211 - Folgzettel Debate
Folgzettel translate to “follow-up slip” in english. It represents a note that is an elaboration on the note in front of it. If you had notes “1, 1a, 1b, 1c, 1d” then 1a, 1b, 1c, and 1d would be considered follow up slips. They can either be expanding on the note that comes before it (e.g. 1b expands on 1a) or it expands on the idea at the start of the sequence (e.g. 1d expands in a new way on the idea in 1 not 1c).
Luhmann allowed notes to branch off arbitrarily. So often times he would create a new sub sequence based off a keyword in a note. An example of this would be me branching off a new note from this sequence that talks about the concept of elaboration (e.g. creating a new note sequence starting with 1c, then 1c1, 1c2, 1c3, etc). It is arbitrary because it is not directly related to the original topic “folgzettel”. When you create an arbitrary branch, you also add a link to it in the index because you otherwise wouldn’t know where to look for it in the future.
Research
- Luhmann’s Essay on the Zettelkasten where he goes over his system of organization
- Niklas Luhmann’s Card Index: The Fabrication of Serendipity - Luhmann scholar, Johannes F.K. Schmidt covers the organization principles in this short article. You can also download the full expanded article
- September 8th, 2015 - Lüdecke Blog Post - Luhmann’s way of working in the electronic note box
- Oct 31st, 2015 - Sascha Response Blog Post - No, Luhmann was not about Folgezettel
- Nov, 2015 - Lüdecke Response Blog Post - You Underestimate the Power of the Dark Folgezettel
- Nov, 2015 - Christian Response Blog Post - Daniel’s Follow-Up About Folgezettel
- Oct 8th, 2019 - Reddit Post - Digital folgezettel?
- March 6th, 2020 - Forum Post - Hierarchical Branched Note Taking and The Archive App(is topography important?)
- March 18th, 2020 - Reddit Post - Questions structure and naming
- March 29th, 2020 - Forum Post - The case for a digital folgezettel
- March 30th, 2020 - Forum Post - Is there a benefit to Luhmann IDs vs. Date/Time IDs?
- April 15th, 2020 - Sascha Blog Post - Understanding Hierarchy by Translating Folgezettel and Structure Zettel
- August 1st, 2020 - Reddit Post - How do you arrange connections in your digital Zettelkasten?
- May 9th, 2020 - Forum Post - Finally, Folgezettel
- August 22nd, 2020 - Eva Thomas Blog Post - The Folgezettel Conundrum