How do you systematize the acquired knowledge?

Question

IT education

Human memory tends to forget unused information. It is difficult to remember the content of long-read books and watched videos.
How do you solve this problem?
Do you take notes of what you have learned?
Do you keep records on paper or electronically?
Do you blog publicly or do you write for yourself?

Answer 1

Nikolai Yagodkin from advance-club, which deals with learning technologies, gave an exhaustive answer to this question. There are three levels of information memorization:
1. The level of recognition (yes, we went through this theorem, but what is it about - xs). Information at this level is forgotten quickly. Keeping notes and using them at the level of "found the answer - applied - went further" is the retention of information at the level of recognition. You will often use the abstract, but you will not keep the information in memory for a long time.
2. The level of reproduction (yes, we went through this theorem, we can tell it). At this level, information is lost more slowly. It is important that a person at this level can simply reproduce the material.
3. Level of understanding. In this case, the information is stored for a very long period of time, and even for life. This is the level when a person can build logical connections using the information he has memorized. It's the skill level. For example, you learned to ride a bicycle as a child, then did not ride for several years. Now you need to get back on the bike. How to conduct it, you will remember in seconds. Those. at this level, information is reproduced instantly - much faster than at other levels.
The learning process is the process of connecting neurons. To remember information for a long time, you need not just to teach, but to bring it to the level of understanding (skills). In this case, there will be a strong connection between neurons. Then you need to repeat the information for 4-7 days so that the connection between neurons stops breaking up. After that, it will keep for years.
Unfortunately, the answer draws on a large article or even several articles, so I will have to make a reference to Nikolai Yagodkin's free informative webinars, for example this one: https://cloud.mail.ru/public/JG3f/nCjbfMNMF (Unfortunately, this video is no longer available on Youtube, so I downloaded the version).

Answer 2

Information must be used, otherwise it is meaningless.

Answer 3

We do not accumulate knowledge, we immediately use it in business. Learned a new technology - immediately muddy the project on this technology.

Answer 4

The best way to remember what you have learned is to teach others

Answer 5

I am faced with the fact that there is so much information that it is constantly forgotten. Therefore, it was decided to transfer knowledge to external storage. Initially, I solved the problem with a simple public blog, but it turned out to be ineffective, now I use the following solutions:
1) Wikipedia on my own private server. On the main page of the group, for example, Programming, Health, Projects, Computer administration, Career, etc. Further in Programming there are options: PHP, PHP frameworks, Java, etc.
When I learn something new, I write down information. Then, when it is necessary to mount it, I go along this structure and find what I need. From Wikipedia there are links to code examples that are located on bitbucket or files that are located on dropbox or google drive.
2) For code - private repositories in bitbucket.
3) For dropbox or google drive files
4) For passwords - self-written solution on a private server.
5) For notes and lists keep.google.com I
add information to the wiki in a free style and rather short. In the future, on topics that I have studied well, I plan to write separate articles for a public blog.
It turns out that everything is tied to Wikipedia. In my experience - the most powerful, flexible and understandable tool for organizing knowledge storage.

Answer 6

I don't understand why no one suggested semantic maps, I use MindManager, it's quite "cheap" on rutracker.org.
I am 31 and in 8-9 years I transferred almost all my achievements and life knowledge into it: corp. knowledge, recruitment, company development plan, conferences, syst. administration, choosing a tool in web development, web application ideas, ui design, convenient services and scripts, etc.
The same goes for personal life: logins/passwords/documents, motivation, thought system, pickup, relationship building, etc.
Each read book, article or forum thread contributes to one or more files. Sometimes you can insert quotes, but your own brief interpretations are better.
The main advantage over a text document with a reference table of contents is a quick search for information: to search, we reveal the corresponding branch of knowledge, deeper and deeper.
Advantage over online services: ease of structure, physical access to data, privacy.

Answer 7

The only effective tool for systematizing knowledge is your goal.
When you understand and remember WHY you are learning something, you don't need to think about retaining knowledge. It is enough to simply apply them to your tasks.
The brain itself organizes knowledge in an optimal way. And he will tell you the necessary tools (notebooks, mindmaps or who the hell knows what).
No need to think of it as a separate task, not efficient.

