Tag: zettelkasten

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The Zettelkasten as a Knowledge Management System and Beyond

There are a few topics that have been on my mind for decades, one of which is how to store and retrieve information and knowledge in a meaningful way—essentially, a Memex. In the 90s, I was a fan of Apple’s HyperCard, and since then, I’ve tried many things, but nothing has proven reliable. Data formats have disappeared (like Apple’s HyperCard), and even though the technical possibilities today are much broader than back then, I don’t have the impression that they have solved the fundamental problem. There is no quick fix that reads articles and books for you and also makes you understand them. I don’t trust summary services like Blinkist, not to mention that they don’t help me with scientific articles either.

In recent months, I’ve turned again to a system that I had used in the 90s but abandoned in favor of HyperCard: the Zettelkasten. Not just any box with index cards, but a Zettelkasten following the Luhmannian principle. Niklas Luhmann was one of the most significant sociologists of the 20th century, with an incredible number of academic publications to his name. His Zettelkasten, which actually consists of several boxes, contains about 90,000 slips and is being digitized at Bielefeld University. Luhmann attributed his productivity to this Zettelkasten system, and after several months using it, I can understand why. So how does the Zettelkasten work?

First of all, there are a few fundamental principles:

  • The quality of a paper depends on what has already been written. In an ideal world, the thoughts in the Zettelkasten are already formulated well enough to be directly incorporated. The goal of the Zettelkasten, therefore, is to generate insights that are worth publishing.
  • Everything you read is processed and placed into the Zettelkasten. Rather than following a strict plan (as is often recommended when writing academic papers), everything goes into the Zettelkasten and is, if possible, linked together right away. Luhmann himself always wrote his slips with the thought in mind of how they would fit into the existing notes. But new ideas can also emerge from the Zettelkasten at any time.
  • Writing about everything instead of starting directly with a hypothesis also has the advantage of reducing exposure to confirmation bias, which causes one to ignore anything that might challenge the hypothesis.
  • Highlighting in a text is useless, the learning effect is zero. According to Luhmann, thinking cannot happen without writing. Handwritten notes are preferable to those typed on a computer, as they tend to capture the essence better, thus facilitating understanding.
  • The Zettelkasten is not an archive, nor is it an idea graveyard like Moleskine notebooks.
  • There is no information hierarchy; thoughts can simply be inserted into Luhmann’s system wherever they fit. For example, if you have a note numbered “1,2,1” and another “1,2,2,” you can just insert a “1,2,1,a” if a thought is missing here. There’s no need to pre-think endlessly about what the best structure is.
  • Self-discipline is more important than IQ. A smart working environment ensures that you don’t face resistance from the start.
  • Daily work with the Zettelkasten leads to a new KPI for knowledge workers: How many notes are created each day!

How exactly does the Zettelkasten work?

  • When reading a text, “Literature Notes” are created, which contain only your own thoughts about the text, written in your own words.
  • These then lead to “Permanent Notes,” which are added to the Zettelkasten. The Literature Notes are discarded (this is also why I sent back my Scribe, since the Literature Notes could not be created with it).
  • Additionally, there are “Fleeting Notes,” which contain all the ideas you have.

The Zettelkasten system is highly minimalist, with no fancy notebooks or software tools. The reduction, or even restriction, to what is essential also stimulates creativity and thinking (see Stokes 2001 and Rheinberger 1997). Of course, there are software solutions like The Archive, and they would have advantages for me: I don’t always have my Zettelkasten with me. On the other hand, I’ve learned that when I’m sitting in front of a computer or iPad, I tend to get distracted. Therefore, I now carry index cards with me.

Here is an interesting video about Luhmann’s Zettelkasten, where he explains it himself starting at minute 37:26:

And here is the researcher who is now delving into the Zettelkasten:

 

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Amazon Kindle Scribe versus reMarkable 2

Update: I have now tested the Kindle Scribe, and you can find the full report here!

