioned sources which the author has read/knows, but which the reader is unaware. Those who read Western literature without any grounding in the stories within the Bible will often obviously be left out of the conversation which is happening, but which they won't know exists.

      Indigenous knowledge bases have this same feature despite the fact that they're based on orality instead of literacy.

    4. What does active reading entail? We will return to this question many times in this book. For the moment, it suffices to say that, given the sam<' thing to read, one person reads it better than another, first, by reading it more actively, and second, by performing each of the acts involved more skill­fully.

      Initial stab at a definition of "active reading"

    5. Active Reading

      He then pushes a button and "plays back" the opinion whenever it seems appropriate to do so. He has performed acceptably without having had to think.

      This seems to be a reasonable argument to make for those who ask, why read? why take notes? especially when we can use search and artificial intelligence to do the work for us. Can we really?

    6. 1939 when Professor James Mursell of Columbia University's Teachers College wrote an article for the Atlantic Monthly entitled "The Failure of the Schools."

      https://www.theatlantic.com/author/james-l-mursell/

      See: Mursell, James L. “The Defeat of the Schools.” The Atlantic, March 1939. https://www.theatlantic.com/past/docs/issues/95dec/chilearn/murde.htm.

      ———. “The Reform of the Schools.” The Atlantic, December 1, 1939. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/1939/12/the-reform-of-the-schools/654746/.

    7. Since speed-reading has become a national fad, this new edition of How to Read a Book deals with the prob­lem and proposes variable-speed-reading as the solution, the aim being to read better, always better, but sometimes slower, sometimes faster.

      Framing of his book as a remedy to the speed reading fad in the 1970s...

      What did those books at the time indicate that their purpose was? Were they aimed at helping people consume more (hopefully with greater comprehension?) while there was a continuing glut of information overload building up in society?

      Which is better, more deep understanding of less or more surface understanding of more? How does combinatorial creativity effect the choice?

    8. As Pascal observed three hundred years ago, "When we read too fast or too slowly, we under­stand nothing."
    9. RECOMMENDED READING LIST

      Compare this list to what ultimately became the Great Books of the Western World in 1952. Lots more 20th century writing on it to begin...

    10. Although not all of the books listed are "great" in any of the commonly accepted meanings of the term, all of them will reward you for the effort you make to read them.

      This book was published originally in 1940 and apparently the Great Books of the Western World was hatched in 1943, so this book isn't necessarily a stepping stone to pitching/selling those, though obviously it informs the ideas which led up to its creation.

      Note that it is roughly contemporaneous to his article a year later:

      Adler, Mortimer J. “How to Mark a Book.” Saturday Review of Literature, July 6, 1941.<br /> https://stevenson.ucsc.edu/academics/stevenson-college-core-courses/how-to-mark-a-book-1.pdf

    11. On Philosophical Method

      How do historical method and philosophical method compare? contrast?

      Were they tied to similar traditions? co-evolve? evolve separately?

    12. How to Use a Dictionary

      Surely this won't include the idea of John McPhee's Draft #4 use of a dictionary?

    13. Mortimer]. Adler

      Searching for "commonplace" and "card" in the text doesn't reveal anything positive.

      re: https://hypothes.is/a/NiMaVO_iEeuNF7N35U9BpA

      It would seem that Adler considered the method a simple bit of memory storage and not as a thinking tool or processing tool.

      Is there anything we can find that is dispositive to this?

    14. discard

      etymology?

      from card as in card catalogue? thus dis-card or un-card, remove a card and throw it away?

      apparently attested in the 16th century from card games...

      late 16th century (originally in the sense ‘reject (a playing card’)): from dis- (expressing removal) + the noun card

      though one should keep in mind that playing cards were also used as early index cards for their small functionality

    15. The skill inspectional reader does more than classify a book in his mental card catalogue, and achieve a superficial knowledge of its contents.

      a second use of "mental card catalogue", though somehow he doesn't seem to realize the inherent value for building knowledge... ?

    16. The first is a commonplace. By combining analysis with experimentation-by combining theorizing with systematic observation of natural phenomena-men like Gali­leo and Newton launched an intellectual revolution and helped to usher in our modern age of science. Not only did they dis­cover truths about the physical world that continue to be rele­vant and important, but they also developed new methods of studying nature that have proved to be of wide usefulness in many areas of study and research.

      Adler has juxtaposed the ideas of genius and commonplace together, but somehow doesn't notice the ratchet that ties them together to be one and the same tool for making them so productive?!?

    17. The first is a commonplace.

      Interesting use of the word commonplace here. Used in the philosophical sense rather than the meanings of "everyday" or "commonplace book".

    18. Adler, Mortimer J., and Charles Van Doren. How to Read a Book. Revised and Updated edition. 1940. Reprint, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1972.

      Progress

      • Started reading on 2021-07-28 at 1:26 PM
      • Read through chapter 6 on 2022-11-06 at 1:40 PM

      Annotation URL: urn:x-pdf:47749dd5c860ea4a9b8749ab77a009da<br /> Annotation search

    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=40MTSRdQZPs

      For when your analog Zettelkasten grows too big for just a few filing cabinets and you're ready to automate some of your slip finding work!

