Total rewrite

content/posts/notes-as-tools/index.md

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----
-draft: true
-title: "Notes as tools: A mental model"
-aliases: ["Notes as tools: A mental model"]
-series: []
-date: "2024-04-24"
-author: "Nick Dumas"
-cover: ""
-keywords: ["", ""]
-summary: "Note-taking can present an overwhelming abundance of possibility. Explicitly modelling your notes as tools can grant clarity when creating and organizing your knowledge."
-showFullContent: false
-tags:
-- obsidian
-- note-taking
----
-## Outline 
-- What I assume you know 
-- Why take notes 
-- Tools and you 
-- Tools with purpose 
-- Tools without
-- Conclusion
-
-## What I assume you know
-Nothing in particular, this article isn't even specifically about Obsidian.
-## Why take notes? 
-It's a question worth really thinking about. *Why* are you taking notes? Do you enjoy writing? Does it help you remember? Is it part of a grade? Your answer might be one or more or none of these. Regardless of the answer, what I'm here to argue is that your notes should not be an end in and of themselves. 
-
-## Tools and you
-My central thesis is that **notes are tools**. Tools are objects or processes that people create or alter in order to make some part of their life easier or better. Some very obvious examples of tools are things like knives, guns, and cars. Tools can be more complex, though. Factories are tools, eyeglasses and smartphones are tools. 
-
-Tools are not constrained to physical space either. Mnemonic devices we use to memorize how to tie our shoes or our bank passwords are tools as well, existing completely in mental space and active cognitive processes. Beyond the scope of this post but worth mentioning, social constructs are also tools; etiquette, language, art and games are all tools built out of agreements between human beings.
-
-
-Tools are all around you. It is worth putting some thought into precisely what those tools are useful for, to what degree they benefit you and at what cost. Knives are used for separating objects into smaller objects, which is great, but under the wrong circumstances that object might not be something you want made into smaller pieces so that's something you have to take into account while using, organizing, and storing your knife. 
-
-Not all tools are anywhere near as dangerous as knives, but I want to center the idea that understanding the knife's purpose, cutting, informs how you should store it: blade enclosed, handle accessible.
-
-## Tools with purpose
-So, your notes are tools. Now what? 
-
-Unfortunately, this hasn't armed us with a magic bullet. Physical analogies start to fall apart here; in physical space, hammering a nail has consistent characteristics. A pound of steel weighs the same in China as it does in Haiti, the coefficient of friction for pine planks doesn't change based on who's holding the hammer. Notes, or at least the ways we can transform, share, and apply them are not subject to the kind of restrictions that cars or screwdrivers might be.
-
-In practice, what I try to focus on is **names**.
-
-> A note with a clear purpose will be easy to name.
-
-Think carefully about how you're planning on using this note. Where will you be sitting or standing? What time of day will it be? What are the first words that come to mind when you think about the problem this note solves?
-
-Do you have at least one clear answer for these questions? If not, your note might be doing too much.
-## Tools without
-Most homes have a place where tools without a clear purpose live. It's usually a drawer in your kitchen
-## Conclusion
-
-## What is a tool?
-You are, of course, familiar with tools like hammers and knives. You might have even heard of things like wheels, cars, and guns. These are all fairly self-evident examples of tools: **things that humans create or alter to make some part of their life easier or better**.
-
-It's important to understand, however, that the category of "tools" is not restricted to things you can hold in your hand. A low-hanging example of this is math, a *mental* tool humans use to process and understand how quantities of things change in response to different stimuli. 
-
-## Tools and You
-You work in concert with an endless ocean of tools every day and probably don't think about most of them. This is not a personal failure; a well-designed tool simply requires little to no effort to use. Eyeglasses, cars, phones, books, forks and spoons all augment our natural abilities and let us interact with our environment in ways the benefit us, and most of them are largely invisible in our day to day life.
-
-This deep integration can leave people at a bit of a loss when starting from scratch in a context where tools aren't readily available or familiar. This is often the case when delving into a new skill, hobby, or profession.  
-
-## Naming Things 
-One of the most common problems you're likely to encounter while working on your notes is naming them. It is also, I'd argue, the hardest. The most interesting part about names, though, is that they can be an extremely potent "canary in the coal mine" when note-taking. A note that is hard to name is a note whose purpose you do not fully understand.
-
-

content/posts/the-gallery-and-the-toolbox/index.md

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+---
+draft: true
+title: "The Gallery and the Toolbox"
+aliases: ["The Gallery and the Toolbox"]
+series: []
+date: "2024-04-24"
+author: "Nick Dumas"
+cover: ""
+keywords: ["", ""]
+summary: "Note-taking can present an overwhelming abundance of possibility. Developing explicit mental models of your notes can grant clarity when organizing your knowledge."
+showFullContent: false
+tags:
+- obsidian
+- note-taking
+---
+## Outline 
+- Visualize a note
+	- is it in a frame or a toolbox?
+- Gallery vs Toolbox
+	- no wrong way to take notes
+	- are you building something to look at, or something to help you do something?
+- Gallery
+	- Examples
+		- Journals
+		- Literal galleries: images, quotes, memories
+- Toolbox 
+	- Recipes 
+	- Lecture Notes
+	- Project documentation
+- Choosing your model
+	- Tools can be beautiful and you can find practical value in appreciating/interacting with art or beauty, it's just helpful to have a clear understanding of the core purpose of the thing you're creating.
+
+
+## Visualize a note 
+Take your favorite note. Maybe it's a recipe or a really astute observation you made about a book you read. Try to place it in physical space, the first thing that pops into your head. What kind of room is it in? How is it stored? Do you or others do anything else in this room?
+
+Is it stored in a binder, a safe, or taped to the wall above a work-area? Is it framed on the wall so that you or guests can admire or discuss it? Is this note laminated, perforated or punched, or folded in some way to make storage and retrieval easier?
+
+## The Gallery and the Toolbox
+I believe that, broadly speaking, visualizations will fall into one of two classes: the toolbox and the gallery. There's no small amount of overlap here, but I do think it's possible to generally narrow down a *primary* "type" or "use" of a given work or object.
+
+
+### The Gallery
+### The Toolbox
+A toolbox, believe it or not, contains tools. Tools as I understand them are simply procedures or objects created to make some part of life easier or better. It's important to understand that tools are not just physical objects. Mnemonic devices are tools, social etiquette is a tool, color-coding your socks by the day of the week is a tool.