Welcome to the world of ‘personal knowledge management!’
Just recently I’ve been really frustrated by not knowing where my files are. Files being anything from hand-written notes and photos, to results and analyses, to documents, blogs and papers. I have also been finding it difficult to deal with all the different incoming (and outgoing) information sources in my research. I’ve also been feeling like I’ve been floating along for a while, as I lost sight of the ‘why’. This was in part due to a lack of being able to ramp up momentum during the pandemic. There has been a tendency for my work to be ‘bitty’ and therefore my information input and output is too. In summary, my personal systems are not up to the job and now I’m feeling the strain.
In my search for answers, I had a lightbulb moment. I realised that the answers to my problems are out there, I just need to find the correct tools and implement them. As a result, about a month ago I discovered the world of personal knowledge management. It seemed to be the missing piece in my puzzle.
Personal Knowledge Management
And so began my current journey of understanding personal knowledge management (or ‘PKM’) but applying it to a research environment. It is literally the biggest, most undervalued and unrecognised area when it comes to PhD research. It encompasses collation, interpretation and processing of the vast amount of information we, as researchers, are exposed to every day.
I don’t know about you, but I cannot keep up with the amount of information produced in my scientific field. Furthermore, my field is nowhere near as fast-paced as medical research for example. The increase in publications alone increases year on year and the accessibility of that information is also increasing. And add into that, just focusing on one specific field is no longer enough; ‘interdisciplinary’ being the key word here.
Essentially, it means being exposed to more and more and more information every minute, day and night. Combine with social media and the existence of the mobile phone and my brain is literally about to explode.
I’m not going to be able to magically keep up with every bit of information that comes my way. It’s not realistic. It would be wonderful, but I would be spending all day reading, never mind writing down and interpreting that information. What I hope for, is efficiency and therefore speed.
But this ongoing journey of discovery made me realise that there is a whole world of untapped potential out there. How do I organise my knowledge and how can I make it work for me? Organisation and goals and all that mumbo jumbo are not everyone’s cup of tea, I get that, but I hope in sharing my journey, you might at the very least, get to know something about finding your own personal rhythm.
Rhythm not Productivity
I much prefer the term rhythm to ‘productivity’. Productivity has many bad connotations and whilst I hope that understanding my knowledge systems may increase my productivity, really I just want to feel in sync with my brain. I not only want to feel the constant beat of a fulfilled life, but also be able to control it so that when the time comes, it’s easier to step up or down a gear. Sometimes we need to work a bit faster and sometimes a bit slower. Stress makes everything feel out of balance. I can literally feel it in my heart beating in my chest. Productivity is a business term, rhythm, a much more personal one. I’d like to write about this in more depth in a later blog but for now, back to workflow.
The first thing I really need to do, is reconsider my workflow. This is partly to make sure that files will be stored in the correct place. I also need a traceability system to make sure that I’m working on the latest version. I want to prevent bits of information ending up in many different places. Be it in my brain, on paper or in my computer it needs to be consistent. I currently have a monthly back-up system in place. But it’s not very structured; where was the last version saved? I’ve toyed around with GitHub in the past for version control, but I’m not a coder so it wasn’t immediately natural to me. I’ll need to give it another go.
One system to rule them all, one system to bind them…
I have always been on the lookout for the one system that does everything. I’ve come to realise that it doesn’t exist. ‘Everything’ being collating and recording information, digesting that information and then interpreting it outwards in whatever way you need.
Part of my lightbulb moment was realising that what I really need is structure. In other words efficiency in moving through the system and cross-platform integration. I want something that does exactly what I need at that moment in time. Then it has the ability to efficiently link into the rest of the chain of my own scientific knowledge.
Links in a chain
It’s only recently that I’ve come to see the process of knowledge acquisition and dissemination as a series of links. In order for my brain to work efficiently, these links need to form a neat chain. From knowledge acquisition (e.g. from experiment) to knowledge dissemination (e.g. writing papers), they need to link seamlessly. At the moment I have bits of chain, I think, but they don’t link together. And they certainly aren’t neat. And some are most definitely broken.
“Memories are links in a golden chain that bind us until we meet again.”
Jacqueline Winspear, Maisie Dobbs
For me it’s also about rhythm and consistency. I need to trickle information into the system but in a way that is flexible as to how they might organically re-form together at a later date. Until now things have been quite rigid. This file does this, this program does that, which to a certain extent will still be the case. But it is how the knowledge contained within these files holistically fits together as a greater whole that is the key. And also making sure that I don’t have two things vying for the same process. It means that I can take the chain off in different directions as I need to rather than re-making it again and again. Plus I can see a link where I might not have realised that there was one.
Organised chaos
Personally I have this really odd (and really frustrating, but also wonderful) mix of really liking new shiny things but at the same time needing consistency and routine in my day-to-day activities. I can only describe it as having high-functioning autism and ADHD at the same time. Autism on the outside and ADHD on the inside. Don’t get me wrong, I love it, but dealing with that contrast in neuro-control is exhausting! I think my systems are a reflection of that; both highly organised and a mess at the same time!
At the moment I have about 10 things, for 10 purposes in about 5 systems. You can now see why I get frustrated. Could the file be here, or was it there? Did I edit this one last week, or is this one the most up-to-date? What was I working on exactly? I backed that up – where did I save it?
Ultimately, I want to use one thing for one purpose in one system and then the rest should take care of itself. The difference is that the ‘things’ and ‘purpose’ may change, but the way the system works and how it links together, remains consistent.
I would like you to join me on this voyage of discovery. I don’t have answers, I just have questions. I’d like you to ask them along with me, to help find what resonates with you.
Coffee I’m drinking: Horsham Coffee Roaster: Costa Rica, Aguilera Brothers
Books I’m reading this week: The Kindness Method by Shahroo Izadi and Killing State by Judith O’Reilly
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