    1. I’ve been flitting around loads of note taking platforms - each time, I bask in the glory of a new tool then about 3-4 weeks later I’m done.The one lasting tool is Roam, which I still like despite it being tossed aside by many for other tools. I use TickTick for my task management.I’ve recently returned to journaling or writing things down for that I’ve done and what I want to achieve. I still have an online and mobile task list but I really find writing useful for reflecting.Getting into Zettkekasten, I’m about to use a paper card based approach to do a spell of studying. Im looking forward to the analogue experience but almost feel like I’m being disloyal to the modern digital way. I’m looking forward to seeing if this method helps digest the learning and seeing where this takes me.

      reply to u/FilterGrad6 at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/16iwdep/newbie/

      Digital is just a tool. Why necessarily chose it over analog unless you can specifically identify affordances which dramatically improve your experience or output?

      As you've discovered, shiny object syndrome may prevent you from collecting enough into one place to be truly useful and valuable. Pick one that seems to work for you and build from there.

      If paper was good enough for the practices and outputs of Carl Linnaeus, Konrad Gessner, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, John Locke, Hans Blumenberg, Roland Barthes, Beatrice Webb, Jacques Barzun, Niklas Luhmann, Gertrud Bauer, Marcel Mauss, Phyllis Diller, and so many others is there any reason it shouldn't work just as effectively for your work?

    1. In 2000, de Bono advised a UK Foreign Office committee that the Arab–Israeli conflict might be due, in part, to low levels of zinc found in people who eat unleavened bread (e.g. pita flatbread). De Bono argued that low zinc levels leads to heightened aggression. He suggested shipping out jars of Marmite to compensate.[19][20]

      an interesting hypothesis, but was it ever fully tested?

      Could tests on other groups with long standing levels of aggression be used to support it? Possible examples:<br /> - The Troubles in Northern Ireland;<br /> - cultural aggressiveness of the Scots-Irish, particularly in America (Hatfields & McCoys, et al.) (Did Malcolm Gladwell have some work on this?)


      References in the article include: <br /> - Lloyd, John; Mitchinson, John (2006). The Book of General Ignorance. Faber & Faber. - Jury, Louise (19 December 1999). "De Bono's Marmite plan for peace in Middle Yeast". The Independent. Retrieved 3 January 2022.

    1. Where are the synoptic studies of mythology? (In the way the Bible has been pulled apart.) Naturally we're missing lots of versions to be able to compare, but synoptic studies of Greek and Roman mythology would potentially have some interesting things to say about the oral traditions of Jesus which passed down his story before they were written down decades (or more) following his death.

    2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2U3lGD2mNRY

      Calling Homer "poetry" here may be slightly helpful, but modern baggage of the concept is unhelpful. It also leaves out the rich texture of orality inherent in Homer, which she only touches on briefly.

    1. We have a new online ordering system for Just Right Lunch which you will find very simple and user friendly. The website is https://justrightlunch.com/. Simply click on the blue button “Place Order Here”. This will take you to the order page. After ordering, you will receive an order confirmation listing the lunch items you wish to purchase.

      If you have already placed orders for upcoming dates on the old system, there is no need to enter your orders on the new site. They will all be brought into the new system automatically. This new order system is for your future orders.

      We are also now offering a larger size lunch option.

      Just some reminders: <br /> - Advance ordering: Orders must be placed by 9:30 pm on our website, the day before lunch. There are no same day meal orders taken. <br /> - Emergency Lunches: If your student requires a same day emergency lunch, we will gladly serve them. Please contact the office that morning. This lunch will be charged to you at $7.25.

      You can pay by Zelle using the information Bridget Khraich 626-664-5294 or by dropping off a check at the school office. Please make the check payable to Just Right Lunch.

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      We are enjoying getting to know your children.

      Thank you, Bridget Khraich

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1173187669981868/

      24 Drawer steel Card Catalog<br /> $575<br /> Listed Circa May 15, 2023 in Brea, CA

      Rusty Gold! This steel case 24 drawer card catalog cabinet is a beauty. Circa 1950’s this tank is a statement piece. All drawers are working and have amazing original pulls! Measurements 52” tall 34” wide 18.5” deep

      Delivery available for a fee.

      $23.95 per drawer

      Owner indicates: <br /> Each drawer is 16” long<br /> 6” wide<br /> 4.5” tall

      Mfg??<br /> Separates into multiple sections for shipping.

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/977663026818414/

      Gaylord Library Card Catalog 30 Drawer Wood MCM Mid Century offering at $1,350; originally listed at $1,600 Listed circa July 12 ,2023 in San Leandro, CA

      44”x33”x18” total dimensions. Three pieces including traditional table base. with two 5x3 sets of drawers for a total of 30.

      Cost per drawer: original offering: $53.33 updated offering: $45.00

    1. https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/271076511951674/

      Appears to be a single piece with two sections of 6x5 drawers for a total of 60 separated by three drawer pulls. In excellent shape, but missing many rods.

      $18.33 per drawer

      Listed in Mid-May 2023 for $1,100 in La Palma, CA

    1. Does anyone use zettelkasten method for their university notes? .t3_16h0k5n._2FCtq-QzlfuN-SwVMUZMM3 { --postTitle-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postTitleLink-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postBodyLink-VisitedLinkColor: #989898; }

      reply to u/PumpkinPines at tk

      Your 1chapter1note idea is essentially what Ahrens called a "literature note" for your lecture. Many of the things you write down you'll either absorb or remember over time as you learn and you won't think twice about them. However there may be one or two interesting snippets you put into your lecture notes that are really intriguing to you and those you'll want to excerpt and expand on as more fleshed out "permanent notes" which will be the zettels in your zettelkasten. Over time these may grow into projects, papers, articles, a book, or other more explicit content.

