I started with the augmentingcognition.com spaced repetition model, and then decided to augment it with a catalog of everything I read(1). For my own original thoughts, I write them down in a few paragraphs and then treat them like any other reading material.
At some point, I ran across the idea that a library card catalog is really just a combined topical index for the entire collection, with each entry being a card. That seemed like a decent model, and I’ve been happy with it so far.
My system is currently a physical card index because I needed the flexibility of pen & paper to figure out how I wanted it to work, but I’ve been slowly computerizing it as I figure things out- you can certainly do something similar with flat text files, spreadsheets, or any other general purpose document software.
So now, I have three interacting systems: a citation list that records where I can find things to read them again, a combined topical index of everything I’ve read, and a flash card deck of things I want to remember without having to look them up.
When I run across an interesting article on the web, for instance, I save a PDF of it to Dropbox for safe keeping and print a copy to read away from my computer. As I read, I’ll make margin notes and have two different colors of highlighter: one to note index headings and another to mark passages to be turned into flash cards.
After my morning flash card review, I go through the material I read the previous day and turn all of the notes and highlights into cards(2). Once everything has been moved into the indexing system, I have no further need for the physical copy, so it goes to the recycler.
(1) Of sufficient length; generally 3 or more printed pages.
(2) Initially by hand, now with the aid of a custom piece of software
At some point, I ran across the idea that a library card catalog is really just a combined topical index for the entire collection, with each entry being a card. That seemed like a decent model, and I’ve been happy with it so far.
My system is currently a physical card index because I needed the flexibility of pen & paper to figure out how I wanted it to work, but I’ve been slowly computerizing it as I figure things out- you can certainly do something similar with flat text files, spreadsheets, or any other general purpose document software.
So now, I have three interacting systems: a citation list that records where I can find things to read them again, a combined topical index of everything I’ve read, and a flash card deck of things I want to remember without having to look them up.
When I run across an interesting article on the web, for instance, I save a PDF of it to Dropbox for safe keeping and print a copy to read away from my computer. As I read, I’ll make margin notes and have two different colors of highlighter: one to note index headings and another to mark passages to be turned into flash cards.
After my morning flash card review, I go through the material I read the previous day and turn all of the notes and highlights into cards(2). Once everything has been moved into the indexing system, I have no further need for the physical copy, so it goes to the recycler.
(1) Of sufficient length; generally 3 or more printed pages.
(2) Initially by hand, now with the aid of a custom piece of software