- Oct 2024
-
-
Value of knowledge in a zettelkasten as a function of reference(use/look up) frequency; links to other ideas; ease of recall without needing to look up (also a measure of usefulness); others?
Define terms and create a mathematical equation of stocks and flows around this system of information. Maybe "knowledge complexity" or "information optimization"? see: https://hypothes.is/a/zejn0oscEe-zsjMPhgjL_Q
takes into account the value of information from the perspective of a particular observer<br /> relative information value
cross-reference: Umberto Eco on no piece of information is superior: https://hypothes.is/a/jqug2tNlEeyg2JfEczmepw
Inspired by idea in https://hypothes.is/a/CdoMUJCYEe-VlxtqIFX4qA
-
Here's my setup: Literature Notes go in the literature folder. Daily Notes serve as fleeting notes. Project-related Notes are organized in their specific project folders within a larger "Projects" folder.
inspired by, but definitely not take from as not in evidence
Many people have "daily notes" and "project notes" in what they consider to be their zettelkasten workflow. These can be thought of as subcategories of reference notes (aka literature notes, bibliographic notes). The references in these cases are simply different sorts of material than one would traditionally include in this category. Instead of indexing the ideas within a book or journal article, you're indexing what happened to you on a particular day (daily notes) or indexing ideas or progress on a particular project (project notes). Because they're different enough in type and form, you might keep them in their own "departments" (aka folders) within your system just the same way that with enough material one might break out their reference notes to separate books from newspapers, journal articles, or lectures.
In general form and function they're all broadly serving the same functionality and acting as a ratchet and pawl on the information that is being collected. They capture context; they serve as reminder. The fact that some may be used less or referred to less frequently doesn't make them necessarily less important
-
-
Local file Local file
-
Like a rhizome, itwill become a form of controlled chaos,
-
-
Local file Local file
-
Another reason why it saves time is that here you canimply things instead of having to express them in full,for your Card-System and its Headings need only to beclear to yourself (see p. 67), whereas a complete Essayor Speech must be in Sentences and must be clear toyour readers or hearers as well. In the Cards you canuse all kinds of Abbreviations (p. 70) : these, again,need only be clear to yourself.
Miles touches on the interplay of knowledge written down on index cards and the knowledge which is kept only in one's mind. Some practitioners in the space from 2013-2024 seem to imply that they're writing almost everything out in far deeper detail than Miles would indicate. In his incarnation, much of the knowledge might be more quickly indicated by a short sentence or heading which the brain can associate to longer explanations.
This sort of indexing is akin to some of the method potentially seen in Marshall Mathers' zettelkasten.
I'm creating a tag here for "card index for productivity" to track the idea of productivity in writing which I'm specifically using separately from the tag "card index as productivity system" which is used to describe their use for project tracking systems in systems like GTD, Memindex, etc.
-
They ensure wonderful rapidity. A whole bookof thirty thousand words I have prepared (though ofcourse only roughly) in two hours, by the Card-System.Such a pace would have been impossible otherwise.This does not include any of the Dictation ; it merelyincludes the Collection and Selection of Ideas, andtheir Arrangement. The System is a wonderful savingof time,
What work exactly does Miles include in his description of preparation of a 30,000 word book in two hours?
He specifically excludes dictation. He does include selection of ideas and arrangement. He also says it includes "collection", but I'm supposing that he's taking a larger tranche of cards from a possibly massive collection and collecting only those he needs right now? Certainly the reading, thinking, and collecting work can't be included in this two hours of work.
Does he have a better definition of what he means by collection?
-
I generallyuse the Cards of the Library Bureau (Bloomsbury Street, London),or those by Messrs. Evans and Hallewell, 5, Ave Maria Lane,London, E.C. The latter are the cheaper.
Love that Miles talks about what index cards he uses, where he gets them from and even their relative prices!
-
I arrived at the Card-System by degrees, and was glad to findthat Prof. Wendell also recommended Cards. I have elaboratedthe System considerably in the last few months,
Miles doesn't specify how he comes by the practice of a "Card-System" other than "by degrees" as well as elaborating on it in the months before he writes this book.
(Having something more concrete would be nice though...)
At some point he read Barrett Wendell's book on composition (1891) to discover that he recommended cards as well.
-
Connecting Linkbetween twoSentences orParagraphs,
Miles, 1905 uses an arrow symbol with a hash on it to indicate a "connecting link between two Sentences or Paragraphs, etc."
It's certainly an early example of what we would now consider a hyperlink. It actively uses a "pointer" in it's incarnation.
Are there earlier examples of these sorts of idea links in the historical record? Surely there were circles and arrows on a contiguous page, but what about links from one place to separate places (possibly using page numbers?) Indexing methods from 11/12C certainly acted as explicit sorts of pointers.
-
no false economy r
He's repeating (and thus emphasizing) the admonition that a card system is not expensive, particularly in relation to the savings in time and effort.
-
These Cards (if used only once) should be labelledand catalogued very carefully.
How does he define "labelled" and "catalogued"?
Presumably he means a version of tagging/categorization and possibly indexing them to be able to easily find them again?
-
At first, also, it might be thought that the Cardswould be inconvenient to use, but the personal ex-perience of thousands shows that, at any rate forbusiness-purposes, exactly the reverse is true
Miles' uses the ubiquity of card systems (even at the writing in 1899, prior to publication) within business as evidence for bolstering their use in writing and composition.
(Recall that he's also writing in the UK.)
-
You can prepare your Letters any-where, even in the train, and so save a great deal oftime ; and it may be noticed here that the idlenessof people, during that great portion of their lives whichthey spend in travelling and waiting, can easily beavoided in this way.
Using a card system, particularly while travelling, can help to more efficiently use one's time in preventing idleness while travelling and waiting.
-
I often noticed that most Candidates inExaminations used to begin to write their Essays atonce. They never realised that their minds were there-by being distracted and divided among many differentprocesses, each of which is particularly hard even whentaken alone. For all at once their minds are being-called upon to Collect Ideas, to Select and decide whichare important, etc., to Arrange the Selected Ideas, andto Express them. To try all this as a single action is" most extraordinarily unscientific, even if a few brilliantgeniuses here and there have succeeded in the attempt.
One of the major affordances of using a zettelkasten or card index for writing is that it forces the writer to break things down into their constituent parts, thereby making the entire process of writing far easier and less complex. One can separately focus their attention on the smaller steps of collecting, selecting, and arranging the material before beginning to actually write.
-
Miles, Eustace Hamilton. How to Prepare Essays, Lectures, Articles, Books, Speeches and Letters, with Hints on Writing for the Press. London: Rivingtons, 1905. http://archive.org/details/howtoprepareessa00mileuoft.
Tags
- travelling
- zettelkasten why
- card index for writing
- collection (note taking)
- idea links
- index cards
- note taking manuals
- waiting
- open questions
- price per card
- idleness
- card index as productivity system
- indexing methods
- References
- Library Bureau
- dicatation
- productivity
- card index
- card system for business
- Barrett Wendell
- card index for business
- hyperlinks
- card system
- card index for productivity
- writing advice
- 1899
- Eustace Hamilton Miles
- step-by-step
- card system process
- complexity
- Messrs. Evans and Hallewell
- Eminem
- note taking affordances
- annotations
- intellectual history
- categories
Annotators
-
-
x.com x.com
-
The similarity is because they are all saying roughly the same thing: Total (result) = Kinetic (cost) + Potential (benefit) Cost is either imaginary squared or negative (space-like), benefit is real (time-like), result is mass-like. Just like physics, the economic unfavourable models are the negative results. In economics, diversity of products is a strength as it allows better recovery from failure of any one, comically DEI of people fails miserably at this, because all people are not equal. Here are some other examples you will know if you do physics: E² + (ipc)² = (mc²)² (relativistic Einstein equation), mass being the result, energy time-like (potential), momentum the space-like (kinetic). ∇² - 1/c² ∂²/∂t² = (mc/ℏ)² (Klein-Gordon equation), mass is the result, ∂²/∂t² potential, ∇² is kinetic. Finally we have Dirac equation, which unlike the previous two as "sum of squares" is more like vector addition (first order differentials, not second). iℏγ⁰∂₀ψ + iℏγⁱ∂ᵢψ = mcψ First part is still the time-like potential, second part is the space-like kinetic, and the mass is still the result though all the same. This is because energy is all forms, when on a flat (free from outside influence) worksheet, acts just like a triangle between potential, kinetic and resultant energies. E.g. it is always of the form k² + p² = r², quite often kinetic is imaginary to potential (+,-,-,-) spacetime metric, quaternion mathematics. So the r² can be negative, or imaginary result if costs out way benefits, or work in is greater than work out. Useless but still mathematical solution. Just like physics, you always want the mass or result to be positive and real, or your going to lose energy to the surrounding field, with negative returns. Economic net loss do not last long, just like imaginary particles in physics.
in reply to Cesar A. Hidalgo at https://x.com/realAnthonyDean/status/1844409919161684366
via Anthony Dean @realAnthonyDean
-
-
en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
-
English composition: Eight lectures given at the Lowell Institute, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1891.
evidence of a card system/zettelkasten method in this?
I found a copy and indeed there is evidence!
-
-
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
-
Der kurz vor der COP16 zur Biodiversität veröffentlichte Living Planet Index zeigt das Ausmaß des Biodiversitätsverlusts in den vergangenen 50 Jahren, auch wenn an den dabei angewendeten statistischen Verfahren starke Zweifel bestehen. Die Wirbeltier-Populationen haben nach diesem Index um 73% abgenommen, am stärksten in Lateinamerika und der Karibik. Die wichtigste Ursache ist die veränderte Landnutzung. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/oct/10/collapsing-wildlife-populations-points-no-return-living-planet-report-wwf-zsl-warns
Tags
- Living Planet Index
- Zoological Society of London (ZSL)
- IUCN’s Red List
- Mathematical biases in the calculation of the Living Planet Index lead to overestimation of vertebrate population decline
- by: Patrick Greenfield
- Hannah Wauchope
- Susana Muhamad
- fragmentation of natural habitats
- Mike Barrett
- COP16 biodiversity
- Matthew Gould
- biodiversity loss
Annotators
URL
-
-
www.remastery.net www.remastery.net
-
Beyond the cards mentioned above, you should also capture any hard-to-classify thoughts, questions, and areas for further inquiry on separate cards. Regularly go through these to make sure that you are covering everything and that you don’t forget something.I consider these insurance cards because they won’t get lost in some notebook or scrap of paper, or email to oneself.
Julius Reizen in reviewing over Umberto Eco's index card system in How to Write a Thesis, defines his own "insurance card" as one which contains "hard-to-classify thoughts, questions, and areas for further inquiry". These he would keep together so that they don't otherwise get lost in the variety of other locations one might keep them
These might be akin to Ahrens' "fleeting notes" but are ones which may not easily or even immediately be converted in to "permanent notes" for one's zettelkasten. However, given their mission critical importance, they may be some of the most important cards in one's repository.
link this to - idea of centralizing one's note taking practice to a single location
Is this idea in Eco's book and Reizen is the one that gives it a name since some of the other categories have names? (examples: bibliographic index cards, reading index cards (aka literature notes), cards for themes, author index cards, quote index cards, idea index cards, connection cards). Were these "officially" named and categorized by Eco?
May be worthwhile to create a grid of these naming systems and uses amongst some of the broader note taking methods. Where are they similar, where do they differ?
Multi-search tools that have full access to multiple trusted data stores (ostensibly personal ones across notebooks, hard drives, social media services, etc.) could potentially solve the problem of needing to remember where you noted something.
Currently, in the social media space especially, this is not a realized service.
-
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
How to ZK a fiction book! Zettelkasten for Fiction- Where Imagination Finds Order'- Book WIP ep. 78 by [[Victoria Crowder]]
meh... interested in the mention, but nothing directly actionable here. Perhaps in her other material?...
Tags
Annotators
URL
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
Not that it couldn't be done, but I'll suggest that following the structure/order of a Luhmann-artig zettelkasten may be a bit more limiting or difficult for creating fiction.