      For more on this idea, try these recent discussions * https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/yf1e8j/help_a_newbie_difference_between_literature_notes/ * https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/162os2q/how_can_i_use_zettelkasten_as_a_high_school/

      A common make-work mistake is that everyone seems to think that they need to take each scrap they write down into some sort of "perfect" permanent note. Don't do this. You'll only exhaust yourself and die by zettelkasten.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/285223361023

      Brodart Library Card catalog with 60 drawers listed circa Summer 2023 for $1,800 (+62.60 shipping from Pensacola Florida). Appears to be in good condition. Built in solid base and includes three drawer pulls. Doesn't appear to have any rods and looks like it's got plastic drawers rather than wood.

      cost per drawer: $30 per drawer

    1. 'The Aeneid' Begins (Schedule and Context)

      reply to u/epiphanysherald at https://www.reddit.com/r/AYearOfMythology/comments/16eti72/the_aeneid_begins_schedule_and_context/

      I've not listened to it before, but some may find Elizabeth Vandiver's Aeneid of Virgil from The Great Courses series to have some useful information and background while reading: https://www.thegreatcourses.com/courses/aeneid-of-virgil.

      It's not terribly expensive on their website, but many public libraries will have copies available for free, often including streaming through Overdrive.com, HooplaDigital.com, or other related free platforms.

      Others in their series including those I've gone through from Vandiver before (The Iliad of Homer comes to mind) have been useful/helpful, especially with regard to context and history.

    1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rZIpsFE6Yw

      Attended live on 2023-09-07

    2. Parchment has two distinguishable sides:<br /> hair, which is usually darker and may show follicles (and even hair itself when poorly scraped) and<br /> flesh, which is usually lighter.

      Most planned manuscripts' bindings have the hair side of the parchment facing hair sides of opposing leaf and similarly the flesh facing flesh.

      Because of additions and potential mistakes in binding there are places in LJS 101 in which hair faces flesh and vice-versa. This "mistake" can provide an indication of binding procedures or mistakes in them.

    3. Periermenias Aristotelis

      Notes from event on 2023-09-07

      Used as part of the Carolingian educational program (rhetoric)

      As of 2023, it's the oldest codex manuscript in Philadelphia

      Formerly part of the (Thomas) Phillipps Collection (MSS Phillips appears on p1); see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Phillipps

      There is some green highlighting on portions of the text

      contains some marginalia and interlineal notations

      Periermenias is the Greek title

      Underdotting of some of the letters is used to indicate deletion of the text (used like striking out text today)

      There are two sets of Carolingian script in the book, likely by different hands/times.

      Shows prick marks in parchment for drawing lines to write evenly.

      Has a few diagrams: squares of opposites (philosophy); color was added in XI C or possibly later

      folio 45 switch to newer MS copy to continue text

      Poem in last few lines with another text following it

      parchment is smaller in one section at the end.

      Another poem and then a letter to an abbott with a few pages in between (likely misbound) - quire of 12

      Book starts with grammar, then Boethius translation of Aristotle, and then a letter. This could be an example of the trivium put together purposely for pedagogy sake, though we're missing all of their intended purpose (it wasn't written down).

    4. https://libcal.library.upenn.edu/event/11148297

      9th-century copy of Boethius's Latin translation of Aristotle's De interpretatione, referred to in the manuscript as Periermenias, with the shorter of two commentaries that Boethius wrote on that work. Replacement leaves added in the 11th century to the beginning (f. 1-4) and end (f. 45-64) of the manuscript, in addition to providing the beginning and end of the Boethius (which is probably lacking 2 gatherings between extant gatherings 6 and 7), include the Periermeniae attributed to Apuleius in the medieval period, a poem by Decimus Magnus Ausonius on the seven days of Creation, a sample letter of a monk to an abbot with interlinear and marginal glosses, and other miscellaneous verses, definitions, and excerpts. Dot Porter, University of Pennsylvania, has determined that two groups of leaves are misbound; leaves 5-12 (the original order appears to have been 5, 9, 10, 6, 7, 11, 12, 8) and leaves 53-64 (the original order of the leaves appears to have been 61, 62, 53-60, 63, 64).

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/204449941096

      2 drawer 4 x 6" card index<br /> Listed in September 2023 for starting bid of $32.95

      Cost per drawer: $16.45 <br /> Cost per drawer with approx. shipping: $25.75

      Purchased 2023-09-10

    1. Vintage Gaylord Bros Inc Solid Maple Adjustable Filing Drawer Inserts<br /> https://www.ebay.com/itm/185299223900

      Outrageously expensive; listed for $399.99 + 18.50 shipping from Philomath, OR in Spring 2023

      3 tray drawer plus single 1 tray drawer. 3.5 x 11.4 x 14 large 3.5 x 3.75 x 13.5 small

    1. Vintage Remington Rand Library Card File Wood Box Table Top Index Dovetail<br /> https://www.ebay.com/itm/295737704485 3 connected trays in rough shape<br /> 14x11x3.5"

      Listed for $36.25 + $26.80 in shipping from Kingwood, TX to Los Angeles in Spring 2023.

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/304964453291

      Vintage Wood Library Card File Table Top Index Dovetail Gaylord Bros 13x7x4

      Listed in Spring 2023 for $24.74 + $56.80 shipping from Kingwood, TX to Los Angeles (emailed about being high on 2023-09-10)

      Coupon code for 10%: WINDSOFAUTUMN

    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/304965582423

      Vintage Remington Rand Library Card File Wood Box Table Top Index Dovetail<br /> Two tray model from 1960s(?) at 15x7.5x3.5"

      listed in early 2023 for $28.50 with shipping from Kingwood, TX to LA for $17.45.

