Hi Morgan, I'm just starting my own zettelkasten on obsidian as a first-year university undergrad! My main courses are Chem 1, Calc 1, and English, and of course, all these courses as with many other courses in school break down these topics into things like chapter 1, chapter 2, or lesson 1, lesson 2, etc. This on its own I feel defeats the purpose of a zettelkasten. Before I learned about this new way of taking notes I had folders for each of these subjects, then put my lecture and assignment notes or anything I learned along the way for these specific chapters in their respective categorized notes. My method now is to first keep all my lecture and assignment notes in their own folder called "course material", despite the subject, for instance, I have both the calc 1 chapter 1 lecture notes and the chem 1 chapter 1 notes in their own notes within the lectures folder. Then I have another folder specifically for the main notes and I guess concepts you could say I learn throughout these different chapters. So I have one note called "Performing Dimensional Analysis" and I keep a tag for it as "chem1 chapter1", so not putting it in a folder, but keeping a tag so later on when I have to study for that specific chapter for an exam I know where to find it. I guess my main question is does this defeat the idea of a zettelkasten? Am I screwing myself over by doing this? I'm not really sure if this system is fine because as university students we both know we have to study for an exam based on what we learned from a specific chapter and I'm having trouble figuring out how I can keep an interconnected set of ideas and things I learn, while also knowing where I can find specific content to study for a test or exam. Or would you recommend not doing a zettelkasten for these courses at all? Can you please help me out? Thanks!
@@SlothFang honestly, all of these digital technologies trace their origins to something called emacs org mode, which is still in use. It would be good to remind people from time to time because emacs is free software and it is maintained by a number of universities, so it's likely that someone could expect to use it throughout their lifetime.
Morgan! As always this was so helpful. I am actually building an analog ZK for a couple of large writing projects I'm working on -- and what I figured out from this video is that I don't need to worry about structuring it from start. Take notes. Drop the cards in the box. Pull them out and see how they organize later. Here is my question for you: I love Obsidian. Scrintal is an interesting variant. You seem to be using both? I would love details on how you use both of these softwares. It feels like an either/or rather than a both/and situation. I am building an analog system because that's how I used to work on everything (I'm old enough to remember doing all this stuff with pen and paper), but I am still a huge fan of digital tools. Search-ability is such a win. Anyhoo -- I really appreciate your channel.
The most important thing about the note-taking is grouping and relaring your notes. Bit, u also dont want to spend too much time on this. Things should be done just sufficient for the moment. Bit still allows you to further organize further easily in the future when needed.
This was fantastic! Thank you for showing this process. I have Scrintal but have been mostly using Obsidian canvases. Might be time to finally just start using Scrintal lol
In another video you mentioned not having waterproof ink in your fountain pen. I recommend "koh-i-noor document ink". It's cheap and easily available in blue or black and built for fountain pens. It's used for archiving and completely waterproof.
I am a bit confused about your position on tagging. It seems like you don't think beginners should worry about them, but tags seem to be essential for your registry building process. Should I use tags to help with navigation?
Yay!! Climate action is basically the main reason im wanting to digitise all my boxes of notebooks. From studying environmental issues in uni from 1998 to 10 years in government in the area to all the ad hoc lectures and yt videos ..... plus life admin and projects 😅. I want something like notion, but notion needs global tags and some structure. Obsidian takes some more technical help but i love how you can so easily create links/ new metadata
A question about using boards in scrintal : do you use them specifically to create outputs (articles, videos...) or do you also use them to connect permanent notes ?
QUESTION: What are your thoughts on Journalling, Starting to think about a journal entry is just another note in ur ZK and not a separate thing. What are your thoughts?
I am just gwttong started worh ZK and I do kinda organize my ZK notes and qonser what others do. Im in the process of getting a neuroscience PhD. When I read papers, I organixe my notes by the rype od note they are. Is it a note referring to a method? Primary findings? Future research the authors postulate? I use tags and those notes get moved into those folders and the link becomes colored so I can tell what kind of note it is immediately. But anything can be in those folders as they are not organized by topic. And notes mat graudate or move ad I read other papers that others referenced and stuff like that
Thanks! And I gotta use some kind of example, and climate justice is a topic I care about! Hopefully some of my other examples in the future resonate with you more!
Oh yeah, that's totally me 😅 and guess what else? My "task initiation" executive skill is not that strong at all.. I hope to find help in your video since I'm making a Ph.D., too. Mine is in literature and intercultural discourse
I love your Zettelkasten videos, and I have one request and one tip for those watching. Request: Please could you do a video showing the process of diving into your Zettelkasten to find information for a project? For me, that would look like finding content and ideas for undergrad essays, but also would be useful for postgrad research. Tip: I have so many quotes to pull from physical books and find typing them time-consuming. I use my Apple Notes app, click the camera icon then 'scan text' and then you can select the quote you want it to copy, then I copy and paste into my Zettelkasten, which is so much speedier!
