I found myself spreading thin thinking about this block sent in the newsletter. Adding some notes in the graph chatroom and slack was an extension of that thought strain. To collect all of that into this broad reaction seemed necessary. This text also builds on some early references to the concept that I felt should link together into a position. I am coming to roam and zettelkasten with 10years worth of investigation on building an information repository on urbanism and a library on architecture. The archive as a construct to imagine urban knowledge construction started the research. The website as an advocacy tool was a problem we were trying to solve at that time. Getting urban data to citizens with an aim to enable public participation in city development processes. Web design was still a specialized profession at that time and content management systems were just introduced. From the available technologies, Google Sites was the only sustainable option to have multiple micro-sites online and therefore experiments in assembling information archives was invested on the platform. So before thinking out what a form of a zettelkasten should be, the archive, repository, and the library as information models were concepts I was developing. Old Google Sites is now inaccessible and will soon shut down by the end of the year. Though roamcult has helped in rethinking how I can better manage the information and knowledge sets I have, roam doesn't seem to have the capacity to handle the 200gb of content I have to reassemble into a framework for discussion. The requirements that I had in 2009 for information sets are not even applicable in 2021. Building any kind of content access model iteratively or progressively one block at a time is a rewarding exercise but to reassemble all of that in another platform or framework is mind-numbing.
Technology changes are the first problem. The anxiety that comes immediately after that is the design of these platforms and their control. Other than UI, there is the information architecture of accessing public personal databases. Depending on how meticulous one is with material offline, what is displayed publically is a reflection of that. Being able to create a discussion with content put out there, is crucial in how any of these silos work. As a community of note-taking practitioners, I would argue that most zettelkastens are approximately two or three years old. Periodic maintenance is essential to keep the building repository of personal information constantly activated. Maggie's Digital Garden and Andy's Evergreen Notes should have taken a considerable amount of time and resources to be able to create the engagement it has been able to stack up. Ness Labs by Anne-Laure and Forte Labs by Tiago are businesses. You can push out some links on Notion to almost replicate google sites or pay a substantial amount for Obsidian publish. Both are newer technologies that if I have to migrate to while reconfiguring to what the platforms have to offer. Gitbooks is another modern option to try out. The point is how long will all these systems going to last. Sites were permanent in 2010. Since now that framework is dismantled, so is with how to discuss the content which has to reach a different audience and solve problems that weren't considered back then. Time and context as parameters also need building into this system of public thinking.
Before technology or design, there is the mandate, why is a public notebook important for your work. Luhmann's zettelkasten was a very specific and contextual tool built in a time. It was also a body of writing that was a model for a grand theory. Information flows and content type was much more predictable than it is today. The slip-box was also private when it was compiled in its time, therefore not many external documented influences other than Luhmann deciding how it worked as a system. It was also completely textual content creating knowledge products which could be either lecture notes, papers, or books (informed assumption). Tiago's PARA too assembles workshops, blog posts, and kindle compilations. Reiterating again, the problems both are solving are very contextual and of specific scales. Form of practice is solving problems for is essential to factor. In traditional spatial design, its various subdomains are as follows, graphic design, product design, interior design, architectural design, campus planning, urban design, and urban planning. Along with scale, there is also detail, depth of the problem to consider. Text projects are distinct from drawing projects requiring various visual components, collaged together to make an image or drawing of the problem in question. Types of research, which are research for design, research on design, and research through design require different information systems to deal with. I elaborate on this to point out before a tool is selected it's important to know how knowledge is produced professionally. Taking notes worked perfectly in academic environments. Ideally, it was meant to help memorize the concepts taught. In advanced situations, you created knowledge through research. They were all written. Drawing projects though are distinct from writing projects. Especially professional artistic or technical drawings projects. If I was to summarise technology + design + mandate = public slip box. It is so much work and effort to get work. If you can get work without all that much effort it is always better. Work as a hobby is another bunch of sentences.
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#references
If a public-facing graph is the resume/ curriculum vitae of the future? You can satisfy the high-level requirements of a resume with an overview of your career, but with block-level expansion and backlinking capability, an employer can go as deep down the rabbit hole as they want/ as you allow them. [[Allen Tyson]]
If everyone needs to boost their personal productivity to maintain social status, maybe the social hierarchy needs fixing. [[Mike Kramer]]
The coming of a person
is, in fact, a tremendous feat.
Because he
comes with his past and present
and
with his future.
Because a person’s whole life comes with him.
Since it is so easily broken
the heart that comes along
would have been broken ― a heart
whose layers the wind will likely be able to trace,
if my heart could mimic that wind
it can become a hospitable place.
also from Because This Is My First Life
quoted in Radio Romance