There's a rich history of researching, outlining, and writing with card indexes as part of the creative process. Perhaps looking briefly at some examples particularly focusing on fiction may be helpful? Once you've done this, you can pick and choose the portions and affordances that work best for your preferred way of thinking and working.
Some quick examples:
- Vladimir Nabokov https://www.openculture.com/2014/02/the-notecards-on-which-vladimir-nabokov-wrote-lolita.html
- David Lynch process via Frank Daniel: https://hypothes.is/users/chrisaldrich?q=tag%3A%27David+Lynch%27
- Variations of this method include:
- Dustin Lance Black https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrvawtrRxsw
- Ben Rowland https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mwKjuBvNi40
- Randy Ingermanson. “The Snowflake Method For Designing A Novel.” Advanced Fiction Writing, circa 2013. https://www.advancedfictionwriting.com/articles/snowflake-method/
Perhaps querying my digital zettelkasten may be helpful for you? Start with: https://hypothes.is/users/chrisaldrich?q=tag%3A%27card+index+for+writing%27
Ultimately, you can only spend so much time going down the rabbit hole of how you ought to do this work and taking suggestions or reading about how others have done it. The more difficult but more fruitful portion is to pick a method which seems like it will work for you and experiment with it by actually using or evolving it for yourself. How you start may not necessarily be how you end, but you won't know what's best for you if you don't start. Practice, practice, practice will get you much farther faster.
reply to u/Atreides_Lion at https://reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/1ft4r3z/a_very_important_matter_for_me/
-
-
en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
-
www.amazon.com www.amazon.com
-
Seu, Mindy, ed. Cyberfeminism Index. Inventory Press, 2023. https://www.amazon.com/Cyberfeminism-Index-Mindy-Seu/dp/1941753515.
Flancian mentioned
-
- Sep 2024
-
www.ebay.com www.ebay.com
-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/156425307066
Remington Rand leather portable card index notebook case with slots for a variety of functionalities: - 1-31 for days of month - Alphabetic categorization A-Z - Months (Jan-Dec) - Miscellaneous
-
-
discord.com discord.com
-
What do you mean with Zettelkasten ratchet? I am too unfamiliar with the word ratchet to really understand the meaning.[9:46 AM] Or if someone else has an idea and can help me out
The additional "hidden context" is that the rachet/gear seen in many of these diagrams is usually attached to a radial spring (or some other device) which, as it is wound, stores energy which is later used by the bigger device in which the rachet and pawl are encased. Examples include the stem of watches, which when wound, store energy which the watch later uses to run as it counts the seconds. Another example is the mainspring of a typewriter which is attached to a ratchet/pawl set up; when you push the carriage to the right, the spring gets wound up and stores energy which is slowly expended by the escapement a space or a letter at a time as you type. In the zettelkasten analogy, the box and numbered cards placed in it act as the pawl (the wedge that prevents backward movement), as you add more and more information, you're storing/building up "potential energy" in small bits. This "stored energy" can be spent at a later time by allowing you to more easily write an article, paper, book, etc. In some sense, the zettelkasten (as most tools do) allows you a "mechanical advantage" in the writing process over trying to remember everything you've ever read and then relying on your ability to spit it all back out in a well-ordered manner.
reply to Muhammed Ali at https://discord.com/channels/992400632390615070/992400632776507447/1286577013439594497
continuation of https://hypothes.is/a/GTPIPnYiEe-GTUu4YcdeAQ
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
www.franklin-christoph.com www.franklin-christoph.com
-
https://www.franklin-christoph.com/
Among various fountain pens, notebooks, and other papers, they sell archival quality 3 x 5 inch index cards suited to fountain pen use.
-
-
www.platformer.news www.platformer.news
-
databases are not designed to be browsed.
Casey Newton makes this blanket statement. Any real evidence for this beyond his "gut"?
Many "paper machines" like Niklas Luhmann's zettelkasten were almost custom made not just for searching, but for browsing through regularly much like commonplace books.
Perhaps the question is really, how is your particular database designed?
-
-
www.platformer.news www.platformer.news
-
Three apps that made me more productive this year by [[Casey Newton]]
Casey Newton is using a Zettelkasten note taking approach based on zettelkasten.de to cover his beat
-
-
-
Manuel of Eames Cursive Shorthand by the Card System<br /> A Reporting System with Longhand Movement, in which the Vowels and Consonants are Joined in the Order of Their Occurrence, Including a Remarkable Discovery in Pedagogics which Reduces the Time of Learning at Least One-half
-
-
www.google.com www.google.com
-
https://www.google.com/books/edition/Geyer_s_Stationer/Ml7lJzdUNFIC?hl=en&gbpv=0<br /> Geyer's Stationer<br /> Devoted to the Interests of the Stationery, Fancy Goods and Notion Trades · Volume 82<br /> 1926
page 36 of the 1926 December issue has a "Rapidex" product for the telephone which sounds ostensibly like a Rolodex-type system
-
-
archive.org archive.org
-
Macey Filing Appliances 1906<br /> Catalogue No. 4206<br /> The Macey Co.<br /> https://archive.org/details/macey-filing-appliances-1906/mode/2up
-
-
archive.org archive.org
-
https://archive.org/details/catalog00fred/mode/2up
Fred Macey Company Catalog (1910)
-
- Aug 2024
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
Advanced Typing - Shortcuts (1943)
Advanced Typing: Shortcuts. 16 mm. Vol. MN-1512c. United States Navy Training Film, 1943. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUJfCfqgsX0.
Correct typing posture: fingers curved<br /> arms sloping up<br /> light fast strokes<br /> steady rhythm
fast continuous motion of return lever<br /> using backing sheet (aka temping sheet ??)
Shortcuts:<br /> mise en place for office supplies (she doesn't use this phrasing though) - greater efficiency - cuts down on searching
tabulators can be helpful. There are two types:<br /> - automatic - handset
Use tabs for paragraphs, dating letters, columns of numbers, and letter closings.
To clear all tab stops, put carriage to left, hold tab clear key and move the carriage across. (Usually applies to Royal, Remington, Underwood, and Electromatic).
On LC Smith and Woodstock machines sometimes have a tab clear lever on the back.
Decimal tabulator keys help to align a variety of numbers around a decimal point.
Always have a few tabs set to prevent a flying carriage which can be hard on the machine.
When using carbon sheets which are slightly longer than the paper size, cut off a small triangle at the top left hand side. This makes it easier for one to separate the carbons from the copies by holding the top left with one hand and pulling the carbons out from the bottom of the stack.
To align multiple sheets of paper for carbon copies, use a folded sheet at the top to taco the pages into the machine. Remove the folded sheet once the carbon pack is rolled forward.
Paper bail rollers should be set to split the pages into thirds (for two rollers).
Remington noiseless machines have a pressure indicator on the front of the machine (usually above the keyboard) which can be used when using thick carbon packs that may cause the ribbon guide to stick or bind.
Only erase when the carriage is fully left or right to prevent eraser crumbs from falling into the machine.
Use a soft eraser on carbon copies. Use and insert slips of paper behind the carbons and allowing them to stick out the sides, erasing from back sheet to front so as not to allow the eraser to mark your carbon copies. For the front sheet, use a shield and ink eraser and erase with a horizontal motion. After erasing, easily pull out the inserted sheets.
When typing a correction, tap the key lightly two or three times rather than hard once.
When in a rush and it's necessary to add a word (on double spacing), underline the last letter of the prior word and type a slash (/). Then move the typing line up and type the insertion above the prior line. This creates an "arrow" of sorts for the inserted word.
Details for inserting extra letters in misspelled words using half-spacing machines. (Underwoods and Electromatics don't have this function.)
Light pencil marks at the bottom of the sheet can help to indicate the coming bottom of the sheet.
Putting up the card holders (fingers) on Underwoods and Royals. They help to hold the card and improve print quality and reduce noise.
Card holders can cause markings on carbon packs if they're not lowered.
Trick for quickly writing postcards in succession: Disengage the ratchet using the platen spring release (or variable platen switch) Type the address on the front of the card. When done give the platen a quick practiced spin. The postcard with "jump" up and stop at the paper table and be in position for rolling in the opposite direction to write the message on the back of the card! When done a faster spin of the platen will shoot the card over the back of the typewriter where it can land in a box to collect all the postcards which were written in such a manner. <br /> timestamp 23:22
Time saving methods for addressing envelopes:
-
Front seat principle. Insert the envelope in the usual way and type out the address. When done, turn the envelope down through the machine with the right hand. With the left hand, place the next envelope between the top of the first envelope and the front of the platen. Feed the first envelope back through the machine (in reverse) and the second will be rolled in to place for typing. Continue in this fashion until finished. All the finished envelopes will stack up in the back at the paper table.
-
Chain feeding. The first envelope is inserted and rolled partway into the machine. A second envelope is inserted between the platen and the second envelope (behind the platen). Turn the first envelope to the writing line and type the address. Take out the first envelope and insert the next the same way as before.
-
Uses paper bail. Do the first envelope in the usual way. Spin it out of the machine up and behind the paper bail into a box behind the typewriter.
For quickly doing labels or small cards:<br /> Create a small zig-zag fold into a piece of paper to create a pocket slot which can be scotch taped on either side. This template paper can then be inserted so that the pocket is visible above the writing line, but the paper below it is still in the platen. The label or card can be placed into the pocket and the platen reversed to feed the label or card in backwards to the desired typing line. Using a v-groove or hole in the typing line can create a pencil line to serve as a guide for inserting many labels at the same place so that the typing lines up between labels.
Some offices had special platens for holding cards like this.
Pockets like this can also be used to hold the page to add additional lines at the bottom of pages. Deeper pockets may need to be used for doing this with carbon packs whose carbons are longer than the pages.
Alternately one can do something similar by creating a inverted u-shaped set of slits into an index card. to hold such labels.
When in the midst of a page and needing to do another piece urgently, roll back the letter until about 2 inches from the top, and then place in the new page and one between each of the carbons. Then roll forward to do the short message as necessary. Turn back to the insertion position to remove the copies and then continue with the first letter where you left off.
For drawing horizontal lines on typewriter paper, push the carriage to the extreme left and place the pencil or pen at the edge of the card guide and the scale. Then move the carriage to the right to effect the line. For vertical lines, put the carriage at the desired space and place the pencil at the card guide and scale and move the platen up/down as necessary.
-
-
-
typewriter-museum.lv typewriter-museum.lv
-
analogoffice.net analogoffice.net
-
Index card system to track daily, weekly, and monthly routines by [[Anna Havron]]
Brief outline of a tickler file system for today, daily, weekly, and monthly to do items.
-
-
thefuturemarket.com thefuturemarket.com
-
for - stats - table of 12 plants and 5 animal species that make up 75% of the world's food (FAO)
from - Swiss RE Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (BES) index report - https://hyp.is/Jqw9MlWpEe-DhnehMbtbjA/www.swissre.com/dam/jcr:a7fe3dca-c4d6-403b-961c-9fab1b2f0455/swiss-re-institute-expertise-publication-biodiversity-and-ecosystem-services.pdf
-
-
www.etsy.com www.etsy.com
-
https://www.etsy.com/shop/LettersWithImpact
Someone selling individual typed index cards with quotes for $9.99 each?!? Who knew this was a business?
example:<br />
-
-
ugmonk.com ugmonk.com
-
Ugmonk released a limited edition of 100 archive boxes for their Analog productivity cards today at 7AM (Pacific) for $229.00 (including 12 card packs and a metal divider). It sold out within two and a half hours.
With the inclusion of this archive box it makes the system much more like the original Memindex system.
https://ugmonk.com/products/analog-archive-box-walnut?variant=43942761562262
-
-
www.thoughtco.com www.thoughtco.com
-
Russian-born American author Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977) dictates from notecards while his wife Vera (nee Slonim, 1902 - 1991 types on a manual typewriter, Ithaca, New York, 1958. Carl Mydans / Getty Images
-
- Jul 2024
-
-
Given my current r/typewriter flair ("typewriters + card index = magic"), I couldn't help but appreciate that Lucas Dul features a 3x5" card index (aka database) of typewriter typefaces in a recent video on the 1896 Williams 3 typewriter: https://youtu.be/T1zzXwB3Xh8?si=K4FeiS-V_aev9_SZ&t=506. Those who have been following along on the typeface front will recognize some of the samples from this small index having been featured in a video on typewriter typefaces at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scrguKgDNIY.