      Sold as a best offer accepted, so less than $28.50.

    1. Gould, Jessica. “Teachers College, Columbia U. Dissolves Program behind Literacy Curriculum Used in NYC Public Schools.” Gothamist, September 8, 2023. https://gothamist.com/news/columbia-university-dissolves-program-behind-literacy-curriculum-used-in-nyc-public-schools.

      The Teachers College of Columbia University has shut down the Lucy Calkins Units of Study literacy program.

      Missing from the story is more emphasis on not only the social costs, which they touch on, but the tremendous financial (sunk) cost to the system by not only adopting it but enriching Calkins and the institution (in a position of trust) which benefitted from having sold it.

      link to: https://hypothes.is/a/eicbpgSKEe6vc0fPdIm05w

    1. Wills, Garry. “After 54 Great Books, 102 Great Ideas, Now—Count Them !—Three Revolutions.” The New York Times, June 13, 1971, sec. BR. https://www.nytimes.com/1971/06/13/archives/the-common-sense-of-politics-by-mortimer-j-adler-265-pp-new-york.html

      It's not super obvious from the digitized context (text), but this review is in relation to The Common Sense of Politics (1971) by Mortimer J. Adler.

      Wills criticizes Adler and his take in the book as well as the general enterprise of the Great Books of the Western World.

      There seem to be interesting sparks here in the turn of the Republican party in the early 70s moving into the coming Reagan era.

    2. That is why the Idea Man has learned to stay far away from them.

      What is the referent here? "Idea Man"?

      Republican politics?

    3. This done, Adler can say that young crit ics of “the System” are not true revolutionaries. Real revolutionaries work within the System — since the System is the Revolution.

      How does the general idea of zeitgeist of the early 70's relate to the idea of "revolution"?

      See also: Gil Scott-Heron's "The Revolution Will Not Be Televised" (1970)

    4. Adler's record of ineptness is pret ty good so far — but he surpasses it with his third Revolution. He dis likes both Marxists and Moscow, so how did the Russian Revolution be come one of the great sources or change in modern society? Because “with the Russian Revolution, we have, for the first time, the emer gence of the welfare state” — mild offspring sired from such ferocious parents. In the past, only right‐wing kooks thought F.D.R. derived his in spiration for W.P.A. from the Bol shies!

      Reference to the "welfare state" in 1971 by Gary Wills.

    5. Any difference in political philosophy between George Washington the co lonial planter and Washington the President was exiguous.
    6. Woodrow Wil son insisted that the League of Na tions’ enabling document be called a Covenant to show its parentage.

      Here the Covenant referring to that given by God to the Jews.

    1. R.U.R.: Rossum’s Universal Robots, drama in three acts by Karel Čapek, published in 1920 and performed in 1921. This cautionary play, for which Čapek invented the word robot (derived from the Czech word for forced labour), involves a scientist named Rossum who discovers the secret of creating humanlike machines. He establishes a factory to produce and distribute these mechanisms worldwide. Another scientist decides to make the robots more human, which he does by gradually adding such traits as the capacity to feel pain. Years later, the robots, who were created to serve humans, have come to dominate them completely.
    1. Jarvis, Jeff. “Moving On.” Medium. Whither News? (blog), September 2023. https://medium.com/whither-news/moving-on-4eecb1c76ce3.

      Jeff Jarvis looking back briefly on his history at CUNY's Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. An interesting snapshot of some of the pedagogical changes and programs over almost 20 years.

    2. What interests me most is bringing the humanities into the discussion of this most human enterprise, which has for too long been dominated (as print was in its first half-century) by the technologists.

      Jeff Jarvis specifically points out the shift in technology which is now injecting more humanity into the process.

    3. Since arriving at the school, I have said to each class that I am too old to change journalism. Instead, I would watch and try to help students take on that responsibility.
    1. Nobody, however, who surveys the conventional working apparatus of courses of study, textbooks, recitations, examinations, and marks can have much doubt that in practice the schools are making the mastery of the curriculum an end in itself.

      A statement of "teaching to the test" in 1939!

    1. In 1807, he started writing a dictionary, which he called, boldly, An American Dictionary of the English Language. He wanted it to be comprehensive, authoritative. Think of that: a man sits down, aiming to capture his language whole.

      Johnson's dictionary is much like this article describes too.

      Perhaps we need more dictionaries with singular voices rather than dictionaries made by committee?

    2. John McPhee — one the great American writers of nonfiction, almost peerless as a prose stylist — once wrote an essay for the New Yorker about his process called “Draft #4.” He explains that for him, draft #4 is the draft after the painstaking labor of creation is done, when all that’s left is to punch up the language, to replace shopworn words and phrases with stuff that sings.

      I quite like the idea of this Draft #4 concept.

