Digital Gardens and a History of Vitals
The etymology of my coined phrase
Hi friends,
I just learned about Digital Gardening. If blogs, books and articles are where we publish our well-researched arguments, digital gardens are places to grow ideas.
The above illustration from Maggie Appleton’s A Brief History and Ethos of the Digital Garden shows where gardens sit in the spectrum of content creation.
The reason why I started writing was to embrace the ethos of “Building in Public” as I transitioned from running the company I started 10 years ago to exploring my current ideas at the intersection of public health, urban design and smart cities.
In my garden, I’m keeping short notes to myself, like my 2021 year in review, ideas that might evolve into essays, like Making Friends Online, and “Work in Progress” notes on what I am learning about vital neighborhoods.
Coining a Phrase
A few months back, I started writing about what I call Neighborhood Vitals. After publishing my first essay on the topic, I made the first page on google search results for these two words.
A coined phrase is a great way to communicate a new idea quickly. I put a lot of thought into this phrase: Is “Vitals” the right framework to measure the health of a place? I had some reservations but my current thinking is “yes.”
This week, I’m sharing a short and sweet history of how I came up with the term Neighborhood Vitals, and how language is influencing the way I am thinking about my research.
Disclaimer: This get wonky. Get ready for a history of vital signs and why language impacts behaviors.
Where’s Melissa?
I have been working to navigate red lists, dog travel restrictions and more to get to London over the past year. We made it, a day before the end of 2021. Here is a picture of a community garden I found today, providing whimsical green space right smack in central London.
Until next time,
Melissa