I'm reminded of a similar card index (or Zettelkasten if you speak German) database of type I saw last year via the Letterform Archive article at Schriftenkartei [Typeface Index], 1958–1971 and a related Flickr version of it at https://www.flickr.com/photos/letterformarchive/albums/72177720310834741/
Lest you think these sorts of analog office pairings are completely obsolete, I feel compelled to mention that I've recently noticed that Pam Beasley's character had both an IBM typewriter and a metal 1970s/80s era two drawer metal card file behind her desk in the TV series The Office (NBC, 2005-2013).
If typewriters and card indexes are your sort of thing, I've got a small personal collection as well as some research and writing about them which can be found at https://boffosocko.com/research/zettelkasten-commonplace-books-and-note-taking-collection/#Boxes
If you follow my collections and work, you know I'm not beyond pairing up a nice typewriter with a card index (or two).
Image of a 1948 Royal and a matching Steelcase card index.
Syndication link: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1e5u5z3/era_appropriate_database_for_typewriter_typefaces/
-
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
You have to love the fact that Lucas Dul has a HON card index file of 3x5" index cards with typeface samples organized by decade.
-
-
www.facebook.com www.facebook.com
-
This lovely old file cabinet is 52" high x 14-3/4" wide x 27-1/2" deep. Each drawer is 6-1/8" wide x 4-6/8" high x 18-1/4" deep. It has a few scratches on the side, but nothing that can't be touched up. Otherwise, it's in good condition. In the early 80's, I worked on a TV series called "Cassie & Co." starring Angie Dickinson. This (and another antique file cabinet) was purchased and used as set dressing in Angie/Cassie's office. When the show was canceled, I bought the cabinets and have had them ever since. I don't have specific background info on them.
https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/3801438776811728/
Sold · Antique 16-Drawer Library Card File Cabinet
Purchased for $250
cost per drawer $15.63
-
- Jun 2024
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
The Marx Dial Typewriter (and the Trouble with Patents) by Our Own Devices
-
- May 2024
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
Joe Van Cleave has used an index card with his typewriter to hold up the back of his typewriter paper on machines (the Ten Forty, for example) which lack a metal support on the back of the paper table.
Tags
Annotators
URL
-
-
images.google.com images.google.com
-
Uladimir Nabokov Ithaca, New YorkDate taken:1958Photographer:Carl Mydans
Alternate angle at http://images.google.com/hosted/life/81b7b3f24bbe1b3a.html
-
-
images.google.com images.google.com
-
Author Vladimir Nabokov's doodlings.Location:Ithaca, NY, USDate taken:September 1958Photographer:Carl Mydans
-
-
images.google.com images.google.com
-
Author Vladimir Nabokov's researched materials on file cards for his book 'Lolita'.Location:Ithaca, NY, USDate taken:September 1958Photographer:Carl Mydans
-
-
images.google.com images.google.com
-
Author Vladimir Nabokov at work, writing on index cards in his car.Location:Ithaca, NY, USDate taken:September 1958Photographer:Carl MydansSize:1280 x 889 pixels (17.8 x 12.3 inches)
-
-
www.loc.gov www.loc.gov
-
Nabokov’s working notecards for “Lolita.”
Nabokov used index cards for his research and writing. In one index card for research on Lolita, he creates a "weight-heigh-age table for girls of school age" to be able to specify Lolita's measurements. He also researched the Colt catalog of 1940 to get gun specifications to make those small points realistic in his writing.
-
-
cambridgetypewriter.blogspot.com cambridgetypewriter.blogspot.com
-
https://cambridgetypewriter.blogspot.com/2019/03/some-stories-from-2018.htmlk
Includes some images of interchangeable platens for typewriters including some for index cards, library work, and labels.
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
I have run across Jeff Shelton's Analog system (originally via Kickstarter) before. Thanks for the reminder.
There's also a slew of others, especially for folks looking at commercially preprinted cards (though I tend to think they're overpriced compared to blank cards): - The Hipster PDA (Parietal Disgorgement Aid) https://web.archive.org/web/20040906150523/https://merlin.blogs.com/43folders/2004/09/introducing_the.html - Pile of Index Cards (PoIC) https://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkexpress/albums/72157594200490122/ - Levenger https://www.levenger.com/products/triple-decker-pocket-planner?variant=42485422424213 (among others they carry including pocket briefcases) - Notsu https://notsubrand.com/ - Baronfig / Strategist: https://baronfig.com/products/strategist?variant=39787199529043 - Jeff Shelton's Analog system https://ugmonk.com/ - 3x5 Life https://www.3x5life.com/ - Foglietto https://www.nerosnotes.co.uk/collections/foglietto - Jot & Mark https://amzn.to/3Qs26Je
Am I missing any significant or influential examples, particularly branded ones?
Hubnote for 3 x 5" index cards for productivity
-
- Apr 2024
-
-
The Varidex is the name given to onemethod-a direct expanding index made inletter , bill and le gal sizes. In this systemthe general plan of tab positions is similarto the direct alphabetic system. It main-tains the fam iliar sectional arrangementfor guide s, individual and )Jliscellaneousfo ld er s.
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
scihuy 0 points1 point2 points 2 hours ago (1 child)Hi, Can you point out any articles on note-taking in the sciences as opposed to history or social sciences? Any pointers would be very helpful
reply to u/scihuy at https://www.reddit.com/r/Zettelkasten/comments/1c2b2d6/note_taking_in_the_past/kzcg3qa/
I posed your question to my own card index:
Generally scientists haven't spent the time to talk about their methods the way those in the social sciences and humanities are apt to do. This being said, their methods are unsurprisingly all the same.
If you want to look up examples, you can delve into the nachlass (digitized or not) of most of the famous scientists and mathematicians out there to verify this. Ramon Llull certainly wrote, but broadly memorized all of his work; Newton had his wastebooks; Leibnitz used Thomas Harrison's Ark of Studies cabinet; Carl Linnaeus "invented" index cards for his work (search for the work of Staffan Müller-Wille and Isabelle Charmantier); Erasmus Darwin and Charles Darwin both used commonplace books; physicist Mario Bunge had a significant zettelkasten practice; Richard Feynman used notebooks; engineer Ross Ashby used a combination of notebooks which he indexed using a card index.
For historical reasons, most used a commonplace book method in which they indexed against keywords rather than Luhmann's variation, but broadly the results are the same either way.
Computer scientist Gerald Weinberg is one of the few I'm aware of within the sciences who's written a note taking manual, but again, his method is broadly the same as that described by other writers for centuries:
Weinberg, Gerald M. Weinberg on Writing: The Fieldstone Method. New York, N.Y: Dorset House, 2005.
I identify as both a mathematician and an engineer, and I have a paper-based zettelkasten for these areas, primarily as I prefer writing out equations versus attempting to write everything out as LaTeX. I'm sure others here could add their experiences as well. I've previously written about zettelkasten from the framing of set theory, topology, dense sets, and have even touched on it with respect to the ideas of equivalence classes and category theory, though I haven't published much in depth here as most don't have the mathematical sophistication to appreciate the structures and analogies.
-
-
www.amazon.com www.amazon.com
-
https://www.amazon.com/dp/8120601076/
Edward Lane's Arabic English Lexicon sounds like it was compiled by means of card index. Worth looking into the scholarly method behind compiling it.
-
-
www.newyorker.com www.newyorker.com
-
Michael Macdonald amassed a vast collection of photographs of these texts and launched a digital Safaitic database, with the help of Laïla Nehmé, a French archeologist and one of the world’s leading experts on early Arabic inscriptions. “When we started working, Michael’s corpus was all on index cards,” Nehmé recalled. “With the database, you could search for sequences of words across the whole collection, and you could study them statistically. It worked beautifully.”
Researcher Michael Macdonald created a card index database of safaitic inscriptions which he and French archaeologist Laïla Nehmé eventually morphed into a digital database which included a collection of photographs of the extant texts.
-
-
-
"I made a great study of theology at one time," said Mr Brooke, as if to explain the insight just manifested. "I know something of all schools. I knewWilberforce in his best days.6Do you know Wilberforce?"Mr Casaubon said, "No.""Well, Wilberforce was perhaps not enough of a thinker; but if I went intoParliament, as I have been asked to do, I should sit on the independent bench,as Wilberforce did, and work at philanthropy."Mr Casaubon bowed, and observed that it was a wide field."Yes," said Mr Brooke, with an easy smile, "but I have documents. I began along while ago to collect documents. They want arranging, but when a question has struck me, I have written to somebody and got an answer. I have documents at my back. But now, how do you arrange your documents?""In pigeon-holes partly," said Mr Casaubon, with rather a startled air of effort."Ah, pigeon-holes will not do. I have tried pigeon-holes, but everything getsmixed in pigeon-holes: I never know whether a paper is in A or Z.""I wish you would let me sort your papers for you, uncle," said Dorothea. "Iwould letter them all, and then make a list of subjects under each letter."Mr Casaubon gravely smiled approval, and said to Mr Brooke, "You have anexcellent secretary at hand, you perceive.""No, no," said Mr Brooke, shaking his head; "I cannot let young ladies meddle with my documents. Young ladies are too flighty."Dorothea felt hurt. Mr Casaubon would think that her uncle had some special reason for delivering this opinion, whereas the remark lay in his mind aslightly as the broken wing of an insect among all the other fragments there, anda chance current had sent it alighting on her.When the two girls were in the drawing-room alone, Celia said —"How very ugly Mr Casaubon is!""Celia! He is one of the most distinguished-looking men I ever saw. He is remarkably like the portrait of Locke. He has the same deep eye-sockets."
Fascinating that within a section or prose about indexing within MiddleMarch (set in 1829 to 1832 and published in 1871-1872), George Eliot compares a character's distinguished appearance to that of John Locke!
Mr. Brooke asks for advice about arranging notes as he has tried pigeon holes but has the common issue of multiple storage and can't remember under which letter he's filed his particular note. Mr. Casaubon indicates that he uses pigeon-holes.
Dorothea Brooke mentions that she knows how to properly index papers so that they might be searched for and found later. She is likely aware of John Locke's indexing method from 1685 (or in English in 1706) and in the same scene compares Mr. Casaubon's appearance to Locke.
-
-
archive.org archive.org
-
[Narrator]: The Cluttered Desk, Index Card,file folders, the in-out basket, the calculator.These are the tools of the office professional's past.Since the dawn of the computer age, better machines have always meant bigger and more powerful.But the software could not accommodate the needs of office professionals who are responsiblefor the look, shape and feel of tomorrow.
In 1983, at the dawn of the personal computer age, Apple Inc. in promotional film entitled "Lisa Soul Of A New Machine" touted their new computer, a 16-bit dual disk drive "personal office system", as something that would do away with "the cluttered desk, index cards, file folders, the in-out basket, [and] the calculator." (00:01)
Some of these things moved to the realm of the computer including the messy desk(top) now giving people two messy desks, a real one and a virtual one. The database-like structure of the card index also moved over, but the subjective index and its search power were substituted for a lower level concordance search.
30 years on, for most people, the value of the database idea behind the humble "index card" has long since disappeared and so it seems here as if it's "just" another piece of cluttery paper.
Appreciate the rosy framing of the juxtaposition of "past" and "future" jumping over the idea of the here and now which includes the thing they're selling, the Lisa computer. They're selling the idealized and unclear future even though it's really just today.
-
-
archive.org archive.org
-
(13:39) Hands flipping through a card index with overlapping dialogue about prospects
https://archive.org/details/0800_Beware_of_Mental-itis_06_00_55_00
-
-
Local file Local file
-
For the purpose of indexing we shall divide 73our stock of names or terms into those ofconcretes, processes and countries, concretes being the com-modities with which we are concerned, processes indicatingtheir actions, and countries indicating the localities with whichthe concretes are connected (295 et seq.) .