    1. A number of publishers were left high and dry with that announcement and several of us worked together through a broker *during the pandemic* to find a mill in Finland (!) to produce our paper.
    2. the closing at the beginning of this year of the last paper mill in the U.S. that produced high-quality literary opaque paper.

      via David Cloyce Smith

    3. the number of *American* printers that can print large books has decreased by two—bankruptcies, both of them. In fact, there are only two firms remaining in the U.S. that both have the presses to print on thin (30# to 40#) paper *and* that can do sewn bindings of books of 1,200 pages or more.
    4. As I’d mentioned, the problem is not with the first printing, when our usual press run ranges from 7,000 to 15,000 copies, but with subsequent printings of a many of our titles. In many cases, a few years after a title’s initial publication, a three- to five-year supply can be as low as 500 copies. The cost to set up the book (called “make-ready” in the industry) is so high that the printing/binding cost per book is far more than most readers would be willing to pay. To “break even” on some of these titles, we’d have to charge $100 or more in bookstores, which would decrease sales even further. As it is, we subsidize those volumes with donations and with sales of other books.

      https://www.librarything.com/topic/286378

      LOAs first print runs are in the 7,000 - 15,000 copy range. Often after initial publication the stock for a 3-5 year supply is about 500 copies.

    1. Each Everyman's Library book has a colored cloth binding denoting the period of the work: Scarlet - Contemporary Classics Navy - 20th Century Burgundy - Victorian Literature/19th Century Dark Green - Pre-Victorian/Romantic/18th Century Light Blue - 17th Century and Earlier Celadon Green - Non-Western Classics Mauve - Ancient Classics Sand - Poetry The above information relating to the colored cloth binding of Everyman's Library books is 100% resourced from Random House’s Everyman’s Library page, found immediately below:http://www.randomhouse.com/knopf/classics/about.htm
    1. DCloyceSmithEdited: Mar 23, 2010, 12:22 pm It's a closely held secret: There is in fact no scheme to the color scheme. I can't speak for my predecessors, but I've "chosen" the colors for the last ten years, and the primary considerations have been (1) break up the colors for contiguous authors/titles when the volumes are alphabetized on the shelf (and try to keep additional tan volumes away from all those Henry James volumes), and (2) balance the collection as a whole. A couple of times, an author's son or daughter has specifically requested a cloth color, and of course I'll accommodate their decision. (And sometimes, the colors do pick themselves, like green cloth for the American Earth volume.)For the record, here are the color breakdowns through the Emerson volumes (not including the Twain Anthology and the Lincoln Anthology, when we used unique colors):Red -- 52 Blue -- 51 Green -- 48 Tan -- 50 (counting the Franklin as 2 volumes)David

      https://www.librarything.com/topic/87541

      No real rhyme or reason for Library of America book covers.

    1. Thank you!, am trying to make sense of what you are suggesting. It sounds like I could put categories, numbers, images, colors, objects, etc around the wheel and place the cards based on those different things.An interesting wheel I found is from the following site. I could make paper triangles like the ones in Figure T for (1) beginning, middle, end, (2) difference, concordance, contrariety, (3) majority, equality, and minority. Other triangular sequences might be possible. In the study of acting, there's also objective-action-obstacle.Still trying to make sense of how I would use the inner concentric circles.

      reply to u/DunesNSwoon at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/16ad43u/comment/jzb9ekq/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      The ideas is similar to Marshall Kirkpatrick's triangle thinking (see details here: https://hyp.is/slQufuwwEeyYVz9NwPNInA/thrivingonoverload.com/marshall-kirkpatrick-source-selection-connecting-ideas-diverse-thinking-enabling-serendipity-ep14/), but allows for multiple levels of ideas being juxtaposed simultaneously and then rotated and viewed again. I've not read into the specifics, but you might also appreciate the example of Jackson Mac Low's dance instruction poems entitled The Pronouns: A collection of forty dances for the dancers from 1964. See: https://voiceisalanguage.wordpress.com/2010/04/04/jackson-mac-low/

    2. Even though I commented earlier i have to side with Chris. A ZK is best suited for argumentative and essay like work, not creative one like poetry.Maybe this is something that we need to discuss as a community as hole: it’s seems that a lot of people try to fit their needs to a system that (in my opinion) it’s neither intended or works for those kinds of projects.

      reply to Efficient_Eart_8773 at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/16ad43u/comment/jzaas4l/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      Though depending on your needs and desires, you can really do both to effectuate the outcomes you'd like to have. The secret is knowing which affordances, structures, and methods suit your desired outcomes. (Of course if you're going to dump your box out and do massive rearrangements or take large portions out and want to refile them for other needs, then you're going to have to give them numbers and do that re-filing work.)

      I've seen snippets of saved language in Thoreau's journal (commonplace) which were re-used in other parts of his journal which ultimately ended up in a published work. As he didn't seem to have a significant index, one can only guess that he used occasional browsing or random happenstance delving into it to have moved it from one place to another.

      As ever, what do you need and what will best get you there?


      Link to:<br /> What Got You Here Won't Get You There

    3. My main purpose for using note-cards is to form lines of poetry into actual poems. Currently it's specifically erotic poetry that I'm writing, so it seems like there is a limited number of categories that I keep coming back to in regards to content: beauty, fashion, movement, relationship, etc, which I've put on the top of my index cards. This is based off of Ryan Holiday and Robert Greene's index card systems. I've also added subcategories: for example, beauty and myth, beauty and plant associations, etc. Going deeper, I might write B-P-F in the corner for Beauty-Plant-Flower, and then have BPF-1, 2, etc. If I organize these alphabetically with tabs, it seems like it would be easy to find the subject I'm looking for at a glance. One problem might be if I want to start making additional notes about which cards stand out for their structure: rhyme, alliteration, etc. Have various ideas for this.My questions are: what is the benefit of having an alphanumeric indexing system where you label subjects with 1, 2, 3, and then going deeper with 1a, 1a1, etc. when it seems like it would be harder to remember that science is #1 and philosophy is #2 vs. just putting science under S and philosophy under P? Is the Zettelkasten (alphanumeric) method better for creating a wide-ranging general knowledge database in a way I'm not realizing? Would there be any benefit for my narrower writing purpose? Any responses are appreciated.

