Thoughts on bookmarks and research

October 1, 2026

I’ve been feeling simultaneously excited and yet filled with a certain amount of dread. I attribute this to taking more time to go through my accumulated archive of bookmarks. An archaeology process similar to going through a bunch of old notes. I develop a distaste for looking at these old bookmarks because they are a reflection of my past self. Their usefulness is marginal at best but link rot is a real issue. Preserving them is a thankless task I am doing on behalf of my future self. Much of my notes and links I do not make public, but there is a certain value in this. So says Sacha Chua:

Search: I often use Google to search my public notes. Sharing my notes allows me to find things again easily. If I publish my notes, other people can benefit from them and even send me additional notes.

The fruits of this link archival process are all about accumulating context. Even if the end result is to empty your head, that is still a useful exercise. The web has always been a fragile place and ephemeral. A bookmark is like a note. A future promise to yourself. One day you thought it might be useful to look at again. In relation to this idea, this link surfaced today when looking at my bookmarks that resonates. From the defunct blog Designing Better Libraries:

When you think about it, most of the research advice librarians dole out has little to do with navigating complex search systems. The most complex challenge for most people doing research is working through the process of articulating a research question and developing a strategy for resolving that question.

Yes the link died. But the research question is what LLMs cannot really do. They cannot tell us what we should be looking for. As search becomes subsumed by AI, it cannot really replace our thinking. Humans still are the ones asking the questions and flipping through source material. An LLM can serve as a parallel assistant but we still serve as the arbiter of taste. That and creating a research question worth asking.