Situational Note-taking (book, v1, 2024)
A Collection of Case Studies
The above cover image shows a collection of case studies of Situational Note-taking. This is a supplemental collection of the possible book Meaning Discovery: Capture Significant Insights in Everyday Life.
Meaning Discovery is divided into the following seven parts:
- Part 1: Introduction
- Part 2: Meaning Discovery Canvas
- Part 3: Situational Note-taking
- Part 4: Significant Insights Analysis
- Part 5: Running the Project
- Part 6: My 2023 Annual Review
- Part 7: Meaning Matrix of Life
From June 15, 2023, to June 21, 2023, I engaged in a thematic conversation with a friend via email, exploring various topics around the theme of Note-taking and Knowledge Engagement.
The conversation inspired me to make a diagram about note-taking and draft-making. See the diagram below.
Some readers know I was the chief information architect of BagTheWeb which was an early web content curation. We launched the site in 2010. Later, we added a note-taking feature to the product in its 2.0 version.
There are three general purposes behind note-taking: 1) Recording Life Experiences, 2) Improving Work Performance, and 3) Supporting Self-awareness and personal development.
My primary interests are 1) Knowledge Engagement such as Knowledge Innovation, and 2) Product Engagement such as Product Innovation. Both Knowledge Innovation and Product Innovation could be represented as the Development of a Creative Concept System.
My approach to note-taking is more about developing concept systems and developing tacit knowledge in general.
Part 3 of Meaning Discovery selects two articles about this theme. I also collected a set of my public notes which are materials of nine case studies. I only pick one case study for Meaning Discovery.
This article aims to curate these eight case studies into an independent collection.
Some numbers about the possible book:
- 3 parts
- 16 chapters
- 54 articles
- Total 696 min read
- Total 184,440 words (about 369 single-spaced pages)
Contents
Part 1 Introduction
Chapter 1: The Art of Situational Note-taking
Chapter 2: Situational Note-taking: Capture Significant Insights Outside the Room
Chapter 3: The Brief of Curativity Theory
Part 2 Case Studies
Chapter 4: The Social Moves Project (Case Study #1)
Chapter 5: Rediscover the Path of Creative Life (Case Study #2)
Chapter 6: One Project, Many Insights (Case Study #3)
Chapter 7: Theme and Concept (Case Study #4)
Chapter 8: The Concept of Mindset (Case Study #5)
Chapter 9: Grasping the Concept (Case Study #6)
Chapter 10: Second-order Analysis of Activity (Case Study #7)
Chapter 11: Mental Platform (Case Study #8)
Chapter 12: Nested Container (Case Study #9)
Part 3: The Method
Chapter 13: The Slow Cognition Project and Related Methods
Chapter 14: The Creative Life Curation Framework
Chapter 15: The Anticipatory Activity System (AAS) Framework
Chapter 16: The Meaning Discovery Model
Part 1 Introduction
Part 1 collects three articles about the theoretical framework of Situational Note-taking. Chapter 1 offers a general perspective. Chapter 2 offers a practical framework. Chapter 3 introduces Curativity Theory as a theoretical resource.
Chapter 1: The Art of Situational Note-taking
Link — 37 min
Chapter 1 offers a general perspective on Situational Note-taking. There are kinds of purposes for note-taking. My perspective sees situational note-taking as an activity of capturing rights in the real-life world, not taking notes while reading books or papers.
Moreover, I see developing concept systems as the primary challenge for knowledge creators. My perspective on Situational Note-taking is framed in this context.
Contents
Part 1: Purposes
1.1 Life, Work, and Self
1.2 Life: Experience, Story, and Themes
1.3 Work: The Rise of Platform Curativity
1.4 Self: The Challenge of Life Discovery
Part 2: Practice
2.1 A short post about Situational Note-taking
2.2 What’s my pattern of taking situational notes?
2.3 A List of Situational Notes
Part 3: Theory
3.1 Themes, Concepts, and Situational Note-taking
3.2 Situational Note-taking for EARLY DISCOVERY
3.3 Situational Note-taking for Conceptual Elaboration
3.4 Situational Note-taking for Continuous Objectification
3.5 Four Types of Knowledge for Developing A Concept System
Chapter 2: Situational Note-taking: Capture Significant Insights Outside the Room
Link — 22 min
Chapter 2 offers a practical framework for Situational Note-taking. See the diagram below.
How do you read the above diagram? You can pay attention to two things:
- Process: Ideas > Notes > Draft
- System: Draft + Notes + Project + Concepts
The “Process” part is called “Dot” while the “System” part is called “Circle”.
The “Process” part can be broken down into two steps.
In this way, we can separate the above diagram into three sub-diagrams.
The first sub-diagram is about the “Ideas > Notes” step. We should note that this is not a simple linear process.
