I've always wanted knowledge graphs like the one in Jerry's Brain. I think displaying the neighborhood around the current article is a bit more useful than a global overview (like those in ), which is impressive but a bit too difficult for me to use.

I also love large public knowledge gardens like Andy Matuschak's, even if there isn't a real map or graph. There are so many links, making it fun to explore. I like these inline links more than plain lists or connections without explanation. I'm also curious about the Anagora project, which tries to create a large network of personal knowledge graphs and make it easy to jump from one to another by subject or tag.

On the other hand, I don't want to invest a lot of effort into doing the necessary linking myself. Most of my posts (except the Emacs News newsletter and reviews) contain few links. If I stay at the category level, there'd be too many connections just to the topic of Emacs. Maybe I could convert the subcategories in my topic index into data for visualization… (The index really needs an update, though!)

I use other types of graphs frequently. I often draw while I'm writing. I make mind maps and sketchnotes. Actually, I really just end up throwing many words on a page, and then I move, connect, and organize them gradually. This is one of the ways I figure out what I want to say and how to organize it. From time to time, I include drawings in articles or publish them in my public sketchbook. It's nice when other people find these interesting.

I accumulate a lot of drafts in my posts.org file, which I sync with my phone via Syncthing to edit in Orgzly Revived. Sometimes I use a treemap visualization to see the sizes of forgotten drafts (which might be almost finished; they could just need tiny revisions or additions). (Hmm, I wonder how I can add the subtree size to Org headings…)

In addition, I like analyzing seasonal or annual trends in my posting frequency, which reassures me that busy summer days are normal and I'll have more free time soon:

import json
import seaborn as sns
import re
from collections import defaultdict
import requests
import numpy as np
import pandas as pd
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
with open('/home/sacha/proj/static-blog/_site/blog/all/index.json') as jsonfile:
    posts = json.load(jsonfile)
    jsonfile.close()
monthly_counts = defaultdict(lambda: defaultdict(int))
for post in posts:
    title = post.get("title", "")
    date_str = post.get("date", "")
    if re.search(r'emacs news', title, re.IGNORECASE):
        continue
    if date_str and len(date_str) >= 7:
        year = date_str[:4]
        month = int(date_str[5:7])
        monthly_counts[year][month] += 1
months_labels = ['Jan', 'Feb', 'Mar', 'Apr', 'May', 'June', 'July', 'Aug', 'Sept', 'Oct', 'Nov', 'Dec']
years = ['2022', '2023', '2024', '2025', '2026']
df = pd.DataFrame(index=range(1, 13), data={'Month': months_labels})
for year in years:
    df[year] = [monthly_counts[year][m] for m in range(1, 13)]
df.iloc[8:, -1] = None
df_long = df.melt(id_vars=['Month'], value_vars=years, var_name='Year', value_name='Count')
num_old_years = len(years) - 1
gray_shades = np.linspace(0.8, 0.3, num_old_years)  # 0.8 is lighter, 0.3 is darker
custom_colors = {year: str(shade) for year, shade in zip(years[:-1], gray_shades)}
custom_colors['2026'] = "#000000"  # Force the current year to pure black
widths = {year: 1 for year in years}
widths['2026'] = 3
plt.figure(figsize=(10, 5))
ax = sns.lineplot(data=df_long, hue='Year', x='Month', y='Count', size='Year', palette=custom_colors, sizes=widths, sort=False)
ax.set_xticks(range(12))
ax.set_xticklabels(months_labels)
plt.title("Monthly post count (except for Emacs News)", fontsize=12, fontweight='bold')
plt.xlabel("Month", fontsize=10)
plt.ylabel("Count", fontsize=10)
plt.grid(True, linestyle='--', alpha=0.5)
plt.legend(loc='upper right')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.savefig('frequence-en.svg')
return df

and the gradual growth of my French vocabulary, according to my journal:

Even though these aren't classic knowledge graphs, they help me see trends that aren't obvious from day to day.

I'm more interested in the network of collective knowledge than in my personal notes. For more than ten years, I've been gathering and categorizing lots links for Emacs News, which makes them easy to skim. I love coming across so many ideas and people along the way. It's easy to do and doesn't take much time, so I've been able to continue it despite the interruptions of life as a mom. In terms of knowledge graphs, the newsletter helps connect nodes and people. I love occasionally hearing how one post has inspired another, and another, and then maybe a collaboration… That's the wonderful thing about creating links between people who appreciate similar things. If someday I have to stop doing this weekly newsletter, I really hope that someone else continues it.

Thanks to my link collection for Emacs News, I often come across opportunities to recommend an post or a person in response to a question or message. If I can find the post in my Emacs News archive with consult-line or isearch, I can paste the exact link. Occasionally, I want to introduce someone to someone else, which is a bit difficult on Mastodon because handles are often very different from real names. I note Mastodon handles in my people.org file, and I have a small function sacha-mastodon-insert-handle-from-contacts to complete them. I have another function sacha-mastodon-insert-interested-handles that adds people who might be interested based on regular expression matches in the message, just like when I write my posts.

In addition to the connections between articles and people, I'm also interested in the connections between subjects. Before learning one thing, what would be helpful to learn first? Once you get the hang of something, what's nearby and easy to learn next? This might be useful for giving advice or suggestions (like coaching!), or for self-directed learning. Everyone's got different needs and paths, so it's impossible to map one path that fits everyone. I started making a resource map for beginners, but I think it's still a bit intimidating, even for me. EmacsWiki is probably the natural home for this sort of thing, since that allows other people to find and add to the links. I just want a good way to back up the data, and I think I still need to resolve a problem I had with editing some pages. I'm also curious about trying to classify workflows by aspects, which could help someone find resources that are similar to their ideas.

I also want to identify gaps to focus on when I have free time. There are tons of resources for beginners since people tend to have similar information needs at that point, but because Emacs is super-customizable, there is a combinatorial explosion of possibilities at the intermediate level. I look forward to exploring my ideas and other people's questions too. It's difficult to find and navigate stuff, so if I start with personal improvements or concrete questions from specific people, that's probably better than writing in isolation. I'm sure that in the process of answering individual questions, common ideas and needs will emerge.

I also enjoy exploring other subjects. I'm learning French, and I'm having so much fun tinkering with my Emacs environment and learning process. One tip for beginners is to develop "language islands": words around a subject you're interested in. (Like the way I'm writing the current article in French to force myself to enrich my vocabulary.) I wonder how I can visualize these things… For example, if I get word lists sorted by frequency (maybe by analyzing the lexique database), I could create a matrix of squares for a heatmap or something… Hmm.

The kiddo's growing up, so my mom obligations are gradually decreasing too. I'm looking forward to spending more time exploring, writing down, and sharing interesting things!