Pattern Language of Zettelkasten
A pattern language is a shared language so that enthusiasts and experts have an efficient way to communicate.
It’s a way to think and talk about the problem at hand; here: of creating an effective tool for thought.
The following section go from large to small, from wide to narrow, from overview to detail. They are not meant to be read in that exact order for a cohesive story. The story is to emerge in you, the reader, as you browse the patterns, enter something that piques your interest, and find your own path.
Zettelkästen
This part is about the Zettelkasten, not the note, like a book on architecture will talk about cities and towns before it can talk about windowsills and wallpaper.
Zettelkasten
- Network of Knowledge
- Multi-archy
- Gardens
- Silos
- Private Space
Departments
- Writing Projects
- Orderly Outlines
- Playful Sandboxes
- Clusters
- Trees of Knowledge
- Unfractured Fractal
- Highways and Trails
Structures
- Two Sides and their Coin: Explore an idea from multiple sides, e.g. pros and cons, and then represent the common theme.
- Taxonomies
- Maps of Content
- Emergent Structures
- Septic Tank
- Formal Relationship
- Abstraction Tree
- Link-First Connecting
- Inbox
- Orphanage: Connections are the killer feature of a growing knowledge base. Unconnected notes are hardly found and used. Tend to an orphanage of unlinked notes to look for potential links.
Navigation
- Golden Path
- Contextualized References
- Entry Points: Entry Points in a Zettelkasten Help Navigate Departments and Topics
You / Process / Working Effectively
This part is about you, the thinker, writer, Zettelkasten user, who brings new ideas from the outside world into the system. Who makes time pass, and experiences things.
- Discrete Time
- Local Link in Supply Chain
- Algorithmic Solutions
- Create Opposition: Anything you can capture, you can also capture the negation or inversion of.
- Enduring Energy
- Stamp Collection
- Future Self
- Read Once
- Amateur Attitude
- Share What You Learn
- Twelve Darlings
- Recursive Thinking
- Housekeeping