digitalgarden

we are no longer in the age of gaining information, we are in the age of connecting knowledge.

Silence is the sound of things growing.

think like a gardener, not architect: design beginnings, not ends.

"A weed is a plant whose virtue is not yet known" - Ralph Waldo Emerson (1878) Fortune of the Republic

The pleasure of recognizing that one may have to undergo the same realizations, write the same notes in the margins, return to the same themes in one’s work, relearn the same emotional truths, write the same book over and over again—not because one is stupid or obstinate or incapable of change, but because such revisitations constitute a life.

I need to start a digital garden, I need it

• Record ideas as they emerge
• Suspend all critical judgement until the end of the session. Idea production is ten times greater when imagination isn't restricted by judicial attitudes.
• Quantity is important. The more ideas, the greater the likelihood of success.
• Set a goal for how many ideas you want to come up with. Make the number so large that you will have to stretch to achieve your goal.
• Use and build on the ideas of others.

you are only wise if you are generous with your knowledge

There are a few things about gardening that are extraordinarily parallel to the way we should be crafting our ideas, work, and relationships:

1. A gardener does not dig up a seed the day after it’s planted to see if it has grown. For many days, it will appear that you are giving such care to a pile of dirt, until one day, break-through happens.
   
2. A gardener does not only water a plant after it has bloomed. Most people will hop on board after something is already beautiful, but as the creator, you must give the care and attention long before anyone else can see the results.
   
3. Planting a seed and eating the fruit can never happen in the same day. The fruit eaten from the grocery store will never feel the same as the one you picked off a tree you planted. Delayed gratification will always mean more to us than that which comes instantly.

NOTES FROM MAGGIE APPLETON - plus few ideas from me

The concept of digital gardening is a new way of thinking about our online behaviour around sharing and handling information.

Digital Gardens present information in a richly linked landscape that grows slowly over time. Everything is arranged and connected in ways that allow you to explore (hyperlinked experience) and actively choose what to follow, rather than defaulting to the algorithmically filtered ephemeral stream.

The digital garden experience can help us move from time-bounds streams of information such as InstaTwitbooks towards contextual knowledge spaces that are specifically designed to accumulate knowledge and personal growth over time.

In the process of digital gardening, time plays the role of the ’fertiliser’ - which allows ideas and research to organically evolve in a free-form environment, without the pressure of a 24h clock tick. This ‘work in progress’ flow links digital gardening to the ethos of zine-making, which rejects performative and capitalist values of perfection and ’speedy-ness’ in favour of perpetuating imperfection, honesty and rawness.

does a gardener only water their flowers after they've bloomed? does a farmer only tend to their crops once they've shown fruit?

so why do you believe you should only write once you've got something to say? why do you only draw once you've got an idea?

if you really want to grow your craft, tend to it faithfully, and not just when you've got the inspiration or motivation to do so.

just as a flower only grows after it's been watered, the words you want to say will arrive after you start writing, the idea will arrive after you start drawing—inspiration will arrive after you start working.

I regret to inform you that personal growth rarely comes from acquiring new knowledge and always from periods of intense humility (i.e. your ego finally relenting)

So plant your own gardens and decorate your own soul, instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers.

sharing information knowledge ideas and conversations and real thoughts gives me purpose like my existence is more than just self indulgence

What does it mean to document something, an object, our lives, a story? I suppose that documenting things--through the lens of a camera, on paper, or with a sound recording device--is really only a way of contributing one more layer, something like soot, to all the things already sedimented in a collective understanding of the world.

∆ Valeria Luiselli, "Lost Children Archive", p. 54

“We do not learn from experience...we learn from reflecting on experience.” ― John Dewey

What is a digital garden?
A concept for a different kind of blogging. Encouraging the creation of ideas and germinating them over time rather than only concentrating on fully formulated articles.

I garden my ideas
I want my process to be more like gardening:
I plant seeds
I care for them
I nourish
I water
I give love
I give time,
I Make space
I pluck

Somethings grow,
and some not

I gonna pick the fruits later

And someday they might bring me some fruits
(Now they bring me joy)

Ich jäte das Unkraut
Ich ernte die Früchte später
I gonna pick the fruits later

The temptation when initially capturing notes is to also try to decide where they should go and what they mean. Here's the prob-lem: the moment you first capture an idea is the worst time to try to decide what it relates to. First, because you've just encountered it and haven't had any time to ponder its ultimate purpose, but more importantly, because forcing yourself to make decisions every time you capture something adds a lot of friction to the process. This makes the experience mentally taxing and thus less likely to happen in the first place.

This is why it's so important to separate capture and organize into two distinct steps: "keeping what resonates" in the moment is a separate decision from deciding to save something for the long term.

I’ve always had this sense that if you build a container for something, you will make things to fill it. What I frequently do is try to figure out different containers.

"citation as storytelling, not ownership. citation not b/c we believe in the ownership of ideas, but citation as a form of storytelling and lineage"