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Kata 3 (Set up PKM environment)

Selecting a program for the PKM environment

Kata 3 - PKM Environment Setup

Used in Week 1

Theory

When it comes to organizing your personal knowledge management, choosing the right program can be helpful. A good program will give you the ability to store your notes in one place and ensure that you have access to the information you need at any time.

There are many different programs on the market that focus on different ways of working and personal preferences. It can be useful to take the time to look into different programs to find the one that best fits your needs.

This learning path is about the method, not so much about the program you use to implement the methodology. We use Obsidian here because it is free for private use and meets our needs well. If you already use a knowledge management software you are welcome to continue using it. Even if you want to use another software for some reason, do it. We just want to focus on the method itself here in this learning path instead of tool philosophy.

We have prepared a Vault, which is the name given to a knowledge store or the folder in which this learning path is also. Since it is a Markdown file, you can use it with the usual knowledge management programs. And since the learning path is in it, you already have some files in it that you can reference to. You can download the Vault as a ZIP archive under Download or directly here.

If you are in an environment where you are not allowed to install any software you can also start with Microsoft OneNote. We have created a short Guide for the use with OneNote. We recommend using a program suitable for knowledge management. But it is even more important for us that you manage your personal knowledge. And there OneNote is all times better than not to do it. And in any case, just start, as mentioned above, the environment can be changed later.

A remark about the tool should be made nevertheless. You are building up your knowledge here, and you want to take it with you for life. Make sure that the format of the files can be read with a simple text editor, or at least exported to a text format. MarkDown, the file extension is .md, is good in any case. If you want to read in what else you could consider, have a look at the appendix. There we have collected some background knowledge.

The list does not claim to be complete.

  • Obsidian^[http://obsidian.md]
  • Logseq^[https://logseq.com/]
  • Roam^[https://roamresearch.com]
  • Zkn3^[http://zettelkasten.danielluedecke.de/]

If Markdown is foreign to you, and you want to use it in your notebox, check out the attachment. There is a crash-course. (In principle, three characters are enough to use it)

Exercises

  • Install Obsidian or a program of your choice
  • Familiarize yourself with the program
  • Create a note
    • Title: Hello World
    • Text: My first note

Learning Objective

  • You have installed and set up your Zettelkasten environment and are ready to go.