Commonplace Book ( “locus communis” ) is “a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into books”. [Thank you Wikipedia] .

I used to keep mine in a 600 page, graph paper Miquelrius notebook which had a nice, solid feeling in the hand.

The problem with a handwritten commonplace book was there was no way to search it. This is where my love of databases comes in-I now have a database that holds all of the entries I’d had time to enter. Once I begin the project of this blog in earnest I’ll also post any entries I think someone outside of my head would enjoy along with any thoughts I have on the quote.

If you have a locus communis (called a silva rerum-forest of things-in the seventeenth century) please tell me how you organise it.

Really, this blog is a sort of locus communis, in that it will be a collection of thoughts on the similar theme of self-education. i do hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I shall

There are myriad digital tools out there to help you be more organized. One can get addicted to those tools and wind up having more junk-it being on your computer doesn’t make it not-junk. Here are the tools that I find most useful.

Database software.

Tellico for Linux; GStar for Windows.
I love me a database. I have one for my library, one for my Locus Communis (more on that in my next post), and one for my daily accomplishments.
Both are highly, highly customizable and searchable.
Yes, you can learn how to build a database with Microsoft Access or OpenOffice Base, but the former is like going to a warehouse with mechanical parts and being told you can build any type of vehicle you could possibly want. The latter is like one of those car websites where you can customize the specific type of car you want.

Mind-mapping software.

FreeMind - I can’t say enough great things about this software-it allows you to map ideas and link mind maps. Just go check it out

A journal.

I use a Tellico database for a quick overview (book read, words written, etc). And I was using an OpenOffice document for my thoughts on this project before beginning this blog, which will help me keep my focus and give me specific goals, as well as helping me put my thoughts in order and practice my writing.
Everyone has a blog, so go ahead and get a free one from somewhere. There’s something very nice about seeing your words on the screen on a nice template-links and pages are also quite useful.

Time-tracking software.

Hamster applet for Linux is imperative to seeing how much time I’m spending on any given thing-when I began using it I was surprised at how much time I spent doing things that had nothing to do with reading, writing or learning (that weren’t necessary like chores or work). This has helped me enormously in wrangling my time better. I use Hamster (on Eeebuntu Linux) because it fits in the tray, but there’s a multitude of time-tracking software for all platforms. Another good one is by Adobe Air. The point is to see where the time is going that you could be using to be productive-a pen and paper would do.

Computer

Asus netbook - I know that this will seem superfluous, but netbooks are much easier to carry-mine is the size of a hardback book. Someone over at Dell is a comedian and decided it would be a good idea to affix the 1GB of RAM to the motherboard, unlike all the rest of the computers (every company has at least one), which are upgradeable to 2GB.