I came across both terms while searching how to blog directly from a mobile phone: “Second Brain” and “Digital Garden”.
“Second Brain,” as described by Matt Giaro, focuses on outcome-oriented note-taking for monetizable content creation. It is a commercial version of Tiago Forte’s note-taking life-hack.
In contrast, the “Digital Garden,” championed by Maggie Appleton, offers an open-ended, stress-free, and creative approach. It fosters exploration, creativity, and artistic expression, aligning with a non-linear, non-profit mindset.
Digital Garden can shape your thinking and creativity, serving as a continuous outlet for artistic growth.
As I don’t have HTML, CSS, JavaScript literacy, and I already had this self-hosted WordPress website with my name as the domain name, which has been dormant so far, I would like to nurture my digital garden here itself, rather than going the Obsidian-Vercel route. Meanwhile, it has inspired me to learn JS and explore more autonomous digital gardening in the future.
Moreover, I like to make daily notes using my fountain pens (Pilot Metropolitan/ Lamy Safari/ Platinum Preppy) in my diary (Factor notebooks Dot Grid A5/ Amazon Basics Dot Grid A5), on art, theory, fiction. ChatGPT 4.o has the option to transcribe the handwritten notes through OCR. And with the WordPress Android app and my handwritten notes, I can do digital gardening from anywhere.
I am developing the THINK method for digital gardening: Title, Hook, Insights, Nudge, Keynote.
The Digital Garden is a much better open-ended non-profit approach towards finding oneself as a creative practitioner and artistic thinker.