Zettelkasten and Evergreen MOC workflow
Work in progress
omnivore has been retired, this needs rewriting
Reading workflow
Reading workflow (articles, papers, books):
- Collect
- Process
- Write
1. Collect
When reading a text, highlight the main point, these are the points I import in my PKM as highlights. At the moment I use Omnivore Omnivore workflow. Any notes regarding the text can either be in Omnivore, or somewhere separate. All of these should be considered fleeting notes. Books are read on a kindle, and imported in Obsidian to be processed.
2. Process
Import highlights and notes into PKM. These fleeting notes are in a folder that is excluded from search, etc. The words and ideas are not mine, and will just pollute my graph. It is only there to give a link to the source of the ideas. (They are in the system and can be searched if need be)
Next, reread the imported highlights, and process them. Preferably create a blurb under Fleeting notes. This helps to think about the book as a whole, and what resonated most. These fleeting notes are not important, more a note to your future self future proofing your notes.
3. Write
🔑 Extract personal notes from the highlights and notes. These will become evergreen notes. The subject of these new notes will be related to the article quoted, but does not have to be about the same subject. One source can have (many) more notes extracted from it. See evergreen workflow
Literature notes
Underlining won’t help you remember; marks are there to aid understanding in a later phase of reading. Umberto Eco states in How to Write a Thesis that you should use different colors for different questions, topics, points of view, and he says you should mark passages in color for revisiting the text. 1 According to Eco, it’s useful to color-code your marks and reflect this code in your notes. you’ll need to mark passages for further reference, else you’ll forget what you found important The text inspired a thought, and the inspiring part is already marked in the text. I only need to capture the thought during the collection phase. My reading workflow consists of phases similar to the phases in GTD: collect, process, write. –Making Proper Marks in Books • Zettelkasten Method
- Reading should be handled like we handle tasks in GTD, steps in a process. Having a proper workflow will make it easier to do it right.
- Underlinig should not be seen as memory-aid, it is to help find the main points, that are to be used when writing our own notes.
- Both Eco and Sascha describe using different colors / signs to show different kind of important parts in a source
Applications
Current application of choice: Yomu ebook reader (possibly in the future GitHub - readest/readest: Readest is a modern, feature-rich ebook reader designed for avid readers offering seamless cross-platform access, powerful tools, and an intuitive interface to elevate your reading experience.)