Personal Ontologies

• https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/personal-ontologies-future-information-management-martijn-aslander-nkjle/

⚠️ LLM-generated content notice: Parts of this page may have been created or edited with the assistance of a large language model (LLM). The prompts that have been used might be on the page itself, the discussion page or in straight forward cases the prompt was just "Write a mediawiki page on X" with X being the page name. While the content has been reviewed it might still not be accurate or error-free.

Prompt

give a yaml file with the symbols and their meanings

and pasting from the LinkedIn webpage

Results

Gemini 3 Pro Preview

Here is the YAML file representing Martijn Aslander’s Personal Ontology based on the provided text.

source: "Personal Ontologies: The Future of Information Management by Martijn Aslander"
description: "A mapping of emojis to specific knowledge management concepts."

ontology:
  people:
    - symbol: "👥"
      meaning: "People I have met"
    - symbol: "🗣️"
      meaning: "People I have not met yet"
    - symbol: "⚱️"
      meaning: "Prefix for people who have passed away"

  organizations:
    - symbol: "🛗"
      meaning: "Organizations (General)"
    - symbol: "🛗 🛩️"
      meaning: "Airlines or specific organizations of interest"
    - symbol: "🛗 🎒"
      meaning: "Brands followed closely"

  locations:
    - symbol: "🇨🇭"
      meaning: "Countries"
    - symbol: "🛤️"
      meaning: "Destinations (regions, cities, villages, natural areas)"
    - symbol: "🏣"
      meaning: "Buildings"
    - symbol: "🏡"
      meaning: "Houses (lived in or visited)"
    - symbol: "🚉"
      meaning: "Stations"
    - symbol: "✈️"
      meaning: "Airports"
    - symbol: "🏰"
      meaning: "Castles"

  activities_and_events:
    - symbol: "🎪"
      meaning: "General activities and events"
    - symbol: "🎪🎹"
      meaning: "Concerts"
    - symbol: "🍿"
      meaning: "Cinema outings / Movies"
    - symbol: "🗺️"
      meaning: "Outings (with partner, family, or work)"
    - symbol: "👣"
      meaning: "Walks"
    - symbol: "🛣️"
      meaning: "Road trips"
    - symbol: "🛎️"
      meaning: "Hotel stays"
    - symbol: "🚕"
      meaning: "Taxi rides"
    - symbol: "🛫"
      meaning: "Flights"
    - symbol: "🍽️"
      meaning: "Dining out"
    - symbol: "🥡"
      meaning: "Takeout"
    - symbol: "💍"
      meaning: "Weddings"
    - symbol: "⚰️"
      meaning: "Funerals"
    - symbol: "🙌"
      meaning: "Significant life events / Unique experiences"
    - symbol: "🎤"
      meaning: "Public performances / Speaking engagements"
    - symbol: "👏"
      meaning: "Feedback received on talks"

  tasks:
    - symbol: "🔩"
      meaning: "Small tasks"
    - symbol: "👨🌾"
      meaning: "Gardening or harvesting tasks"

  sentiment_and_reflection:
    - symbol: "🌈"
      meaning: "Nice things / Joyful moments"
    - symbol: "🌪️"
      meaning: "Unpleasant things / Bad moments"
    - symbol: "👍"
      meaning: "Compliments received"
    - symbol: "🙏"
      meaning: "Thank-yous received"
    - symbol: "🤔"
      meaning: "Reflections"
    - symbol: "✨"
      meaning: "Insights"
    - symbol: "💭"
      meaning: "Dreams"
    - symbol: "🔬"
      meaning: "Things I want to understand / Curiosity"

  communication_and_interaction:
    - symbol: "💬"
      meaning: "Reach-In (Inbound questions)"
    - symbol: "🙋♂️"
      meaning: "Requests for help"
    - symbol: "🤝"
      meaning: "Reach-Out (Outbound connections)"
    - symbol: "☎️"
      meaning: "Phone calls"
    - symbol: "🫶"
      meaning: "Connection messages (connecting two other people)"
    - symbol: "🔗"
      meaning: "LinkedIn traction posts (also used for URLs)"
    - symbol: "📅"
      meaning: "Meetings"

