![]() Unlike its name implies, a computers primary task is not to compute in the sense of doing calculations of mathematics, but it is to be a data handler. While index cards and filing systems are predessessors to the computer, books, on the other hand, have nothing to do with computers. They are meant to be read from beginning to end and a page is not autonomous from its neighbors. This text can’t be moved, processed, separated and concatenated. Books - including note books - are based on text that stick together, page after page. ![]() Index cards and its filing system is a typically modern phenomenon, while books are medieval and pre-modern. While being inspired by a paper-based index card system, a Zettelkasten is very different from a note book. The philosophy is related to Markdown with its simple markup and emphasis on being readable by both humans and machines. The for a computer implementation is to take the basis of an index card Zettelkasten and make it both human- and machine-readable. This can be implemented on index cards or on a computer, preferably in a software-agnostic way, such as with plain text and customizable programming text editors. The core of the system is a collection of shorter notes with links between them. Luhmann used a filing archive of index cards that he put in slip boxes – or in German, Zettelkasten. The term Zettelkasten comes from Luhmann’s note-taking system. I believe it was three years ago that I got serious with systematizing my note-taking by adopting a system based on plain text files inspired some writing that is not collected at. This summer I have taken my time to re-think my note-taking system.
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