There are likely other metadata he may be missing here: - in particular dates/times/time periods which may be useful for the historians. - others? - general forms of useful metadata from a database perspective?
-
You cannot buy a ready-made intelligence departmenton which to run your business.
-
The subject is treated quite dispassionately,no particular file or cabinet is thrust upon the reader, but the re-quirements of ideal appliances and the state of existing ones aredescribed.
Further evidence to the claim at https://hypothes.is/a/iQwqzvC4Ee6PrNfzDQurog
-
Automobile and Carriage Builders' Journal, October 1908. Duringthe last five or six years the carriage builder has been adopting,perhaps slowly, and often unwillingly, the card system in his office.,owing to the extra detail the motor business has brought with it.It will have probably been introduced by a new partner who hasbrought new money into the business, when extra funds were necessaryto cope with the new state of affairs. The motor manufacturer usesit instinctively, for he brings with him,
as a rule, the law, order, and precision of an engineer's office.
There's an interesting dichotomy presented here about the tech forwardness of the automobile industry in 1908 versus the tech reticence of the carriage builders in regard to adopting card indexes with respect to their related (though different) industries.
Me (sarcastically):<br /> "Oh, those backwards carriage builders will get with the 'program' any day now..."
-
card system are indebted tothese catalogues for their information. But all these publications areprimarily concerned with the particular cabinet or file of the firm inwhose interest they are published.
Variations of card index systems were published in booklet form by filing cabinet manufacturers as a means of selling not only their cabinets, but their systems for using them was common in the early 1900s. Examples of magazine advertisements in System Magazine back this up. It is also specifically highlighted in a review of J. Kaiser's book "The Card System at the Office" from Ironmonger (1909-10-03) which appreciates a more fully fleshed out version of a card index system in book form without mention of specific manufacturing firms.
-
o businesses of varied sizes are set forth and their working illustrated."We note with appreciation the author's use of "flags" as indic.itors.Our experience of these handy and ingenious little devices datesfrom their first introduction in the States, and we can endorse all that"he says in their favour.
When were bookmark-like "flags" introduced in America? (Certainly prior to 1908, based on this reference.)
-
Yet it is doubtful whether since theintroduction of the typewriter there has been an invention so beneficialto modern business as the card-index system.
-
So far as we are aware, this is the first adequatebook on the card system which has been published in this country.In the main, information on the subject has only been procurablefrom the catalogues and booklets (many of them excellent andinforming; issued by the manufacturers of the impedimenta of thesystem,
anecdotal evidence from Ironmonger (1908) that this is the first card index book and prior versions are only of shorter booklet-like forms.
(Naturally, I don't trust this in the fullest sense.)
-
Kaiser, J. Systematic Indexing. The Card System Series 2. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1911. http://archive.org/details/systematicindexi00kaisuoft.
Annotation URL: urn:x-pdf:2acc267d4cbe455af640e4a707a84692
See alternate version at: # or https://www.google.com/books/edition/Systematic_Indexing/iwFDAAAAIAAJ?hl=en Google-Books-ID: iwFDAAAAIAAJ
(Switched for better OCR)
Tags
- card index for business
- Systematic Indexing
- The Card System Series
- definitions
- technology adoption
- automobiles vs. horse carriages
- flags
- card system
- indexing
- note taking
- typewriters
- card index for writing
- 1908
- Julius Kaiser
- card index for research
- intelligence department
- card index manufacturing
- note taking manuals
- open questions
- card index manuals
- metadata
- bookmarks
- concretes
- quotes
- technology
- card index as database
- References
- card index
Annotators
-
-
Local file Local file
-
Kaiser, J. Systematic Indexing. The Card System Series 2. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1911. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Systematic_Indexing/iwFDAAAAIAAJ?hl=en Google-Books-ID: iwFDAAAAIAAJ
Annotation url: urn:x-pdf:5e00705cb3b4484c6753104643a1e1a6
Switching editions for better OCR. see: Internet Archive or
-
Ironmonger,3rd October1908.Mr.Kaiserisapastmaster__inallthatappertainsto carding,filing,andindexing systems.
I love the verb "carding" here.
-
-
Local file Local file
-
Kaiser, J. Card System at the Office. The Card System Series 1. London: Vacher and Sons, 1908. http://archive.org/details/cardsystematoffi00kaisrich.
Annotation url: urn:x-pdf:01c6d04ce30f5072bccfd0b7ea69d9d2
-
To run a system effectively, we must be prepared 355Servant to uphold it ourselves, we must give the examplein effective work, we must be the first to submitto it although we supply the directing energy to run it. If we thinkourselves above our own system, then it has already ceased to exist.We must bear in mind therefore that any rules we may make, anyinstructions we may give, any supervision we may effect, applyto ourselves equally with others. We may be the masters of thesystem, we are also its servants, but for all that we need not beslaves to it.
-
It is therefore best to prepare a Daily List
The description here is almost similar to interdepartmental memos or corporate emails which are sent out now instead. This information flows out, but broadly isn't kept or filed in the same sorts of ways.
-
A four drawer cabinetis as a rule ample for the purposes of the key cabinet.
Key cabinets are used to control the information found in other card indexes as well as for private business information which should be restricted within a firm.
-
Business In former years the account ledger representedLedger
Business Ledger
This section looks at index cards for communication to/from clients and appropriate follow up with respect to sales management in a manufacturing firm. It broadly represents some examples of how one would do larger scale project management and follow up with index cards.
-
Chronological registers or directories may beRegisters used for a variety of purposes in almost everyoffice, not only as future reminders^ but alsoas records of past events.
Broadly this sounds like an indexed corporate diary of sorts, but his use of future reminders (or ticklers in the footnote) certainly points to the use of index cards in a Memindex-like fashion.
Keep in mind that he's writing in Britain and the Memindex from 1903 was a US-based product, though similar ideas may have been used at the time across the pond.
-
Summaries*
examples of specific workflows within Kaiser's card system
Tags
- card index as email communication
- card index for business
- workflows
- Julius kaiser
- Kaiser card system
- read
- chronological headings
- card index affordances
- card index for productivity
- Julius Kaiser
- card index for project management
- zettelkasten
- chronological order
- chronological registers
- quotes
- key cabinets
- References
- Memindex
Annotators
-
- Mar 2024
-
-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/276403515343 <br /> archived copy
In 1984, Memindex was selling monthly planning calendars (pocket notebook size with spiral binding and a case) rather than their older small index card sized formats. Their calendar format looks eerily like what Day-Timer, a division of ACCO Brands, has been selling since at least the early 1990s.
This goes down to even the "cut here" triangles in the lower right corners of pages to help bookmark the current page.
-
-
Local file Local file
-
163
Early 20th century mail merge using a card index!
-
A very effective way of differentiation is themarking of the upper edge of the cards with ink,either its whole length or any portion of it.
This is similar to the idea of edge notched cards, but is done visually instead of cutting the cards. It's also seen in the Pile of Index Card method which uses a variety of marks on gridded cards.
-
A central registercertainly offers considerable advantages, it is a great saving incards and labour, the making of corrections which is a consider-able item is reduced to one register instead of many which in itsturn will reduce the percentage of errors to a minimum.
Luhmann's topical index was a form of a central register as he concatenated words on cards rather than having a separate card for each word.
-
It was said (76) that it isimpossible to devise a system wliich could be applied universally,the card registers give a very clear illustration of tliis.
This is a restatement that a particular system should be customized to its users.
There is potential that a system could be applied universally, but it requires a very large amount of data and metadata to suit the needs of a greater number of people and use cases. It also requires a reasonable amount of work in practical use to make it operate as expected.
The Mundaneum was likely close on paper and Google comes close to this, but still isn't perfect.
quote via ¶76 and 92
-
Devising Once a proper system has been devised, it requiresCard Systems
Devising Card Systems
Many modern-day note takers and knowledge workers might take solace in the broad advice provided by J. Kaiser in 1908. In describing some of the broad categories of uses of card index filing systems for business use he says that each entity "has its individual character and individual requirements, and its individual character" (ie, everyone is different and has different needs), therefore everyone "must devise [their] system in accordance with [their] own requirements" and should "be the best judge as to what these requirements are." He continues on in the rest of the book to outline a variety of suggestions and methods which one might use or adopt, but he doesn't dictate specific methods and leaves those decisions up to the end user.
When devising their own systems, one certainly ought to heed this advice when looking at a variety of alternative methods like Forte's P.A.R.A., Milo's LYT, or even in mimicking Luhmann's idiosyncratic Zettelkasten set up. Are these methods best for your particular use cases? Are they simple enough for what you want to do, or are they overly structured and complicated? The key is to be able to classify and file things quickly so that they can be easily accessed in the future, all the rest becomes additional details and overhead to support on an ongoing basis.
(¶76)
-
Elaborate library classifications were either inapplicable or much 74too complicated and therefore unmanageable. Their applicationto business was out of the question. Something simple, easy toimderstand and easy to handle was required. This was foundin the numerical arrangement. The numerical classification inspite of its arbitrary character will always have this advantagethat it ensures accuracy with the least trouble, and this is stillmore the case where large quantities are handled. It was quitenatural therefore that this should be preferred for business purposes.As there are many sets of things arranged numerically, it isnecessary to distinguish one set from the other, so as to know towhat set a given number refers. This is done by affixing dis-tinguishing initials to the numbers, each class being assigned somecharacteristic initial of its own.
In describing classification schemes for card index-based business uses, Julius Kaiser indicated in 1908 that "elaborate library classifications were either inapplicable or much too complicated and therefore unmanageable." This is in part because of the standardization of the Dewey Decimal System, which may have provided efficiencies for library systems, but proved too rigid for the idiosyncrasies of a variety of businesses. Instead he describes an alpha-numeric system in which numbers provide simple means of finding while the initial alphabetic codes assign specific office-related classes (correspondence, press cuttings, catalogs, etc.) to the indexed materials.
-
But by means of the cards, these materials canbe arranged and re-arranged in almost endless variety, we mayclassify them roughly or minutely, we may arrange them by thealphabet, by numbers, trades or professions, territories, we maylimit ourselves to certain trades or territories only
-
The card system has undoubtedly come to stayand will more and more replace the book system.
grin
-
It must not be forgotten that the directaim of the card system is : maximum of work with minimumof labour (60).
-
It will be seen from the foregoing that care isrequired in the appKcation of the card system,and that neglect must sooner or later lead to failure. There wasindeed a time when it seemed doubtful whether the card systemwould survive the first attempts. It was even tried and abandonedby some. These early failures were in the main due to the absenceof expert labour and to the higher order of accuracy required ascompared with the book system. The systems were not thenplanned out with that care that is bestowed upon them now. Onesystem would be started and presently there would be a decisionto alter it so as to fall in with riper experience. In the absenceof one system consistently adhered to the files soon got into achaotic condition until at last they had to be abandoned, for infact they had become useless.
This sort of failure is still seen today with people setting up note taking systems in a variety of digital environments.
-
It is there-fore to be expected that the initial cost of the card system is nota fair criterion of its cost when in working order.
Setting up and learning a note taking or card index system has a reasonably large up-front cost, but learning it well and being able to rely on it over long periods of time will eventually reap larger and cheaper long-term outcomes and benefits.
Unless changing systems creates dramatically larger improvements, the cost of change will surely swamp the benefits making the switch useless. This advice given by Kaiser is still as true today as it was in 1908, we tend not to think about the efficiency as much now as he may have then however and fall trap to shiny object syndrome.
-
Accuracy This is one of the chief claims of the card system. 63To increase accuracy in fUing, the materials arealways arranged numerically. We thereby approach as nearlyas possible to mathematical exactness. The advantages of thecard system become more and more apparejit as the files increasein bulk, and accuracy must remain a constant factor in aU workconnected with it. It will also bring its reward in the smoothworking of the files and the immediate accessibility of anythingrequired. In accuracy might be included consistency, which isindispensable for effective work (356).
