Digital Gardens Let You Cultivate Your Own Little Bit of the Internet數字花園：你的專屬網絡空間

塔尼婭·巴蘇

A growing number of people are creating individualized， creative sites that eschew the one-size-fits-all1 look and feel of social media.越來越多的人正在創建個性化、有創意的網站，摒棄社交媒體那種萬能套用的界面風格。

Sara Garner had a nagging feeling something wasnt quite right.

A software engineer， she was revamping her personal site， but it just didnt feel like her. Sure， it had the requisite links to her social media and her professional work， but it didnt really reflect her personality. So she created a page focused on museums， which she is obsessed with. Its still under construction， but she envisions a page that includes thoughts on her favorite museums， describes the emotions they evoked， and invites others to share their favorite museums and what theyve learned.

“Im going for a feeling of wonderment， a connection across time.” she says.

Welcome to the world of “digital gardens.” These creative reimaginings of blogs have quietly taken nerdier corners of the internet by storm2. A growing movement of people are tooling with back-end code to create sites that are more collage3-like and artsy， in the vein4 of Myspace and Tumblr—less predictable and formatted than Facebook and Twitter. Digital gardens explore a wide variety of topics and are frequently adjusted and changed to show growth and learning， particularly among people with niche interests. Through them， people are creating an internet that is less about connections and feedback， and more about quiet spaces they can call their own.

“Everyone does their own weird thing”

The movement might be gaining steam now， but its roots date back to 1998， when Mark Bernstein introduced the idea of the “hypertext garden，” arguing for spaces on the internet that let a person wade into5 the unknown. “Gardens … lie between farmland and wilderness，” he wrote. “The garden is farmland that delights the senses， designed for delight rather than commodity.” （His digital garden includes a recent review of a Bay Area carbonara dish and reflections on his favorite essays.）

The new wave of digital gardens discuss books and movies， with introspective journal entries; others offer thoughts on philosophy and politics. Some are works of art in themselves， visual masterpieces that invite the viewer to explore; others are simpler and more utilitarian， using Google Docs or Wordpress templates to share intensely personal lists. Avid readers in particular have embraced the concept， sharing creative， beautiful digital bookshelves that illustrate their reading journey.

Beneath the umbrella term， however， digital gardens dont follow rules. Theyre not blogs， short for “weblogs，” a term that suggests a time-stamped record of thought. Theyre not a social-media platform—connections are made， but often its through linking to other digital gardens， or gathering in forums like Reddit and Telegram6 to nerd out over code.

Tom Critchlow， a consultant who has been cultivating his digital garden for years， spells out the main difference between old-school blogging and digital gardening. “With blogging， youre talking to a large audience，” he says. “With digital gardening， youre talking to yourself. You focus on what you want to cultivate over time.”

What they have in common is that they can be edited at any time to reflect evolution and change. The idea is similar to editing a Wikipedia entry， though digital gardens are not meant to be the ultimate word on a topic. As a slower， clunkier way to explore the internet， they revel in7 not being the definitive source， just a source， says Mike Caulfield， a digital literacy8 expert at Washington State University.

In fact， the whole point of digital gardens is that they can grow and change， and that various pages on the same topic can coexist. “Its less about iterative learning and more about public learning，” says Maggie Appleton， a designer. Appletons digital garden， for example， includes thoughts on plant-based meat9， book reviews， and digressions on Javascript. It is “an open collection of notes， resources， sketches， and explorations Im currently cultivating，” its introduction declares. “Some notes are Seedlings， some are budding， and some are fully grown Evergreen[s].”

Appleton， who trained as an anthropologist， says she was drawn to digital gardens because of their depth. “The content is not on Twitter， and its never deleted，” she says. “Everyone does their own weird thing. The skys the limit.”

