I carry everything I have with me. My simple rules for organizing a personal knowledge base
Remember when the Internet was small, modems were slow, and ISPs were greedy? We stored everything useful on our hard drives, heroically trying to fit everything we needed into a modest amount of disk space. Previously, this was the only way to ensure quick and effective access to information.
And then the high-speed Internet spoiled us – we stopped downloading files and creating our own local libraries of knowledge and content. Books, music, films, distributions, documentation, sources – everything is now on websites and in the clouds. Why download something if it’s all instantly available with one click?
But it looks like it's time to go back to basics. Increasingly, it turns out that the necessary content becomes unavailable or changes beyond recognition.
Low threshold, interesting prospects
The great thing is that in order to start collecting your local knowledge base, in general, you don’t need to configure anything specially. It is enough to create a special directory on the disk and start saving the necessary files there. The main thing is self-discipline. No “New Folders” filled with hundreds of unsorted files that “might come in handy someday.” I know from myself that it is very difficult to give up such a bad habit. From the very beginning, you need to not just mindlessly fill your disk with potentially useful files, but immediately organize them into the system. Yes, it’s hard, difficult, sometimes you’re just lazy. But I periodically remind myself that all efforts will not be in vain: at some point, quantity will turn into quality.
You know how it happens: some knowledge in itself does not represent anything particularly valuable. But when combined into a system with a well-thought-out structure and cross-connections, they suddenly give a lot of new ideas and become a convenient and effective tool. This is exactly the kind of tool I would like to have.
My rules for organizing a knowledge base
In order for the process of replenishing the database to go as it should, I gradually developed my own system of rules, which I try to strictly follow:
Saving. If there is a fairly high probability that I will want to use some source of information several times, then, if possible, I save it to my database.
Note: This rule does not apply to information that is within my company's security perimeter. This kind of content always remains within this perimeter.
Cleaning. When loading a source, I try to clear it of garbage. If I periodically download sources from a site, then it is better to automate this process. I'm constantly adding to my library of scripts to automatically load and scrape content.
Loading. If the service provides an alternative: access the source online or download it as a file, then I always choose the second option.
Simplification. I always try to choose the simplest format for storing information. If the lossless source can be saved as a text or image file, then I use this simplest format. This is my personal Occam's razor of information.
Naming. I always give meaningful names to the files and directories in my database. No “New document.txt”.
Taking photographs. If there is no other way to save the source, then screenshots will do.
Attribution. Whenever possible, I always try to keep a link to the site from which I downloaded the information.
Security. Applications and scripts are also part of my base. I try to use portable versions of applications, in which all settings are saved in files next to the application. If this is not possible, then I save the application distribution kit to the database.
Reproducibility. If for some reason the source is saved in an unpopular format, then I definitely include in the database an application for viewing files in this format. For example, this is what I do with dictionaries.
Indexing. I try to supplement the database with index lists, as well as pages with links to files on a specific topic and keep them up to date.
Refactoring. I take the time to perfect the most popular sources in my database. If I open a reference book every day, then it wouldn’t hurt to spend time improving it. For example, transfer to another, more convenient format.
Reservation. From the very beginning, I periodically perform database backups.
Small empty attic
And one more important rule. When replenishing my database, I remember the words of Sherlock Holmes, spoken by the familiar, inimitable voice of my favorite actor Vasily Livanov from childhood:
“You see,” he said, “it seems to me that the human brain is like a small empty attic that you can furnish as you like.” A fool will drag all the junk he can get his hands on there, and there will be nowhere to put useful, necessary things, or at best, you won’t even be able to get to them among all this rubbish. And a smart person carefully selects what he places in his brain attic. He will take only the tools that he needs for his work, but there will be a lot of them, and he will arrange everything in an exemplary order. It’s in vain that people think that this small room has elastic walls and can be stretched as much as they want. I assure you, the time will come when, acquiring something new, you will forget something from the past. Therefore, it is terribly important that unnecessary information does not crowd out necessary information.
All these rules are strictly individual. Just because they work for me doesn't mean they will work just as effectively for someone else. Everyone has their own path, their own applications, their own rules and preferences.
The Shining of Pure Information
My database is gradually growing, I add files to it, write new scripts. And, of course, I constantly use it in everyday work. Everything in it is beautiful, neat and laid out on shelves. There are no advertising banners popping out of every corner, and there is no colorful variety of fonts and colors for different sites. My base is a strict and ascetic repository of pure knowledge and tools, organized according to my own rules. I increasingly prefer it to the Internet. If the answer to some technical question could not be found there, then only then do I look for the answer on the Internet. When I find it, I add a new file to my database.
Francis Bacon’s famous saying “Knowledge is power” also has a lesser-known first part: “We can only do as much as we know.” A well-designed and structured personal knowledge base is a powerful problem-solving tool. I have already seen this in practice more than once.