  projects_and_opportunities:
    - symbol: "🔑"
      meaning: "Opportunities"
    - symbol: "⚗️"
      meaning: "Projects"
    - symbol: "📇"
      meaning: "Maps of Content (MOCs) / Indexes"

  media_and_content:
    - symbol: "🎓"
      meaning: "Research pages / Topics to learn"
    - symbol: "✂️"
      meaning: "Web articles / Clippings"
    - symbol: "📺"
      meaning: "Films and Series"
    - symbol: "💿"
      meaning: "Music albums"
    - symbol: "🎵"
      meaning: "Lyrics and individual songs"
    - symbol: "🎹"
      meaning: "Artists / Musicians"
    - symbol: "🗞"
      meaning: "Newspapers"
    - symbol: "📗"
      meaning: "Books"
    - symbol: "📙"
      meaning: "Children’s books"
    - symbol: "📒"
      meaning: "Comic books"
    - symbol: "📗📖"
      meaning: "Books written by the user"
    - symbol: "✍️✍️"
      meaning: "Manuscripts being reviewed or worked on"
    - symbol: "✍️"
      meaning: "Articles working on (Drafts)"
    - symbol: "✒️"
      meaning: "Published articles"
    - symbol: "🎙"
      meaning: "Podcasts recorded"
    - symbol: "🖋"
      meaning: "Interviews conducted"
    - symbol: "📚"
      meaning: "Concepts and Terms"
    - symbol: "⛬"
      meaning: "Historical events"

  possessions_and_purchases:
    - symbol: "🛒"
      meaning: "Purchases (General)"
    - symbol: "🛒📗"
      meaning: "Book purchases"
    - symbol: "📦"
      meaning: "Possessions (General)"
    - symbol: "👕"
      meaning: "Clothing"
    - symbol: "🎒"
      meaning: "Bags"
    - symbol: "⛺️"
      meaning: "Camping gear"
    - symbol: "🗜"
      meaning: "Tools (Clamps)"
    - symbol: "🛠"
      meaning: "Tools (General)"
    - symbol: "🪚"
      meaning: "Tools (Saws)"
    - symbol: "⌨️"
      meaning: "Keyboards / Tech hardware"
    - symbol: "🪑"
      meaning: "Furniture"
    - symbol: "🖼️"
      meaning: "Art / Decor"

  tech_and_admin:
    - symbol: "🛠️"
      meaning: "Software"
    - symbol: "🔌"
      meaning: "Software plugins"
    - symbol: "🎟️"
      meaning: "Subscriptions and Accounts"
    - symbol: "🔗"
      meaning: "URLs and Hosting (also used for LinkedIn traction)"

  food_nature_games:
    - symbol: "🥗"
      meaning: "Dishes and recipes"
    - symbol: "🍷"
      meaning: "Wine"
    - symbol: "🍻"
      meaning: "Beer"
    - symbol: "🕹️"
      meaning: "Computer games"
    - symbol: "🎲"
      meaning: "Board games"
    - symbol: "🌳"
      meaning: "Trees"
    - symbol: "🌱"
      meaning: "Plants"

Claude Sonnet 4.5

Here's a YAML file documenting Martijn Aslander's personal knowledge management symbols:

notes:

 - "Emoji help visual recognition faster than text"
 - "ISO 8601 date format enables chronological sorting"
 - "Templates automate metadata entry"
 - "Dataview queries create dynamic overviews"
 - "~15 minutes daily maintenance for 20-40 items"
 - "System evolved over 20 years of experimentation"

ontology:
  name: "Martijn Aslander's Personal Ontology"
  tool: "Obsidian"
  date_format: "ISO 8601 (YYYY-MM-DD)"
  
  symbols:
    
    # PEOPLE
    people:
      met: "👥"
      description_met: "People I've met"
      not_met: "🗣️"
      description_not_met: "People I haven't met yet"
      deceased: "⚱️"
      description_deceased: "People who have passed away (e.g., ⚱️👥 Jan Janssen)"
    