      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.

    1. For those interested in the history of classical education, manuscripts, books, and knowledge transfer, the University of Pennsylvania Libraries and the Shoenberg Institute have a potentially relevant ongoing zoom series called Coffee with a Codex in which they regularly bring out rare manuscripts, codices, incunabula, etc. from their collection to show and discuss.

      Keep in mind that the presentation is done by library curators who may not be subject matter experts on the books they present, but the topics are nearly all relevant to classical education. Most attendees are academics, historians, medievalists, or regularly doing research in the areas of information studies and will often have thoughts, ideas, or experience with classical education, and may be able to answer questions about historical practices in the chat. Presentations are generally informal, short, and meant for a generalist audience. Quite often digital scans of the materials they present are available for browsing online or downloading for further study.

      See the full schedule for Coffee with a Codex three weeks ahead at https://schoenberginstitute.org/coffee-with-a-codex/

      To give folks an idea of the presentations, recordings of Coffee With A Codex since January 2022 are available at their YouTube Playlist. (To my knowledge they don't archive copies of their chat transcripts where the participants are usually fairly active, but some of the chat does make it verbally into the recorded discussion.)

      Of particular interest this coming week is a presentation on a book which will touch on the recent conversation "Ancient Textbooks for Ancient Curriculums?" by u/psimystc with respect to the Carolingian educational program in the 9th-11th centuries.

      https://libcal.library.upenn.edu/event/11148297

      Details

      Date: Thursday, September 7, 2023<br /> Time: 12:00pm - 12:30pm

      Coffee with a Codex: Boethius and Aristotle <br /> On September 7, Curator Dot Porter will bring out LJS 101, a 9th and 11th century copy of Aristotle translated by Boethius, created as part of the Carolingian educational program. See the record: https://franklin.library.upenn.edu/catalog/FRANKLIN_9951865503503681

      Free registration is required. https://libcal.library.upenn.edu/event/11148297

      An informal lunch or coffee time to meet virtually with Kislak curators and talk about one of the manuscripts from Penn's collections. Each week we'll feature a different manuscript and the expertise of one of our curators. Everyone is welcome to attend. Welcome back for 2023-2024!

      Syndication link: https://www.reddit.com/r/ClassicalEducation/comments/16a1oyi/coffee_with_a_codex_at_penn_libraries_recurring/

    1. Tlie Note-book

      So we'll expect the notebook to be recommended over the index card?

      "index card" doesn't appear in the text

    2. facilitated by having selected passages typewritten anddistributed to the class in mimeographed sheets.

      Not sure I knew that typewritters and mimeograph machines were so prevalent by 1910. (typewriters yes, but mimeo?)

    1. 20 Drawer Card Catalog Wood File Cabinet Library Index

      https://www.ebay.com/itm/115903620274

      20 drawer library card catalog <br /> Listed on 2023-09-01 for $975.00<br /> looks like it's in fairly rough shape, doesn't include base/table

      $48.75 per drawer


      Seller sent me an offer to purchase this after showing interest<br /> Item ID: 115903620274 <br /> Buy It Now price: $975.00

      Your offer: $550.00<br /> Offer expires: Sep-04 19:27:15 PDT Seller: olemissauctions(3,468)

      $27.50 per drawer

    1. Which note taking app for a Luhmann Zettlekasten

      I've not tried it myself or seen an example, but given the structure, it would seem like Reveal.js might give you the the sort of functionality you're looking for while having many other affordances one might look for in a digital and/or online zettelkasten.

      inspired by question by u/Plastic-Lettuce-7150 at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/168cmca/which_note_taking_app_for_a_luhmann_zettlekasten/

    2. I am working on an experimental version of a Zettelkasten that displays as a mind map within the Mandelbrot set. It is open source and free/self hosted. I think you might be interested.https://github.com/satellitecomponent/Neurite
    1. https://www.ebay.com/itm/115903619447

      15 drawer library card catalog with drawer pulls section<br /> Listed for $875.00 on 2023-09-01<br /> Looks like it's in pretty rough shape and doesn't include table/base

      58.33 per drawer

  2. www.ingeniousink.co.uk www.ingeniousink.co.uk
    1. https://www.ingeniousink.co.uk/168

      You have 168 hours in the week. Just like everyone else. Work out where you spend your time over the course of a week. Be honest. If you spend three hours getting distracted on social media, at least it's on record and you're in a position to do something about it.

  3. www.ingeniousink.co.uk www.ingeniousink.co.uk
    1. https://www.ingeniousink.co.uk/frog

      “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” - Mark Twain

      Frogs are tasks that you’ve been putting off for a long time which somehow never get around to.

      Is the Twain attribution true?

    1. Anyone thriving with a paper based GTD system?

      I've been using a mixture of methods focused around 4 x 6" index cards for a while after having previously done a traditional bullet journal, Day-Timer, etc. and attempting to something similar in a variety of digital contexts including TiddlyWiki, Obsidian, Logseq, etc. (More details/discussion: https://www.reddit.com/r/bulletjournal/comments/15av66m/a_year_of_bullet_journaling_on_index_cards/) Somehow paper always seems to win out for the tactile nature and the decreased probability of things going lost (being out of sight and thus out of mind which happens for me in digital), or dealing with a never-ending list of overwhelming pop up reminders.

