The current state of digital files is unpleasant. The amount of files I have keeps growing. And, I have a problem with discoverability. Discoverability of old ideas and old files.
Part of this because I am hesitant to accept the ephemeral nature of things. There’s a fear of loss. But I recently read an article that may have shifted my view by an inch 1. The article’s main point is that it is a good thing that we do not recall everything. Otherwise stated, it is good that we forget and lose them.
I confess, I jump between note taking applications and file management styles too much. No solution fits. One may provide * feature -x but not feature -y*. Nothing feels complete. One of the pain points I regularly encounter is discoverability. What happens to my files once I make them? What is the point of scanning documents, if I cannot access them when I need them? What’s the point of taking notes, if I cannot refer to that knowledge? The idea that we write notes to forget comes off as absurdity.
But it strikes a chord with me when he refers to David Allen’s GTD. Forgetting things was essential. Otherwise the load of all the tasks (or open loops as Allen refers to it in GTD), would be immense. It would keep you stressed and unable to work. One of Allen’s core pillars was to dump your brain into something else (an external space). That leaves you open to focus on one topic at a time. No more multi-tasking. You trust in the process and forget.
I had not approached my notes and writings that way. But why not? There is nothing special about them. You could see them as little tasks on their own. The same applies to the files I have. Why must I remember all the files I have? I can, again, trust in a single process and forget.
I appreciate what the author says about bookmarking, tabs, and notes. They are all “open - loops” that eke out a little of our focus. I don’t have room in my mind for all that. Even for someone without ADHD, tab hoarding is a problem. But for someone with it, tab hoarding is disastrous. It can decimate your productivity, because each tab is a distraction that will steal your focus. Each tab is a potential for dopamine. And the tab count can be upwards of a hundred. Yikes.
But I can bookmark it and forget about it. It will be there if I want it in the future. But I seldom do. And maybe that’s what we need? Sometimes I may go rummaging through my hundreds of bookmarks. But it is rare.
I think the questions I am asking are wrong. My focus is wrong. I should not be trying to find a solution to discoverability. Instead, I should be asking why I need discoverability. What if, instead of a computer problem, this is a mental problem. I may have issue letting go. Is it simple as that?
But for now, I have a process where I scan things into a folder. The software automatically processes OCR (Optical Character Recognition) for each scan. I am able to search for them. All my photos get pulled into a single folder. They’re there if I need them. Likewise, all my notes get thrown into a single folder. They’re all there. They’re all plaintext. I can search through them. The process is simple. I can just dump everything into these two folders. All these get synced into my other devices using Syncthing. One device is set to receive only; it becomes a pseudo-backup. And then every month, these three folders get backed up into time-machine and another hdd.
It’s not robust. It isn’t robust. It isn’t meant to be.
Interesting articles and internet things I came across today:
-
How to annotate literally everything | beepb00p
This is so exhaustive. I enjoyed reading through it. A lot of things made me go “huh”. But I think this only appeals to a certain kind of person.
-
PiKVM - Open and inexpensive DIY IP-KVM on Raspberry Pi
What a cool project. You can create a fully functional KVM with your raspberry-pi. KVM can get pretty expensive, so this is a very cool project to make an accessible kvm.
-
AFFiNE - All In One KnowledgeOS
Note taking software. It looks like it is competing with Notion. I haven’t tried it properly. But look at that generous free plan! 10GB is nothing to sneeze at.
-
windingwind/zotero-better-notes: Everything about note management. All in Zotero.
This looks really promising. I already use Zotero for my articles/bibliographies. Being able to take notes inside it (and export them) seems like a big win.