    # ORGANIZATIONS
    organizations:
      general: "🛗"
      description_general: "Organizations (elevator symbol - many people)"
      aviation: "🛗🛩️"
      description_aviation: "Airlines (e.g., 🛗🛩️ KLM)"
      brands: "🛗🎒"
      description_brands: "Brands followed closely (e.g., 🛗🎒 Tom Bihn)"
    
    # LOCATIONS
    locations:
      countries: "🇨🇭"
      description_countries: "Countries (using flag emojis)"
      destinations: "🛤️"
      description_destinations: "Destinations - regions, cities, villages, natural areas"
      buildings: "🏣"
      description_buildings: "Buildings - places you can enter"
      houses: "🏡"
      description_houses: "Houses - homes lived in or visited"
      stations: "🚉"
      description_stations: "Train/metro stations"
      airports: "✈️"
      description_airports: "Airports"
      castles: "🏰"
      description_castles: "Castles and historical buildings"
    
    # ACTIVITIES & EVENTS
    activities:
      events: "🎪"
      description_events: "Events (e.g., 🎪 2025-01-11 mi The Hague – Jan Janssen's Birthday)"
      concerts: "🎪🎹"
      description_concerts: "Concerts (e.g., 🎪🎹 2022-07-07 – Rolling Stones Concert)"
      cinema: "🍿"
      description_cinema: "Cinema outings (e.g., 🍿 Cinema 2023-08-12 mi Oppenheimer)"
      speaking: "🎤"
      description_speaking: "Public performances and speaking engagements"
      outings: "🗺️"
      description_outings: "Outings with partner, family, or for work"
      walks: "👣"
      description_walks: "Walking routes and hikes"
      road_trips: "🛣️"
      description_road_trips: "Road trips and adventures"
      hotels: "🛎️"
      description_hotels: "Hotel stays"
      taxis: "🚕"
      description_taxis: "Taxi rides"
      flights: "🛫"
      description_flights: "Flights (with full airport and flight details)"
      dining: "🍽️"
      description_dining: "Dining out experiences"
      takeout: "🥡"
      description_takeout: "Takeout meals"
      weddings: "💍"
      description_weddings: "Wedding ceremonies"
      funerals: "⚰️"
      description_funerals: "Funeral services"
      life_events: "🙌"
      description_life_events: "Significant life events and unique experiences"
    
    # PERSONAL REFLECTIONS
    personal:
      nice_things: "🌈"
      description_nice_things: "Nice things that happened"
      unpleasant: "🌪️"
      description_unpleasant: "Unpleasant things (for reflection)"
      compliments: "👍"
      description_compliments: "Compliments received"
      gratitude: "🙏"
      description_gratitude: "Thank-yous from others"
      reflections: "🤔"
      description_reflections: "Personal reflections and thoughts"
      insights: "✨"
      description_insights: "Insights and realizations"
      dreams: "💭"
      description_dreams: "Dreams to document and analyze"
    
    # WORK & COMMUNICATION
    work:
      reach_in: "💬"
      description_reach_in: "Reach-in - incoming questions or messages"
      help_requests: "🙋♂️"
      description_help_requests: "Requests for help"
      reach_out: "🤝"
      description_reach_out: "Reach-out - outgoing messages to others"
      phone_calls: "☎️"
      description_phone_calls: "Phone calls and discussions"
      connections: "🫶"
      description_connections: "Connection messages - introducing people"
      linkedin: "🔗"
      description_linkedin: "LinkedIn traction posts"
      meetings: "📅"
      description_meetings: "Meetings and formal encounters"
      opportunities: "🔑"
      description_opportunities: "Opportunities identified"
    
    # PROJECTS
    projects:
      project: "⚗️"
      description_project: "Projects"
      moc: "📇"
      description_moc: "Map of Content (MOC) - overview pages"
    
