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Big Questions

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23 replies on “Big Questions”

I’m a book lover, sci-fi writer, and native plant nerd. Learn more about me, and see what I’m up to now. This is my personal site — you may be looking for my professional sustainability consulting services. Explore my site Join me in pondering my big questions (my approach to organizing my learning and thinking…

I’m a sci-fi writer, graphic designer and urbanist in the Seattle suburbs. Reading and blogging are my favorite pasttimes and I’m an advocate of the indie web. I’m curious about everything from technology to history to ecology. I use this website to: track what I read and watch, write commentary on things that interest me,…

What’s Tracy up to lately? Updated 24 November 2024 Supporting outreach for a city C&D (construction and demolition) salvage and waste reporting ordinance Figuring out how to prepare for 2025 and beyond Just got back from my first trip since 2020 I share weeknotes about what I did each week. What I’m thinking about These…

I have too many pages to fit in my nav! Here’s a sitemap of all the pages on this website. Blog Mind Garden Post Index Links to blog about Big Questions Big Questions Balanced Lifestyle Effective Creative Processes Writing Fiction Thinking Better Information Diet Future of the Internet Resisting Fascism Building Community Transforming Capitalism Collections…

At tonight’s Homebrew Website Club, I asked for feedback on my new “Big Question” pages, which I’ve created as a way to group thoughts and writing on specific topics. I got some great ideas and food for thought and will be making some tweaks right away, while others I’ll need to think about a bit more.
Johannes suggested I start by considering how I would design the organization on paper, without letting the limitations of technology affect the way I presented the information. As he pointed out, especially on these new question pages, I’m trying to filter multi-dimensional content in a two-dimensional space. On paper, I might use all sorts of arrows and bubbles and connecting lines to help show overlaps and connections. I used to be a big fan of mind mapping as my first step for writing an essay in college, though I’ve gotten out of the practice. Then I could think about what was important to convey from that presentation of the info, and how I could adapt that for a webpage.

Spring is here — it was a big wildlife week in the neighborhood! Heard coyotes howling in the greenbelt and the frogs started their evening chorus, saw a doe in the backyard and a hummingbird out front, and spotted the first bees cruising. But, allergies also hit me hard 🤧

Replied to Too Much Information: Why Personal Knowledge Management Is Hard (Analog Office)

Difficult truth: The more complex the information you manage is, the more complex your systems will have to be.

I so appreciate Anna’s thoughtful prompts. Her piece is great but today I’m “yes and-ing” a tiny aside in it:

you make a lot of notes for yourself (btw IRL most people do not do this, just sayin’)

This friendly jibe got me thinking — I’ve seen a related sentiment from many places that note taking is not particularly productive for most people, and that knowledge management can be somewhat a fool’s mission. To each their own, but personally, I have found my mind garden to be a huge spur in my thinking. I wanted to dig into why I find my mind garden worth the time and effort when others do not.

I’ve picked out a few posts under common themes I write about. (There’s also my big questions or the blog index to peruse by topic.) The indie web community | Writing | Reading | Making change Updated 20 August 2024 The indie web community Connecting the indie web Barriers to a more social IndieWeb IndieWeb…