>[!note]- *original text* >- I’ve been having some amazing conversations with other writers in the PKM space, and we agree that, at least in our systems, we’ve outgrown the term. Misc. thoughts: >- I’ve seen people use terms like “LifeOS”. That’s not right either. This is a practice more than a space I operate in. [[personal knowledge management is a practice of contextualizing one's life]] >- Journaling / life archiving doesn’t work. A life archive, I think, is the *product* of what you’re going, but not the system. Journaling is also way too constrained. >- I’m looking for something that encapsulates reflections, information, notes, “quantified self”, media consumption, etc… >- *ethos* feels important here > - lol, [[2024-03-19]] I made a note about this as an acronym… Everything That Holds Our Selves. >- maybe the word we’re looking for is “digital synthesis”? >- [[2024-10-19]] “digital permaculture” has also been floating around in my brain. >[!info] for simplicity, i still use “pkm” to explain this amorphous thing throughout my notes. >see more at the keyword [[personal knowledge management]]. *from [[2025-01-28 the limitations of 'pkm' language]]:* We are still lacking a good term to describe the curation, management, and preservation of one’s personal data: physical and digital artifacts; notable moments in time; connections to others; files, notes, journals, trackers, projects; the general global overarching infostructures(?) we build for our lives. We don’t have a good name for what that thing *is* or how we maintain it. It is, but also isn’t, [Personal Knowledge Management](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_knowledge_management), building a “[second brain](https://www.buildingasecondbrain.com)”, a [system for writing](https://bobdoto.computer); it is and isn’t structure, like the [Johnny Decimal System](https://johnnydecimal.com) or [PARA](https://fortelabs.com/blog/para/); same [GTD](https://gettingthingsdone.com), [LYT](https://www.linkingyourthinking.com), [PPV](https://www.yearzero.io/notion). Terms like data or life management are, well, too managerial. *Ephemera* is the level of romance I think is appropriate, as in “collecting life’s ephemera”, but then we’re overlapping with things like [commonplace books](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commonplace_book) and [resonance calendars](https://aliabdaal.com/newsletter/using-notion-as-a-resonance-calendar/), which I’m also not trying to evoke. Terms like `digital ecosystems` or `digital permaculture` (a la [Marie Poulin](https://mariepoulin.com)) come closest, but relegating this practice to only what’s digitized is an impractical compromise for me. There has to be a way to say this more concisely, to contain that system / process / art of maintaining a record of one’s self over time. / The inability to articulate myself is more agitating when the available language seems intent on prioritizing the productivity of it all. There are think pieces and seminars and conferences about establishing as much shape for, and removing as much friction as possible from, this nebulous *thing* for the sake of doing / reading / collecting faster / better / more. So much energy, for what? To remember what Jenny said in a meeting last week? Jenny doesn’t remember what Jenny said in that meeting last week. We have access to a cornucopia of physical and digital data with which we can engage at our leisure to expand our understanding, immerse ourselves in context, and reorient ourselves toward truth / reality / some perspective that tethers us to our existence in a way that is at least tolerable, if not pleasurable. There is data about the world, yes, more and more each day! But what about you? What exists in your wellspring of self-knowledge?