Pile of Index Cards

Report from Jon in personal communication. I send him a rings for hipster PDA. Now he use it to bind 4×6 index cards. Tips and tricks about his hPDA. :)

Jon’s hPDA

“Hello Hawk,
I just wanted to share my immediate discoveries after using the binder rings.

1. I decided to use a single ring only on a card stack. I’m still using my original cards (4×6) as I’m experimenting. I realised that by using 2 rings, I’d have to open and close them both to add or remove a card, and this would be a step back. One binder clip becomes one binder ring.

2. I used a standard 2 hole punch on the short side of my cards, which was easy to line up. This put a hole close to the bottom right corner, but not too close to make the corner week. However, i quickly disliked this, as when I turned the cards, they pivoted around the corner ring and it became awkward to use.

3. So I punched a hole in the centre of the short side. This was tricky to measure up well and to keep batches of cards punched exactly. I realise I need to prepare a lot of cards at one sitting (1 pack) and my office punch was better than my punch at home. The grid cards might be easier to punch, because they have 15 squares on the short side, so the hole is #8 square.
(I noticed the cards you sent have a number printed on one side. I mistakenly punched some on the plain side and some on the number side. When I put them together with the same sides together, the holes are very slightly out. This is because square #1 and square #15 are not the same size.)

4. But as soon as I started using the cards with a centred hole, they were much easier to use. They turned like pages in a book very neatly. I can write up to the edge of the card with little interference from the ring.”

cont.

“What is important with card is not classification, but to flip some times.”

Umesao, Tadao, Chiteki Seisan no Gijyutu, p. 59.

Long time I had misunderstood what Umesao said. I had thought he suggest ‘flip’ cards to search a certain cards frequently. But it is not for search, but for review.

Search and review are resemble in action. Both ’scan’s the cards in a box. But the meaning is completely different.

Search : scan with narrow band, narrow interest. This is something like SETI project. Scan all stars and search for extra terrestrial intelligence. We know SETI provides screen saver and uses huge number of CPU all over the world.

Review : scan with broad band, broad interest. This is something like gazing stars in the sky. We see lights of stars, and also pattern of distribution : a constellation.

So Umesao’s words mean that we should scan the dock with broad interest. Enjoy finding pattern. When we find a new discovery, write it on a new cards. And this is a ‘productivity’.

Instead of stop searching, I introduce an idea of “holy cards”.

This idea is originally from Noguchi filing system (1993). Any reusable files are called “神様ファイル (holy files)” and separated from chronological order. Address, recipe, book info are belongs to this holy files.

I prepare a partition in the dock for the holy cards. I personally call this place as “Sanctuary”. This is out-of-law from the PoIC rules. In this place, we can classify and search index cards as we want.

In the PoIC, a key is how to search. The search become more difficult with system grows because of it’s analog nature. Also, we adopt simple chronological order. Only search criteria here is our own time axis, that is history and memory.

However, in my experience, the search is not frequent at all because,

1) I concentrate to extract new ideas.
2) If I completely forget about a topic in past, I don’t need search at all. In other words, no way to search what I completely forget.
3) If I remember some part of a topic in past, I write it on a new card, rather than search the card in past. This is much faster.
4) Search area is quite limited, say 3 days to a week past, because of my memory. So (2) works for older than a week.

Anyway, I must say only few time I need to scan all card in a dock since I use the PoIC.

At certain point, a time when cards about a project enough accumulate, we pick up all cards to organize Task Force for the Project. This time we search all topics about the project. That is, the “search” process comes very last point of the project. Same is true for a “classification”.

At the (3), we will have some similar cards resemble each other. But they have slightly different contents. It is good to express one topic in different ways. It is a measure of how we understand well about the topic.

In addition, it is frequently happen for me, but while searching a card, I already forget what I’ve thinking. When I find the card, I already lost the idea. It seems searching card is most of time harmful, especially for capturing idea.

Originally uploaded by Akiyo Kano.

Akiyo Kano shows how she modified a Moleskine Memo Pocket into icPod.

She use Japanese colored paper (千代紙) for decoration. She also use ribbon for side edge of the accordion. This is good not only for decoration, but also for protection.

とてもきれい！ :)

# 2007.02.16 : Fixed link for photo set

Replacement of cards

Of course, the cards inside the box is different from 20 years ago. They are about rhetorician in 18th century. Because this is my current research interest. I have been immersed myself in writing 650 pages book “History of English Studies”. While this task, the card box always on the desktop. And I frequently shift the contents of the box.

For example, when I finish writing a chapter about paleography in 17th century, and move to philosophy of language in 18th century next chapter, I completely replace a contents of the box. In this way, the card box recommended by Professor Schneider still plays an important role on my research, like a Task Force.

Watanabe, Shoichi, Chiteki Seikatsu no Houhou (A way to intellectual life),

1976, p.p. 131-132. (Translation by Hawk)

He uses two kind of index card box according to a picture in the book. One is medium size wooden card box he bought in Germany 20 years ago. Another is larger size steel card box like this.

