Tag: personal knowledge management

The following are the reasons behind the creation and adoption of a personal knowledge management system.

To elevate yourself. To live instead of surviving.

To be better observers. When you track down the exciting things that happen in your life and put them in a place where you can find them back and connect them, you develop better observation skills.

To perform better. Because if you inform yourself about the things you want to do, you can achieve them better.

To think better. Writing is thinking. The more quality time you devote to writing, the better will be your thinking.

And so it’s also to learn, to understand. And if you know a lot and if you practice a lot, you become an expert.

Of course, I would do PKM to remember better. And by playing with chance or intention, you can discover expected and unexpected connections between thoughts and ideas. That makes you more creative.

PKM is a complex system of thoughts that allows you to understand better the complexity of the universe. So you face complexity with complexity.

Remembering better and storing your ideas allows you to connect and combine things to create. In the specific, you can have ideas to write, draw or teach.

To be more creative, you can use your PKM system to ideate. That means to generate ideas by finding patterns, by combining pre-existing ideas into new ones. So that that you can develop concepts: ideas for articles, videos, books, courses, movies,  games.

If the knowledge is pertaining to your professional sphere, you might use your PKM system to work better, to collaborate better. You can not only manage better assets and people but also lead them better.

Generate well-balanced and sustainable ideas by applying your critical thinking skills. Using those ideas, you can make better decisions.

You can also be more artistic. You can capture emotions and find a way to evoke them so that you can amaze and amuse. By playing, by surprising.

You can be a better storyteller.

By having this powerful, creative tool, you can also imagine better futures by making a bit of order out of chaos and creating inspiring messes.

By embracing complexity and dancing with infinity, you can be more creative and augment your brain. Be more productive, effective, and efficient with a PKM system.

All of that will make you more intentional.

Use PKM to impact the World positively: observe, take notes of the many problems, and solve them. We can share solutions to create better futures for all.

PKM stands for Personal Knowledge Management and, in its essence, covers the following stages: observe, capture, organize, develop, and share.

A PKM system could be seen as a way to nurture and cultivate your interests. It’s called a “personal” knowledge management system because you create it for your purposes. Your identity directly influences the meaning, nature, and composition of your PKB (Personal Knowledge Base).

There are, among the many, two complementary approaches to problems: bottom-up and top-down. Similarly, we can see PKM as a system where the driving forces are: intentionality and serendipity.

If your interests are the magnets, the attractor of knowledge for you to be captured, developed, and shared, then you can consider your goal and your vision as the top-down approach while the “whatever works,” the random and infinite events of your life as the bottom-up.

Grow your PKM System along with you

The best PKM System is the one that you grow on top of who you are. Identify the building blocks of your creativity, compose them in workflows and build a creative network of tools to generate ideas.

What is PKM?

Personal Knowledge Management refers to all the activities that you do to manage knowledge relative to your person. It includes any type of data, information, and knowledge related to your personal and professional sphere.

It’s essential to make a difference between data, information, and knowledge. Knowledge is what you know and can retrieve from your memory to apply it to your decision-making process.

You manage your knowledge effectively when you find the information that you need when you need it, to make meaningful decisions,

Why do you need Personal Knowledge Management?

The world is complicated and complex, and there is an avalanche of information that every day is becoming bigger and bigger. It’s easy to forget things or to discover information essential to life. Thanks to technology, most of us can work remotely or online, usually in quick iterative sessions. It makes a difference to have readily available all the information and the knowledge to be effective and efficient in our job.

Creatively managing knowledge can help you in generating new ideas and being productive. 

Managing your knowledge makes you more aware, present, and ready to increase your performance.

Who is affected by Personal Knowledge Management?

Any human being. If you create an efficient PKM system, you will collaborate better with others. Ideally, everybody should have one because it will make us more informed, present, and effective.

How do you manage your personal knowledge?

You need to capture and organize information that allows you to retrieve it when you need it and combine and analyze it to generate the ideas and insights from your captured data.

You could use your brain alone, If you have an excellent memory. Lucky you, if you can. Otherwise, It would be better to have external support. Pen and paper are an option. If you want to be more effective, you can create a Digital Personal Knowledge Management System that would be portable, accessible, usable, safe, distributed, remote. Much better.