Try using the online pdfs of the books and copy paste it. I sometimes like to go chapterwise so I write the name of the chapter then all the relevant quotes of the chapter in which every quote has its own page (mostly for academic and critical thinking) but this is what makes sense to me. I love using Obsidian for my Zettelkasten application
So listen, i may not organize my zettelkasten but i will be organizing my Taco Bell order. 2 Bean Burritos, 2 chicken Chalupas, 3 soft tacos, fire sauce and extra napkins. You've helped my food skill organizing immensely. Thanks Morganeua 😂
I've just dismantled all my Zettlekasten minimal organization systems because I realized they were just not helping me, and I was not really using them. Just the connections are enough, especially after you have a minimal amount of notes, which does not take that long to create. Great video.
@@morganeua Haha while I'd love to take some credit for that, it's really that I kept running into difficulties setting up a Zettelkasten system, and you always manage to release a video that solves whichever one I'm currently facing. So thank you!
My folders are: fleeting notes, literature notes, meeting notes, and permanent notes. So I basically do it like you plus meeting notes. Meeting notes are kind of like literature notes: they contain links to a bunch of notes that I made based on a meeting about my work. Because I frequently have longer meetings about specific parts of my work, this is a useful category for me to have. This helps me remember the context in which it was discussed (so I can piece together a lot of details and connections between the different points discussed) but it also makes it easier to find back notes. I think the most important part is that you don't want to organize your Zettelkasten by content. To make finding stuff back easier one can have notes that collect all the notes made in that specific context (for example: a literature note contains all notes made about a certain book, a meeting note all notes made during a certain meeting, a class note all notes made during a certain class) but the individual notes will still just be fleeting notes or permanent notes (with a backlink to that meeting note).
Niiice. I have a separate folder for source notes (so that I can scroll through them individually, that's useful) and a separate one for stuff that is unique to my dissertation and can't be used for another project, so that I can delete that folder after. I have other folders too, but they're not a part of my actual knowledge archive.
I think the most important part is that you don't want to organize your Zettelkasten by content. This is a fallacy. Zettelkasten and Niklas Luhmann. His numbering can be seen as train starting at a point his slip box making its own railway. After sometime this will be a network. Each station is content in a personal selforganising network. (If you reread your own comment, you can conclude, that your train left a longtime ago! You can indicate your Zettelkasten-organisation. If the train-network or part of it is becoming a industrystandard or can be certified you can name it Faceted Application Subject Terminology. If your Zettelkasten was fully inseminated by FAST-terminology, you still can use Luhmanns numbering to make your tracks in your Zettelkasten. Luhmanns approach is comparable with the crawler or spiderbot on the Web. Greetings Book Passion
@@BookPassion-l7c Nothing which you just said contradicts my claim that a Zettelkasten should not have an internal structure that organizes the different elements by content. Like you say, the content organizes itself. So why do I have folders? Well, I started with a folder so I could separate the notes that were done from the notes that I still had to do some work on (say it in my own words, connect it to the network, etc.). Then I started a folder for my literature notes because when I am editing my dissertation, I mention author and work, so it is convenient to have a folder where I can find everything literature related with such a title. And meeting notes help me because my memory attaches things to events, so having a place where I list all the notes that came about through a meeting helps my memory. It is still a self-organizing system in the sense that I don't mess with the internal structure of the zettelkasten, I just also create access points that work for me
@@RileyEffective I PhD versus layman Your first sentence: nothing (-) + should not have (-) = positive Mine sentences If your Zettelkasten was fully inseminated by FAST-terminology = positive You can indicate your Zettelkasten-organisation: positive ""an internal structure that organizes the different elements by content."" So far everything is in concordance with the correspondence-theory
Your first paragraph contains a overload of Zettelkastenorganisation = positive the secondth paragraph: you don't want to organize your Zettelkasten by content = empty negative the zettelkasten is empty = a Venn-diagramm without elements (ergo no internal organisation is realised) the free will you: do not want any management in Zettelkasten = negative The coherence theory is false and as such the fallacy is true
Morgan! Your passion is contagious! Even if someone doesn't know what "Zettelkasten" is, after watching your video they want to start doing it. Thank you for everything you do. I'm impressed. 🥰🥰🥰
Oh, that's so good! I always worry that my videos won't be accessible to people that don't already know what 'zettelkasten' is. But as long as they are interested enough to go learn about it elsewhere, then I think I've succeeded!