    # CONTENT & RESEARCH
    content:
      research: "🎓"
      description_research: "Research pages on specific topics"
      clippings: "✂️"
      description_clippings: "Web articles clipped and saved"
      video: "📺"
      description_video: "Films and series"
      albums: "💿"
      description_albums: "Music albums"
      songs: "🎵"
      description_songs: "Individual songs and lyrics"
      artists: "🎹"
      description_artists: "Musical artists"
      newspapers: "🗞"
      description_newspapers: "Newspaper subscriptions"
      books: "📗"
      description_books: "Books (general)"
      childrens_books: "📙"
      description_childrens_books: "Children's books"
      comics: "📒"
      description_comics: "Comic books"
      authored_books: "📗📖"
      description_authored_books: "Books written by author"
      manuscripts: "✍️✍️"
      description_manuscripts: "Manuscripts being reviewed or written"
      drafts: "✍️"
      description_drafts: "Article drafts in progress"
      articles: "✒️"
      description_articles: "Published articles"
      podcasts: "🎙"
      description_podcasts: "Podcast recordings"
      interviews: "🖋"
      description_interviews: "Interviews conducted"
    
    # TASKS
    tasks:
      small_tasks: "🔩"
      description_small_tasks: "Small maintenance tasks"
      garden_tasks: "👨‍🌾"
      description_garden_tasks: "Garden and farming tasks"
    
    # LEARNING
    learning:
      questions: "🔬"
      description_questions: "Things I want to understand"
      concepts: "📚"
      description_concepts: "Concepts and terms to learn"
    
    # POSSESSIONS
    possessions:
      purchases: "🛒"
      description_purchases: "Purchases over €20"
      book_purchases: "🛒📗"
      description_book_purchases: "Book purchases"
      items: "📦"
      description_items: "Possessions and belongings"
      bags: "📦🎒"
      description_bags: "Bags (e.g., 📦🎒 Tom Bihn – Synik 30)"
      software: "🛠️"
      description_software: "Software applications"
      plugins: "🔌"
      description_plugins: "Software plugins (e.g., 🔌 Obsidian – Dataview plugin)"
      clothing: "👕"
      description_clothing: "Clothing items"
      camping: "⛺️"
      description_camping: "Camping equipment"
      tools: "🗜"
      description_tools: "Tools and equipment"
      saws: "🪚"
      description_saws: "Cutting tools"
      keyboards: "⌨️"
      description_keyboards: "Computer keyboards"
      furniture: "🪑"
      description_furniture: "Furniture pieces"
      art: "🖼️"
      description_art: "Pictures and frames"
    
    # FOOD & DRINK
    food:
      recipes: "🥗"
      description_recipes: "Dishes and recipes"
      wine: "🍷"
      description_wine: "Wine selections"
      beer: "🍻"
      description_beer: "Beer varieties"
    
    # ENTERTAINMENT
    entertainment:
      computer_games: "🕹️"
      description_computer_games: "Computer games"
      board_games: "🎲"
      description_board_games: "Board games"
    
    # ADMINISTRATIVE
    administrative:
      subscriptions: "🎟️"
      description_subscriptions: "Subscriptions and accounts"
      urls: "🔗"
      description_urls: "URLs and hosting domains"
    
    # NATURE
    nature:
      trees: "🌳"
      description_trees: "Trees in garden"
      plants: "🌱"
      description_plants: "Plants in garden"
    
    # HISTORICAL
    historical:
      events: "⛬"
      description_events: "Historical events to learn about"
    
    # ORGANIZATIONAL
    organizational:
      inbox: "📥"
      description_inbox: "Quick thoughts and tasks inbox"
      unprocessed: "⬆️"
      description_unprocessed: "Unprocessed items needing action"

  # TEMPLATE METADATA FIELDS
  metadata_fields:
    - status: "Status: open/closed"
    - action: "Action: call/check/buy/ping/write/read"
    - rating: "Rating: importance/urgency level"
    - date: "Date: ISO 8601 format"
    - location: "Location: where it occurred"
    - people: "People: who was involved"
    - project: "Project: related project"
    - organization: "Organization: related organization"
    - cost: "Cost: financial information"
    - time_of_day: "Time: morning (mi), afternoon, evening"

  # NAMING CONVENTIONS
  naming_patterns:
    dated_activity: "emoji date time location – description (e.g., 🎪 2025-01-11 mi The Hague – Birthday)"
    person: "emoji Name (e.g., 👥 Jan Janssen)"
    organization: "emoji Name (e.g., 🛗 AFAS)"
    location: "emoji Name (e.g., 🏰 Castle Name)"
    book: "emoji Title (e.g., 📗 The Invention of Nature)"
    possession: "emoji Brand – Model (e.g., 📦🎒 Tom Bihn – Synik 30)"