In modern, digital settings, the work of approapriately indexing content is lost in exchange for other forms of organization (tagging, for example), this means one is less reliant on an index for looking up material and more reliant on concordance search of particular words within an ever-growing corpus of collected knowledge.
Over time and with scale, simple tagging may become overwhelming as a search method for finding the requisite material, even when one knows it exists.
As a result a repository may do better in the long run with a small handful of carefully applied rules from the start.
-
Labour saving therefore means systematic application of expertlabour.
This quote is broadly recognized in economic settings as true, but few in the knowledge management space place emphasis or focus on designing both simple systems which are easy to master and use on a regular, ongoing basis. This allows the knowledge worker the ability to more quickly (almost blindly) handle their indexing and filing operations so that things are precisely where they need them when required for use.
Poor design will not only decrease the ease of use, but also discourage the user from both efficiently using and benefiting from their systems.
Even simple and efficient filing systems require familiarity and expertise for them to effect useful gains to their users, and prove their effectiveness over time. If a user can't get to a basic level of functionality in short time, they're likely to give up on it and never see the ultimate benefits.
-
The development of the card system and itsmore universal adoption within recent years isundoubtedly due in the mail to the development in modernbusiness and factory organisation ; it may be regarded as anoffspring of manufacture in quantities. (Massenfabrikation, Gross-industrie.) The recognised principle in manufacture in quantities ismaximum of output with minimum of labour. The means to attainthis end is specialisation, which in its turn yields greater precisionand accuracy as it^ result. All this is equally applicable to thecard system, and the last factor, greater precision and accuracy,is one of its most conspicuous claims.
Julius Kaiser contemporaneously posits that mass manufacture and maximizing efficiency (greater output for minimum input) are the primary drivers of card index system use in the early 20th century. These also improve both precision and accuracy in handling information which allow for better company or factory operation, which would have been rising concerns for businesses and manufacturing operations at the rise of scientific management during the time period.
-
Card Each drawer should be provided with a catchDrawers
Given this date, he's potentially either giving advice to consumers about what to buy or manufacturers about how to design and improve their systems.
-
It requires but a moment's reflection to perceivethat even the vertical files with the correspondence binders arebut an imitation of a set of cards, on a larger scale. The set ofcards can fairly be regarded as the basis of the entire system,hence it is properly called the card system.
He notes the general equivalency of cards and papers in vertical files.
One of the primary affordances that individual atomic cards have is the ability to more easily re-arrange and reuse them for various purposes in comparison with larger sheets with greater amounts of data on them.
-
When the card guidesare also used for classification purposes (144) a specially strongguide should be selected, as their replacing entails a great dealof re-writing.
-
The quality of the cardshould correspond to the performances required of it. Cardsused for permanent registers or indexes should be of good strongquality, for temporary work a cheaper card can usually be employed.
Index card quality can be important for cards that are repeatedly used.
This admonition was more frequently attended to with respect to library card catalogs, but potentially less followed in personal use—Niklas Luhmann's self-cut paper slips which wore ragged over time come quickly to mind here.
-
All screws used on the face of the drawers should be sunk in.Round headed screws are apt to tear the skin of the fingers.
-
It is best to have the verticalcabinets and the card cabinets entirely separate.
I've seen some mixed cabinet in the early 1900s, but apparently by 1908, it was common practice to separate vertical filing cabinets and card cabinets.
-
The text in this book is numbered by paragraphs and where asubject is treated in more than one place, the numbers in bracketsindicate the additional paragraphs bearing on the subject underdiscussion.
¶5
The book is ostensibly in the form of a card index with numbers laid out in running order to create a book. The index is also done keyed to these paragraph numbers rather than by page as has traditionally been done.
As a result, one could cut up the book (or two copies to get both sides) and turn it back into a card index with very little work.
-
Volume 2 will be almost entirelydevoted to the work of indexing in the sense of analysing literatureand will go more fully into the question of classification and themanagement of guide cards. The present volume is confined asfar as practicable to the use of plain cards. Tabulated cards,methods of tabulating and the application of tabulated cards topractical business will be dealt with in volume 3, " The CardSystem at the Factory."
companion volumes treated the topics of "analysing literature" and the application of tabulated cards to practical business "at the Factory".
see: Kaiser, J. Systematic Indexing. The Card System Series 2. London: Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, Ltd., 1911. http://archive.org/details/systematicindexi00kaisuoft.
-
Office Organisation, of which the work here discussed forms part, 2has been considerably modified within recent years, and Avhatis called the " card system " has now come very much into vogue.
The nebulous, but colloquial "card system" was a common, but now lost moniker for the use of a card index in business settings in the early 1900s.
Tags
- zettelkasten for academia
- mail merge
- accuracy
- definitions
- universal systems
- card index vs. notebooks
- index card quality
- indexing
- card index for writing
- Julius Kaiser
- 1908
- zettelkasten
- scientific management
- card index manufacturing
- card guides
- note taking advice
- card index purpose
- specialization
- index cards vs vertical files
- index cards vs paper
- indexes
- card index as database
- precision
- the more things change the more they stay the same
- failure
- edge colored cards
- Pile of Index Cards
- card index abandonment
- rolodexes
- shiny object syndrome
- card index
- edge-notched cards
- card index for business
- card index why
- zettelkasten numbering affordances
- countersinking screws
- pouring out one's zettelkasten
- card system
- quote
- card index efficiency
- vertical filing cabinets
- registers
- perfect system fallacy
- card index affordances
- zettelkasten numbering
- categorization
- cost effectiveness
- card index expertise
- knowledge specialization
- expertise
- safety
- Niklas Luhmann's index
- historical linguistics
- screws
- taxonomies
- filing cabinets
- efficiency
- card index purchasing
- circulars
- Niklas Luhmann's zettelkasten
- concordances vs. subjective indexes
Annotators
-
-
-
His rescue story perfectly mimicked a popular Scottish ballad ofthe day in which the beautiful daughter of a Turkish prince rescues anEnglish adventurer who is about to lose his head.
Is this documented in the Child Ballads?
Compare with The Turkish Lady- Forget-me-Not Songster c.1845<br /> http://bluegrassmessengers.com/the-turkish-lady--forget-me-not-songster-c1845.aspx
The Turkish Lady https://mainlynorfolk.info/peter.bellamy/songs/theturkishlady.html
https://www.composers.com/composers/allan-blank/variations-turkish-lady <audio controls="controls" controlslist="nodownload"> <source src="http://acacomposers.s3.amazonaws.com/audio/andrewkohn-allanblank-variationsonturkishlady_-_excerpt.mp3" type="audio/mpeg"> </audio>
Young Beichan<br /> https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Beichan
Lord Bateman<br /> https://englishhistoryauthors.blogspot.com/2012/05/english-folk-songs-lord-bateman.html
-
-
pipdecks.com pipdecks.com
-
Also targeting business executives (via YouTube) as a storytelling deck: https://pipdecks.com/pages/storyteller-tactics-card-deck
Described as "expert knowledge in your back pocket", and sold as a "toolkit" with "practical step-by-step recipes", and "templates."
They offer 7 decks of tactics for Brand, Team, Storytelling, Innovation, Productivity, Team, Workshop, Strategy.
-
-
www.sherlockholmespodcast.com www.sherlockholmespodcast.com
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
'картотек' (card index), to find the relevant section (it's section 51. The fascination with index cards, p.68). This is pretty much the only part of the booklet that discusses index cards, though.
card index in Russian is 'картотек'
-
-
qnnnp.medium.com qnnnp.medium.com
-
-
-
Paul Otlet, another great information visionary, to create a worldwide database for allsubjects.
Otlet's effort was more than a "database for all subjects", wasn't it? This seems a bit simplistic.
-
Burke, Colin B. Information and Intrigue: From Index Cards to Dewey Decimals to Alger Hiss. History and Foundations of Information Science. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2014. https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262027021/information-and-intrigue/
annotation URL: urn:x-pdf:3ca2bc5e94d24cfc51c7b40b4ea7daf9
-
- Feb 2024
-
Local file Local file
-
Duncan, Dennis. Index, A History of the: A Bookish Adventure from Medieval Manuscripts to the Digital Age. 1st ed. London: Allen Lane, 2021. https://wwnorton.com/books/9781324002543.
annotation link: urn:x-pdf:a4bd1877f0712efcc681d33d58777e55
-
Only the largepelican, squatting in the trees, can break the connection, a symbol ofbad audience, staring insolently, resolutely offstage. But she is beinggradually struck out, her colours fading as the original red and giltborders reassert themselves reprimandingly from beneath, themanuscript exacting a slow punishment for the sin of inattention.
Dennis Duncan completely misreads this image of Grosseteste and the Pelican which appears in the Lambeth Palace Library's MS 522 of The Castle of love. (for image see: https://hypothes.is/a/RzHLjsz8Ee6dZLOTV5h65Q)
Duncan identifies Grosseteste's pose with his hand raised and his index finger extended as "the classic gesture of the storyteller." In fact, the bishop is pointing directly up at the pelican which sits just on top of the frame of the illuminated scene. This pelican is elevated above and just beyond the scene of the image because it represents, as was common in the time period, the suffering of Christ.
Bestiaries of the age commonly depicted the "pelican in her piety" which was noted by Isidore of Seville in his Etymologies (Book 12, 7:26) from the 7th century, a text which heavily influenced many of these bestiaries. It was also thought at the time that the insatiable and rapacious pelican ate lizards and crocodiles (or lived off of them); as these were associated with snakes and by way of the story of the Garden of Eden the devil, they were also further associated with Christ and driving sin out of the world.
Thus the image is more appropriately read in its original context as Grosseteste giving a sermon about the suffering of Christ who is represented by a pelican floating above the scene being depicted.
Tags
- Robert Grosseteste
- pelicans
- MS 522 Lambeth Palace Library
- pelican in her piety
- symbolic gestures
- storytelling
- zettelkasten
- indices
- index finger
- Dennis Duncan
- symbolism
- piety
- history
- card index as database
- References
- suffering
- pelican Christ symbolism
- card index
- intellectual history
- digital age
- Château d'amour
Annotators
-
-
Local file Local file
-
The authors made one serious mistake, however. Although theyhad taken great pains to be sure that within their massive workevery book and manuscript stored in their building was representedby a three-by- ve page, and often by several pages, describing it,they had forgotten to devote any page, anywhere, to the very book
that they had themselves been writing all those years.
Baker describes the library card catalog as a massive book made up of 3 x 5 inch pages describing all the other books. Sadly he laments, they never bothered to catalog this meta-book itself.
-
he very degree of wornness ofcertain cards that you once ipped to daily but now perhaps do not—since that author is drunk and forgotten or that magazine editorhas been red and now makes high-end apple chutneys inBinghamton—constitutes signi cant information about what partsof the Rolodex were of importance to you over the years.
The wear of cards can be an important part of your history with the information you handle.
Luhmann’s slips show some of this sort of wear as well, though his show it to extreme as he used thinner paper than the standard index card so some of his slips have incredibly worn/ripped/torn tops more than any grime. Many of my own books show that grime layer on the fore-edge in sections which I’ve read and re-read.
One of my favorite examples of this sort of wear through use occurs in early manuscripts (usually only religious ones) where readers literally kissed off portions of illuminations when venerating the images in their books. Later illuminators included osculation targets to help prevent these problems. (Cross reference: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370119878_Touching_Parchment_How_Medieval_Users_Rubbed_Handled_and_Kissed_Their_Manuscripts_Volume_1_Officials_and_Their_Books)
(syndication link: https://boffosocko.com/2024/02/04/55821315/#comment-430267)
-
Would it bestretching things too much, you suddenly wonder, to call yourRolodex a form of autobiography—a manuscript that you have beenwriting these fteen years, tinkering with, revising?
