Small Findings

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Dear Friend,

I am writing to inform you that during this pandemic:

[ ] I have made sourdough bread

[ ] I participated in a video chat version of a traditionally in-person event

[x] I started a podcast

And here’s the podcast!

Small Findings

You can listen to it via your preferred podcast player, via RSS, or you can just listen to it at that web site.

It started as a result of coming across Zettelkasten via Liam. Zettelkasten is a way of taking notes that produces this big web of notes that you can easily walk to recall information. Its inventor was a German sociologist that was really productive. He worked with notecards instead of computers, which were unavailable for most of his career. Essentially, he created a wiki out of paper.

I’ve tried and quit so many productivity methods over the years. It’s my version of adopting trendy diets or wacky workouts. However, it does seem to be sticking. I don’t really do the linking part of the Zettelkasten, perhaps at my own peril. I use tags, and I search those tags to find things.

A side effect of doing this is that I feel like I’m absorbing more information and have more information to share. So, I’m sharing it in podcast form! (Well, except for the technical stuff, which mostly does not translate well orally.)

It’s inspired by:

While I do think that Small Findings has some potential utility, it’s not a utility that gets a specific job done for a particular kind of person. Like almost all of my stuff, no measurement has been done about what people need. It’s not a product, and it could turn out to not meet anyone’s needs. I just like thinking that maybe it can for someone someday.

(That said, I’d love to hear what you think, even if you hate it!)

The other thing I get out of making the podcast is that, like painting, it’s more direct than programming. You write, you see what you wrote. You speak, and you hear what you spoke. Even though I have many issues about my vocal delivery, there is a reliability here that I find reassuring.

There is a bit more pressure than there is in (my form of) painting, though.

I like podcasts that come out on a regular basis, so I have this goal of putting an episode out every week. I decided I wouldn’t email you folks about it until I could produce one within one week for putting out the previous one. Then, I’d knmow it was real. I finally got close to that with Episode 4. While I’m sure I’ll slip from once a week, I now know that it’s not impossible to hit that.

I’m not great at this, but much like Dr. Worm, I feel I’m getting better, and I really need that “new skill optimism” these days.

Oh, also, let me know if there are any small findings you want me to share, or better yet, if you want to be on the podcast to share them directly!

Jim