A Short History of Knowledge Management

Starving for wisdom while drowning in information...

This post is part of The Sub-Disciplines of Productiveness, a sub-series of The Productivity Chronicles. In this mini-series we look into the various subfields of modern productivity.

Previous installments in this series:

A Short History of Time Management

A Short History of Effort Management

A Short History of Aspiration Management

Full Disclosure: This essay was crafted with assistance of ChatGPT Deep Research.

“We are drowning in information while starving for wisdom.” — E. O. Wilson

In the past few generations, we have produced more information than in all previous history combined. Each of us now carries more data in our pockets than the Library of Alexandria ever held.¹ It’s abundantly clear that simply creating and storing information is no longer a challenge. The real question is how to organize and use it so that it helps us learn, innovate, and grow. How can we handle a never-ending flow of data in a way that truly improves our lives?

Big organizations figured out early on that capturing and sharing knowledge is crucial. They developed structured systems so employees wouldn’t need to reinvent the wheel every time a problem came up.² In many ways, a business's success or failure can hinge on how well it manages its collective expertise. However, these top-down methods don’t adapt well to individual needs. We each have unique interests and aspirations; we each tackle different kinds of projects and programs.

That’s where Personal Knowledge Management (PKM) enters the chat.³

Unlike other productivity methods that sprang from corporate settings, PKM took shape independently—and, in fact, it’s been around for centuries, well before modern businesses existed. In this post, we’ll explore how PKM began, how it evolved into a personal practice, and why it’s become an essential tool for anyone who wants to stay organized and productive in our information-saturated world.

From Ancient Roots to Modern Voices

It turns out that producing and collecting information was never really the hard part. Centuries ago, the philosopher Seneca the Younger compared gathering ideas to bees collecting nectar, pointing out that raw facts are useless unless we transform them into genuine insight.

This same principle spurred the creation of commonplace books: handwritten journals of quotes, reflections, and personal notes that people could organize and revisit. In 1685, John Locke wrote the definitive work on this: A New Method of Making Common-Place Books. In it, he recommended alphabetical headings like “love,” “politics,” and “religion.” And it did work. Influential minds such as Erasmus and Charles Darwin relied on Locke’s system to index their studies.⁴

Not everyone embraced bound notebooks, however. Another trend involved using loose paper slips—early index cards—to reorder and cross-reference ideas on the fly. In the 1640s, Thomas Harrison introduced the “ark of studies,” which used hooks to sort notes by topic, and Vincent Placcius later refined these techniques in his 1689 handbook De arte excerpted.⁵ Over the next century, people like Carl Linnaeus started labeling small slips of paper to classify botanical findings—essentially inventing the card catalog. By the 19th century, historians like Langlois and Seignobos were praising separate note slips for their flexibility.

Commonplace books and paper slip systems laid the groundwork for personal knowledge management well before computers arrived. Despite varied formats, the core goal remained the same: capture what matters and connect it to spark new insights. Due to our mental WIP limits, external tools played a significant role in this. In 1945, Vannevar Bush fleshed out this concept by proposing the “Memex,” an imagined electromechanical desk that could store books, records, and notes and let readers create “trails” of linked ideas.⁶ Though never built, the Memex likely inspired modern hypertext and shaped the associative style of future PKM tools.

Meanwhile, analog note-taking advanced in other ways. A classic example is Niklas Luhmann’s “Zettelkasten.” Starting in the 1950s, he built an archive of around 90,000 index cards, each numbered and cross-referenced. Luhmann called it his “thinking partner” and credited it for helping him write some 50 books and 550 scholarly papers.⁷ Although slip-box systems originated in the 16th and 17th centuries, Luhmann’s incredible output made his approach a famous case of personal knowledge management in action.

By the late 20th century, the idea of “externalizing thought” had earned respect in academic circles. In 1998, Andy Clark and David Chalmers coined the ”extended mind” thesis, arguing that tools like notebooks or digital devices can become part of how we think if we use them consistently. Much like sticks and stones, notebooks or digital devices act as cognitive extensions when used consistently, amplifying our mental capabilities. This gave PKM even more credibility, showing that sometimes the best way to expand our minds is to write things down or store them in a trusted system, ready to spark new ideas whenever we need them.