That ethos of creativity and individuality was echoed by several people I spoke to. Some suggested that the digital garden was a backlash10 to the internet weve become grudgingly accustomed to， where things go viral11， change is looked down upon， and sites are one-dimensional12. Facebook and Twitter profiles have neat slots for photos and posts， but enthusiasts of digital gardens reject those fixed design elements. The sense of time and space to explore is key.

“The stream has dominated our lives since the mid-2000s，” Caulfield says. But it means people are either posting content or consuming it. And， Caulfield says， the internet as it stands rewards shock value and dumbing things down13. “By engaging in digital gardening， you are constantly finding new connections， more depth and nuance，” he says. “What you write about is not a fossilized bit of commentary for a blog post. When you learn more， you add to it. Its less about shock and rage; its more connective.” In an age of doom-scrolling14 and Zoom fatigue， some digital-garden enthusiasts say the internet they live in is， as Caulfield puts it， “optimistically hopeful.”? ■

薩拉·加納有種感覺縈繞心頭，總覺得哪里不太對。

作為軟件工程師，她曾著手改進自己的個人網站，但總感覺網站不像她自己的風格。當然，那上面有必要的鏈接，能找到她在社交媒體上的主頁和與她專業工作相關的網頁，但并沒有反映出她的個性。她對博物館著迷，于是創建了一個博物館主題網頁。網頁仍在建設中，而她已能構想出它的樣子，里面包含著她對自己鐘愛的博物館的思考，記錄著它們曾喚起的情感，還邀請別人講講自己最喜歡的博物館及參觀心得。

“我想要令人驚艷的感覺，一種跨越時間的連接。”她說道。

歡迎來到“數字花園”的世界。這些對博客的創意重塑，已經悄然席卷了互聯網里那些滿是書呆子氣的角落。越來越多的人利用后端代碼工具來創建網站，使其視覺效果更像拼貼畫、更有文藝范兒，有聚友網和湯博樂的風格，比臉書和推特更富于變化、不拘一格。數字花園探索的主題包羅萬象，會時常調整和變換，以顯示成長變化和學習過程，在懷有小眾興趣的人當中尤其如此。借著它們，人們正在創造的互聯網，不再是一個關于連通和反饋的網絡，而是一個個私享的清靜空間。

“每人都有自己的小癖好”

這場運動可能現在風頭正勁，但它的起源要追溯到1998年，當時馬克·伯恩斯坦提出了“超文本花園”的概念，主張在互聯網上開辟空間，讓人們探索未知。“花園……介于農場和荒野之間。”他寫道，“花園是為了愉悅感官的農場，重在愉悅不在收成。”（他的數字花園里有一則對舊金山灣區奶油培根意面的近期評論和他對最喜歡的一些散文寫的讀后感。）

新派數字花園或以一篇篇內省式的日志討論書籍和電影;或提供哲學思想和政治見地。有些本身就是藝術作品，堪稱視覺杰作，自會吸引觀看者去探索;還有一些偏簡單實用，即利用谷歌文檔或Wordpress模板來分享非常私人的作品清單。特別是書迷們，他們已經欣然接受這一概念，分享他們集創意與美觀于一身的數字書架，展示自己的閱讀旅程。

但是，在這一總括名稱之下，各個數字花園并不循規蹈矩。它們不是簡稱為博客的“網絡日志”——即帶有時間標記的思想記錄。它們也不是社交媒體平臺——會有交往，但通常是通過鏈接到其他數字花園或在紅迪網和Telegram這樣的論壇上交流代碼來實現的。

湯姆·克里奇洛是一位咨詢師，耕耘數字花園多年，他闡明了老式博客和數字園藝之間的主要區別：“寫博客是在和一大群人說話。”他說，“從事數字園藝，則是與自己對話。隨著時間推移，你可以專注于自己想慢慢培育的東西。”

二者的共同之處在于，隨時都可以編輯，以體現演進和變化歷程。這種理念類似于編輯維基百科的條目，但數字花園不執著于對某一主題的最佳定義。華盛頓州立大學的數字素養專家邁克·考爾菲爾德表示，作為一種更溫吞、更稚拙的探索互聯網的方式，它們樂在不必充當最權威的信息源，而只是一種信息源而已。

