PKM Overview & Methodologies

Personal Knowledge Management is half methodology, half tools. The methodology decides whether your notes stay alive after week two; the tools decide whether they survive a decade and a vendor change. OSS / self-host first throughout this section — Obsidian, Logseq, Org-mode, Joplin, TiddlyWiki are the headline picks. For the tool deep-dives see pkm-obsidian-deep, pkm-logseq-deep, pkm-org-mode-orgroam, pkm-anytype-appflowy-affine, pkm-joplin-standard-notes, pkm-trilium-silverbullet, pkm-tiddlywiki-tiddlywiki5, pkm-foam-dendron-vscode. Adjacent: selfhost-notes-wiki, prod-note-taking-consumer, edu-research-citations-zotero, prod-knowledge-management-readwise, markdown.

The methodologies that matter

• ★ ★ Zettelkasten — Niklas Luhmann's slip-box. Atomic notes, dense linking, emergent structure. The foundational PKM methodology and the one most others derive from. Deep dive in pkm-zettelkasten.
• ★ PARA — Tiago Forte. Projects / Areas / Resources / Archives — an organisational layer for any tool. Tool-agnostic. See pkm-para-basb.
• ★ Building a Second Brain (BASB) — Tiago Forte. CODE: Capture, Organise, Distil, Express. Output-oriented, project-anchored.
• ★ Smart Notes — Sönke Ahrens. How to Take Smart Notes (2017) is the canonical popularisation of Zettelkasten for English-language readers.
• Linking Your Thinking (LYT) — Nick Milo. Maps of Content (MOCs) as the connective tissue between notes; less rigid than pure Zettelkasten.
• Evergreen Notes — Andy Matuschak. Notes are written for yourself over time; titles are claims; notes get revised, not replaced. See pkm-evergreen-digital-garden.
• Digital Garden — Maggie Appleton, Tom Critchlow, Andy Matuschak. Public, evolving, "in-progress" notes. Publishing-flavoured PKM.
• Atomic Notes — one idea per note; the prerequisite that makes linking work.
• Progressive Summarisation — Tiago Forte. Bold the sentences that surprised you; highlight the bolded; summarise. Layered.
• Bullet Journal Method — Ryder Carroll. Analogue-first daily / monthly / future logs; transferable to any digital tool.

Methodology vs. tool — choose orthogonally

• ★ Pick a methodology before a tool. Zettelkasten in Obsidian, Logseq, or Org-roam looks similar; Zettelkasten without atomic notes looks the same in any tool: a mess.
• Tools enforce different defaults. Outliners (Logseq, Roam) push you toward block-thinking; markdown-files (Obsidian, Joplin) push you toward note-as-document; Org-mode pushes capture-first.
• The "best" tool is the one you'll still be using in 2 years. Migration is real cost — see pkm-migration-portability.

The capture → process → publish loop

• Capture — frictionless inbox. Web clippers, voice notes, photos. See pkm-capture-web-clippers, pkm-capture-voice-photo.
• Process — atomic notes, links, MOCs. See pkm-knowledge-graph-mocs, pkm-templating-automation.
• Review — daily / weekly / monthly. See pkm-daily-weekly-review.
• Retain — spaced repetition over notes. See pkm-pkm-meets-anki and edu-spaced-repetition-anki.
• Publish — digital garden, public wiki, blog. See pkm-publishing-digital-gardens-quartz.

Where each methodology shines

• Researcher / academic: Zettelkasten + edu-research-citations-zotero workflow. See pkm-academic-zotero-workflow.
• Knowledge worker / consultant: PARA + BASB; project-anchored. Output is the point.
• Writer / public-thinker: Evergreen + Digital Garden; publishing is the forcing function.
• Generalist autodidact: LYT (MOCs) + spaced repetition; broad without losing structure.
• Operator / GTD-leaning: PARA + GTD; see prod-task-gtd-apps.

Free / OSS / portable defaults

• ★ ★ Plain markdown + git + Syncthing — zero lock-in; survives any tool change. See pkm-sync-storage-syncthing.
• ★ Obsidian — closed core, free for personal; markdown on disk; the dominant default.
• ★ Logseq — free OSS outliner; the OSS Roam alternative.
• ★ Emacs Org-mode — the original PKM-as-text; capture / agenda / babel.
• Joplin / TiddlyWiki / SilverBullet / Trilium — free OSS personal-notes options.

Pick this if…

• Just starting: read How to Take Smart Notes (Ahrens) + pick Obsidian or Logseq + commit for 90 days.
• Researcher: Zettelkasten + Zotero + Obsidian (or Org-roam if you live in Emacs).
• Project-driven knowledge worker: PARA + BASB + Notion or Obsidian.
• Lifelong-learning autodidact: LYT + Obsidian + Anki integration.
• Publishing your thinking: Digital garden via Quartz + Obsidian — see pkm-publishing-digital-gardens-quartz.
• Maximum portability: plain markdown + git + Syncthing + an editor of your choice.