Is a term coined by Andy Matuschak, with few key ideas:
- They should be atomic.
- They are focused on only one thing and try to cover the topic in its entirety.
- They should be concept-oriented.
- It is easy to take notes by book, course or project - but it makes them hard to be discoverable if you encounter the same topic again. If you encounter the same concept again, you’ll end up re-writing about the same concept.
- Focusing on concepts, allow you to avoid duplication. Instead, allows you accumulate your knowledge about that topic.
- They should be densely-linked.
- Having lots of links between our notes, makes us think about how a particular concept might be related to existing concepts we already know.
- Prefer associative ontologies to hierarchical taxonomies.
- Allow for organic structure to emerge, instead of compressing relationship ideas. This also seems to be closer to how our brain organizes ideas.
- They are written for yourself by default, disregarding audience.
- Not having to think about an audience, reduces the cognitive burden to provider background information to a topic.
- They can serve as building block for longer form writing for an audience.
This form of note taking appeals to me because it allows you to discover connections between different concept, accumulate and refine your understanding of concepts over time.