When do you manage your knowledge?

Always, would be the most honest answer. The capturing phase should be happening each time you find something interesting relative to your interests. Collecting, analyzing, and combining are at the core of your thinking. While sharing your knowledge can open up worlds of possibilities for better futures.

Where do you manage your knowledge?

As a system, especially for a digital PKM, you manage your knowledge in a virtual space based on several software platforms. For an analogical PKM system, you would be working in your slip-box or notebooks.

As a location, it should be anywhere and everywhere—each time you find something to be captured, elaborated on, or shared.

Augment your brain with a Personal Knowledge Management System

Capture, organize, develop, and share knowledge to be a proper citizen of the 21st Century and maybe the 22nd.

I am developing my custom Personal Knowledge Management System. I am focusing on the phase of capturing information into my Knowledge Base. I am questioning my habits to be more conscious about my biases and limitations, and I’ve discovered a better way to feed my Zettelkasten. Keep on reading to discover what I’ve learned this time in my Learning Out Loud experience.

When you save articles to read later without ever reading them, you fall into the Collector’s Fallacy. It happens when it’s easier to click a button to save a web page instead of making an effort to read what’s included in it. Things get worse due to the Mere Exposure Bias. It’s when you acquire familiarity with the name of things without going deep into their meaning. Just by being exposed to the many articles you browse and save, you build the illusion of knowledge.

That’s a problem!

In my old and dead Evernote account, I stacked 10’000 notes in 10 years. Great! You might say. What did I do with it? Zero, nisba, nicht, nada, niente.

I can’t stand it anymore. We, collectors anonymous, will always find other means to hoard useless information. So, now, I am collecting into Notion. The only advantage is that it is free.

Stop, describe your actions, reflect

For the nth time, I fell into this toxic loop and, like under a cold shower, I realized I was about to do it again for another time. With an enormous willpower application, I’ve decided that I would not have proceeded with the crime. I opened a blank document, and I started to “write aloud” the process of capturing information.

I introduced friction in the “save-it-for-later” process and intentional reasoning about why I found that resource engaging.

I applied the famous approach: “go slower to go faster.”

Instead of clicking a button, I’ve forced myself to:

1. Copy and paste Title and URL
2. Read the actual thing!
3. Highlighting, copying, and pasting the resonating quotes.
4. Restating the concept found interesting with my own words.
5. Further research for links and connection within the same article
6. Identification of common themes or meaningful connections with other notes or resources saved in the document.

Less data, more knowledge

I spent about one hour in this detailed, documented information capturing process. I could save only 5 or 6 notes compared to the 50 or 60 I would have done in the mindless old-school way.

But I compiled about ten pages of commented quotes, images, links, reflections, and connections.

That document would be a better material to be split into notes added to my Personal Knowledge Base.

I’ve actually learned something!

In the end, I’ve tried to unlearn the bad habit of saving bookmarks and articles mindlessly with the outcome of hoarding without any productive result. And I’ve started to reeducate myself to a more thoughtful and focused reading of first-hand information sources to be elaborated into better quality material to become well structured and well-connected notes for my PKB.

Lesson learned: when you want to escape from a useless habit, try to document each step you are executing by continuously asking yourself the reasons for your actions. Stop and drop any stage that is not providing meaningful value. Repeat this process until you’ve built a healthy habit of deep critical reading, interpretation, rewriting, and connection. Your Personal Knowledge Management System will improve, a lot.

Serendipity

In his book, David Byrne,  “How Music Works,” talks about Information Theory, among the various topics. While reading a book review about that book, I’ve realized the connection between music and information.

Initial research

That caught my attention because I am researching my Personal Knowledge Management System, and I’ve been delineating the differences between data, information, and knowledge recently.

Extracting principles

So I went on the Wikipedia article on Information Theory. I’ve learned that the world recognition of that discipline is dated back to 1948 when Claude Shannon published the famous paper: “A Mathematical Theory of Communication.” I’ve decided to capture that paper.

The landmark event establishing the discipline of information theory and bringing it to immediate worldwide attention was the publication of Claude E. Shannon’s classic paper “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” in the Bell System Technical Journal in July and October 1948. Source: Wikipedia

Collecting and Organizing captured information

I noticed that some authors started a scientific thread of movements in different contexts by publishing memorable papers. (That’s how science works, Max!)