      I've written a bit about the history of some of these methods, which includes links to some of the bigger examples of each if it helps to see some variety about what each system suggests or photos of them at work. One of the oldest methods from which most of the rest seem to stem is the Memindex from circa 1903.

      My current go-to is a Memindex/bullet journal method adapted to index cards rather than a notebook. I've got a card every day for events and to do lists as well as cards for "Future", planned purchases/groceries, etc. I keep a top level card with short lists of what I want to read, watch, listen to, and learn. I also keep a sectioned Eisenhower matrix group of cards for the areas: crisis, productivity, distraction, and low priority. I also have a Projects section with descriptions and lists for each and based on priorities, I'll take individual steps from the project cards and place them onto my daily cards as I go.

      Some of the bigger projects may have a top level card followed by cards which breakdown or outline parts of larger processes. I can then lay them out on a table (Gantt chart style) to determine dependencies and create a pseudo schedule. When I'm done, I'll clip them all together in the most appropriate order and number them. As necessary, I'll take some of these cards out and "schedule" them for individual days by placing them behind or attaching them to the appropriate daily cards with a paper clip. (If you do this, make sure the project name and a potential order number designator is on them, so that you can refile them with the project as necessary.)

      The key is doing weekly and bigger monthly or quarterly reviews of all the major cards and moving/scheduling what you need to do from either old cards or project cards each week. Going through my entire collection of immediate cards is usually incredibly fast. When I'm done with cards, they get archived away in my card index for future consultation if necessary. I'm also usually making further notes on the cards as I go and cross indexing them, so that if I don't have the notes for a particular project in the project section, it's being written on the individual daily cards; at the end of the week I'll update the project cards and write down the dates of those notes into the project file so that if I need them later they're available (but importantly I don't have to copy over all the notes). After doing this it's usually pretty easy to work on planning the next steps for the coming week/month.

      For lower priority projects and to do items, if things sit around too long undone they slowly move down the priority list from crisis to low priority or they slowly move to the back of my projects section where they get reviewed less often.

      For those who prefer some visualization, here are two photos which may help in terms of the physical arrangement I'm using: - https://boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wp-1693596706707-scaled.jpg (alt text: Display of two columns of index cards with only the titles on each showing. Column one: Planning Daily, Planning Weekly, Weeks 31-35 August 2023, Sept 02 2023, September 03 2023, Crisis: Urgent/Important, Productivity: Not Urgent/Important, Low Priority: Not Urgent/Not Important, Distraction: Urgent/Not Important, Someday. The second column: Project Priorities Spring 2023, Reading Priorities, Writing Priorities, Learning Priorities, Listening Priorities, Watching Priorities, Purchases Planning, Groceries.) - https://boffosocko.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/wp-16935967219588251569559254031730-scaled.jpg (alt text: My card index for productivity featuring sections for an Eisenhower Matrix, Projects, and tabs for the upcoming 12 months and 31 days in the current month.)

      On a day-to-day basis, I keep most of it in an Acrimet card file on my desk, though the longer term storage is in a nearby Singer Card File Cabinet. (I'll often have a full drawer removed from the big cabinet on my desk while I'm working on a particular section.) While travelling about, I store the most important daily use cards in a King Jim Flatty Works case which is about the size of a small notebook or which fits easily into my shoulder bag. If you're all-in on index cards and you need ideas for storage, I've been compiling a relatively comprehensive list of index card storage options.

      Having done notebooks and other paper-based planners (Hobonichi) before, I appreciate that the cards are easily moveable and re-orderable, I don't waste any paper or space if I miss days, I'm not as precious about screwing up a new notebook, and I don't have to carry either multiple notebooks, or worry about recopying project pages from one notebook to the next when I'm done. I also don't have to worry about losing large parts of my planning if I lose a whole notebook. It's always easy to have today's card on me at all times or to take small sections on the road as needed. Additionally cards are very cheap. If you're of the sort of camp that having pre-laid out stationery with finer stock, perhaps try Notsu who pre-prints a variety of productivity cards, though only in 3 x 5 inch sizes. There are a few other smaller companies who still do this, but they tend toward the more expensive side.

      There are many ways to do variations on these, so take a look at some examples of how others use them and then attempt to evolve a practice which works for you. For example, if having an Eisenhower Matrix section doesn't make sense to you, then drop that part and adopt what does work instead.

      For those who are deep into this sort of rabbit hole, I'll also mention that I keep a separate zettelkasten "department" within my collection for notes related to reading/research. (I had to fill that massive Singer card index up with something besides extra wine storage.)

      Syndication link: https://www.reddit.com/r/gtd/comments/15pfz8o/comment/jypt023/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

    1. Guys and gals, we are selling out our stock and closing the Capturewallet shop. This is just a heads-up that when we shortly are sold out - we will not restock. Thanks for all of you that have bought from us since 2019! It's been a treat to serve the GTD community!

      via u/MortenRovikGTD at https://www.reddit.com/r/gtd/comments/n6g3d2/comment/iv6s0eh/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=web2x&context=3

      Capture wallet was a site he ran with his wife as a side project for several years from 2019 to late 2022.