事實上，數字花園的全部意義在于它們可以成長和改變，并且允許同一主題下存在不同網頁。設計師瑪吉·艾普爾頓表示：“這種方式更多是讓公眾共同學習，而不是迭代學習。”以艾普爾頓自己的數字花園為例，里面包括對植物肉的看法，一些書評，還有關于Javascript的雜談。它是“開放的集合，匯聚了筆記、資源、草圖和我的一些探索，這些都是我正在花園里培育的東西”，她的數字花園簡介如是說，“有些筆記尚是‘幼苗，有些開始發芽，還有一些已長大，成為‘常青植物。”

人類學家出身的艾普爾頓說，數字花園吸引她的原因在于其深度。“這些內容不在推特上，也絕不會被刪除。”她說道，“每個人都發展著自己不同尋常的小癖好，不受拘束。”

我所接觸到的一些人也贊同這種提倡創造力和個性精神的觀念。有些人認為，數字花園是對我們不喜歡又不得不習慣的互聯網模式的一種抵制，那種模式下，病毒式的傳播司空見慣，變化被看不起，各個網站千篇一律。在臉書和推特的個人資料中，照片和帖子有固定的存放位置，但數字花園的愛好者拒絕那些固定的設計元素。探索的時空感很重要。

“自2005年左右，流量已經主導了我們的生活。”考爾菲爾德說。但是，這意味著人們要么在發布內容，要么在消費內容。考爾菲爾德接著說，就目前來看，互聯網會犒賞有爆點的內容，崇尚簡單通俗。“通過從事數字園藝，你會不斷找到新的朋友，對事物獲得更深的認識并發現其微妙之處。”他說，“你不是在撰寫陳腐僵化的碎片式評論性博文。隨著你的認識加深，你會對它進行補充。這種模式不太注重轟動效應，更關注互聯互通。”在這樣一個陰暗刷屏、對網絡會議感到疲勞的時代，一些熱衷數字花園的人卻說，他們所處的互聯網，如考爾菲爾德所言，“洋溢著樂觀與希望”。? ?□

1 one-size-fits-all（意圖）各方面都顧及的;通用的。

2 take sb/sth by storm在（某處）大獲成功;完全征服（一群人）。? 3 collage拼貼畫，指在平面空間或者浮雕中，運用不同的材料進行構思、排列、粘貼的一種繪畫表現形式。1912年，畢加索創作出了第一件較為完整的拼貼畫《藤椅上的靜物》（Still Life with Chair Caning）。他在畫布上黏貼了一個藤編，用實際的藤編取代直接在油畫布上畫出的藤編圖案。后來，拼貼畫成為流行藝術的一種重要形式，其超越現實的重組和敘述手法被廣泛應用于現代平面設計中。? 4 vein風格;情緒。? 5 wade into sth大膽涉足;毅然從事。

6一款跨平臺的即時通信軟件。用戶可以相互交換加密與自毀消息（類似于“閱后即焚”），發送照片、影片等所有類型的文件。

7 revel in sth陶醉于;沉湎于。? 8 digital literacy數字素養，是指利用數字技術確定、組織、認識、評價和分析信息的能力。? 9 plant-based meat植物肉，人造肉的一種，一般是以植物蛋白作為原料，輔之以一些配料，利用食品加工技術，做出跟真肉有類似口感、風味和香氣的產品。

10 backlash（社會或政治方面的）強烈反響;強烈反對。? 11 go viral（視頻、圖像、新聞報道等）通過互聯網上的社交網站、電子郵件或其他媒體迅速傳播和廣泛擴散。? 12 one-dimensional乏味的，單調的。

13 dumb sth down（尤指為了更加普及而）使……簡化，將……通俗化。? 14 doom-scrolling指人們在智能手機應用、社交媒體或網頁上不斷滾動瀏覽負面消息。