Pile of Index Cards

I have been thinking that my experience about information management can be expressed in a single equation. My experience about information (or a stuff) is,

• If a stuff is far from me, I don’t access (dependency on spacial distance)
• I easily forget about a stuff (dependency on elapsed time)
• Frequency of access drastically decrease with space and time
• If I don’t see a stuff, I forget it (dependency on visibility)

I assume they are represented as following simple equation,

where A is frequency of access (or just “accessibility”), V is visibility (0

In case you see it (V = 1)	In case you don’t see it (V = 0.1)

This equation is visually understand through above two graphs. Assume you are at origin (x=0, t=0). Accessibility is maximum at the origin, and it decrease exponentially with spatial distance and elapsed time. The left graph is for V = 1, that is you see a stuff all time. Something just in front of you. Then the accessibility is the highest. The right graph is for V = 0.1, that is you don’t see a stuff. For example, a stuff in a closed drawer. In this case, the accessibility is almost zero even though the stuff is spatially and temporally close to you.

ref : 2006.09.17 10:40

Jason Corso made a Vi-style keybind plug-in for Cocoa applications called “Vi Input Manager“. It realize Vi commands on Safari and Xcode etc..

At this moment, it doesn’t work on TextMate. As I wrote in this article, I’m both Vim and TextMate user. This plug-in will combine the two great text editor together. I’m really happy if it work on TextMate someday.

Give us this day our daily bread. This is quote from the Bible. I hadn’t know true meaning of this quote, perhaps because I am not christian.

Dale Carnegie quoted this words in his book “How to stop worrying and start living (or Japanese version)”. He suggested that we must live in more simple way. Before I read this book, I had had meal just because of hungry. Just as daily custom. There is no special meaning for me.

Now I have been trying to have meal If I could feel satisfaction for my work. I don’t eat while I achieve a certain objective. Sometime it takes long to finish the work, and then I have lunch at 17:00, for example.

If I could finish the work in satisfaction, on the other hand, the meal have special meaning for me : it is given to the achievement. This story may sounds primitive. But it really works good for me.

When writing indexcard, I found indexcard I just write (that is previous indexcard) triggers next indexcard (ref. article “Avalanche writing”). The new topic is sometimes related to the previous topic, but with some new idea is included.

What is important here is that the previous indexcard must be in my sight. It makes easy to trigger new idea. If I don’t (or can’t) see the card, the chain may be broken.

I had used the KM2P as indexcard holder. A problem, however, is that it is difficult to see inside the pockets.

Lately I start to use card stand to make indexcard stand and visible. In case I have to take indexcards I pick up indexcards from the stand and put it in the KM2P as before.

ref: 2006.09.16 21:04

A classification of indexcard by project is tiny tiny matter. It takes only few second in time maybe. But it incredibly reduced number of indexcard I write.

Same is true for text editor on computer. I do love to use Vim for programming. The Vim (or just vi) enables to move line to line only with keyboard. It helps to connect thinking and writing, brain and hand more seamlessly. I also use TextMate because of it’s friendly interface and useful templates. If I use it for programming, however, I feel I don’t want to write program anymore with TextMate. This is not due to TextMate, of course, but I’m just frustrated every moment I use mouse.

Difference between using mouse or not may be less than a second in time, and few tens of centimeter in distance. This sounds really tiny matter. But my subconscious honestly react for it.

In my PoI method, one of important search key is own “history“. To search a certain indexcard, I must remember “when” I wrote the indexcard or the event was happened. This is something like Rob did in the movie High Fidelity (ref. 2006.09.05. 20:51).

I can’t remember all of the indexcards’ contents, of course. Rather, I write indexcard to forget. To enhance memory in time axis, I do following things,

• Try to remember “when” the event was happened
• Use calender to trigger memory
• Review indexcards sometimes

When I review my indexcards, I feel like I’m riding on time-machine :)

# This topic is based on discussion with Mr. R. B. Thank you.

Ordinary card system is based on classification. It is 2-dimensional in space (x and y). On the other hand, my method, chronological sequence, is 1-dimensional in time (t).