I recognized a prompt to find, research and collect the most important scientific papers, which profoundly impacted science and history. Claude Shannon’s writing is the initiator of a new collection that might be titled “The most important scientific papers.” It will work as a semi-empty bucket to stimulate my curiosity to search other papers, learn about them and add them to the list. When I have many of them, I will curate the collection by highlighting details, insights, implications, and other possible connections.

Possible candidates:

1. Claude E. Shannon, “A Mathematical Theory of Communication“
2. Satoshi Nakamoto, “Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System”
3. Conor White-Sullivan, “Roam White Paper”
4. …

Creating research prompts

I am proud of this process because instead of mindlessly saving another PDF in my infinitely long list of things to be read, I’ve motivated my capturing, and I’ve created something out of it. It’s not novel and useful knowledge but a good research prompt to search for related items and curate a collection that could lead me to an article draft.

Sometimes knowledge management is made of simple steps. The secret is to accumulate any value you can extract out of the process. The annotation or the original piece of information is not always the goal to pursue if your PKM System shall support your creative process. Recognizing patterns, curating collections are as valuable in fueling your idea generation prompts.

Following up on my series on Personal Knowledge Management, I wanted to explore the “Capturing What?” question. Instead of going blindly in enumerating file types, I pivoted to describe a specific use case.

A process diagram in a digital image

I’ve found this diagram image: 

on this blog post, Modeling the Homeostasis of Glucose Processing in Human Body

The first impulse I had was related to desiring to do something like that. I like its clarity and elegance in how white space is managed, the disposition of boxes in logical sequences, the use of arrows to indicate flows, and the clever use of colors to communicate with a style. I also like the typography, readable without being blunt, with different gray shades to differentiate headings and descriptions.

I described in detail why I like this diagram only by stopping, observing, and reflecting. Picking it is not enough to capture it, or I will end up in the trap of the Collector’s Fallacy. Elaborating on why I like it and stating that I find it inspiring for what I could design is a statement for my future self.

Talking to my Future Self

If that was a message, how could I package it?

“Dear Future Self, when you need to create a flow-chart diagram to communicate different executions of the same process, take THIS image as a reference and inspiration.”

The Present Self

The object of my capturing is strongly motivated by the reason why I am saving it. I need to take further steps to allow my Future Self to understand the reasoning behind this annotated image so they will be able to take full advantage out of it.

The components of this note-to-future-self are all there:

1. The record: the digital image downloaded from the website. Annotated with the source (the URL) and the author to be mentioned if it is reused (when and if the author would allow permission to do that)
2. The observation: “I like its clarity and its elegance in how space is managed, disposition o boxes in logical sequences, use of arrows to indicate flows, intelligent use of colors to communicate with a style. I also like the typography, readable without being blunt, with different gray shades to differentiate headings and descriptions.
3. The potential use: “when looking for inspiration to design a flow-chart showing complex processes and their different states using a clean and elegant visual style.”
4. The related content: see “How to design a flow-chart”, “Interaction Design Diagrams”, “Diagramming Tools”, “Process Design”, “Information Design”
5. The classification: image, diagram, minimalism, process, reference

This found image let me state clearly my interest in process visualization and information design. I have the chance to create two collections where to store related content. I am not acting as a librarian trying to capture the Internet. I am on a journey to discover (or reinforce) my interests and capture information and knowledge useful for my growth in the related fields.

As a transdisciplinary designer, I am often involved in the design and visualization of processes and flows. I am stating that I am on a learning path to grow my knowledge and wisdom as an information designer and process designer.

What questions/prompts/criteria did I uncover while capturing data?

From that context, further questions emerged:

• Where should I store the downloaded digital image?
• What can I do to make it easily findable when I need it?
• How should I classify to facilitate findability?
• What are the criteria to observe and evaluate other data like that?

A systems thinker thinks in systems, and I was not.

I was sinning of reductionism by isolating the “why capture” from the “what to capture” in my growing Personal Knowledge Management System. A capital sin for a systems thinker. I discovered it to be more natural and logical to analyze an actual occasion of capturing a piece of information for my purposes and reflecting upon why I wanted to keep that bunch of bits.

