I pointed out in the overview episode that TheBrain holds a robust series of videos on "The Basics." These videos cover important things such as Getting Started, Thought and Links creation, and Notes and Attachments. So, if you are unfamiliar with TheBrain, I suggest you start there.
Once you understand the basics, the brain becomes one big playing field, and you can adjust the field in various ways. Today we will focus on Home and Hubs. The home thought will be part of “The basics" video discussed above in Getting Started, I hesitate to repeat the information here; however, I need to start somewhere, and the home thought is as good a place to jump off from as any. I promise we will move quickly into a more robust discussion of TheBrain.
Home
The Home note is your first thought; it can be anything you want; however, the headline title is linked to the home icon in the upper left-hand corner. Most people will use their name or the primary name of TheBrain (if using multiple brains), but it should serve as a jumping-off spot. Everyone has a single Home thought. Mine is "My Life 6.4." You can change the Home thought to any other idea by right-clicking and selecting the "Set as Home Thought." However, this becomes tedious if changed too often.
Hubs
Hub thoughts are different; these form the core thoughts surrounding the Home or any other primary thought. Hub thoughts are generally central themes to your brain, i.e., role thoughts such as Husband, Son, Father, and Home Owner. Main activity thoughts include Hiking/Climbing, Skiing, Recovery, and Training. The term is a nod to Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten methodology, who used hub notes to streamline his navigation through thousands of memos.[1] It is possible to have individual brains for each hub material; however, I have found that a single Brain works best as my hub thoughts interact in many ways. New terms are used regularly in Personal Knowledge Management; similar ideas are called "Structure Notes" and "Map of Contents (MOCs)," both structure notes and MOCs use a single page and hyperlink to sub notes referred to by the main page.
My main Hub thoughts are:
My Life 6.4 (Home thought)
Reference Material
Resource Material
Journal
Quadrangle
There are other hub thoughts, but let us leave the list limited. I spend most of my time inside the Journal hub; however, as a quick guide, I use "Reference Material" as a hub note to everything I collected about a project, thought, or note. For example, My Health, Reference Material, will include links to medical files I've scanned, archives of bills I've paid by the year, source material on articles or books I've read, etc. At the same time, "Resource Material" will include links to outside sources such as doctors' websites, hospital and lab websites, or public health websites that I have found of interest. In short, Reference material is text; Resource Material is URL.
In Episode 02: Daily notes and Journal Hub, we'll discuss using a methodology for setting up daily messages or journal entries. I have a structure that I've settled into over the years, and we'll look at two examples from outside the TheBrain arena for additional examples and insights.
Reference:
[1] Fast, Sascha. (2020, October 27). Zettelkasten. Retrieved November 07, 2020, from https://zettelkasten.de/introduction/