GPT 5

people:
  "👥": "Person you’ve met"
  "🗣️": "Person you haven’t met yet"
  "⚱️": "Prefix for deceased person (use with 👥)"

organizations:
  "🛗": "Organization/company"
  "🛗 🛩️": "Organization of special interest (e.g., aviation/airline)"
  "🛗 🎒": "Organization/brand of special interest (e.g., gear/bag brand)"

locations:
  "🇨🇭": "Country (any flag emoji for countries)"
  "🛤️": "Destination (region, city, village, or natural area)"
  "🏣": "Building"
  "🏡": "House/home"
  "🚉": "Train station"
  "✈️": "Airport"
  "🏰": "Castle"

activities_and_events:
  "🎪": "Event/activity"
  "🎪🎹": "Concert"
  "🍿": "Cinema outing"
  "🎤": "Public performance / talk"
  "👏": "Talk feedback note"
  "🗺️": "Outing/excursion"
  "👣": "Walk/hike"
  "🛣️": "Road trip"
  "🛎️": "Hotel stay"
  "🚕": "Taxi ride"
  "🛫": "Flight"
  "🍽️": "Dining out"
  "🥡": "Takeout"
  "💍": "Wedding"
  "⚰️": "Funeral"
  "🙌": "Significant life event"
  "🔩": "Small household fix/maintenance task"
  "👨🌾": "Garden/harvest task"

reflections_and_feelings:
  "🌈": "Nice/positive thing"
  "🌪️": "Unpleasant/negative thing"
  "👍": "Compliment received"
  "🙏": "Thank-you received"
  "🤔": "Reflection"
  "✨": "Insight"
  "💭": "Dream"

work_communications:
  "💬": "Reach-in (inbound question)"
  "🙋‍♂️": "Request for help"
  "🤝": "Reach-out (outbound contact)"
  "☎️": "Phone call"
  "🫶": "Connection/intro message"
  "🔗": "Link/URL-related item (also used for LinkedIn traction posts and domains/sites)"
  "📅": "Meeting"
  "🔑": "Opportunity (track with Status: Open)"

projects_and_structure:
  "⚗️": "Project"
  "📇": "Map of Content (MOC) / index hub"
  "📥": "Inbox (quick thoughts and tasks)"
  "⬆️": "Quick capture / non-predefined item"

research_and_sources:
  "🎓": "Research page/topic"
  "✂️": "Web article clipping"
  "🎙": "Podcast episode recorded"
  "🖋": "Interview (conducted or given)"

media_and_books:
  "📺": "Film or series"
  "💿": "Album"
  "🎵": "Song/lyrics"
  "🎹": "Artist"
  "🗞": "Newspaper"
  "📗": "Book"
  "📙": "Children’s book"
  "📒": "Comic book"
  "📗📖": "Book I’ve written (author)"
  "✍️✍️": "Manuscript in progress / reviewing"
  "✍️": "Article draft"
  "✒️": "Published article"

knowledge_and_concepts:
  "🔬": "Thing I want to understand"
  "📚": "Concept/term to learn"

purchases_possessions_and_software:
  "🛒": "Purchase over €20"
  "🛒📗": "Book purchase"
  "📦": "Possession (generic item record)"
  "👕": "Clothing"
  "🎒": "Bag"
  "⛺️": "Tent/outdoor gear"
  "🗜": "Clamp/vise"
  "🛠️": "Software/tool"
  "🪚": "Saw"
  "⌨️": "Keyboard"
  "🪑": "Furniture"
  "🖼️": "Art"
  "🔌": "Plugin (e.g., Obsidian plugin)"

food_and_drink:
  "🥗": "Dish/recipe"
  "🍷": "Wine"
  "🍻": "Beer"

accounts_domains_and_subscriptions:
  "🎟️": "Subscription/account"

nature_and_garden:
  "🌳": "Tree (in my garden)"
  "🌱": "Plant (in my garden)"

history:
  "⛬": "Historical event"