(2021-05-27) Matuschak Similarities And Differences Between Evergreen Notewriting And Zettelkasten

Andy Matuschak: Similarities and differences between evergreen note-writing and Zettelkasten. use a different term both because there are some distinctions and because I want to give myself space to explore ideas in this space apart from the culture surrounding Zettelkasten, which has its own prior values and proclivities.

Key similarities:

Key differences

My approach includes a few methods surrounding the note-writing which expand its scope: a method for capturing scraps which would not yet qualify as Zettel, then revising them over time

More generally, my approach uses a broader Taxonomy of note types which describes a hierarchy and methodology for capturing ideas very early and incrementally developing clusters of notes into increasingly higher-level representations. By contrast, Zettels are mostly meant to represent a few “middle” levels of this hierarchy

I’ve embedded a Spaced repetition memory system (SRS)

My notes are publicly accessible, and I integrate them into public conversation. (Thinking Out Loud)

There are likely some interesting networked intelligence angles here. I know of no prominent “live” public Zettelkasten. (Webs Of Thinkers And Thoughts)

One final difference, this one a touch pointy: the primary purpose of my system is to develop ideas in my core creative projects. Most people in the contemporary Zettelkasten culture seem to use their systems primarily to write notes about others’ ideas. If they’re developing their own ideas with them, those ideas are an interesting hobby, not their core creative work. All this falls afoul of the issues around People who write extensively about note-writing rarely have a serious context of use. I don’t know how, exactly, but my context of use substantially shapes the note-writing practice. (bootstrapping)