Smart SpAIders!

This is not a new idea.

This is not entirely my idea.

I am sure it is a pretty good idea.

I am not going to make the claim to act on the suggestions in here will be easy.

I am positive that acting on these suggestions will make them smarter than if they did not do these things.

Also, I am not a genius. I'm just some guy who has spent time trying to learn things, getting frustrated, but never giving up.

If I had been doing these things all along, I would be better off. I didn't. So here I am. We all get to work with what we got.

I am not convinced this would help my typing. I'm not sure anything could. My typing is pretty bad.

I am going to use the pronoun 'I' for this, because I am convinced without a shadow of doubt, that this is precisely what I need. Sorry, I have no idea precisely what you need. I can only share what I am doing and hope that you can have a look and see if this is something for you. I have every good wish that regardless of anything I say, you will find ways to improve your learning, knowledge, and capacity to do well in the world.

Intentional Practice

The foundation of this idea is focused intentional practice. It will be more useful if it becomes a daily practice.

Here is a rough outline of 'the practice'

1. Whenever I read, study, listen to podcasts, go to class or lecture, watch or participate in webinars, I always have something to write with/on
2. Whenever something interesting happens, write it down. It doesn't have to be complete. It is just a scrap note. It is a temporary note. It is something that will trigger a thought or memory. Also, have a way to get back to the source. It doesn't do a lot of good to write down a quote from a book If I'll never be able to find the book.
3. Soon after, review and rewrite the note.
   • Is this something that will be on an exam?
   • Is this something I will want to remember or reflect on later?
   • Is this something that will be a part of a project?
   • Is this something that I want to save?
   • There should be two parts for rewriting. One part is the idea, the other is the source.
   • The source is important, because I won't remember or restate exactly, so I will want to find it in the future.
   • sometimes I will want to be precise, other times I will just try for the general idea.
   • It may be rewriting on 3x5 cards. It may be rewriting in a journal or blank book. It may be on my laptop.
   • This is not a 'forever' note. This is still a temporary note.
4. After some reflection, preferably a daily cadence, look through the temporary notes and reflect on them.
   • Is this something I want to keep?
   • Is this worth the effort to rewrite it into a permanent learning system?
   • Is this something I want to have sticking around in my long-term memory?
5. For the 'keepers' rewrite into a permanent system,
6. Review the permanent notes. Annotate the permanent notes showing how notes connect to each other.
7. Make a habit of looking through your knowledge base, to reflect and explore, follow paths of inquiry, generate ideas, create new notes.

Where is the AI?

I know. spAIder seems to imply there is AI in the middle of this. It is coming.

This sounds a lot like 'Smart Notes', but not as well thought-out

I did really enjoy 'How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking' by Sönke Ahrens. I'd encourage everyone to read it. If I was going to stick with everything on paper, I would be following those instructions exactly.

I am afraid I am a bit of a nerd, and a data nerd at that. I can see immediately that Smart Notes would work and would make me smarter. I can also imagine how using the computer could help guide me along. The computer could help prompt me to review notes. It can help me with my sources. Some activities, like making connections, could be done by computers; I believe it would be more effective if I created connections myself, and learned from that activity.

Graphs?

The structure of notes and connections made me think immediately of graph databases. That will be the foundation of my Learning to Knowledge system.

I want the notes to be version controlled.

I want people to be able to print out individual notes or collections of notes along with sources/references

AI?

It will be coming. It will also be optional. If AI writes the notes for you, the refernces, and connections, it won't be any better than passively watching sitcom reruns on late night tv. I intend to have a local AI work with a slider in a user interface so the user will determine how much 'help' they want, and if they want to 'roll back' any AI help they receive in a session.

For all that I am suggesting and trying, it will take time.

It will take more time than reading and hoping to remember. It will take more time and effort than reading a thing, then reading the same thing a second time and hoping to remember, but getting bored because I already this.

This is about developing a useful habit. If I start taking notes when I find something interesting, I will be better off. If I copy those notes to a little book, I will be better off again, than if I had not done that. Reflecting, organizing, asking questions of myself and my knowledge base, all this makes me better at the things I direct my attention to.

Although it will take more time than not doing it, it will be worthwhile

My deck of cards

so each node in my knowledge system is part of a pair. The best things are binary. I want it to function like a file card. I'll put my notes/thoughts/stuff on one side of the card, and a reference note on the back of the card. To do this digitally, The first node will be my note, the second node will be source/reference.

"There are only two hard things in Computer Science: Cache Invalidation and naming things" - Phil Karlton
"There are 2 hard problems in computer science: cache invalidation, naming things, and off-by-1 errors."- Leon Bambrick
-From Martin Fowler's website martinfowler.com

I am not sure what to call the pair or what to call each part of the pair. "Primary Node", "Secondary Node"? Front/Back? Note/Source? Since I am using an IT system, 'Source' might have special meaning that could be confusing. Likewise with 'Reference'. It will often be bibliographic, but not always. If someone says something, I want to have way to know who said it. Or if something comes into my imagination (somehow) I want to have a way to remind myself that this didn't come from the usual places.

This is not a knowledge base

Doug. 2025 May 15th