A Personal Knowledge Management System (PKMS) is a set of tools, containers, and rules designed to help learning and personal development. In this post, I’ll share my current PKMS through the lens of my learning model: Capture, Curate, Crunch, Contribute.

👉 See the original article on Personal Knowledge Management Systems where I introduce the 4 C philosophy.

Learning Philosophy

Before we jump into the details, let me first introduce my two key philosophies that guide my approach:

  1. Learn by doing. Task acquisition and on-the-job practice turn information into actionable knowledge.
  2. Follow a four-stage PKMS:
    • Capture: Collect information, insights, and references.
    • Curate: Filter what’s worth keeping – and tag it accordingly.
    • Crunch: Put information into action and integrate it with existing knowledge.
    • Contribute: Share knowledge through teaching, writing, or mentoring.

In this article, I focus mainly on capturing and curating, with some contribution. Crunching (the learning phase) is covered in my main article on PKMS.

This video shows the whole process in more depth, or read on for the details and images of the process.

The Tools I Use

Joplin – My “Second Brain”

An open-source note-taking system, Joplin syncs across devices via Dropbox (or their cloud service). I capture:

  • Ideas, thoughts, and references not suited for Zotero
  • Emails, photos, and life logs
  • Miscellaneous notes for temporary or long-term storage

I also use it for editorial workflow: hashtags, newsletter blurbs, camera/audio settings, and inspiration.

A screenshot showing my notes in Joplin
A screenshot of the Joplin "add note" feature
A screenshot showing how I use Joplin to store quick reference information, such as camera settings and newsletter blurb

Screen shots showing how I use Joplin to add notes, structure my folders and writing

Zotero – My Research Assistant

Zotero stores references, articles, PDFs, and other learning resources. My workflow:

  1. Add new items to a master “!To Process” collection.
  2. Use tags for sorting, rather than multiple collections.
  3. Download PDFs or course materials, annotate, and extract highlights into notes.
  4. Reference and cite materials in Google Docs via the Zotero plugin.

This setup ensures all research and study materials are easily searchable and organised.

A screenshot showing the Zotero interface and how I structure collections and libraries
Screenshot showing the item (the webpage of the course) and the PDF I have dragged in (ignore the annotations for a minute)
Screenshot showing a course PDF opened in Zotero with my highlighting.
A screenshot of the note created from the highlights.
A screenshot showing another saved item, with PDF workbook and my annotations extracted as a note.
Screenshot showing the "Add to Zotero" Google Chrome plugin

Screenshots showing how I use Zotero

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One very helpful feature in Zotero is the ability to upload a PDF to it (with full references to source etc), then open the PDF and highlight various elements. Once you've finished use the "create notes from annotations" and it pulls all of your highlights out into notes - very helpful indeed.

Google Docs – Writing and Referencing

I write most articles and books in Google Docs for global access and offline capability. Using the Zotero plugin, I can:

  • Insert citations directly into the document
  • Generate bibliographies (though I often build these manually for articles I’ve reviewed extensively)
A screenshot of Google Docs showing the Zotero plugin features
A screenshot showing the right click options for Zotero collections, and the create bibliography

Images showing how you can generate citations and bibliographies in Google Docs using Zotero, or straight from Zotero itself

I tend not to use the Bibliography feature in Google Docs using the Zotero plug in. It often only creates a Bibliography for the articles cited in the text. I use the Bibliography function straight from Zotero as it will create it based on all sources in that "collection/folder". I use Harvard style usually - and copy to clipboard to then paste into my article.

Notebooks – Analogue Capture

I use cheap notebooks for offline study notes from courses, conferences, or videos. These are informal and for personal use only. I tend to use the Cornell Note Taking method too.

When a notebook note is worth referencing:

  1. Add the source to Zotero.
  2. Photograph the notebook page and attach it to the Zotero item.
A photo of my kids old school exercise book, repurposed for dad's study notes.
An image showing my study notes in the cheap notebook from a Domestika course.

A3 Learning Notes – Curated Reference

After completing a study topic, I create an A3 learning note—a condensed, visual summary for future reference. These serve multiple purposes:

  • Quick reference for my own work
  • Teaching and contribution to others
  • Legacy for my kids and readers

The Learning Notes tag has some learning note examples from across this website.

A photo of my A3 learning notes for the topic of Ethics in journalism
A photo of my A3 learning notes for the topic of Ethics in journalism

How It All Works Together

Stage Tool(s) Purpose
Capture Joplin, Zotero, Notebooks, iPhone Collect ideas, references, articles, and notes
Curate Zotero, Joplin Filter, tag, and prioritize information
Crunch Any tool depending on the task Apply learning, integrate knowledge, take action
Contribute Google Docs, A3 notes, teaching materials Share insights, write articles, mentor others

Most of my professional learning lives in Zotero: curated, tagged, annotated, and actioned. Joplin handles ephemeral or miscellaneous info, and notebooks + A3 notes support deeper reflection, scrap notes from learning and visual summaries.

This system has evolved over nearly 10 years, moving from Evernote and Nimbus to Joplin and Zotero, balancing digital efficiency with analogue creativity.

Closing Thoughts

A good PKMS isn’t about having the perfect tool, nor system — it’s about creating a workflow that supports learning, action, and contribution that works for you right now. It will evolve as you do and as your work shifts too. Capture what matters, curate thoughtfully, apply what you learn, and share generously.

For more on the Capture, Curate, Crunch, Contribute:

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