A degree of freedom is less then ordinary system. A matter of concern is only one degree. It keeps my system simple, easy and comfort to manage indexcards.

I have two dock system, in my room for my life and my office for my work. I have been keeping simple chronological order for life indexcard system. For work indexcard system, I classified inxcards by project then keep in chronological order. I believed classification increase productivity especially for work.

After several months later, the difference of the two system become clear. Indexcard for life increase successfully, and doesn’t for work… The only difference is classification of the indexcard. But the effect is obvious.

I found what is important for writing is not convenience by classification, but keep capturing idea sequentially in simple chronological order.

ref : 2006.09.03 16:21 Turning off filter in a brain

Yoro Takeshi, Japanese anatomist, also suggested existence of a “filter” in a human brain, in his book “バカの壁 (Baka no Kabe = wall of fool)”. His explanation is expressed in a simple equation.

y = a x

where “x” is input from nerves (e.g. eyes), “y” is input to brain, and “a” is the filter (”wall of fool” in his expression). If a = 0, i.e. power of the filter is maximum, then input from the eyes won’t go to brain at all. Because any number multiplied by zero equal zero even though the number is large. On the other hand, if one can reduce power of the filter (a >> 0) then input to the brain increases.

He pointed out losing curiosity and interest increase power of the filter.

Book : 養老孟司, バカの壁, 2003 (in Japanese)
Wikipedia : 養老孟司 (in Japanese)

I used to use computer to capture my ideas. It was natural because I was hanging on computer all time of the day.

I used Apple’s Keynote for this purpose. I thought that is the best way because Keynote’s scheme resembles to indexcard. After while, I found major problem with this method.

Idea is not only text, of course, but also image. Rather, image is more powerful than text to express one’s idea. But how should I put drawings with Keynote? I know the Adobe Illustrator is the best choice for drawing. But how long does it take to draw ideas in my head with it, especially with PowerBooks’s Track Pad? Omni Graffle is better? I don’t think so. I thought to get pen tablet as natural. But I have to take it everywhere? No way.

If I concentrate to draw better enough picture, I will forget what I am thinking at that moment. All I need is speed and freedom, and not beauty and detail. From view point of idea capture, paper plus pen posses extremely high degree of freedom than computer. That is one of major reason I switch back from computer to paper.

A computer is good for present one’s idea for someone else. But for personal idea capture, I think a paper and pen is still (and forever?) the best.

in Movie : “High Fidelity”, Stephen Frears, 2000 (IMDb).

(Rob starts rearrangement of his record collection when he break up with his girlfriend…)

Dick: It guess it looks as if you’re reorganizing your records. What is this though? Chronological?
Rob: No…
Dick: Not alphabetical…
Rob: Nope.
Dick: What?
Rob: Autobiographical.
Dick: No fuckin’ way…
Rob: Yep. I can tell you how I got from Deep Purple to Howling Wolf in just 25 moves.
Dick: Oh, my god…
Rob: And, if I want to find the song “Landslide,” by Fleetwood Mac, I have to remember that I bought it for someone in the fall of 1983 pile, but didn’t give it to them for personal reasons.
Dick: That sounds…
Rob: Comforting?
Dick: Yes.
Rob: It is…

Quote from : Wikiquote, “High Fidelity”

in Movie : “Pi”, Darren Aronofsky, 1998 (IMDb).

(Maximillian Cohen is mathematician. He made the following assumption during his quest for a pattern within stock market…)

1. Mathematics is the language of nature.
2. Everything around us can be represented and understood through numbers.
3. If you graph the numbers of any system, patterns emerge.
4. Therefore, there are patterns everywhere in nature.

source : Aronofsky.Net (director’s official web site)

Ideas in my brain are invisible, of course. Once I capture it on indexcard, then it become visible in this real world.

This is simple matter. But it makes me feel comfortable. When I write a hundred of indexcard in a week, I feel some kind of satisfaction. I pile it, count it, box it, flip it. Like a child playing with bricks. I can’t feel such satisfaction with digital media.

I think this simplicity of indexcard attracts me so strongly.

cf. ‘What you see is what you get’ (Wikipedia, WYSIWYG)