I had one of the first Kindles in Germany and even wrote an app for it. I also had one of the first reMarkables and now own a reMarkable 2. Apparently, I’m susceptible to tech gadgets, especially when I hope they could potentially boost my productivity. Now, Amazon is entering this market with the Kindle Scribe, directly competing with companies like reMarkable. Here’s the introduction video from an Amazon event:

With the reMarkable, I became critical when they suddenly introduced a subscription model. While this didn’t affect me, since early buyers could keep the Connect subscription “for free” for life, reMarkable clearly realized that they weren’t getting good karma points for this move and changed their model. With the Kindle, I got one of the devices that had a built-in SIM card for which you didn’t have to pay any fees worldwide. That was really convenient, being able to read my newspaper every day no matter where I was in the world.

Will the new Kindle Scribe replace the reMarkable? I haven’t yet received a Kindle Scribe for testing, but already a few interesting aspects are noticeable. Both devices offer a tremendous advantage: focusing on the essentials. I’m not familiar with the current Kindle devices, but my old Kindle displayed books wonderfully, and it only had a web browser for Wikipedia—pure focus. Annotating texts was easier on my Kindle since it had a keyboard. But, of course, it wasn’t as simple as writing a note with a pen. However, I could easily export these notes using my tool.

Let’s take a closer look at the specs:

  • Price: The Amazon Kindle Scribe is cheaper. While the reMarkable “only” costs 349 euros, that’s the price without the pen. The cheapest pen variant costs 79 euros, so under 400 euros you can’t get anything. The Kindle, on the other hand, currently costs 369 euros for the cheapest version with the pen.
  • Storage: The Scribe is available with 16, 32, and 64 GB. The reMarkable only has 8 GB. The 32-GB version of the Kindle automatically includes the premium pen, which is the version I ordered.
  • Pen: Both systems use pens that require nibs. Not much is known yet about the Amazon Scribe pen, but I suspect it works similarly to the reMarkable pen. It doesn’t need power, and there is a premium version that offers a virtual eraser. Unlike the colleague here, I don’t expect the pen to need charging.
  • Dimensions: The reMarkable measures 187 × 246 × 4.7 mm, while the dimensions of the Scribe are not yet known. The Scribe appears to be larger despite the smaller screen, as its bezel is wider, especially on the left. We do know that the Scribe weighs 433 grams, which is 30 grams more than the reMarkable 2.
  • Display: The reMarkable has a 10.3-inch screen with a resolution of 1872 x 1404 (226 DPI), while the Scribe has a 10.2-inch screen with a resolution of 300 dpi. The reMarkable uses an E Ink Carta display, although they say their Canvas technology is only partially based on it. The Scribe has a glare-free Paperwhite display. The Scribe also has a light that adjusts to the ambient brightness, whereas the reMarkable does not. I’m not sure if I would like the light, as I bought the reMarkable partly because I wouldn’t get more awake in the evening. But sometimes it’s annoying to have to find a light source.
  • Charging: Both devices charge via USB-C.
  • Battery Life: Initially, Amazon claimed the Scribe’s battery life was “months,” whereas the reMarkable lasts about a week for me. Amazon has since walked back that claim.
  • Document Storage: Documents are stored in the cloud, and there is no software available yet for the Scribe.
  • Document Editing: On the Scribe, it will be possible to edit Word documents. However, I don’t expect integration with Dropbox and Google Drive, as with the reMarkable. Overall, managing documents with the reMarkable is a bit cumbersome. You can send files via email, but otherwise, you always need the app.

What interests me about the Scribe? Over the last few months, I’ve been exploring Luhmann’s Zettelkasten method and now have such a system at home. With the reMarkable, it bothers me that I couldn’t get the notes I wanted to make, not the permanent notes, but my working notes. So I always carry index cards with me, which is pretty unwieldy with the reMarkable. Writing on virtual index cards would be possible with the Scribe, as you can attach a note to a text snippet and export it later. For me, that’s the killer app. I also hope that importing and exporting documents will be easier. I’ll test it and report back here.

For reMarkable, Amazon’s entry into the market means this technology will reach the masses, but reMarkable won’t benefit from that. Quite the opposite. Because Amazon offers a convenient way to access content through its store, and its awareness campaign will convert potential reMarkable customers.

The question for power users will be how convenient it will be to manage notes and books on the Kindle Scribe. reMarkable offers folders that can also be created and managed on the desktop. The tags functionality, which reMarkable recently introduced, is really good, but unfortunately, it only works on the device itself. On the Kindle, the software on the Mac is, at least, a disaster; there’s no recognizable organization.