Tips on maintaining a knowledge-base ?

Tips on maintaining a knowledge-base ?

[d.sturb]

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I've been using org-mode for a little while, I've kept it really simple for  
now, with only two files :
- one to act as an inbox, with remember-mode
- another where I stick just about anything that's been processed from the  
inbox

This is great for managing somewhat 'actionable' items, fitting a  
projects/tasks paradigm, but I keep adding things of a more general nature,  
that I won't be needing on a day-to-day basis.
ie outlines describing a general topic, some sysadmin how-tos, reading  
notes etc
I see these notes more as an archive of knowledge nuggets on selected  
topics, rather than something I'd need to show up in my agenda view.
Ideally they would be heavily interlinked in a wiki fashon for easy  
navigation when referring to it int he future, but I haven't put much  
effort into that yet (well it's all in one file for now...).

I was wondering if anyone uses org-mode for this kind of use, and would  
really be interested in reading how you maintain such a system.
I'm especially interested in methods that relate to structuring  
and 'querying' the knowledge base, since it's of no use if information  
can't be found easily.

regards, julien.

PS : by the way, first post here, so hey everyone !

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Re: Tips on maintaining a knowledge-base ?

[Ian Barton]

d.sturb@gmail.com wrote:
> I've been using org-mode for a little while, I've kept it really simple 
> for now, with only two files :
> - one to act as an inbox, with remember-mode
> - another where I stick just about anything that's been processed from 
> the inbox
> 
> This is great for managing somewhat 'actionable' items, fitting a 
> projects/tasks paradigm, but I keep adding things of a more general 
> nature, that I won't be needing on a day-to-day basis.
> i.e. outlines describing a general topic, some sysadmin how-tos, reading 
> notes etc
> I see these notes more as an archive of knowledge nuggets on selected 
> topics, rather than something I'd need to show up in my agenda view.
> Ideally they would be heavily interlinked in a wiki fashon for easy 
> navigation when referring to it int he future, but I haven't put much 
> effort into that yet (well it's all in one file for now...).
> 
> I was wondering if anyone uses org-mode for this kind of use, and would 
> really be interested in reading how you maintain such a system.
> I'm especially interested in methods that relate to structuring and 
> 'querying' the knowledge base, since it's of no use if information can't 
> be found easily.
> 
I have a notes.org, which is a first stage dumping ground for a remember 
template. I use org refile to place my note into its correct file. I 
find that using tags and sub headings makes things easy to find. If all 
else fails there is always grep.

For example in my computer.org I have:

* Tips and Tricks.
** ssh
*** Force password authentication
*** Tunne Firefox over ssh


Ian.

Re: Tips on maintaining a knowledge-base ?

[Memnon Anon]

Hi,

d.sturb@gmail.com writes:

> I was wondering if anyone uses org-mode for this kind of use, and
> would really be interested in reading how you maintain such a system.
> I'm especially interested in methods that relate to structuring and
> 'querying' the knowledge base, since it's of no use if information
> can't be found easily.

I have a similar file; it started as a place to collect interesting
bookmarks in and is naturally named bookmarks.org. 
Step by step, it evolved to be my location for all kinds of information
- not only from the interwebs - that I want to keep. 

For me, the outline is enough to maintain the structure.
I have some level 1 headings loosely related to my interests, like

* University
* Latin
* Emacs
** Org
** Gnus
...
* Quotes 
...
* Unsorted (yet)

etc. The last heading is my default inbox for everything new.
I let stuff linger there for a while to make my mind up if it is really
worth keeping. Whenever I have some time left (or too much accumulated
there), I sort them in my Level 1's or delete them if they are not that
important on a second glance.

Up to now, I had no trouble finding anything, either looking into the
appropiate heading or just using C-s. Its all just text ;).
So no tags or properties needed so far, but most items are not related
to each other, so I have no use for heavily linking, yet.

Nice thread, I am interested what others will say.

Re: Tips on maintaining a knowledge-base ?

[andrea]

d.sturb@gmail.com writes:

> I've been using org-mode for a little while, I've kept it really simple
> for now, with only two files :
> - one to act as an inbox, with remember-mode
> - another where I stick just about anything that's been processed from the
> inbox
>
> This is great for managing somewhat 'actionable' items, fitting a
> projects/tasks paradigm, but I keep adding things of a more general
> nature, that I won't be needing on a day-to-day basis.
> i.e. outlines describing a general topic, some sysadmin how-tos, reading
> notes etc
> I see these notes more as an archive of knowledge nuggets on selected
> topics, rather than something I'd need to show up in my agenda view.
> Ideally they would be heavily interlinked in a wiki fashon for easy
> navigation when referring to it int he future, but I haven't put much
> effort into that yet (well it's all in one file for now...).
>
> I was wondering if anyone uses org-mode for this kind of use, and would
> really be interested in reading how you maintain such a system.
> I'm especially interested in methods that relate to structuring and
> 'querying' the knowledge base, since it's of no use if information can't
> be found easily.
>
> regards, julien.
>
> PS : by the way, first post here, so hey everyone !

A nice "trick" but very simple I'm using is to automatically add to my
org-agenda-files every org file that I create.
In this way everything is always reachable via grep/tags/whatever.

Just do this:

--8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8---
(defun org-add-eventually()
  "Adding a file to org-agenda when saved"
  (interactive)
  (if (string= major-mode "org-mode")
      (org-agenda-file-to-front)))

(add-hook 'before-save-hook 'org-add-eventually)
--8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8---