the problem i keep having is that i see too many connections between my notes... worried that that is way too chaotic to actually work with once i start writing. where do i draw the line/s? and at the same time i'm worried about forgetting the most obvious and important connections
It seems that your warning/advice about not organizing by categories only works for digital zettlekastens that have searchable metadata, whereas analog versions do need more structure
Questions: Have you every heard of PARA? I used system when I first started creating my zettelkasten( Second Brain). It helped me have a starting point for figure out what I wanted to start taking notes on. - Do you still use Obsidian? - Have you tried using Scrintal or the zettelkasten format within a team format? How well did it do? - Have you convinced anyone in your personal life to start a zettelkasten( I got my sister looking into it)
Great questions! I've heard of PARA and I like Tiago Forte's content generally. But I've never tried it. Maybe I should. Yes, I still primarily use Obsidian. I mainly talk about Scrintal to offer an example of a different system to viewers and because they are a really supportive partner of the channel. And yes! I know people in my personal life that have started a zettelkasten! Sometimes I don't even know they've started one and then I find out months later that it's been really helping them! Mostly academic peers/friends :)
@@morganeua I have a question about the video though. I understand that your advice is valid when you use obsidian for writing down thoughts but what would you advise for someone who uses it for notes and thoughts? For example, along my thoughts about books and movies I have my work notes and another language vocabulary words written down in different folders. Wouldn't the lack of structure in this case make it unnecessary messy? Or it's better to not have any structure anyways for the reasons stated in the video.
update: I checked other comments and your answers to them and decided to get rid of any structure in my zettelkasten content but keep work notes and other not very atomic things separately
I have watched some of your latest Zettelkasten-episodes. It raised a philosophical question: an absolut categorisation or a relative categorisation or maybe a hybride version. The Zettelkasten-method is symbolised in your choice for the learning taxonomy of Young & Wilson: ideas-connections-extensions. The Zettelkasten approach is your thought-path "emergence" to create a organic and personal notationsystem. It is your secondth brain: an external neural network of embedded ideas yet to be discovered. In the beginning of this video you outrage against the predeterminism (Dewey Decimal Classification, which connects to the absolute categorisation) and at the end you turn to the hybride categorisation. Linking your thinking is the relative categorisation (Scrintal is a mind map (con); Obsidian is a concept map (pro), which includes the labeling of the connection between the notes). The explanation is hidden in your use of the cards: literature/source note (02:42), atomistic/idea note (02:42), labelling note (comment or connection), topic_name note (climate change) and topic_portal note (climate-change-temporalities (where are the dashes on the screen?)). In the 17th-18th minute of the video you speak about an (visual) organisational incision: the need of the card 'climate-change-temporalities' to subsume the backlinks of articles, whose contents corresponds with the topic_name 'climate change'. The impression is, that it is a predeterministic handling: you have done this before (experience). Back to the beginning of the video: predeterminism as absolute categorisation. Your workflow, as you have demonstrated in the last paragraph, is capable of transforming the stress of localities (DDC-numbers 01:46, 04:59 - 06:36 en 12:48) into adressing a global phenomena, called climate change, that needs an interdisciplinary approach. This approach is asking you to give it a place in your organic personal notationsystem: topic.name.card: climate-change, which is linked to the subsumption-card (the portal) climate-change.interdisciplinairity containing the DDC-numbers. The assumption: Scrintal needs a DDC-list. You can categorise the contents of a book using the DDC-list; your comments on it are not bordered by the borders of the DDC-list. The peptalk in beginning of your video "Morganeau starts surfing the limits." Emerge, Morganeau Book Passion PS the answer to the question: you are a hybride
Correction where are the dashes on the screen? Morganeau uses dashes in filenames in stead of spaces. The string is stronger in case filename-manupilations.
I have not tried Heptabase, and I don't use Scrintal over Obsidian for my main zettelkasten vault. I have moved all my notes over to Scrintal, though, so that I can demonstrate how it works for partnership videos!
I've been watching a couple of your videos on this topic and even watched some others. I'm glad I found this one because it did feel huge and trying to figure out how to get started was so frustrating. I actually opted to use apple notes as my system because of it's accessibility to me and it's very simple interface. I may need to transition into something like obsidian later, but for now I feel comfortable with Apple notes. I decided to categorize notes from where they stem. So, Fleeting Notes (random thoughts and questions), Class Notes (ideas and concepts we discuss in class), Source notes (ideas from a source type), permanent notes (a culmination of how these other notes interact or come together in my mind). I will say that I do want to use tags since apple notes collect these under a specific tag.
i've just come from one of your older zettelkasten videos where you use obsidian, I'm curious to see how your setup has changed in the past two years? the program has certainly changed a lot in that time, with the increase in community plugins and features, etc
Good point, maybe I should make an update video. Although my process hasn't changed tooo much. I don't use hardly any community plugins! But I love the canvas feature and a few other built in things
Great Video Morgan! I have had a Zettelkasten for at least 2 and a half years. I agree creating bunch of empty folders is a BAD idea. I did this when I first started and I STILL have some of the old folders just hanging around! I thing that have helped me is using MOC to help group related notes. I will also try and go back over my notes and Progressive Summarize( reread the Highlighted sections , bold and distill the main parts ) the key points for those notes.
