Wiki’s, and you should keep one

What is a Wiki

A Wiki in the context of what we are going to speak about is a system of recording information for retrieval at a later date. One main feature is they are user editable and have no defining structure. Over time the structure will change, adapting to the content been created.

Think of a wiki as a knowledge management resources. Its a living document that requires updates, with both adding and removing information.

Why you should keep a personal Wiki

The idea around keeping a personal wiki is to reduce the cognitive load on your mind. With having all the information written down, you free up more time for yourself to think about other, more important things.

Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying “never memorize something that you can look up”.

A wiki should be seen as an extension of your self. It a place that stores the information you require once in a blue moon. By know that you have written it down you can quickly find it again. It the case of the blue moon its easy do a search on the internet for it. Its the other other information that’s not easy search, like a list of the links used in this post along with a short description of where their used.

What information should you keep in your Wiki

In short, everything. When you move into a new house add the address of the house and details of the landlord. Once their written down you can reference back to them at a later date. The thing to remember is that the later date may not be three weeks from now but maybe ten years from now. A later date could be in forty years from now when you are retracing your family tree.

The information doesn’t even have to be usefully for the most part. If you find good web sites to download desktop wallpapers, make a list of them. You will find that you go back to them from time to time. Maybe you are a big podcast fan, add them details too. The app on the phone will change over time, hay the phone will change. But if you have a list somewhere that you can reference that don’t change, you can find the one gem of a podcast years later. Like this one by Tim Ferriss with John “Jocko” Willink.

An important thing to remember, thou you’re keeping a private Wiki, which is not meant to be public, for many years. There is a chance someone will find it, read it, share it, so don’t put your bank details, passwords or highly sensitive information in it. Do put information that you are embarrassed about but not your bank details.

Where should you start

One of the problems anything is where do you start. Its not like there is a set rules or instruction on how to record your personal information. There is a lot of information that you could be putting in, so start simple, start small. Put in you current house address, place of work or school and your typical transport details. A address is just five lines of text maybe ten words.

Once you get the first bits of information in the barrier to starting is gone. The next step is to add some more details. The next thing you could do is write down some of them ideas that’s running around in your head. This may just be a list of titles or you might add extra details on some ideas. Here is a YouTube video of a Tom Scott going through a similar list he has with his friend Matt Gray.
You will see that just seen the title is enough to spark the thought in your mind again.

When starting don’t try to record everything, some information DuckDuckGo will find faster for you. Try not to write a thousand word entries, you will never read them a again. Keep the information short and simple and links to sites.

Tips for picking a Wiki tool

In a later post I will speak more in depth about the products you can use to keep your wiki. For nowt he most important thing to remember is you many be using this tool for many years to come. So some points that should be aware of in the begin are:

• How easy will it be to transfer your wiki from one computer to a new computer.
• Is there expensive license and / or can they be transferred to new computers
• Are you wanting to have access at anytime in any location.
• How easy is the tool to use, does it force you to a style or are you free to create as you please.
• Is there a large learning curve. A tool that has all the bells and whistles but takes years to master will make it to hard to start and keep going.

Tips for writing a Wiki

You have decided that you are going to start your personal wiki. The tool you picked is all set up and ready to go. All you need to do is start. Here is some tips that I have pick up over the years.

• Every thing goes in lists or bullet points.
• Add a description to links and bits of information. I like to use the long dash to separate the content and the description.
  • https://color.adobe.com/create/color-wheel/ — its a color wheel
• Turn off spell check. – If you are making a quick note you don’t need to be told that you spelt color as color. You can of course check them at a later time but you want to keep your notes as clean looking as you can.
• Use heading and sub headings. – Will make it much easier to find information at a later date.
• Learn some of the common short cuts in your tool. The ones I suggest to start with.
  • How create headings
  • How to make a list
  • How insert the date
  • How to bold and highlight text

Wrapping up

When you do start, remember its not all about recording hard facts, its about having fun too. Here is a link I have for fun, David Li – http://www.adultswim.com/etcetera/elastic-man/. When or where I heard about that site I don’t know now but its good fun and people like to play with it.

By recording information for look up at a later date, remembering becomes less important. Know where and how to quickly find information is far better than remembering all the little details. The act will also give you an idea of how much work goes into compiling a body of work, which its help appreciated the work others have done.