-
-
www.knapeandvogt.com www.knapeandvogt.com
-
Manufacturer of index followers
-
-
www.amazon.com www.amazon.com
-
www.leevalley.com www.leevalley.com
-
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/hardware/storage-and-organization/files/69118-index-followers
Listed as an "Index Follower". Looks to be the same model as https://www.wwhardware.com/catalog/product/view/_ignore_category/1/id/3588/s/kv-index-follower-and-track-kv047/
-
-
www.lapl.org www.lapl.org
-
The smallest collection of card catalogs is near the librarian’s information desk in the Social Science/Philosophy/Religion department on lower level three. It is rarely used and usually only by librarians. It contains hundreds of cards that reflect some of the most commonly asked questions of the department librarians. Most of the departments on the lower levels have similar small collections. Card catalog behind the reference desk on lower level three, photo credit: Tina Lernø
-
The surname Index for the library’s genealogy includes 315 drawers of about 750 cards each for a total of more than 236,250 cards patrons can use when they visit the History/Map/Travel section, photo credit: Diana Rosen
-
-
www.levenger.com www.levenger.com
-
https://www.levenger.com/products/vintage-library-catalog-cards-set-of-50?variant=43444256243861
These don't have the pre-drilled holes, but at least are still offered, though at the price gouging cost of $14.50 for 50 (in 2024).
Cost per card: $0.29
-
-
www.levenger.com www.levenger.com
-
https://www.levenger.com/products/card-catalog-box?variant=43007544066197
A bit on the small side, but has a built in pen holder:
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
u/enabeh and u/Busy-Feeling-1413 interested in zettelkasten pedagogy
-
-
Local file Local file
-
Francis March also helped with the etymologies inWilliam Dwight Whitney’s Century Dictionary (1889–91) and IsaacFunk’s Standard Dictionary of the English Language (first volume publishedin 1893).
-
during theyears that Leslie Stephen contributed to the OED, he started his owncrowdsourced project, the Dictionary of National Biography (DNB). Just asMurray’s Dictionary traced the lives of thousands of words, Stephen’sdictionary traced the lives of thousands of people who made a notable impacton British history. Stephen invited 653 people to write 29,120 articles. Sixty-three volumes comprising 29,108 pages were published, the first volume in1885 and the last in 1900. The DNB is still going today, under the aegis ofOxford University Press, and it now covers the lives of 55,000 people.
Presumably this dictionary also used a card index for collection? (check...)
-
Readers were asked to choose words they considered ‘rare’ and the choice ofthese words was random – they were not guided by Murray on what wasneeded. This resulted in a dearth of quotations for common words whichultimately had to be found by Murray and his assistants. In the first part of theDictionary alone, ‘nearly the whole quotations for about, after, all, also, and,in Part I, and for any, as, in Part II, have had to be found by myself and myassistants’, he explained to the Philological Society. If he had his time again,he said that he would have directed his Readers differently, with theinstructions, ‘Take out quotations for all words that do not strike you as rare,peculiar, or peculiarly used.’
-
By the time the OED project commenced, Europe already had majordictionaries under way or completed in German, French, Italian, Russian, andDutch, all of which were taking advantage of the new methodologies ofContinental philology. In Germany, the Brothers Grimm had begun theDeutsches Wörterbuch in 1838. In France, Émile Littré had begun theDictionnaire de la langue française in 1841 (a dictionary of post-1600French). In the Netherlands, Matthias de Vries had begun Woordenboek derNederlandsche Taal in 1852 (a dictionary of post-medieval Dutch).
Oxford English Dictionary (1857 - )
-
There was a dramatic wall of vastnumbers of slips, or ‘zettel’, hanging from long nails.
The Grimmwelt Museum in Kassel, Germany is the home of some of the work of Grimm Brothers work on the Deutsches Wörterbuch which features a large wall of zettel or slips hanging from long nails.
The slips hanging on nails sounds similar to Thomas Harrison's 1740's wooden cabinet of hanging slips used for excerpts and isn't far off from the organizational structure used by the subsequent Oxford English Dictionary's pigeonhole system of organization for their slip collection.
-
The volunteer ‘Readers’ were instructed to write out the words andsentences on small 4 x 6-inch pieces of paper, known as ‘slips’.
Volunteer 'Readers' for the Oxford English Dictionary were encouraged to write down interesting headwords along with their appearances in-situ along with the associated bibliographical information. The recommended paper size was 4 x 6-inch pieces of paper which were commonly called 'slips'.
(Double check this against the historical requests from James Murray.)
-
Ogilvie, Sarah. The Dictionary People: The Unsung Heroes Who Created the Oxford English Dictionary. 1st ed. New York: Knopf, 2023. https://amzn.to/3Un0sv9.
Read from 2023-12-04 to 2024-02-01
Annotation URL: urn:x-pdf:c95483c701c7fc677e89f2c44f98a30b
Tags
- card index for dictionaries
- 4 x 6" index cards
- collector's fallacy
- Oxford English Dictionary
- Leslie Stephen
- Thomas Harrison's Ark of Studies
- Dictionary of National Biography (DNB)
- etymology
- Oxford English Dictionary zettelkasten
- read
- dictionaries
- Sarah Ogilvie
- zettelkasten for lexicography
- 1889
- Grimmwelt Museum
- 1893
- Isaac Funk
- zettelkasten examples
- William Dwight Whitney
- Francis March
- open questions
- historical linguistics
- Dictionnaire de la langue française
- Deutsches Wörterbuch (DWB)
- Woordenboek der Nederlandsche Taal
- Deutsches Wörterbuch zettelkasten
- philology
- XIX
- slips
Annotators
-
-
www.newyorker.com www.newyorker.com
-
Michael Macdonald amassed a vast collection of photographs of these texts and launched a digital Safaitic database, with the help of Laïla Nehmé, a French archeologist and one of the world’s leading experts on early Arabic inscriptions. “When we started working, Michael’s corpus was all on index cards,” Nehmé recalled. “With the database, you could search for sequences of words across the whole collection, and you could study them statistically. It worked beautifully.”
-
-
www.demco.com www.demco.com
-
https://www.demco.com/demco-reg-permalife-catalog-cards
The old school Library of Congress card catalog cards with the red ruling.
-
-
findingaids.lib.umich.edu findingaids.lib.umich.edu
-
-
-
https://pages.oup.com/ol/cus/1646173949115570121/submit-words-and-evidence-to-the-oed
The modern day digital version of an OED contribution slip includes database fields for the following:
- Submission type (new word or sense of a word; information about origin/etymology; other)
- the word or phrase itself
- the part of speech (noun, verb, adjective, other)
- pronunciation (recording, IPA, rhyming words, etc.)
- the definition or sense number as defined in the OED
- quotation evidence with full text, and bibliographical references/links)
- additional notes
Only the first two fields are mandatory.
-
- Jan 2024
-
writing.bobdoto.computer writing.bobdoto.computer
-
Having at most four references to notes containing the same keyword (in an archive of sixty thousand notes / ZK II), the austerity of the keyword index's entries speaks to Luhmann's appreciation of meandering through relationships rather than searching for exact "hits."
re: open question about Luhmann's index at https://hypothes.is/a/NSo4ArxzEe6ElC-Cg7ex8g
Per personal communication with Bob Doto, the reference here about 4 references at most comes from:
Schmidt "serendipity":
"the file’s keyword index makes no claim to providing a complete list of all cards in the collection that refer to a specific term. Rather, Luhmann typically listed only one to four places where the term could be found in the file, the idea being that all other relevant entries in the collection could be quickly identified via the internal system of references described above."
-
Having at most four references to notes containing the same keyword (in an archive of sixty thousand notes / ZK II), the austerity of the keyword index's entries speaks to Luhmann's appreciation of meandering through relationships rather than searching for exact "hits."
Source for the claim of "at most four references"?
I could believe this on first blush, but has his archive done this work?
-
-
uni-bielefeld.de uni-bielefeld.de
-
Contrary to the subject index of a book, the file’s keywordindex makes no claim to providing a complete list of all cards in the collection that refer to a specific term.Rather, Luhmann typically listed only one to four places where the term could be found in the file, theidea being that all other relevant entries in the collection could be quickly identified via the internal sys-tem of references described above
According to Schmidt, Luhmann's index typically had "only one to four places where [a] term could be found in the file" indicating among a total of 3,450 indexed topics just how sparse his index was for 90,000 cards.
-
Whereas the index to the first collection was still of fairly manageable size with its 1,250 entries, thecontinuous updates of the index — as another part of the data base maintenance — to the second col-lection18 ultimately resulted in 3,200 entries.
Niklas Luhmann's ZKI had 1,250 entries in the index and ZKII had 3,200 entries.
-
-
forum.zettelkasten.de forum.zettelkasten.de
-
Chris, I read it some 40 years ago when as a school boy I began with my Zettelkasten journey. It is about the technique as well as the intellectuell framework behind it and was surely pointed to business aspects as well as running the civil service but also outspoken to the worker of the mind, the scientist and philosopher. Filing and indexing is crucial to all of these varied aspects of cultural life. But don't expect hitherto unknown magical practices to be revealed. It was commune practice then and you could find handbooks on indexing and filing in organisations also in America and England at that time. The new found way of personal knowlegde management just doesn't know about its predecessors with pen, ink, typewriter and other unbeliefable tricks.
quote from Martin <br /> https://forum.zettelkasten.de/discussion/comment/19435#Comment_19435 on 2024-01-28
-
-
writingslowly.com writingslowly.com
-
I've sketched it out elsewhere but let's memorialize the broad strokes here because we're inspired at the moment... come back later and add in quotes from Luhmann and other sources (@Heyde1931).
Luhmann was balancing the differences between topically arranged commonplaces and the topical nature of the Dewey Decimal System (a standardized version across thousands of collections) and building neighborhoods of related ideas.
One of the issues with commonplace books, is planning them out in advance. How might you split up a notebook for long term use to create easy categories when you don't know how much room to give each in advance? (If you don't believe me, stop by r/commonplacebooks where you're likely to see this question pop up several times this year.) This issue is remedied when John Locke suggests keeping commonplaces in chronological order of their appearance and cross-indexing them.
This creates a new problem of a lot of indexing and increased searching over time as the commonplace book scales. Translating to index cards complicates things because they're unattached and can potentially move about, so they don't have the anchor effectuated by their being bound up in a notebook. But being on slips allows them to be more easily shuffled, rearranged, and even put into outlines, which are all fantastic affordances when looking for creativity or scaffolding things out into an article or book for creation.
As a result, numbering slips creates a solid anchor by which the cards can be placed and always returned for later finding and use. But how should we number them? Should it be with integers and done chronologically? (1, 2, 3, ..., n) This is nice, but makes a mish-mash of things and doesn't assist much in indexing or finding.
Why not go back to Dewey, which has been so popular? But not Dewey in the broadest sense of using numbers to tie ideas to concrete categories. An individual's notes are idiosyncratic and it would be increasingly rare for people to have the same note, much less need a standardized number for it (and if they were standardized, who does that work and how is it distributed so everyone could use it?) No, instead, let's just borrow the decimal structure of Dewey's system. One of the benefits of his decimal structure is that an infinity of new books can be placed on ever-expanding bookshelves without needing to restructure the numbering system. Just keep adding decimal places onto the end when necessary. This allows for immense density when necessary. But, importantly, it also provides some fantastic level of serendipity.
Let's say you go to learn about geometry, so you look up the topic in your trusty library card catalog. Do you really need to look at the hundreds of records returned? Probably not. You only need the the Dewey Decimal Number 516. Once you're at the shelves, you can browse through that section to see what's there and interesting in the space. You might also find things on the shelves above or below 516 and find the delights of topology and number theory or abstract algebra and real analysis. Subjects you might not necessarily have had in mind will suddenly present themselves for your consideration. Even if your initial interest may have been in Zhongmin Shen's Lectures on Finsler geometry (516.375), you might also profitably walk away with James E. Humphreys' Introduction to Lie Algebras and Representation Theory (512.55).
So what happens if we use these decimal numbers for our notes? First we will have the ability to file things between and amongst each other to infinity. By filing things closest to things which seem related to each other, we'll create neighborhoods of ideas which can easily grow over time. Related ideas will stay together while seemingly related ideas on first blush may slowly grow away from each other over time as even more closely related ideas move into the neighborhood between them. With time and careful work, you'll have not only a breadth of ideas, but a massive depth of them too.
