Classification of Note Types⚑

Contents⚑

• Core Note Type Progression
  • Permanent Notes
  • Implementing an Evergreen Note Practice
• Other Common Note Types

Throughout my personal knowledge management (PKM) system there can be a variety of note types.

Core Note Type Progression⚑

A primary goal of my PKM System is to create the infrastructure to support a fluid progression for notes from raw input to a distilled, curated output.

This progression forms the central, core notebase within the vault composed of the following notes, which should progress down the chain of types over time:

1. Preliminary Scratch Notes - Transitory scratch notes collected throughout the day (i.e. Fleeting notes or seedlings). Should be collected into an inbox.
2. Secondary Formatted Notes - The next phase of the note progression where scratch input notes are re-formatted, merged, and re-structured into more formal bits of knowledge.
3. Permanent Notes - Also deemed Evergreen Notes, these notes are considered complete and should only need to be updated if information changes or to add and structure links and backlinks, etc.

Permanent Notes⚑

Permanent notes have their own secondary passage in which the continuation and development of knowledge is manifested. In stages of increasing complexity:

1. Bridge Notes - notes used to create nodes which connect the knowledge network through implicitly defined backlinks. Similar to maps of content or index notes, these notes help improve the vaults core navigational structure . Examples include Obsidian Setup, Podcasts, etc.
2. Definition Notes - atomic bits of information such as a definition or code snippet how-to. These note's titles should be detailed and informative to help with note Discoverability and searching.
3. Precise Declarative Notes - these are the larger, more complex notes that can potentially breach the principle of atomicity by including information across many realms and topics. Examples include How to Guides, Blog Posts, Workflow and Project Support Notes, Checklists, etc.

From Andy Matuschak's Published Notes Vault:

• Evergreen Notes
  • Evergreen notes should be atomic
  • Evergreen notes should be concept-oriented
  • Evergreen notes should be densely linked
  • Prefer associative ontologies to hierarchical taxonomies
  • Write notes for yourself by default, disregarding audience

This concept evolves in large part from Niklas Luhmann’s Zettelkasten, which he regards as the independent intellectual partner in writing his 70 books. See Similarities and differences between evergreen note-writing and Zettelkasten

Implementing an Evergreen Note Practice⚑

From Andy Matuschak's Published Notes Vault:

• Write about what you read to internalize texts deeply
• A reading inbox to capture possibly-useful references
• A writing inbox for transient and incomplete notes
• Executable strategy for writing

Other Common Note Types⚑

• Maps of Content and Index Notes - see 000 - INDEX for this vault's global INDEX.
• Source Notes - see Obsidian Taxonomy > Sources
• Literature Notes - Notes summarizing my reading endeavors with associated source's
• Person Notes - notes summarizing information about specific people (i.e. experts and people commonly mentioned throughout vault).
• Daily Notes - similar to transient notes but classified into a time-oriented separate note type. These notes are essential if I want to maintain a record of my personal historical thoughts as a chronological reference system.
• Business Notes - notes pertaining to
• Project Support Notes -
• Meta Notes -
• How-To Guides -
• Checklists and Workflows -
• Curated Lists and Resource Listings -
• Log Notes -
• Mindsweep Notes -

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Links: Obsidian Setup | Obsidian Taxonomy

Sources: - https://notes.andymatuschak.org/