Not only scientists, but also pupil, students, bookworm and scribbler feel completely overwhelmed by the flood of information, unable to make sense of the abundance of material they have read, even if they want to refer back to a particular passage at a later date for a specific reason. If one is willing to save the wealth of reading material for later access, at least the haptic learner has the option of marking the text excerpt in the book with a highlighter and bookmarking the page. However, this method does not record the reason why this passage was marked, so the haptic reader has to rely on their memory to know where the text they need is located. If this knowledge is lost, the search begins by opening every page with a possible bookmark. This is very time-consuming and not only interrupts the actual purpose of the search, but can also be fruitless if the search is abandoned in frustration due to the abundance of bookmarks

It is therefore a great advantage if the searcher has a convenient tool that replaces bookmarks and enables a quick and targeted search using literature sources and keywords. Sociologist Niklas Luhmann once replaced bookmarks with a “Zettelkasten” (slip box, file card system), which inspired Dr. Daniel Lüdecke to develop an application that makes it much easier and more effective to collect and manage important text passages, excerpts and thoughts, as well as to subsequently use this text collection for text production. The applicationis free of charge, has no restrictions on its duration or scope of use, and may be used for both private and professional purposes. The user interface can be selected in German, English, Spanish and Portuguese as required, and any alphabet can be used for the collection of texts.

The ZKN3 slip box can be downloaded for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. The download link is available in both German and English.

According to Dr. Daniel Lüdecke, the installed file card system can be used to collect, clearly archive and manage literature, text passages and quotations. Each card is provided with source references and keywords, making it easier to link cards with similar topics and to find and search for specific cards. The manufacturer adds: ‘In addition to automatically generated references that link thematically related cards, the card index offers the option of creating manual references to other cards. Furthermore, similar to Luhmann’s practice, cards can be continued. The so-called follow-up cards offer another way to structure the card index and create relevant cross-references and thematic clusters.’

After successful installation, a new file card system can be created. The user is then provided with input fields for notes, keywords, references, follow-up cards, literature, titles, etc., which are still empty.

A possible approach to recording found text passages will be demonstrated using a small example. Although the demonstration does not cover the entire range of functions offered by the software, it should suffice for an initial introduction.

A text that is to be saved for future reference is created using the ‘New’ button and then either entered or, if it is available electronically, copied and pasted and given a suitable title. The keywords found in the text are then marked, added to the keyword directory and the reference entered in the ‘Authors´ field. If the keyword is already in the keyword directory, it is marked in the ‘Keywords’ tab and added to the keyword list of the note using the “Add” button. In the same way, an existing literature source can be marked in the ‘Authors’ tab and added to the note.

In this way, an extensive bibliography with text sources and keywords is created over time, which can be used for later research. For example, if texts are searched for by title, the title sought is selected in the ‘Titles’ tab, whereupon the content is displayed with bibliographic information.

If a literature source is selected in the ‘Authors’ tab, the user receives a list of all the notes recorded for it.

If the user is interested in the content of a note from this source, they select the corresponding note in the list by its title and receive the content of the note with the bibliographic reference and the keywords contained in the text.

The list of keywords also provides information on how often a keyword is found in the notes recorded.

Writers, pupils and students can also use the notes compiled in this way for text production (essays, term papers, etc.) via the ‘Outliner function, where an outline is created and notes are assigned to the outline points, supplemented by headings and additional own texts in the form of comments.

Niklas Luhmann once admitted in an interview: ‘Without the notes, i.e. just by thinking, I wouldn’t come up with such ideas. Of course, my head is necessary to write down the ideas, but it cannot be held solely responsible for them.’ Experience shows that this applies not only to him, but to everyone. Isn’t it?