The Modern Evolution of PKM

As personal computers became more common, a wave of new software brought part of Vannevar Bush’s Memex vision to life. In 1995, Ward Cunningham created the first wiki, leading to projects like Wikipedia (2001). Soon after came TiddlyWiki (2004), allowing individuals to build personal knowledge bases on their computers. By the late 2000s, people used social bookmarking sites to tag and organize web links, while early blogs and so-called “digital gardens” let them store and share ideas as they developed.

In 1999, Dr. Jason Frand and Carol Hixon formally introduced the term “Personal Knowledge Management.” They described it as:

1. Personal—designed by individuals for their own use.

2. About knowledge (defined as often subjective or personal, growing when shared and resisting simple definitions)

3. A form of knowledge management.

In other words, PKM is a strategy for transforming random data points into systematic processes that expand personal knowledge.⁸

Paper slips, however, still were not dead. They made a comeback around the 2010s. A 2013 exhibit called “Zettelkästen: Machines of Fantasy” rekindled interest in Niklas Luhmann’s slip-box, underlining how a linked network of notes can spark new ideas. It became clear, however, that analog slip boxes were no longer sufficient. In 2017, Sönke Ahrens published How to Take Smart Notes, opening up Luhmann’s methods to a broader group of readers and bringing them to the digital realm.⁹ Meanwhile, Tiago Forte—a now popular productivity blogger—introduced the idea of a digital “Second Brain” to foster one’s creative potential.¹⁰

Another significant leap in modern PKM came in late 2019 when Roam Research launched. Roam’s user-friendly bi-directional linking meant you could build a web of notes without strict folder structures. Among the still small community of PKMers, its popularity exploded and soon drove interest in similar apps—Obsidian, RemNote, and Logseq—all of which feature “knowledge graphs” and let you see how your notes interconnect. This set of tools brings together the best ideas of slip boxes and commonplace books and assembles the closest what we have to the Memex.

Today, following the latest trend of “learning in public”, we see the rise of “public digital gardens.” Rather than final, polished articles, digital gardeners share live, ever-updating notes online. Here’s an example: Andyʼs working notes. And here is another one: DevelopPassion. On such pages, readers can roam through interlinked thoughts and watch them evolve in real time—a blend of personal knowledge management with community-driven collaboration and learning.

Conclusion

In the end, the heart of Personal Knowledge Management lies in capturing what matters and connecting it in meaningful ways—whether it’s done on index cards, in a notebook, or through cutting-edge digital software. What began with Renaissance-era commonplace books evolved into slip-box systems and has now found new life in wikis, digital gardens, and powerful note-taking apps. The message from history is clear: when we treat our ideas as living, interlinked resources rather than static notes, we unleash creativity and transform information into genuine understanding. Instead of drowning in data, we can turn it into a springboard for insight, growth, and fresh possibilities.

In the book I’m writing, I explore all facets of modern productivity, including PKM. There is, however, another discipline next to PKM that I won’t cover in this series here: Personal Knowledge Building (PKB). If you are interested, check out my book. In Chapter 5 - “Personal Knowledge” of my book, I will explore this in detail as well as present my holisitc organizational method for life (PEAKER). Buy the book now and get any updates for free, as with every update I increase the price.

1. According to Harari’s Nexus (citing Robertson, D.S. (1990). “The Information Revolution.” Communication Research, 17(2), 235–54), the Library of Alexandria may have housed ~100 billion bits (12.5 GB) of information. Modern smartphones greatly surpass that capacity.

2. Davenport, T.H., & Prusak, L. (1998). Working Knowledge: How Organizations Manage What They Know. Harvard Business School Press.

3. Frand, J.L., & Hixon, C.G. (1999). “The Information-Age Mindset: Changes in Students and Implications for Higher Education.” EDUCAUSE Review, 34(5), 14–24.

4. Havens, E. (2001). Commonplace Books: A History of Manuscripts and Printed Books from Antiquity to the Twentieth Century. Yale University.

5. ibid

6. Bush, V. (1945). “As We May Think.” The Atlantic, July 1945.

7. Luhmann, N. (1992). “Communicating with Slip Boxes.” Scholarly Publishing, 23(3), 209–219.

8. Frand, J.L., & Hixon, C.G. (1999). “The Information-Age Mindset: Changes in Students and Implications for Higher Education.” EDUCAUSE Review, 34(5), 14–24.

9. Ahrens, S. (2017). How to Take Smart Notes: One Simple Technique to Boost Writing, Learning and Thinking. CreateSpace Independent Publishing.

10. Forte, T. (2022). Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential. Atria Books.