Zettelkasten is a note taking system that aims to take down information and ideas in short, separate notes. These notes often contain some sort of metadata that allow them to be connected and searched.
Literature notes are taken from reading material and Evergreen notes are created from those literature notes.
The aim is to be able to store and retrieve information related to research and to enhance creativity.
My own system of and follow similar principles, although I only discovered zettelkasten after already setting up my own system. I do not understand many of the complexities of a good Zettelkasten system, but I am open to learn from it to compare and update my own system.
Making notes digitally becomes dependent on access to that digital system over the long term. I am currently (April 6, 2022) using Notion as the basis of my note taking, which may not be around forever. I know I should move to a system like obsidian that is intended for longer term use, but I still find that system too complicated, unreliable and cumbersome for my use. I love the idea of being able to link notes more easily and uncover notes and links that I might not have noticed, but I am not willing to forego the ease that I have created with my Notion system.