Noguchi Filing System
Table of Contents
The system, invented by Japanese economist Noguchi Yukio, was meant to be a self-organizing way to keep everything neatly arranged
1. Review 1
the idea is that files are put on a shelf rather than in a filing cabinet, and the most recently used file is always replaced at the left end of the shelf so that files are in the order they were last used. This results in much faster retrieval of files because the most used files are always to be found towards the left of the shelf.
Where the systems differ is that I keep papers in fairly conventional subject files, while Noguchi suggests opening a folder (actually a cut-down large envelope) for every document.
I was very interested to know how this would work in practice. It is one of those counter-intuitive systems which can only be judged by trying it out.
2. Review 2
Noguchi's system was based on what he called, "the importance of recency." He felt time was the best way to find relevant items. For example, I may not remember that the Chomsky article I annotated ended up in "Linguistics" or "Anthropology" or "MIT" or "Chomsky", but I'm sure going to know that I worked on it in the Fall of 2008. And with date you get surrounding chronological context.
