Tags in notes - what systems do you use?

Hello org-roamers:

I posted this question over on reddit, but didn’t get any input from that channel; hoping this one might be a bit more active.

I’m reading Ahren’s Smart Notes and starting my ZK journey, with an aim very close to that described by Ahren: I need to distill a large amount of information and produce new original ideas from it.

I have in the past used the Dewey Decimal classification system to organise reference material in a directory structure. This started a long, long time ago (before files could have tags), and I’m familiar with DDC and like the organisation.

Links deleted because “new users can only put two links in a post”. Sigh.

As I understand ZK now, adding tags, probably UDC tags, to a note would allow someone to search efficiently for broader or narrower related topics. Links, as I understand them, might connect a concept like ‘mathematical optimisation’ with ‘operations research’, or ‘logistics’ (in a business context).

I have found a few threads on using DDC or UDC of giving the note a unique ID, but this seems unnecessary, since I can add a tag. I’m using org-roam, and this provides a UUID for each note anyway. These other threads all seem to relate to folgezettel:

  • [Are you using id with timestamp, or using id with folgezettel?]
  • [Giving you notes a unique ID - the debate continues]
  • [How to Use Folgezettel in Your Zettelkasten: Everything You Need to Know to Get Started]

It seems the question these threads are discussing is giving the note/node ID some kind of classification via a DDC/UDC identifier, and it seems tags are a better way to do this.

My current thinking is to:

  • Let org-roam give the note a unique ID
  • Use links to maintain the relationships, like the optimisation->‘operations research’ above
  • Use UDC tags to control the breadth/depth of the search

I can’t be the first to think of this, but I can find very little when searching reddit or google. Am I missing something?

Personally, I have long concluded that use of tags is antipattern for me. Here is my short write-up explaining my guidelines for tags. This is just me, and my guidelines are evolving. I realise there are other who use tags in wonderful ways.

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