Exploring a Zettelkasten

I've spent the last few days enjoying time away from work in a Worcester cottage. While there I came across storing your notes and research in a Zettelkasten which has piqued my interest.

Currently my notes from courses, books I've read etc, are stored in notebooks, the books themselves and in online software such as Evernote or Bear. However it's rare for me to go back to a particular 'note' because I find it difficult to find the exact piece of information I need - it requires more effort than it should!

A “Zettelkasten”, coined by Niklas Luhmann, can be broken down into: “Zettel”, which means note or slip of paper, and “Kasten”, which means box. A Zettelkasten is therefore a box of notes, properly called a slip box or card index in English. Sounds the same as any other note storage? It's the next stage that I think will help me.

Luhmann didn't rely on tags or categories alone, he linked his notes together.

Using the Zettelkasten method your notes become part of a larger web of ideas. The more you add to it the better it becomes.

I'm currently using iA Writer and Obsidian to manage my Zettelkasten - I'll let you know how it goes.