The “Notes > Draft” process means turning many notes into one draft.
- Elaborate: work on a particular note
- Curate: find more related notes to fill an emerging framework
The above diagram shows the Circle of Draft. Many elements are related to Drafts of Products, I only highlight three ideas for this model.
- Draft: the Primary Object we are working on
- Notes: the Objectificated Ideas
- Concepts: the Mental Elements that form a Mental Model for guiding our work on Draft
- Project: the Context of working on a Draft
If we work on a Draft of a book, Notes and Concepts directly contribute to the final document. If we work on a Draft of an app, Notes and Concepts don’t directly contribute to the final product unless the app is content-centered.
My point is that Notes and Concepts are essential to developing a Defined Concept System in the field of Product Development. In this way, the “Note-taking” process and the “Draft-making” process are related to developing a Defined Concept System that is behind a product.
Contents
1. A Thematic Conversation About Note-taking
2. The Story
3. The Model
4. The Discussion (with ChatGPT)
Chapter 3: The Brief of Curativity Theory
Link — 16 min
Some readers know I was the chief information architect of BagTheWeb which was an early web content curation tool. We launched the site in 2010. Later, we added a note-taking feature to the product in its 2.0 version.
In 2018, I reflected on the BagTheWeb project and developed a theory about general curation practice. From Sept 2018 to March 2019, I wrote a 615-page document titled Curativity: The Ecological Approach to Curatorial Practice.
Chapter 3 introduces Curativity Theory as a theoretical resource for Situational Note-taking.
Contents
1. The Concept of “Curativity”
2. Table of Contents of the Curativity Book
3. A Practical Framework
4. Life Curation (2019)
5. Platform Curativity (2020)
6. Knowledge Curation (2020–2022)
7. The Curated Mind (2022)
8. Creative Life Curation (2022)
9. Related Articles
Part 2 Case Studies
How did I use Situational Notes to develop Concept Systems?
In the past years, I roughly used a pattern to taking situational notes and using them for developing knowledge frameworks and writing possible books (drafts).
- #1. I took pictures to record original events.
- #2. I often used the “Multiple Thematic Reflection” method to reflect on life events and discovered Situational Themes.
- #3. I often worked on developing Concept Systems by using diagrams and writing some keywords (themes or concepts).
- #4. I wrote short notes and published them on social media platforms such as Medium and Linkedin.
- #5. Then, I expanded the short note into a long article.
- #6. I also like to use Twitter Thread to play card sorting. Each Twitter Card can share one diagram. A Twitter thread is a tiny project of Diagram Blending.
- #7. Finally, some long articles were curated into a possible book (drafts).
Past 2 collects my articles and turns them into 8 case studies.
Chapter 4: The Social Moves Project (Case Study #1)
This case study shows a clear path of Early Discovery: Theme > Note > Framework > Possible book. In the past several years, I used this typical pattern to run knowledge projects.
- Oct 17, 2023 — TALE: A possible theme called “Social Moves” — 9 min
- Dec 3, 2023 — Situational Note-taking: Creative Life, Thematic Space, and the Social Moves Project — 7 min
- Dec 5, 2023 — Social Moves: An Integrated Ecological Approach to Social Cognition — 17 min
- Dec 19, 2023 — Social Moves (book, v1, 2023) — 13 min
Chapter 5: Rediscover the Path of Creative Life (Case Study #2)
The primary theme of this case study is Rediscovery. From this case study, you will find the benefit of adopting a theoretical perspective. In 2021, I made a note about the Path of Creative Life. Later, I moved to other ideas.
In 2022, I started learning Ping Keung Lui’s theoretical sociology. Eventually, I realized that the Path of Creative Life resembles Lui’s notion of the fleeting moment.
- August 30, 2021 — D as Diagramming: The Path of Creative Life — 11 min
- Oct 26, 2022 — Three Paths of Creative Life and A Semiotic System — 30 min
- Dec 29, 2022 — Aspects of Creative Life (2022) — 7 min
- Sept 30, 2023 — The Development of Creative Life Theory (2020–2023, Part 1) — 13 min
Chapter 6: One Project, Many Insights (Case Study #3)
In Jan 2023, I had a two-week thematic conversation with a friend. At the end of the conversation, I reflected on the project from multiple perspectives. This case study is perfect for understanding Multi-thematic Reflection.
A simple trick of multi-thematic reflection is one perspective at a time. One day one post! Each post only focuses on one perspective. Don’t only write one post, write at least three posts.
- Jan 29, 2023 — TALE: The Field of Meta-learning (V1.0) — 11 min
- Jan 30, 2023 — TALE: A Strategic Designer’s Creative Journey — 12 min
- Jan 31, 2023 — TALE: Supportive Immanent Development — 11 min
- Feb 1, 2023 — TALE: One Project, Many Insights — 8 min
- March 31, 2023 — TALE: The “Strategic Thematic Exploration” Framework — 13 min
One of my major creative achievements in 2023 is the possible book (draft) Grasping the Concept: The Territory of Concepts and Concept Dynamics. The book collected many articles about several concept-related projects.
