Digital Gardens Are Awesome

I recently came across an article explaining the history of a "Digital Garden" and how it differs from a personal blog. It goes into incredible detail, and I recommend the full article for web developers with any kind of online presence.

The short version is that a digital garden is like an ever-growing, personal Wikipedia page. Digital gardens are made, grown, fine-tuned, and later turned into other types of content where everyone can see them. This is unlike traditional blogs, where posts are written privately and shared with the public only when finished. Instead, ideas are explored in creative and unconventional ways, often resulting in unexpected content.

A garden is a collection of evolving ideas that aren't strictly organised by their publication date. They're inherently exploratory – notes are linked through contextual associations. They aren't refined or complete - notes are published as half-finished thoughts that will grow and evolve over time. They're less rigid, less performative, and less perfect than the personal websites we're used to seeing.

If you’re considering creating your own digital garden, I encourage you to give it a try. I had one before that I called my ExoCortex. It was a written extension of my brain with any info I wanted to remember but didn't want to limit to a blog post format. I had notes on programming languages, soft skills, communication, life values, and Trump University.

I ultimately archived it in favor of saving any useful knowledge to a flashcard app. However, I still like revisiting my little old digital garden now and then. True to the spirit of a digital garden, I might even repurpose some of its content into future blog posts. Like an actual garden, it filled me with a mix of pride and care for that little corner of the internet I took care of. It was absolutely worth it.

Read A Brief History & Ethos of the Digital Garden by Maggie Appleton.

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