Tools for Networked Thought

Tools that enable connections between ideas and memories help to improve the growth of accumulated knowledge. These tools build a ‘knowledge graph’ that mirror the way the human brain functions and offer the possibility to query it in ways that we typically access knowledge and memories, by context and association.

Implementations typically include some form of bi-directional linking (as Zettelkasten does for linking notes together) and a graph of nodes and edges.

See also:

  • Metacognition

    How we think about thoughts is composed of metacognitive knowledge - our understanding of our thinking and learning, metacognitive regulation - strategies and practices that control our learning, and metacognitive experiences - thoughts and feelings while learning something.

  • Org-Roam-Ui Helps You Peer into Your Brain

    The org-roam-ui is a visualization and exploration companion to org-roam. The force-directed graph of notes (nodes) and links (edges) shows how concepts fit together and relate. I thought it was primarily eye candy, it’s useful for 1) spotting connections you haven’t already made and 2) identifying orphaned notes that could be linked to other notes.

  • Second Brain

    A tools for networked thought that allows the user to offload a process into something external to themselves. This augments one’s ability to do certain kinds of tasks. For example, a zettelkasten offloads the collection off ideas and their connections into ‘off-brain’ storage that can be queried later thereby removing the need to memorize and retain accumulated knowledge.

  • How to Take Smart Notes (Literature Notes)

    A book by Sönke Ahrens about taking notes to improve productivity and writing which is incredibly convincing but extremely impractical in describing what to actually do.

  • Slow Burns Prevent Blank Page Anxiety

    It’s easy to be intimidated or anxious when doing something big all at once like writing an essay. Turning a large project into a ‘slow burn’ helps remove that worry—it’s easier to do small parts over a longer amount of time across several projects than in one big effort in a short amount of time sequentially.

  • Zeigarnik Effect

    Open tasks occupy short-term memory until they are done. It’s distracting to have so many open tasks because it’s natural to keep thinking about them.

  • List of Tools for Networked Thought

    Below is a list of tools for networked thought I’ve come across:

  • Memex Device

    A fictional device from the essay As We May Think, written in 1945 by Vannevar Bush, which both stores knowledge (books, notes, annotations, conversations) and connections between them allowing someone to follow trails of associated knowledge. A memex is an example of a tools for networked thought that builds on top of existing knowledge.

  • The Internet Is a Disjointed Memex

    The memex device imagined a lattice of information that grows and can be built on top of incrementally. The internet and hypertext are that—nearly all the world’s information is now captured in the format of the web. However, it’s disjointed which makes it largely inaccessible.