Are you hoping to create a second brain, digital garden, zettelkasten, or some other form of personal knowledge base, but don’t know how to start? Have you been curious about tools like Obsidian for a while, but have found them overwhelming or complicated to get started with?
Drawing from the ethos of local-first, malleable, and home-cooked software, I can help you configure a bespoke knowledge base to function in a variety of capacities.
For example, my second brain has various private components (journal, rolodex, media archive) and various public components, through this website (blog, design portfolio, zettelkasten, typography showcase, service catalog).
The components listed below are modular and compatible in often unforeseeable and exciting ways, and they can all operated within a single integrated system, using Obsidian as the unified interface. This file-based configuration also enables integration with Claude and other models, allowing users to query their second brain in natural language.
Journal
Using Obsidian as the primary text editor and interface, as well as the database for journal entries, you can build a robust history of your personal experiences. Given the extensive customizability of metadata, your journaling system can constitute anything from a minimal writing interface, to a more complex interface for tracking personal growth, along the lines of the quantified self movement.
Media Archive
Save and organize your photos, videos, and personal media in a local-first manner, with full journal integration.
Rolodex
In addition to a journaling system, you may also want an integrated way to manage contact information and reflect on your relationships. With contacts and journal entries each being their own document type, they can easily reference each other, allowing you to integrate your journal history with your social graph.
Zettelkasten
Take notes and organize them according to orthodox or bespoke zettelkasten schemas, to support studying writing efforts, and reveal complex connections between reference materials. (See my example here)
Website
Using a customized version of Quartz as the website builder, you can publish your knowledge base (or certain portions of it) as a wiki or digital garden, which can contain any of the following components:
Blog
Write articles directly in Obsidian and publish them for free to your website, where they can be navigated via search, tags, or knowledge graph. (See my example here)
Portfolio
Curate your visual work into a gallery for visitors to explore. (See my example here)
Service Catalog
Communicate your service offerings in a structured and concise manner, like this page itself! (See my example here)
Web Analytics
By self-hosting Umami, you can track web activity per-page, and analyze web traffic patterns.
Book a Discovery Call
Use this calendar to request a time slot to chat with me about your second brain aspirations.