Case Study #4, Case Study #5, and Case Study #6 present three significant insights for developing the concept system of Grasping the Concept.
- Chapter 7: Theme and Concept (Case Study #4)
- Chapter 8: The Concept of Mindset (Case Study #5)
- Chapter 9: Grasping the Concept (Case Study #5)
Chapter 7: Theme and Concept (Case Study #4)
The Theme (Concept) project (2017–2023) follows my early project about Themes of Practice (2017–2021). From June 2023 to Sept 2023, I wrote several notes and posts about the project. These posts represented the development of my thoughts and the seed of the book Grasping the Concept.
This case study is about Double Themes, Concept Combination, and Creative Dialogue. I also collect several related articles for this case study.
- August 7, 2021 — Themes of Practice (2019–2021) — 13 min
- Sept 22, 2022 — The “Activity — Opportunity” Thematic Dialogue — 19 min
- June 20, 2023 — A Possible Theme called “Context (Mind)” — 15 min
- August 27, 2023 — TALE: A Journey of Engaging with the Theme of “Themes” (2017–2023) — 7 min
- August 29, 2023 — A short post about Theme (Concept) on Linkedin — 1 min
- August 30, 2023 — TALE: A Possible Theme called “Theme (Concept)” — 33 min
- Sept 2, 2023 — TALE: The Thematic Engagement Approach to Social Cognition — 1 min
- Sept 21, 2023 — Themes of Practice: Concept, Activity, and Cognition — 29 min
Chapter 8: The Concept of Mindset (Case Study #5)
In 2023, I used the Aspects of Early Discovery model to guide my knowledge projects. I consider Strategic Thematic Exploration and Conceptual Elaboration as two phases of EARLY DISCOVERY of the journey of knowledge Engagement. The further phase is Continuous Objectification which aims to turn a concept system into real things.
From August 21 to Nov 26, I worked on the “Territory of Concepts” project which refers to the phase of Conceptual Elaboration.
In the phase of Conceptual Elaboration, there are three critical challenges.
- Internal Integration: curate our pieces of ideas into a meaningful conceptual framework or concept system, understand the Part — Whole relationship
- External Alignment: compare our ideas with other ideas, understand the Collaboration — Competition relationship
- Cultural Projection: match our ideas with cultural needs, understand the Means-End relationship
My approach to “Concepts” and “Cognition” was inspired by Ecological Psychology, Activity Theory, and Lui’s Theoretical Sociology. The “Territory of Concepts” project started with the creative dialogue between three approaches. This refers to the Internal Integration challenge of my project on Themes and Concepts.
The Big Book of Concepts is about the perspective of Cognitive Psychology. So, my action of reading the book is related to the External Alignment challenge of my project on Themes and Concepts.
How about the Cultural Projection challenge?
From Sept 9, 2023, to Nov 20, 2023, I worked on a case study about the concept of “Mindset” in the field of psychological knowledge engagement. The “Grasping the Concept” model is a by-product of the case study.
This case study focuses on the project of “Mindset” (it is a case study project for the “Territory of Concepts” project), its by-product (the Mental Tuning framework), and its impact on other projects (I used it as an example for the Social Moves project and the Value Circle project).
- August 21, 2023 — TALE: The Territory of Concepts — 11 min
- Sept 1, 2023 — [Knowledge Engagement] The Concept of “Mindset” — A short post on Linkedin
- Sept 10, 2023 — Knowledge Engagement: The Concept of Mindset and Theoretical Integration — 48 min
- Nov 20, 2023 — Four Mindsets of Knowledge Engagement and “AAI as Mental Tuning” — 17 min
- Dec 15, 2023 — Social Moves: Thematic Zones, Thematic Areas, and Social Territory — 26 min
- Dec 29, 2023 — Value Circle #5: Building A Joint Knowledge Center — 12 min
Chapter 9: Grasping the Concept (Case Study #6)
Following Case Study #4 and Case Study #5, this case study only pays attention to Creative Naming. How did I get the name for the possible book Grasping the Concept?
In Nov 2023, a friend of mine shared his papers about “Bounding the Case” which inspired me to use the term “Grasping the Concept”. You can find more details in the note “The Idea of Thematic Matrix+”.
- August 21, 2023 — TALE: The Territory of Concepts
- Nov 19, 2023 — The idea of “Thematic Matrix +” — 10 min
- Nov 30, 2023 — Grasping the Concept (book, v1, Introduction) — 24 min
- Nov 30, 2023 — Grasping the Concept (book, v1, Table of Contents) — 6 min
Chapter 10: Second-order Analysis of Activity (Case Study #7)
This is a simple case study. You can see a draft of a framework in a note and its final version.