He selects cards he need for a moment from the steel box to the wooden box. He call the selected cards as “Task Force”.

# 2007.02.13 Fixed a link for the steel box

(Indiana’s father explains how his diary is important…)

Father : Well, he who find the Grail, must face the final challenge.
Indiana : What final challenge?
Father : Three devices of lethal cunning.
Indiana : Booby traps?
Father : Oh yes! But I founds the clues to safely take us through in the chronicles of st. Anselm!
Indiana : Well, what are they? … Can’t you remember?
Father : I wrote them in my diary so I wouldn’t have to remember!

It implies that if we have trustful note taking system, we can forget even great finding for ourself.

(Indiana Jones opens a mail from his father…)

“It’s dad’s Grail diary. Every due he followed, every discovery he made. A complete record of his research for the Holy Grail. This is his whole life.”

I can say a Dock is my whole life :)

Robert Ford reported in personal communication that how he use index cards and tag. He use additional 26 tags (13 blocks x 2 separation) from right side to indicate a contents. It will be an good example of the Extension for the PoIC.

The way I organise my cards is by date like you, plus I use the 13 blocks on the top right hand side in half-block increments to denote the 26 letters of the alphabet.

I use the same mark as i use for record, discovery, next action, and reference to show whether the name (keyword/title) for the card is A, B, C, etc. That way I can search the cards looking for someone’s phone number (eg Mark is under M) or a note about snow would be under S, etc. I don’t know what phonetics are used in japanese and whether they could be sorted along similar lines.

When the cards are viewed in a pack from above you can’t instinctively jump to a single letter, but in a second you can work out what what mark equates to the letter you are looking for, and soon after you can find those cards with that letter, even easier if you have a rough idea of the period in which it was written.

All the best

Robert

I write 20 - 30 cards every day now. Same time, I notice I discard many cards.

From curiosity I had accumulated dis-cards in separate trash box since last December. It is 2+ month now, and I count how many cards inside.

There are about 280 cards. It means I discarded 1.5 pack of index cards per month. About 5 cards per day, 15 % of total.

But I think this is natural result since use pigment pen. When I made mistake, I think whether use correction fluid or not. Of course, discard and pick up new card is faster. When I want to write fast, I always choose to discard.

For the PoIC manual I introduce an idea of “Extension” according to a suggestion by contributer. In this analogy, the Extension is like a “plug-in” or “add-on” for the Mozilla FireFox. A “System Extension” for the Mac OS (pre OS X) is also easy to understand.

I shape up the PoIC method as possible, and add Extension chapter. Now the PoIC method gives fundamental part only : Four Cards, how to write, and chronological order.

Because of it’s simplicity, we can customize the system as we like. For example, Chross Reference can be interpreted as one of such Extension.

For productivity, life, education, research. Many extension would be possible. Some people already reports such Extensions ; how they combine their own way and the PoIC. Perhaps the Extensions might be a state of experiment. But anyway, it is good to know how people incorporate the PoIC actually in their life :)

Jeevs gave me a suggestion to introduce Alias Card before. But I couldn’t include his idea since it is too complicated for analog system. But this idea is revived in different use now.

As I mention before (or at Wiki), we have to record a source of information while taking Reference Card. Source-less Reference Card is useless. In case of taking Reference Card from a single book, however, it become something like routine work to record book information everytime. We have to write Author, title of book, year, pages.

This time the idea of Alias Card become useful. Make a Record Card with book information : Author and year for title of the card, coauthor, title of book, and publisher is the contents. And use Author, year, and page for the Reference Card.

For Alias, I choose not Reference Card, but Record Card. Because when I take many Reference Card, Alias Card with Reference tag is easily buried. By differentiating from Reference tag, it become slightly easy to find the book information. Plus, it will be a “Record” I read the book. :)

# I use the Record Card as book mark. It is also convenient. ;)

Reference : @blog, How to take Reference Card

Since last post about Reference Card, I have concentrated to take it actually.

I took Reference Card mainly from books nearly 200 in two weeks. I found two way of taking Reference Card is quite possible. And we can choose one of them according to circumstances.

Taking Reference Card,

(a) While reading.
It interrupt reading, but give some time to think about a topic. This is good for reading like a technical book or textbook. That is, serious case.

(b) After reading.
It doesn’t interrupt reading. This is good for book like hobby and self-help. That is, relaxed case. This is also a case Watanabe pointed out.

Intermediate is also possible. Taking card while reading, but after finish a chapter, for example.

My case, I usually read general book in a subway, so it is force interrupted after 40 minutes every time. So when I found a paragraph I like, I leave brief memo on the book directly by pencil. After I arrive to office, take some minutes to make Reference Cards. I use the memo as a title of the Reference Card. For reading technical book, I use (a).