Niklas Luhmann and the Zettelkasten Note System
Luhmann (1927-1998) was a well-known German sociologist. Producing ~60 books and 600 articles, he credited his note system as being a partner in his writing process.
Unlike other systems which use a “top-down” approach to information organization, his system is rather “bottom-up.” In other words, new information is not filed into a previously developed structure. His method revealed structures.
Zettels are note cards. In his case they were ~ 5” x 8”. Kasten is the German word for box. Thus, zettelkasten means card box or slip box.
Using up to 18,000 references, Luhmann created about 90,000 cards (now held by the University in Bielefeld). Each card held one piece of information. If more than one card was needed he labeled subsequent cards 1/2, 1/3, etc.
But more than that, he would add links to other cards which would be indicated by letters. So one card could look like 1/3a, 1/3b, etc. And, of course, these links sometimes required the use of more than one card. So you could end up with something like 1/3a1, 1/3a2, etc. And these links could have their own links producing something like 1/3a2g7. This made for limitless linkage. And, hopefully for the writer, creative connections.
For more information on how Luhmann used this system you can watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2hxygqjx2k
For information on how you can use this system you can watch: : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpV47rUYk8I
References:
http://takingnotenow.blogspot.com/2007/12/luhmanns-zettelkasten.html
12/23