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# INTEROPERABLE ✷ Syllabus Week One: Take Note
- URL: https://interoperable.tylerdickey.com/interoperable-syllabus-week-one-take-note/
- Published: 2025-01-24T18:29:32.000Z
- Updated: 2025-01-24T18:29:32.000Z
- Author: Tyler Dickey
- Tags: Hey World, #Import 2026-09-14 13:44

Hello INTEROPERABLIANS,   
  
I'm pausing our regular numbered post to start work on a new project: a syllabus loosely based on [Cristina Jerney's](https://syllabusproject.org/cristina-jerney/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) project, [A Syllabus for Generalists.](https://syllabusproject.org/a-syllabus-for-generalists/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) Basically, it's a therapeutic exercise in figuring out how I think about things and sharing those things with you to our mutual benefit.   
  
Each week, as I add to the document, I'll update the [Syllabus](https://www.tylerdickey.com/syllabus.php?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) page on my website; at the end, I plan to publish a slick PDF for downloading and printing. [Subscribe](https://world.hey.com/tyler.dickey?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) to get future posts via email (or grab the [RSS feed](https://world.hey.com/tyler.dickey/feed.atom?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)).   
  
For this week, I decided to start on a topic I wish someone had covered *much* earlier in my life: Note-taking.   
  
# Week One: Notes

# Goal

Make yourself a system you can *rely on* for recording, organising, and retrieving notes. It can be as fancy or simple as you want—emphasis on reliability.

  
This course isn't meant to make you a master note-taker by any means, but hopefully, you can expand your repertoire of techniques to *think* better by taking better notes. Most of the techniques I describe here are from [Sönke Ahrens'](https://www.soenkeahrens.de/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) fantastic book [How to Take Smart Notes](https://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Take-Smart-Notes-Technique/dp/3982438802?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com), which I cannot recommend enough.

  
Sönke is a teacher of the *Zettelkasten* method (German for "slip-box" or "note box"), which can be physical or digital. The main idea here is to collect notes of your ideas (Fleeting notes) and the reading/media you consume (Literature notes) and process that information into written reference material (Permanent notes) while maintaining connections between said notes. 

  
# Core components

**The Slip Box (Digital or Physical)**

- Where you store your permanent notes.
- It can be implemented using software like [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) or physical index cards.

  
**Note-Taking Tools**

- For capturing quick thoughts (fleeting notes)
- A notebook, phone app, etc.

  
**Reference Manager (Advanced)**

- For managing bibliographic information
- Examples: [Zotero](https://www.zotero.org/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com), [BibDesk](https://bibdesk.sourceforge.io/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com), [Mendeley](https://www.mendeley.com/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)

  
# Types of Notes

1. **Fleeting Notes**
  - Quick, temporary captures of ideas
  - They should be kept in a separate "Seed Box" and be processed within a day or two.
2. **Literature Notes**
  - Summaries of what you've read
  - Written in your own words
  - Include source references
3. **Permanent Notes (Zettels)**
  - One idea per note
  - Self-contained and understandable in the future
  - Written "as if for print."

  
# **Key Principles**

**Getting Things Done**

- Work in phases: collect, process, and write.

  
**Atomicity**

- One note = one idea
- Like a Dieter Rams design: "*Weniger, aber besser*" (Less, but better)

  
**Connectivity**

- Notes should link to other notes
- Fleeting and literature notes grow and connect into permanent notes
- Always explain why you're making connections

  
**Personal Touch**

- Write in your own words
- Make it your system

  
**Getting Started Steps**

1. Choose your tools (digital or analogue)
2. Start capturing fleeting and literature notes
3. Process these into permanent notes
4. Create meaningful connections between notes
5. Review and revise regularly

  
**Pro Tips**

- Don't obsess over organisation — let structure emerge naturally
- Focus on creating meaningful connections
- Write for your future self
- Trust the process — it takes time to build momentum

  
As you can see, the goal of note-taking isn't to capture everything but to build a framework from which to work.

