Habits of Mind

Planning Spellkast: Magic Software for Compiling a Zettlekasten

Author

Michael Pascale

Published

January 16, 2025

In my quest to manage my personal knowledge, I have simply found it very difficult to commit to one notebook, device, word processor, etc. From the wealth of “second-brain” applications, I’ve tried (and enjoyed) Obsidian, LogSeq, and Zettlr. The capacity that these applications offer to search and — especailly — to link peices of knowledge, I have found to be very desirable.

Despite my efforts however, I cannot shake my habit of taking notes on whatever medium is convenient to me. A laptop is a must-have for meetings, but can be cumbersome when I’m out in public. A physical journal suits my quiet moments best. My phone is the only convenient medium on the train.

This document outlines my plan for Spellkast, my personal software project for managing a digital Zettlekasten. The aim of Spellkast is to compile a searchable database of timestamped and indexed notes from the collection of disparate media I write on.

Specifications

  • The software will include plugins or adapters to extract text from each physical or digital medium.
  • The software will create a database of Markdown (plaintext) files, compatible with existing Zettlekasten software (e.g. LogSeq).
  • The software will periodically display a random, unindexed page to encourage me to file it.
  • The software will suggest categories and links between topics.
  • The software will track the source of each note so that I can find the original source.

Idiosyncratic Constraints

The software will need to handle the following idiosyncracies of my notetaking style.

Document Headings

I have cultivated the habit of writing an ISO 8601 format timestamp and my location (e.g. “At Home”) on every document and note.

All Caps

I handwrite in all caps.

Yes, it’s less efficient than cursive and it’s less readable than print, but — for my impatient hand — it is the most legible. The software could potentially apply either an LLM or a simple sentence case case mapping conversion to normalize handwritten inputs.

Cornell-Tufte Style

I’ve also cultivated a habit of journaling in what I call Cornell-Tufte format. That is, I take notes in the Cornell style, modified to include a right margin for asides and for graphics in the style of Edward Tufte. The right margin excuses me to write down intrusive thoughts, allowing me to quickly return my focus to the topic at hand.

Media Support

I tend to keep notes on a variety of media, usually whatever is most convenient to me in the moment. This has worked out such that…

  • I keep several physical bullet-journal style commonplace books.
  • I take meeting notes on a steno pad.
  • I do math on graph paper.
  • I annotate journal articles in Zotero or on a tablet.
  • I jot down thoughts, quotes, and summaries on index cards.

Plugins will be written to support at least the following media formats.

Index Cards

Several years ago I put together a Python script which uses OpenCV to segment and rotate index cards scanned in bulk on a flatbed scanner. Text is read off the cards using Tesseract.

Journal Entries

I’m not yet sure the best way to catalogue my Journal entries. They may be digitized using my phone camera, weekly scans, or in bulk when I complete the journal. As the entries are timestamped, it is not important that they be scanned in order.