Answer 8

Used the following tools as a knowledge base:
1. OneNote (from the Office package). Quick export of notes.
2. To save what I read on the Internet, I use the resource https://raindrop.io

Answer 9

Evernote + Chrome plugin for evernote

Answer 10

Recently, I have also been puzzled by the question of building my personal knowledge base. All that you have listed works, though there are nuances. A
public blog is good, but it is a more time-consuming method, plus sometimes confidentiality.
A closed blog - an analogue of an evernote or a raindrop, which they called here, for the majority is now the most acceptable solution, simple. the main disadvantage is that it is necessary to properly organize the work in them - to systematize. if this is not done, everything turns into a dump, as some write here - it's easier to find through a search than somewhere else.
A good way to visually present data is a tree-like structure such as a mindmap, but a mindmap in its pure form is not suitable for organizing a knowledge base, because it is not intended for a large amount of information, and often you need to save different passages of text or pieces of code. therefore, everything is limited to notepads, notes in evernote or even files on the disk by folders.
but in the KB it is important that it is not only easy to add information, but most importantly, it is easy to find what is saved. at the same time, it is often not always possible to remember the necessary keywords for searching. in this case, the correct data hierarchy is important and its visual representation is also important.
for myself now I am doing a personal service for organizing my knowledge base.
Previously, I kept all the information in text files in a dropbox - better than nothing, especially if there are not many areas of activity. I use Evernote only to save the content of the pages, I don’t use it for my notes because they will be lost there in the general flow of information. I decided for myself that it is better to copy either only the link + your description, or a piece of text if a little.
I recommend breaking down the info at least into these categories
- technologies that you study / use
- info for each project

Answer 11

I built the following workflow for myself:
1) Paper notebook. I like to scribble, and then transfer the notes online.
2) mind42.com Classic mind maps for information structures.
3) https://workflowy.com/ For setting tasks. It is convenient to use as an extension of memory cards. Lightweight and simple application. Perfectly compatible with the GTD technique.
4) https://www.evernote.com/ For extended entries.
5) https://raindrop.io/ Collections of links by subject. moropsk suggested.
6) https://www.google.com/keep/ For live listings, such as grocery shopping.
7) GitHub and CodePen for code.
It may seem that the number of tools is redundant, but they cover 99% of the tasks that I had to deal with.

Answer 12

I drink vitamins. The brain will do the rest.

Answer 13

I try to write articles, sometimes I myself look at them later to remember.

Answer 14

I'm blogging. But most of the posts are hidden from everyone except me. :)

Answer 15

I use OOP for the brain and there is enough space.

Answer 16

I feel like an old man. I write the main things in a notebook, by the way, it helps a lot in terms of understanding and remembering as a student I noticed (as for me), well, a lot of bookmarks in the browser, but it’s easier to google again than to find the right one in them.
For code snippets gist, for something more - a repository on github.

Answer 17

1) I use it in practice
2) I teach others
3) Notes for the future - Onenote
4) Books - I read on the iPad, while reading I highlight the important with my finger in iBooks, sometimes I write brief comments. After that, in the book, just open the Notes section. We see only the essence of the book. Details can be easily restored by clicking on the note. You will immediately be taken to the corresponding page.
Bottom line: all the information is at hand with a minimum of overhead for supporting wikipedias, mindmaps, etc.

Answer 18

To systematize knowledge is useful in my opinion, and even necessary.
I personally store everything in Numbers spreadsheets on my Mac
. They sync with all my devices and are always at hand.

Answer 19

I learn exclusively by doing, in the process of which there is a general idea (in my case - general logic - I'm a programmer, which is not surprising in this forum), which takes up very little memory space.
There are things that really need to be remembered.
Say, a version of a certain framework, starting from which a certain feature is supported in it.
But this is not enough, and I remember.
I also write public articles (all the articles I write are public, and the reasons for this, I hope, are clear), first of all, there are pieces of code, because it’s not enough to be able to write code (understand the logic), you also need to actually write it, and this is extra time and strength. Ready-made sources allow you to refresh your knowledge of logic and write code faster.

Answer 20

No way, just every day I build brick by brick and gradually everything adds up into a single whole. It's a continuous process.

Answer 21

When something is needed, then I study it and immediately apply it where it was needed.

Answer 22

How do you solve this problem?
Do you take notes of what you have learned?
Do you keep records on paper or electronically?

I make notes and examples in a separate folder for each unit studied.
The abstract is made in the form of a text file, with the accepted system for separating records.
If something needs to be remembered, then I first teach, and then after some time I record (reproduce) without repetition and without cheat sheets.
To memorize places on the Internet, I use a regular html file.
Recently html-file has been replaced with org-file (Emacs's) ;)