The use of decimal numbering provides us with a few additional affordances:
1 (Neighborhoods of ideas) 1.1 combinatorial creativity Neighborhoods of ideas can help to fuel combinatorial creativity and forge new connections as well as insight over time. 1.2 writing One might take advantage of these growing neighborhoods to create new things. Perhaps you've been working for a while and you see you have a large number of cards in a particular area. You can, to some extent, put your hand into your box and grab a tranche of notes. By force of filing, these notes are going to be reasonably related, which means you should be able to use them to write a blog post, an article, a magazine piece, a chapter, or even an entire book (which may require a few fistfuls, as necessary.)
2 (Sparse indexing) We don't need to index each and every single topic or concept into our index. Because we've filed things nearby, if a new card about Finsler geometry relates to another and we've already indexed the first under that topic, then we don't need to index the second, because our future selves can easily rely on the fact that if we're interested in Finsler geometry in the future, we can look that up in the index, and go to that number where we're likely to see other cards related to the topic as well as additional serendipitous ideas related to them in that same neighborhood.
You may have heard that as Luhmann progressed on his decades long project, broadly on society and within the area of sociology, he managed to amass 90,000 index cards. How many do you suppose he indexed under the topic of sociology? Certainly he had 10s of thousands relating to his favorite subject, no? Of course he did, but what would happen over time as a collection grows? Having 20,000 indexed entries about sociology doesn't scale well for your search needs. Even 10 indexed entries may be a bit overwhelming as once you find a top level card, hundreds to thousands around it are going to be related. 10 x 100 = 1,000 cards to flip through. So if you're indexing, be conservative. In the roughly 45 years of creating 90,000 slips, Luhmann only indexed two cards with the topic of "sociology". If you look through his index, you'll find that most of his topical entries only have pointers to one or two cards, which provide an entryway into those topics which are backed up with dozens to hundreds of cards on related topics. In rarer, instances you might find three or four, but it's incredibly rare to find more than that.
Over time, one will find that, for the topics one is most interested in, the number of ideas and cards will grown without bound. Here it makes sense to use more and more specific topics (tags, categories, taxonomies) all of which are each also sparsely indexed. Ultimately one finds that in the limit, the categories get so fractionalized that the closest category one idea has with another is the fact that they're juxtaposed closely by number. The of the decimal expansion might say something about the depth or breadth of the relationship between ideas.
Something else arises here. At first one may have the tendency to associate their numbers with topical categories. This is only natural as it's a function at which humans all excel. But are those numbers really categories after a few weeks? Probably not. Treat them only as address numbers or GPS coordinates to be able to find your way. Your sociology section may quickly find itself with invasive species of ideas from anthropology and archaeology as well as history. If you treat all your ideas only at the topical level, they'll be miles away from where you need them to be as the smallest level atomic ideas collide with each other to generate new ideas for you. Naturally you can place them further away if you wish and attempt to bridge the distance with links to numbers in other locations, but I suspect you'll find this becomes pretty tedious over time and antithetical when it comes time to pull out a handful and write something. It's fantastically easier to pull out a several dozen and begin than it is to go through and need to pull out linked cards in a onesy-twosies manner or double check with your index to make sure you've gotten the most interesting bits. This becomes even more important as your collection scales.
-
-
-
https://cultpens.com/products/exacompta-white-5-x-3-125-x-75-record-cards-pack-of-100
These are surprisingly inexpensive here at CultPens.com! They don't seem to have the larger 100x150s though.
-
-
jillianhess.substack.com jillianhess.substack.com
-
one of King’s note cards on the Old Testament’s Book of Amos which includes the linesBut let judgment run down as waters, and righteousness as a mighty stream. These lines would feature in many of King’s speeches—including his famous “I Have a Dream Speech,” where King said: …we will not be satisfied until justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness like a mighty stream.
Some of King's note cards later figured in his speeches including his "I Have a Dream" speech.
-
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
climate change performance index
for - resource - climate change performance index - how well a city is adapted to the climate crisis
-
-
pileofindexcards.org pileofindexcards.org
-
Hawk Sugano uses a wastebook-like process to take contemporaneous notes in a pocket notebook and later transfers the ideas to index cards for follow up and filing.
-
-
pileofindexcards.org pileofindexcards.org
-
Nearly 5 years ago, I read Watanabe Shoichi‘s “知的生活の方法 (Chiteki seikatsu no houhou = A way to intellectual life)”. His episode was very first time I realize what is card system, and it is used in academic world for long time.
Hawk Sugano was introduced to index cards circa 2001 by means of Watanabe Shoichi's book “知的生活の方法” (A Method of Intellectual Life".
-
-
pileofindexcards.org pileofindexcards.org
-
You can order Correct’s indexcard, dock, and Kokuyo’s fieldnote via the Service page.
Hawk Sugano apparently offered the Pile of Index Cards as a physical product offering by combining Correct's index card dock and Kokuyo's fieldnotes in late December 2006.
-
-
pileofindexcards.org pileofindexcards.org
-
https://web.archive.org/web/20170321222822/http://pileofindexcards.org/blog/cluster/
Hawk Sugano's archived Pile of Index Cards website for exploration.
-
-
bavatuesdays.com bavatuesdays.com
-
I could totally see this UI with a video generated version of Niklas Luhmann answering questions using the training set of notes in his online zettelkasten at https://niklas-luhmann-archiv.de/bestand/zettelkasten/tutorial
syndication link: https://bavatuesdays.com/ai106-long-live-the-new-flesh/comment-page-1/#comment-388943
-
-
oblivion.university oblivion.university
-
https://oblivion.university/
ᔥ[[Jim Groom]] in AI106: Long Live the New Flesh
-
-
web.archive.org web.archive.org
-
https://web.archive.org/web/20240000000000*/next-action.net
Archive pages for Aki Oda's website next-action.net
-
-
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
-
https://flickr.com/photos/hawkexpress/275215540/
Fascinating commentary here
-
-
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
-
https://www.flickr.com/photos/aki_oda/albums/72157606070587225/
Another writer in Japan using the Pile of Index Cards method with visualizations in Flickr.
-
-
vielmetti.wordpress.com vielmetti.wordpress.com
-
read [[Edward Vielmetti]] in Index Cards, Anne Lamott, from Bird By Bird
-
-
communicationnation.blogspot.com communicationnation.blogspot.com
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
www.derstandard.de www.derstandard.de
-
Überblicksartikel über klimapolitische Fort- und Rückschritte 2023, besonders zu Großbritannien, Schweden, den Niederlanden und China. Ausführlich wird auf Maßnahmen der britischen und schwedischen Regierung eingegangen, die die bisherige konsequente Klimapolitik deutlich verwässern. https://www.derstandard.de/story/3000000188940/war-2023-ein-jahr-der-klimapolitischen-rueckschritte
-
-
www.literatureandlatte.com www.literatureandlatte.com
-
In Scrivener, every section of your project is attached to a virtual index card. Scrivener’s corkboard lets you step back and work with just the synopses you’ve written on the cards—and when you move them, you’re rearranging your manuscript at the same time.
-
-
zettelkasten.de zettelkasten.de
-
each sub-portion has its own topology. The index is decentralized in nature, while the bibliographical section/notes are all somewhat centralized in form.
I imagine this diversity of structure is what made Luhmann's slipbox so potent. In an ecosystem, neither an arboreal root system nor a mycorrhizal network are enough to stage nutrient flow; they must intertwine with each other.—oxytonic on 2024-01-08
Luhmann's system wasn't very unique (really only in his filing system) compared with the thousands of others in use at the time or for centuries prior. The more interesting space of intertwining is between the ideas in the box and those held in memory and worked on in coordination with the brain. Too many get wrapped up in his physically visible box and forget the work done by the by the "invisible" brain.
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
827Posted byu/Loose_Buy62922 years agoArchivedComments are lockedNeed to dump the Flylady .t3_qgy51n._2FCtq-QzlfuN-SwVMUZMM3 { --postTitle-VisitedLinkColor: #edeeef; --postTitleLink-VisitedLinkColor: #6f7071; --postBodyLink-VisitedLinkColor: #6f7071; } Rant / VentI have always used the Flylady's system, until seeing her video on youtube last night, 'It's Time'. She went full-on Chriatian Nationalist Q whacko conspiracy theorist. I was SHOCKED. Praising Jim Caviesel and comparing him to Jesus, after watching his recent rant that was laced with violence and conspiracy junk. He is crazy, and she was crying over how wonderful he is. Deifying him in an uncomfortable way. It was all terrifying and overwhelming.Is there someone else who has a similar system? I don't want to support her business anymore.
Wowzers!
-
-
de.wikipedia.org de.wikipedia.org
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
X17-Mind-Papers - die Wiederentdeckung der Karteikarte<br /> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxZMia35usc
Mind Papers has a variety of small leather covers (folders) with binder clips for storing one's note cards. They range from smaller than A7 up to A5 sizes.
They're broadly reminiscent of smaller versions of the Everbook, though I suspect these came first given the 2014 post date.
-
-
thetodaysystem.com thetodaysystem.com
-
https://betterhumans.pub/i-built-my-own-personal-productivity-system-around-a-3-x-5-index-card-147d7a8d83de
Melange of GTD, card index, and gamification....
Update 2024-01-04: I knew I had heard/seen this system before, but not delved into it deeply. I hadn't seen anyone either using it or refer to it by name in the wild until yesterday. All the prior mentions were people sharing the URLs as a thing rather than as something they used.
-
-
thetodaysystem.com thetodaysystem.com
-
The Today System:
A simple, yet scalable personal productivity system, centered around a single 3 x 5″ index card.
used by u/runslack
-
-
-
FireKing File Cabinet, 1-Hour Fire Protection, 6-Drawer, Small Document Size, 31" Deep<br /> https://www.filing.com/FireKing-Card-Check-Note-Cabinet-6-Drawer-p/6-2552-c.htm
A modern index card catalog filing solution with locks and fireproofing offered by FireKing for $6,218.00 with shipment in 2-4 weeks. 6 Drawers with three sections each. Weighs 860 lbs.
at 0.0072" per average card, with filing space of 25 15/16" per section with 18 sections, this should hold 64,843 index cards.
-
-
shop.canvascorpbrands.com shop.canvascorpbrands.com
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
https://www.reddit.com/r/antinet/comments/18omqgt/a_no_coding_required_alternative_to_printing_your/
Instructions and a method for printing out Obsidian notes onto index cards.
-
- Dec 2023
-
flickr.com flickr.com
-
Licenses : You are free to share all of my pictures under the Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 2.0. The PoIC, as a software, is free to modify and/or redistribute under the GNU General Public License v3.0.
Hawk considered PoIC a "software" and licensed it as such. :)
-
-
www.avery.com www.avery.com
-
Avery Templates for 4 x 6" products:
- Avery 8386 postcards 2 per sheet (template compatibility 5889)
- Avery 5292 Shipping Labels 1 per Sheet White (template compatibility 5454, 5614)
- Avery 5454 Print or Write Multi-Use Labels 6" x 4" 1 per Sheet White (template compatibility 5292, 5614)
- Avery 5389 Postcards 4" x 6" 2 per Sheet White (template compatibility 15389)
-
-
archive.org archive.org
-
White highlights the ability to easily shuffle and reshuffle cards in a variety of orders (alphabetical, by source type) and this is one of the benefits of using note cards. (p51)
-
Ron White recommends taking notes on 3 x 5 inch index cards. One should place the Dewey Decimal or Library of Congress catalog number in the upper left of their bibliography card and in the upper right corner one should number their cards consecutively (1, 2, 3, etc.). White indicates the importance of these numbers is primarily that they are unique, presumably so one can refer to them or reorder them if they are put out of order. (p46-7)
-
-
web.archive.org web.archive.org
-
https://web.archive.org/web/20170321132112/http://pileofindexcards.org/blog/
Hawk Sugano's blog Pile of Index Cards
-
-
web.archive.org web.archive.org
-
It was written in a book that 5x3 cards have an aspect ratio close to the golden ratio (1.618) .
