I’ve kept many lab notebooks. Notebooks help organise my thoughts both as a sequence of events of what I did as well as random thoughts that pop up while executing a task. I keep lab notebooks for my work so I can look at what I was thinking. As an individual with ADHD, I am excellent at losing my train of thought. Notebooks keep me grounded.
Part of these notebooks become “connected notes” and they keep changing as my knowledge is updated.
For a while now, I’ve been thinking of keeping a blog or a website with articles. But what I write is never really finished. Somewhat like my notebooks: notes of what I do yes, but constantly updated. The way I experience knowledge is not fixed — it changes. Its topology is not static; it bends and shifts. A new insight changes the landscape. How does one maintain a website of bendable ever-changing knowledge?
Then I ran into this quote from Maggie Appleton on Simon Willison’s blog:
”[…] if you ever needed another reason to learn in public by digital gardening or podcasting or streaming or whathaveyou, add on that people will assume you’re more competent than you are. This will get you invites to very cool exclusive events filled with high-achieving, interesting people, even though you have no right to be there. A+ side benefit.”
Digital garden. What a simple and beautiful idea. Learning is perpetually incomplete, much like a garden.
What I’m growing
Notes on the things I’m learning right now: AI research, calculus, local model experimentation, ADHD, parenting, neuroscience.
If you want to chat about anything you see here, leo@azl.au is the easiest way to find me.