A working system is grown, not built.

Instead of making an inventory of all the possible forms of data and information to be captured that would have been too technical and not strategical, I’ve found it helpful to analyze context-by-context the data capturing events. That way, I can connect the “why” and “what” to capture. That is more meaningful and positively contributing to create a PKMS personalized, focused, and oriented to personal creativity rather than just storing data mindlessly.

After asking why capturing knowledge, I’ve reflected on the distinction between data, information, and knowledge. Although it’s dangerous and limiting to draw strict boundaries, we might take advantage of those differences to better define the material we capture.

Suppose we map the continuum of data -> information -> knowledge on a line indicating the leftmost as the rawest and the rightmost one as the most refined. In that case, it will make sense to imagine data being the raw material captured in its rough shape.

That’s another way to distinguish the three.

Data is raw, unprocessed, and context-less content.

Information is data with a context, either already found or added by us during the capturing.

Knowledge is far from being captured but instead developed, and it would become more tangible in a more evolved phase in our workflow. In this context, we want to refer to knowledge as connected information, data you have refined, checked, validated, put into contexts, and connected most robustly with the existing knowledge in your PKMS.

BE CAREFUL: It’s not wise to take the previous statement as a rule or as a universal principle, we need to create a model representing the processing level of the material we capture. It might well happen that you find yourself capturing data, information, and knowledge as the input of your PKM workflow. We want to observe that a note captured is usually something that will need further processing, and it’s seldom something we could use as it is. There is a higher chance you will capture raw data more frequently than refined knowledge.

After defining Personal Knowledge Management (PKM), I’ve identified an initial  Personal Knowledge Management workflow. Then I researched the differences between data, information, knowledge, and wisdom. I am now Learning Out Loud about the Capture phase in my PKM to explore why you should capture knowledge.

Reasons to capture knowledge

“Capture” is the phase where you acquire data, information, and knowledge to be added to your Note Archive. By exploring the motivation to capture information, we can be more intentional. By being more conscious, we can focus on what matters to pursuing our research goals. As usual, we can go “top-down” by defining the capture criteria a priori or capturing “bottom-up” by following curiosity and instincts.

The following is a non-exhaustive list of reasons to capture knowledge.

To remember

You are your memory. Anything related to your personal and professional life worth to be remembered should be a potential candidate to be captured. By keeping track of important dates, events, and writings, we can be more efficient in our lives, avoid little and big problems and reduce redundancy by reusing saved forms, templates, and models.

To learn

Capture what you don’t know. Yes, there’s a lot that you don’t know, of course, I know it because I feel the same. Would you capture every single unknown bit moving around you? No, dear, follow your interests. Capture what stimulates your curiosity or your intention. You should capture what you want to learn or must learn, and I am thinking about you, students. But also professionals needing to get continuously be up-to-date in their fields.

Capture relevant information sources. If you have a purpose in creating something out of your PKM, you can drive your relevant material research. Capturing meaningful information related to your research field will allow you to develop your research question and provide some answers.

To develop your interests

Feed your curiosity. Create a list of your interests. It will be a useful prompt to evaluate something worth to be capture. Does it fall in any of the listed interests? If no, why am I even asking this question? It might be that you have found a new interest to add to your list. Establishing a feedback loop between you and your interest, you make progress towards being more self-aware. By knowing what you like, you can draw a better picture of yourself. Capturing information about your interests contributes to understand and define your identity.

To be more creative

Invest in your idea bank. Your knowledge base is like a bank. If you don’t put anything into it, you won’t have anything to withdraw. Capturing data is the most crucial activity needed to enrich your note archive.

Choose unique perspectives. Creative comes from “to create,” and a popular definition of creativity says something about “being novel and useful.” So capturing information from unusual sources or in uncommon ways could contribute to the next creative phase of your PKMS, especially the Develop one.

To deal with complexity

Complexity can be made of simple rules. A diversity of applications of simple rules in space and times generate complexity.

Capture information to extend your brain

Capturing data, information, and knowledge can be highly subjective. It depends on your needs and wants and the life you conduct, and the perspective you see. It might be helpful to write down your reasons to capture information. It would allow you to choose more wisely what is relevant or not.