    1. GTD on Paper Index Cards. Experimental Encounters, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vww7JLcrJl4.

    2. Love this general set up. The months (12) and days (31) tabs broadly are similar to a 43 folders set up as well. I've written a bit about the history of similar productivity systems which are based in index cards for those exploring/experimenting with various methods and potential outcomes: https://boffosocko.com/2023/03/09/the-memindex-method-an-early-precursor-of-the-memex-hipster-pda-43-folders-gtd-basb-and-bullet-journal-systems/

    3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vww7JLcrJl4

      8:05 - 16:20 GTD - Capture - Clarify - What is it? - Is it actionable? What is the action? - Is it a project? - Batching - Reflect - Review over lists/calendars daily/weekly - Engage


      17:30 They use the phrase "atomic" paper based index cards, so they've been infected by the idea of "atomic notes" from somewhere, though it seems as if he's pitching that he's "invented" his card system as if from scratch.


      19:45 He mentions potentially using both sides of the card, against the usual (long term) advice.

      20:00 Analogizes his cards as ballerinas which work together, but each have their own personalities and function within the ballet

      He's using a leather cover for Moleskine pocket notebook and Manufactum A7 index cards, as well as a box

      Sections of his box: - to erase - inbox - next actions - projects (3 categories of projects) - someday - to delegate - tickler (by month and by day; 12 months and 31 days) - blank cards

      Mentions erasing cards as he finishes them rather than archiving them.

      Inspiration by How to Take Smart Notes by Ahrens

      Recommends one item per card to make things easier and more actionable; also improves focus versus having a longer list. (28:00)

      Portability

      Sustainable (he erases)

      High quality textile experience

      The ability to shift between associative modes and sequential modes seems to work well with such a system.

      They distinguish between atomic notes and "stellar" notes. Stellar being longer lists or more dense notes/outlines/etc.

      Project cards<br /> titles and project numbers (for reference) Project numbers in the top right with a P and/or M below it for<br /> - P for paper<br /> - M for email data<br /> - D for digital files which helps him find reference materials

      Weekly review with all cards out on the table

      Expansion pack includes: - action - calendar - waiting

      Search was quick and easy, but had to carry his box back and forth to work.

      Stopping doing it because he was losing the history (by erasing it). Moving to notebook and he likes fountain pens. He likes the calendar portion in his notebook.

      He tried it out for the sake of experiment.

      In the paper world things are more present and "in your face" versus digital formats where things can disappear.

  4. Aug 2023
    1. Cuthbertson, Anthony. “Musician Uses Algorithm to Generate Every Possible Melody to Prevent Copyright Lawsuits.” The Independent, February 28, 2020, sec. Tech. https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/music-copyright-algorithm-lawsuit-damien-riehl-a9364536.html.

    2. the number of possible melodies is finite and therefore liable to patterns being repeated unintentionally.
    3. Working with programmer Noah Rubin, Damien Riehl built software capable of generating 300,000 melodies each second, creating a catalogue of 68 billion 8-note melodies.
    4. At what point do we have the computing power to create the machine of "Shakespearean monkeys at typewriters" that generates all available combinations of text to end copyright of text? Compare with Melody/Music: https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/music-cop

    1. Kalir, Remi H. “Playing with Claude.” Academic blog. Remi Kalir (blog), August 25, 2023. https://remikalir.com/blog/playing-with-claude/.

    2. Whereas ChatGPT may be a bullshitter, Claude can be a co-reader whose output specifically references and works to make “meaning” in response to another author’s words.

      "Reading with an artificial intelligence" seems like a fascinating way to participate in the Great Conversation.

    3. Nonetheless, Claude is first AI tool that has really made me pause and think. Because, I’ve got to admit, Claude is a useful tool to think with—especially if I’m thinking about, and then writing about, another text.
    1. Mills, Anna, Maha Bali, and Lance Eaton. “How Do We Respond to Generative AI in Education? Open Educational Practices Give Us a Framework for an Ongoing Process.” Journal of Applied Learning and Teaching 6, no. 1 (June 11, 2023): 16–30. https://doi.org/10.37074/jalt.2023.6.1.34.

      Annotation url: urn:x-pdf:bb16e6f65a326e4089ed46b15987c1e7

      Search: https://jonudell.info/h/facet/?user=chrisaldrich&max=100&exactTagSearch=true&expanded=true&addQuoteContext=true&url=urn%3Ax-pdf%3Abb16e6f65a326e4089ed46b15987c1e7

    2. As Catherine Cronin (2017, p. 2) has explained,“Open educational practices (OEP) is a broad descriptor ofpractices that include the creation, use, and reuse of openeducational resources (OER) as well as open pedagogies andopen sharing of teaching practices.”
    3. ignoring AI altogether–not because they don’t wantto navigate it but because it all feels too much or cyclicalenough that something else in another two years will upendeverything again

      Might generative AI worries follow the track of the MOOC scare? (Many felt that creating courseware was going to put educators out of business...)

    1. Personally I often used #type/sketchnote and #type/question. But I will spend a little time and effort to build up an improved architecture for tagging.

      reply to Edmund at https://forum.zettelkasten.de/discussion/comment/18550/#Comment_18550

      @Edmund since I don't do such a thing myself, I'm curious what sort of affordance your #type/NoteName tagging provides you with (especially if you're using more than just those two)? Do you use them regularly for search or filtering, and if so for what reason? How does it help?

      To me it look likes extra metadata/work, but without a lot of direct long term value in exchange. Does doing this for long periods of time provide you with outsized emergent value of some sort that's not easy to see from the start?