Considering what I’ve been putting in my Zettelkasten and the goals I intend to achieve with it, I’ve concluded that I don’t want a perfect Personal knowledge management system, but a reasonably good, aesthetically pleasant micro-blogging platform with heavy use of links.

I don’t use my zettelkasten to store “knowledge”, however one defines it, but to record my own beliefs and those of others.

My zettelkasten can’t be a Personal Knowledge Management system. Sure, I could be audacious enough to declare a current belief as “knowledge”, but I’m certain I’ll eventually rewrite it because the The self is fluid and constantly changing. What I think to be true one minute may be false the next minute. In fact, everyone should be doing the same (We should always update our posterior beliefs).

Permanent notes should be long-lasting and high-yield, but these permanent notes can’t be truly permanent. And shouldn’t be. The only reason I can conceive to keep outdated information in the system is to track how my beliefs changed over time. But version control systems can do it automagically and without the clutter.

One of the goals my zettelkasten have is to work as an “exo-self” I can talk to and find the answers I seek or get new ideas. Although I had mild success with it, the amount of insights I had talking to other people far outnumbered the insights I had by surfing my own notes.

I depend on other people for new ideas. That’s clear as day. And this is the reason why my zettelkasten must be an open public book rather than a private diary. People should be able to see it and interact with it and comment about it.

The main goal of my note taking is to get my word out so others get in. And that’s why I should always refer to my pile of notes as a digital garden rather than a Zettelkasten. Its main goal is to be seen, not to produce crops—but if I can eat the flowers, all the better.

(PS: and for that reason alone it shouldn’t be referred to as a “digital orchard” either.)