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I knew Alisa through Warde’s Slack. She works on multiple projects online. One of her main projects is working on her digital garden. She collects ideas and capture on her digital garden, which helps her to write essays on topics that she is interested in. She also collects book notes and journal there.

What brought you to start making your digital garden?

I got interested in digital gardens after reading Maggie Appleton's post about them. At the time, I was kind of in a slump about my internet presence. I liked being online, but I was getting sick of social media and the ways I derived validation from it. I considered blogging, but I didn't feel like I had enough content to keep it alive. 

Digital gardens are more about growing and connecting pieces of content over time, rather than pushing out disjointed posts chronologically. And this ethos really spoke to me: it felt like a low-stakes way of getting my ideas out there in a way that works for me without the pressure of feeling polished or final. I felt like gardens really fit the niche I was looking for, and they also helped me realize that I have full freedom about how I show up online. 

I really like how it looks. Tell us about your process of making it. What was the most difficult part to get through?

Thanks! I think the most difficult part was trying to figure out how I could organize all the different kinds of content I wanted to include: essays, photography, streams of consciousness, and note-taking. I hadn't really seen any gardens that include those more personal pieces of content, so I had to experiment a bit to figure out a site structure that I felt satisfied with. It's been fun to think so carefully about how I think and creating a design and an information architecture that's conducive to that, while also making sure it's easy to understand for everyone else. I'm a human-centered designer by profession, so I love challenges like these!

I also decided to code it myself, which was a new skill for me. Luckily, my partner codes regularly and he was able to help me when I needed. I'm glad I challenged myself with that — it meant that I was really able to customize my garden into a format that was exactly the way I wanted it, and I learned some new skills to boot!

How does your digital garden help you to improve your writing and creative process?

For me, the hardest part about writing or creating is just getting started. My digital garden is a space where I can post constantly without ever "finishing" a single thing, meaning that I don't have the pressure to be perfect. It makes it much easier to start when I don't feel pressured to follow through to the very end. And oftentimes, when I revisit an unfinished piece a few days (or months!) later, I feel much more inspired to go back and revise, edit, and bring it to a more completed state. I still have posts that I haven't touched since I wrote the first outline months ago.

What are the main topics that interest you the most that you would go down a rabbit role to read more about?

It really depends on my mood! Some of the topics that interest me most are internet culture, philosophy, and linguistics. I especially love it when these topics intersect with each other. For example, I loved reading Because Internet, which is a really easy read written by a linguist who specializes in internet speech. One of my favorite articles, How the Blog broke the Web is a mix between internet culture and philosophy as well.  

Other than that, I'm interested in a smorgasbord of random topics: music theory, human-centered design, technology ethics, social justice, and existentialism.

Are there any topics that you write an article on after going down the rabbit hole? How does your digital garden help you to generate ideas?

Definitely! My essay Emoji vibes and why they matter was inspired by Because Internet. That book helped me to articulate many of the feelings I've had about how emoji illustrations change slightly between social platforms, and how that is distracting communication. I also have a (very incomplete) article about how self-expression on the internet has changed through the years, from the Wild West days to the proliferation of social media. That one was inspired by How the Blog broke the Web. 

My digital garden is central to creating ideas — it's a great place for me to take notes on the small nuggets of information that stand out to me. Over time, I can look at how those piecemeal ideas relate to each other, and those subtle connections will inspire new trains of thought which might (or might not!) turn into an article eventually. 

How does being online and on socials affect your writing and creative process?

Being online generally is helpful because it exposes me to new ideas and is the most opportune place for me to go down rabbit holes. Being on socials is less helpful, though. I get sucked in socials and end up scrolling forever instead of generating ideas. I tend to stay off of Instagram these days, but I'll still find myself getting deep into Reddit and YouTube (woops!). At least with Reddit and Youtube, I'll still come across some interesting ideas on those platforms: r/WikipediaRandomness is a great source of spontaneous rabbit-holing, and I love deep-diving into Khadijha Mbowe and Mina Le's YouTube channels.

What do you do except writing on your digital garden?

I'd probably spend all day in front of a screen if left to my own devices (pun not intended). So, I try to find ways to keep me connected to the physical world: I rockclimb and cycle to stay active (lucky to live in Seattle where both are excellent!). I live and breathe human-centered design, so I try to funnel that love into interior design and rearranging my spaces regularly. I try to immerse myself fully in mundane activities without listening to music or podcasts, like when I go on walks or do the dishes. I try to journal when processing emotions to keep me grounded. Basically, anything that forces me to stop consuming for a moment.

How can people find you and your work?

You can find me in a couple of different places:

• My digital garden

• Instagram at @alisasig

• Github

• Spotify

• My professional portfolio

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Take care,
Celeste