Personally, I would let the categories emerge somewhat naturally. There do end up sooort of being categories in a physical zettelkasten, because everything is organized from front to back and numbered in some way. But personally, I wouldn't determine which category was associated with which number in advance. I'd just start taking notes, and whenever a brand new concept showed up, I'd give it a new number (essentially a new category) and let more similar things build up behind it. But in the end, each category is likely to get away from itself as the ideas shift and grow.
I’m really rockin’ with this channel! My BFA is in musical theatre, so I appreciate seeing what other creative folks are doing for grad school (vids from STEM PhDs can be intimidating haha). Thank you for breaking down this method. It really resonates with me. A few months ago I picked up up a copy of “building a second brain” and the concept really fascinated me. Now that I am starting an MA program in women’s studies, I needed a way to organize my notes. This ties back in so perfectly! Beginning this program has been really hard and scary and I’m grateful to you for sharing your knowledge. (Also, septum piercing gang 😎) I can't wait to hear more about your academic work!
Women's Studies would totally be similar to what I'm doing since theatre/performance studies discusses gender performativity and is a feminist field! Glad you found me!
I’m not sure how to handle ideas I don’t agree with, in my Zettelkasten. What is the best way to record this type of note? Would it be considered a permanent note or a source note if it is just one lone quote. I can understand making another note linked to it that says why I don’t agree with it. But I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on this 😊
How do you plan for the likely inevitable failure of the digital system? I spent years building one in Evernote before an "upgrade" completely broke my work. Luckily the company built a decent export feature but I've been reluctant to start from scratch again for years now. I think using open source software could help, as well as self-host for privacy or tagging onto other cloud providers for convenience, but I'm not sure of good options for these
I use Obsidian for my main zettelkasten and Obsidian draws from markdown files stored on your computer, which you can back up however you like. I think Obsidian is local, too, so it'll remain on your computer even if the company ceases to exist... But I'm not sure. Anyway, the links would disappear, but the notes would remain!
@@morganeua Thanks for explaining that. I had looked at Obsidians before and think it planted that seed. I was just trying xTiles and it does not work for me at all.
@@morganeua I think that info got buried in my brain, thanks for taking a minute to explain it. I tried to use xTiles and it was neat at first but I had serious qualms about where and how the data was stored, and whether I'd be able to migrate it later.
You put notes in then you can link them, for manythings there is no right or wrong you can put in moc s so you can link nots to a topic nots bit one not may link to more than on map of content.
You're welcome! I will say, in Obsidian, I do put my source notes into a separate folder called "sources" because I often need to scroll through them specifically. But in Obsidian, putting something in a separate folder doesn't actually move it out of the network itself.
this idea of letting the system emerge from the chaos of notes is what I used to create "AnarchVault", my new Obsidian vault after I tried to use the PARA method I gotta say: I never had any trouble finding what I wanted, even though I'm keeping all files on the same folder and not making "MOCs" for every topic
I love the name "anarchvault"!! I've never tried the PARA method, and maybe it'd work for me, but I really like keeping my life management separate from my knowledge management. When I'm tinkering in my zettelkasten, I don't want to think about other projects/tasks, etc!
@@morganeua Thanks! And I've thought of separating personal life (journaling) from the rest of the vault some times, but I always end up realizing I journal about how my projects and plans are going, and I can link these entries with other notes In the end, it's just easier to keep things together, which is the motto behind AnarchVault: just take the notes and it'll organize itself with time
Have you read The Good Ancestor or Jenny ODell’s work? They seem right up your alley! Another one I’m reading right now that you could find useful (focused more on climate change and the humanities) is The Activist Humanist. (From someone also interested in temporality).
Omg, thank you, this is such a helpful comment!! I've read Jenny Odell, but not The Good Ancestor or The Activist Humanist, I'm so excited to check them out! I've been reading Disability Studies scholarship on crip time lately, starting with Feminist, Queer, Crip by Alison Kafer. Also, the essay "Six Ways of Looking at Crip Time" by Ellen Samuels. And then some on climate change/anthropocene temporalities, like the article "On the Difference between Anthropocene and Climate Change Temporalities" by Julia Nordblad. Actually, if you send me an email (link from my RU-vid profile) - I just wrote down a list of like 14 texts on temporality, performance, disability, and climate change I could send you if you'd like!
