Notebooks, personal wikis, and a compendium

Cosma Shalizi has one of the most comprehensive and incredible websites I’ve ever seen. He has a main page, which looks like it came out of the paleolithic.¹ It in turn links to what he calls his “notebooks,” which are a collection of topics that he’s knowledgable about.

Take a look at it. It’s wild. He has a different page for every single topic under the sun. Those pages in turn contain links to a bunch of references. These are academic papers and books, though I think the format he’s used could easily extend to citing news articles or blog posts. The links are split into sections: one section for sources that Cosma himself has read, and another for sources that he hasn’t read but would like to read someday. The curious reader is invited to first read Cosma’s summary of the topic, then peruse these massive lists of links to dive deeper and learn more.

I spent an extraordinary amount of time reading Cosma Shalizi’s website when I was young. I can’t stress enough just how much of a positive influence this resource was on me. Cosma and I share a lot of interests, and his notebooks were one of the most comprehensive resources out there on the things I wanted to know but did not yet know.

I think everyone deserves to have a Cosma Shalizi in their life, and ideally more than one. A cornucopia of writers with extraordinary knowledge, sharing what they know with the next generation at that next generation’s own pace, making their references publicly available to the world.

I also think everyone can be a Cosma Shalizi to someone else. We all, over the course of our lives, accumulate knowledge in our own particular domains. That knowledge will always be of interest to some potential readers, because there will always be young people who want to learn what you know! It doesn’t matter how niche your interests are. There are always people like you in each new generation, and who will want to follow in your footsteps if you give them a chance.

If we all wrote down everything we knew and made it easily accessible, the world would be a better place. I want to start a tradition of doing so.

Only one question remains: what should we call these repositories of knowledge?

Cosma Shalizi called his repository of knowledge his “notebooks.” I think this term is a little overloaded. I’ve seen other people sometimes use the term “personal wiki,” which I prefer. However, I’m going to propose a third term: the compendium. I think this concept is grandiose enough that it deserves a grandiose name.

There aren’t a lot of existing compendia. I’ve tried to compile the few I could find on this page, like an elder magician trying to corral together young people with sparks of magical talent. Give them a read if they interest you.

If you find the concept of these compendia compelling, please join me in making one of your own! I’d be thrilled to have more fellow travellers in this space. Lots of people, including me, would love to read what you have to write.

Recommended resources

Cosma Shalizi's notebooks

Cosma Shalizi

The first and the best compendium. Easily worth reading.

Strikingloo's Digital Garden

Luciano Strika

A case of convergent evolution. Luciano created something called a "digital garden", or "personal wiki", and it functions very similarly to what I'm calling a compendium.