Why as a Website?

I wanted a portfolio that represented the way that I have been organising information over the 4+ years of training zettelkasten. As the course progressed, I realised that my organisational abilities were related to my neurodivergent and adhd identity. Organising on paper is almost impossible for me. Not simply a lack of discipline but a real dis-ability. On the other hand, my ability to organise through technology is an almost unlimited super-power. I had to find a way to support my studies and support the development of my clinical practice that would be sustainable, confidential, ethical and relational.

Publishing Workflow - Simple

Publishing Workflow - Simple

This is a simpler version of the publishing flow.

flowchart TD
    A[I write or update a note in Obsidian] --> B[The publish tool copies the notes that are safe to share]
    B --> C[The website folder is updated]
    C --> D[Quartz builds the website]
    D --> E[The website pages are created]
    E --> F[The site is uploaded to portfolio.johndray.com]

In plain English

• I write in my main Obsidian vault.
• The publishing workflow copies only the notes and files meant for the public site.
• Quartz turns those notes into website pages.
• The finished site is then uploaded online.

Link to original

Assistive Technologies

I find Microsoft Word virtually unusable as a WordProcessor. In a previous degree I had been able to use WordPerfect, which I found far more accessible. How would I manage to create academic essays in a way that would circumvent Word, a staple of WPI life?

I also needed somewhere to store my confidential client data. Paper would not cut it.

Looking to the Future

I wanted to set this up to be technologically sustainable as a practice. I wanted something that I would add to while I develop as a psychotherapist. When it comes to a 5 year review, I want the evidence to all be there: collected, collated and ready to share. The source documents are all plain text files - they do not require a fancy wordprocessor to read them. The same storage format that allows me to keep the information for my portfolio also lets me keep my notes about books, my workings for my essays, my notes on videos and websites and interlinks them in a way that I find fun to use. The technique is called zettelkasten and, right from its inception, was used as a way to build an academic career. Ironically, the developer of this technique, Niklas Luhmann, developed it using slips of paper and shoeboxes. Without any formal academic qualifications he was catapulted into academic life, partly as a result of having a way to collect, collate and use information.