  
# **Tools**

Simple index cards and the writing instrument of your choice are usually the best places to start. If you are feeling fancy, [Field Notes](https://fieldnotesbrand.com/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com), [LEUCHTTURM1917](https://www.leuchtturm1917.co.uk/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com), and [Rhodia](https://rhodiapads.com/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) are brands I keep returning to. They use high-quality paper and work well with a wide variety of pens and pencils. The size and shape don't matter, but I recommend getting a pocket-sized notebook for—get this—your pocket. Something roughly in the A5 size range seems to be the sweet spot to stash in a bag; anything bigger tends to be too clunky to want to be carried regularly.

Pens and pencils are a personal choice; for me, nothing beats a [good old-fashioned wooden pencil ](https://cultpens.com/products/staedtler-noris-pencil?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)and a [slick sharpener](https://cultpens.com/products/kum-automatic-long-point-sharpener-with-lead-pointer-as3?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) for getting ideas out of your brain and onto the page. If you haven't used a gel pen since high school, the old stalwart Pilot G2 family of retractable gel ink rollerballs and the[ Zebra Sarasa Japanese gel pens](https://cultpens.com/collections/zebra-sarasa?productListPgNo=1&ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) are well worth trying. Try the [Pentel 200 Series Mechanical Pencils](https://www.londongraphics.co.uk/pentel-200-series-mechanical-pencil?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) if a mechanical pencil feels more your speed.

  
**Useful Idea:** Take some letter-sized/a4 loose-leaf paper (steal some from the printer at work) and fold it into 1/4ths. You now have a little 4-panel grid for planning things out if you add Post-it notes to the mix, and now you have a [Kanban board.](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Kanban%5Fboard?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) Each Post-it represents a task, and each grid panel is a phase of a project, for example: Not Started, In Progress, Testing, Complete.

  
**Other Resources and References**

['Brain rot' is Oxford word of the year — Top 10 tips to avoid it](https://old.reddit.com/r/selfimprovement/comments/1h6sjmk/brain%5Frot%5Fis%5Foxford%5Fword%5Fof%5Fthe%5Fyear%5Ftop%5F10%5Ftips/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)  
[The Hipster PDA](https://www.43folders.com/2004/09/03/introducing-the-hipster-pda?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)  
[Post-its](https://www.3m.co.uk/3M/en%5FGB/p/c/b/post-it/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)  
[zettelkasten.de](https://zettelkasten.de/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)  
[Zettelkasten (Wiki)](https://www.wikiwand.com/en/articles/Zettelkasten?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)

  
✷  
  
Hello again, and thank you for reading through that information tsunami. I hope you've gleaned something useful from part one of this syllabus project and will stick around for more. *Zettelkasten* (like anything that maintains its German name) can seem daunting and only for total dorks; the latter may be true, but I've found my use of the system revolutionary to how I collect ideas.   
  
Yet again, I'm [Tyler Dickey](https://www.tylerdickey.com/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com), and this is my newsletter, INTEROPERABLE, where I celebrate my never-ending love for reliable, available, and maintainable systems like [RSS](https://world.hey.com/tyler.dickey/feed.atom?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) and [telephony](https://www.tylerdickey.com/telephony.php?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com). I write about topics that interest me: art, reading, writing, making things, and technology. Please consider subscribing or following me elsewhere on the internet: [Website](https://www.tylerdickey.com/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) | [Instagram](https://www.instagram.com/tyler5280/?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com) | [Bluesky](https://bsky.app/profile/tylerdickey.bsky.social?ref=interoperable.tylerdickey.com)

  
This publication will

- always be free of charge.
- Always be informational/educational by nature.
- always credit and link to sources to the best of my ability.
- never be auto-generated or contain AI (LLM) generated content.
- never contain any form of advertisements or undisclosed affiliate links.
- remain wise and stand sleeping in the cold.