Since I installed Obsidian, and started reading articles around it, I got interested in the concept of digital gardens. I think this harkens back to old style personal blogs, and the internet of the (good?) old days.
Whereas a blog or website is generally focused on a theme or niche these days, a digital garden is more free format. You can plant a little seed of an idea on the internet, maybe come back later and water it until it turns into a seedling – and possibly keep adding snippets of information until it turns into a fully fledged tree.
Or not! It is ok for an idea to remain dormant too.
Blogs and websites will usually publish finished and polished posts. A digital garden gives you the freedom to add small ideas and keep working on the content as new information comes into your field of view. Almost like sharing your own commonplace book or notebook of ideas online. Digital gardening is constantly evolving – with no particular direction except whatever your own passions and projects bring to the forefront.
One big aspect of it is linking around between ideas, to create a trail for readers to follow.
I have really taken to this idea and see it as a way forward for julieinspired.com. I dabble in a lot of things and have never felt I had enough gravitas around any of my ideas to actually publish them. But growing ideas on the internet one seed at a time? That I can do 🙂
Start Your Own Digital Garden
To find out more about digital gardening then I recommend reading what Maggie Appleton has to say! She has lots of information about what they are, how to create your own, and examples of current digital gardens.
These are interesting reads too :
- What is a Digital Garden?
- A Brief History and Ethos of the Digital Garden
- My Blog is a Digital Garden
I am creating my garden in WordPress because that is what I know – but it probably isn’t the best solution for setting up linking around between the different ideas. There are some more ideas on how to set one up here.
In terms of what to write about then think about the things that interest you. What are you constantly talking about, reading about, researching? One of my favourite quotes about this is
Allow yourself to go down rabbit holes. A rabbit hole is not a distraction. A rabbit hole is your brain trying to tell you to pay attention to something you’re curious about.
https://www.are.na/
I am excited about sharing some of my rabbit holes with you!
