Z Space Blog

When I returned to mkbak¹ in order to give it better options for custom backup naming, automatic date tagging, preservation of permissions, etc., I noticed that I was writing complex and tricky rsync filter files. I ran with this for a while -- and still have them as I write this -- but the problem stewed in my mind. Something bothered me about the organization of the files under my $HOME. Eventually, I felt there was a way for me to shorten my rsync filter files and reduce the stress I felt about my files. I just needed to figure out what the core problem was. To answer that, we need to understand what hierarchy's purpose is, or what its use introduces to your data.

Read more...

I checked out the Zettelkasten method, which appears to be German for something like a box of (index) cards.

The website for the method appears to be a marketing site, almost. It's not simply and plainly spelled out for you what the method really is, and it lacks clear, real-world steps and examples to get the most out of the method. I dug a little and finally found the gist of it, being:

• Write a note on a card for a single topic
• Give it a permanent ID
• Link to this note from other notes, via this ID
• Maintain links via a master link list
• Use the link lists to form associations between knowledge
• (Multiple link lists may be used to map your knowledge in different ways)

The grand goal is to have a well of knowledge that you can, eventually, begin to interact with and explore the limits of your own documented knowledge, which I think is an interesting distinction to make. One of the reasons we write notes is to externalize information in a form we can recall later, to offset the cognitive load of short-term memory. Then we only need to remember to come back to our note(s) to be reminded of what we already know.

Read more...