- Sept 26, 2023 — Situational Note-taking: First-order Analysis and Second-order Analysis — 7 min
- Sept 29, 2023 — The Activity Analysis & Intervention (AAI) Project
Chapter 11: Mental Platform (Case Study #8)
The major development of my creative knowledge journey in 2023 is the third-wave development of Creative Life Theory. From July 2023 to Dec 2023, there is a deep creative thematic dialogue between two themes:
- Theme (Concept)
- Platform (Project)
The connection between the two themes is the idea of “Mental Platform” and the idea of “Evolving Concept System”. This case study is about the development of this connection.
- May 22, 2023 — TALE: A Possible Theme called “Concept Choices” — 10 min
- May 27, 2023 — TALE: A Possible Theme called “Spontaneous Concept System” — 18 min
- August 5, 2023 — Platform Ecology (v3.1) — 8 min
- August 24, 2023 — TALE: A new network of possible themes (August 24, 2023) — 9 min
- No 4, 2023 — Developing A Concept System for an innovative product — Twitter
- Nov 13, 2023 — The Territory of Concepts and Product Innovation (Twitter), I also used “From Defined Concept System to Ecological Strategic Cognition” as the title to write a short post about the Twitter thread on Linkedin.
- Nov 22, 2023 — Situational Note-taking: Mental Platform as Evolving Concept System — 4 min
- Nov 30, 2023 — Mental Platform: The Evolving Concept System — 13 min
- Dec 19, 2023 — Meaning Discovery: The “Moment — Present — Future” Thematic Space — 5 min
- Jan 17, 2024 — Meaning Discovery: The “Communication — Content — Message” Thematic Space — 8 min
Chapter 12: Nested Container (Case Study #9)
This case study is about one picture. See it below.
How did I use it in several projects?
- July 21, 2022 — Mapping Thematic Space #7: The Center of the “Ecological Interaction” Thematic Space — 18 min
- Dec 16, 2023 — The Art of Situational Note-taking: Be Careful of Using Buzzwords — 8 min
- Dec 18, 2023 — Frame for Work: The Hermeneutics of Knowledge Frameworks and Ecological Formism — 23 min
- Jan 5, 2024 — Meaning Discovery: The “Object — Self — Other” Thematic Space — 7 min
Part 3: The Method
Part 3 collects four articles that represent the “Slow Cognition” method and three knowledge frameworks.
How did I study abstract ideas such as Concepts, Themes of Practice, Thematic Spaces, and the Evolving Concept System?
I used the “Slow Cognition” method.
From Jan 2022 to May 2022, I worked on the Slow Cognition project that aims to explore the historical-cognitive approach and the long-term development of thoughts. I used two strategies to conduct the project:
- 1) I use my own real-life experience as data for the historical-cognitive analysis. From Jan 2022 to May 2022, I recorded ideas of my thoughts and wrote many articles on Medium. These records and articles represent the long-term development of my thoughts.
- 2) I use Donald Schön’s Reflective approach to reflect on the development of my thoughts within these months.
The primary project in these months is the Thematic Space project. Originally, I used the term “Thematic Space” to name an item for the Knowledge Curation model and canvas. Later, I developed a canvas for the concept of “Thematic Space”. This led to a series of canvases and a series of activities. You can find more details about the book here.
My original intention behind the Slow Cognition project is to adopt Howard E. Gruber’s approach and method to studying creative work. While Phase I of the Slow Cognition project focuses on Instruments (the Thematic Space Canvas, etc), Phase II returns to its original focus: Methods (the Historical-cognitive approach, etc).
From the perspective of Methods, I consider Phase II of the project as a dialogue between Howard E. Gruber’s Evolving Systems Approach and Activity Theory.
Situational Note-taking is a typical action of the Slow Cognition method.
Situational Note-taking can be connected to several knowledge frameworks I developed in 2022 and 2023.
Related books (Drafts)
- Creative Life Theory: Building A Knowledge Enterprise
- Thematic Exploration: The Early Discovery of Knowledge Engagement (book, v1)
- Mental Moves: The Attachance Approach to Ecological Creative Cognition
- Social Moves (book, v1, 2023)
- Grasping the Concept (book, v1, Introduction)
- Knowledge Discovery: Developing Tacit Knowledge with Thematic Space Canvas
- Knowledge Curation: Turning Pieces into A Meaningful Whole
- Life Discovery: Biography, Journey, Program
- Meaning Discovery: Capture Significant Insights in Everyday Life
- Perspectives on Product Engagement
- Diagramming as Practice
- Diagram Blending: Building Diagram Networks
- Creative Life Curation: Discover Thematic Spaces of Creative Life
