Streams are a metaphor for the majority of the Internet we interact with today characterized by time-ordered events that require context to understand.
For example, try going back to a tweet from a few years ago and try to glean it’s full meaning. It requires contextβwhen did it happen, what do we know about the author, what was it in response to, etc.
Facebook, Twitter, Instagram are the pinnacle of the stream. Content is an argument (not even a dialogue, typically a nameless ‘them’), real-time reactions, and primarily ephemeral.
Gardens are different. There is no singular relationship of elements (i.e. a heterarchy) in a garden, no strict hierarchy or chronology. It emphasizes the reader (or creator) to find their own connections between objects in and draw their own path.
For example, content in a digital garden is evergreen and evolves over time. There are many links between content the creator places to connect meaning and generate context over time. Adding content and connections extends the meaning of what already exists without needing to rewrite it.
As a counter example, consider a blog post. It’s a snapshot in time of a collection of ideas strung together. It’s unlikely to be updated and extended as the author acquires new information. They could write a ‘part 2’ sequel, but this introduces a new strict hierarchy of ideas and requires reading the previous parts to fully understand the context.
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