What Do We Mean When We Say "Bottom-Up?"

Writing—the interplay between ideas and the words we use to express them—involves both bottom-up and top-down approaches. The availability of ideas reveals topics to be discussed that must themselves be supported by new ideas. The act of writing not only transforms our thinking, but reveals the dynamic nature of the writing process itself, where in... See more

In a bottom-up system, topics are regularly interrogated. Is your note really "about tarot," or does it touch on a variety of related and unrelated themes? What if your "tarot note" expressed a positive sentiment about your having completed a year-long course on tarot? In this case, the note could connect to others regarding accomplishment, perseve... See more

Let's say you've captured a thought about tarot. In a system organized top-down with predefined categories, your initial steps to integrate this note would involve accessing a top-level "Religion" category, then accessing an "Occult" subcategory, followed by a "Practices" subcategory, where you would eventually find and land on a subcategory labele... See more

A Luhmann-style zettelkasten is a bottom-up approach to managing information and knowledge. Structured "heterarchically,"7 the zettelkasten lacks both predefined categories and topical folders. It is, by design, a distributed network of ideas, one without thematic centers to which ideas must relate.

"Top-down thinking is when you plan a meal, find recipes, get ingredients, and then cook the meal. You started with the result and worked your way down to what was needed to make it happen. Bottom-up is when you rifle through your cabinets and fridge to try to cobble together something edible. You start with the components and figure out what you c... See more