-
the 2ch site that inspired Hawk Sugano's Pile of Index Cards method
ᔥ[[hawkexpress]] in How to link between Cards
-
-
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
-
Hawk Sugano's Pile of Index Cards method is laid out visually in his Flickr account using photos of several of his cards along with descriptions of what each is for and how they work.
These include: 0. PoIC Format/Template 1. Record Card 2. Discovery Card 3. GTD Card 4. Cite Card 5. How to link between cards
-
<small><cite class='h-cite via'>ᔥ <span class='p-author h-card'>Manfred Kuehn</span> in Taking note: Luhmann's Zettelkasten (<time class='dt-published'>08/06/2021 00:16:23</time>)</cite></small>
Note the use of the edge highlighted taxonomy system used on these cards:
Similar to the so called high five indexing system I ran across recently.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkexpress/albums/72157594200490122/
-
-
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
-
Record Card Icon : CircleTag : 2nd block Diary, note, account, health, weather, cook, any kind of records about us belong to this class. An individual record is so tiny and less informative. However, from view point of long time span, these records provide us a useful information because we will find a certain "pattern" between them. A feedback from the pattern improves our daily life.
-
-
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
-
How to link between Cards The "date" and "time" stamp of a cards define their "absolute name". This is why the time stamp must be unique, but not necessary to be accurate. In addition, it is easy to find a specific card, according to the stamp, if all cards are kept in chronological order. This technique was first introduced on the 2-channel.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkexpress/192480328/in/album-72157594200490122/
The PoIC system allows linking of cards using date/timestamps for indexing/finding. Interestingly they were all kept in chronological order rather than in idea order as in Luhmann's zettelkasten.
What are the pros/cons of this?<br /> - more searching and hunting through cards certainly is a drawback for lack of "threaded" ideas - others...
hawkexpress apparently learned this technique on the 2-channel.
(Edited 2022-10-13, 2023-12-27)
-
-
pileofindexcards.org pileofindexcards.org
-
Actually, I put time stamp for all document I write/copy/printout. Sometimes a rubber stamp is useful.
-
-
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
-
4. Cite Card Icon : Hat (something above you)Tag : 5th block Quotation, cooking recipe from book, web, tv, anything about someone else’s idea is classified into this class. Important here is distinguishing “your idea (Discovery Card)” and “someone else’s idea (Cite Card)”. Source of the information must be included in the Cite Card. A book, for example, author, year, page(s) are recorded for later use.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkexpress/189972899/in/album-72157594200490122/
Despite being used primarily as a productivity tool the PoIC system also included some features of personal knowledge management with "discovery cards" and "citation cards". Discovery cards were things which contained one's own ideas while the citation cards were the ideas of others and included bibliographic information. Citation cards were tagged on the 5th block as an indicator within the system.
Question: How was the information material managed? Was it separate from the date-based system? On first blush it would appear not, nor was there a subject index which would have made it more difficult for one to find data within the system.
-
-
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
-
0. PoIC Format Move your mouse over the picture. This is the basic of PoIC Fromat. It is consisted from Tag, Icon, Title, Date and Time Stamp, and Contents. After several trial, you will remember this format easily. It's virtual template. You can start PoIC with blank card, anytime, anywhere. In this universe, there are only four class of information : Record, Discovery, GTD, and Cite.
Introduction to the Pile of Index Cards method.
-
-
www.flickr.com www.flickr.com
-
Discovery Card Icon : Electric Bulb (lightning)Tag : 3rd block Things from my brain, mind, spirit, anything emerge from inside me, are classified into this class. This is the most important and enjoyable cards among the Four Cards. You will see your discoveries emerges in your mind like a water from spring. In fact, the 80% of index cards in my dock is dominated by this Discovery Card.
These are more similar to zettelkasten and commonplacing traditions. They comprise the majority of the system.
-
-
web.hypothes.is web.hypothes.is
-
- 1、牛腱子1.4kg泡水三个小时,加入酱油270g放入冰箱隔夜腌渍; 2拿出腌渍了一晚的牛腱子,和酱油一起倒入锅中,加入凉水没过牛腱子,开火煮,撇血沫; 3、加入花椒、八角、桂皮、草果、香叶、陈皮、山楂、干辣椒和; 4、加入甜面酱160g,洋葱60g,生姜42g,豆腐乳25g,水开后尝味道,根据自己口味添加盐; 5、小火炖煮两个小时十五分钟,用筷子插入牛腱子,能穿过就可以了,关火然后把牛腱子直接放在锅子里等汤汁凉了之后再盛出来,放入冰箱; 6冰箱里取出切片,开吃! Ps:炖肉汤不要倒掉,可以拿来做牛肉米线或者继续卤制其他食物!
-
- 盖碗1:50 杯泡1:100,先热被人,泡开叶,倒满。
-
ujjj
-
-
www.psychologytoday.com www.psychologytoday.com
-
A file card system took up an entire wall. It included records of previous games for endless analytical pleasure and even an index of potential competitors' tournament histories.
-
-
www.bstephen.me.uk www.bstephen.me.uk
-
There will be errors in MESON – those I have copied from books, magazines and the card collections I have access to, those I have copied from the other free online databases and those I have perpetrated myself. If you find an error, do contact me about it, quoting the problem ids (PIDs).
MESON is comprised in part of card index collections of chess problems and puzzles.
-
http://www.bstephen.me.uk/meson/meson.pl?opt=top MESON Chess Problem Database
Compiled using a variety of sources including card indexes.
found via
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>As for the Pirnie collection, not counted it, but I am slowly going through it for my online #ChessProblem database: https://t.co/eTDrPnX09b . Also going through several boxes of the White-Hume Collection which I have.
— Brian Stephenson (@bstephen2) August 5, 2020
-
-
twitter.com twitter.com
-
Brian Stephenson@bstephen2·Aug 4, 2020The Pirnie Collection of #ChessProblem s is index cards in Clark's shoe boxes and is held in my house. The late JP Toft created a huge card database of #ChessProblem s in Scandinavia and is now held in a public library.
-
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
It Took Decades To Create This Chess Puzzle Database (30 Thousand), 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9craX0M_2A.
A chess School named after Genrikh Kasparyan (alternately Henrik Kasparian) houses his card index of chess puzzles with over 30,000 cards.
The cards are stored in stacked wooden trays in a two door cabinet with 4 shelves.
There are at least 23 small wooden trays of cards pictured in the video, though there are possibly many more. (Possibly as many as about 35 based on the layout of the cabinet and those easily visible.)
Kasparyan's son Sergei donated the card index to the chess school.
Each index card in the collection, filed in portrait orientation, begins with the name of the puzzle composer, lists its first publication, has a chess board diagram with the pieces arranges, and beneath that the solution of the puzzle. The cards are arranged alphabetically by the name of the puzzle composer.
The individual puzzle diagrams appear to have been done with a stamp of the board done in light blue ink with darker blue (or purple?) and red inked stamped pieces arranged on top of it.
ᔥu/ManuelRodriguez331 in r/Zettelkasten - Chess players are memorizing games with index cards
-
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxsCVEBM510<br /> How To Use An Antinet Zettelkasten For Personal Growth by Haile Rene on 2023-12-21<br /> featured on Scott P. Scheper (channel)
Video intro for Soul Cards book...
ugh...
-
-
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGGQNqBaFDA<br /> Homekeeping Schedule by FindingKellyAnn<br /> posted Jul 25, 2013
Example of a user's Sidetracked Home Executives card index.
Includes a section of notes she took on a book at one time. She used it for a while and reported that it was successful, but she no longer uses it and has a binder method instead.
-
-
www.ebay.com www.ebay.com
-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/305300436363
Vintage Imperial card catalog for 5 x 8" index cards
Listed for auction in December 2023. After 14 bids, sold for $158.50 on 2023-12-11. Seems rare for these to actually sell by auction.
Cost per drawer: $39.63.
-
-
-
Wish You Were Here - The “Great Lakes” Edition from Field Notes Brand https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFemm4LjJbY
The Newberry Library in Chicago, IL, maintains a collection of the Curt Teich & Co.'s Art-Colortone postcards from 1898 onward. It's stored in tab divided boxes using an alpha-numeric system generally comprising a series of three letters followed by three numbers. The company sold over a billion of these postcards.
-
-
archive.org archive.org
-
I accomplished a couple of other things on that first day back into reality. First, with an evil Grinch-like smile | uprooted every household management system | had ever tried, and tore up every single 3x5 card in them. Then one by one, | roasted and toasted them in the fireplace until they were gone, gone, gone. Next, with equally fiendish delight, | speared my $35 namebrand notebook organizer with a marshmallow fork, and | roasted it too. It melted into oblivion, all but it’s ugly metal spine. Next, | prayed for my attitude and for help. And finally, | marched myself into Wal-mart and bought my first clear plastic bin, a two pound sack of M&M's, and a loaf of white bread. For better or worse, we have been pretty happy campers at my house ever since. (p6)
-
-
-
[73] The Regis Philbin Show 12Mar1982 Guests actress Karen Valentine Pam Young and Peggy Jones talk about Spring cleaning.
https://ctva.biz/US/TalkShow/RegisPhilbin_1981-82.htm
According to @Young1982, they had previously appeared with Regis Philbin on AM Los Angeles (TV show).
-
-
www.ebay.com www.ebay.com
-
Example of a small Weis steel card index which was used by a coin collector who had custom index cards made for tracking a collection.
-
-
www.ebay.com www.ebay.com
-
https://www.ebay.com/itm/204539906243
According to the card on a Shaw-Walker desktop card index, the follower block was patented on October 10, 1902.
-
-
www.reddit.com www.reddit.com
-
Getting over the fear of perfection .t3_188j2xt._2FCtq-QzlfuN-SwVMUZMM3 { --postTitle-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postTitleLink-VisitedLinkColor: #9b9b9b; --postBodyLink-VisitedLinkColor: #989898; } I have so many half-filled notebooks or ones that I abandoned because I disliked my penmanship or because I “ruined” pages. I am the type of person who will tear out a page if I make a mistake or if it looks bad.I really want to start a commonplace book but I feel like I must get over this fear of “messing up” in a notebook. Anyone else struggle with this?
reply to u/FusRoDaahh at https://www.reddit.com/r/commonplacebook/comments/188j2xt/getting_over_the_fear_of_perfection/
I had this problem too, but eventually switched to keeping my commonplace entirely on index cards, which also allows me to move them around and re-arrange them as necessary or when useful. (It also fixed some of my indexing problems.)
The side benefit is that if I botch a single card, no sweat, just pull out a new one and start over! If you like the higher end stationery scene afforded in notebooks, then take a look at Clairfontaine's bristol cards from Exacompta which are lush and come in a variety of sizes, colors, and rulings. (They're roughly equivalent to the cost per square meter of paper you'll find in finer notebooks like Leuchtturm, Hobonichi, Moleskine, etc., though some of the less expensive index cards still do well with many writing instruments.) Most of their card sizes are just about perfect for capturing the sorts of entries that one might wish to commonplace.
Once you've been at it a while, if you want to keep up with the luxe route that some notebook practices allow, then find yourself a classy looking box to store them all in to make your neighbors jealous. My card indexes bring me more joy than any notebook ever did.
When penmanship becomes a problem, then you can fix it by printing your cards, or (even better in my opinion), typing them on your vintage Smith-Corona Clipper.
And of course the first thing one could type out on their first card and file it at the front where you can see it every day:
"Le mieux est le mortel ennemi du bien" (The better is the mortal enemy of the good).<br /> — Montesquieu, in Pensées, 1726
-
-
www.amazon.com www.amazon.com
-
https://www.amazon.com/Antiracist-Deck-Meaningful-Conversations-Justice/dp/0593234847
Kendi, Ibram X. The Antiracist Deck: 100 Meaningful Conversations on Power, Equity, and Justice. One World, 2022.
A zettelkasten for creating conversations (randomly) around power, equity, and justice.
-
-
emacsconf.org emacsconf.org