Hello there,

Even if I cannot fully explain its appeal, I find the idea of learning in public very enticing. Digital Gardens is a manifestation of this idea, where individuals can publicize their notes and are encouraged to expand their “garden” through public accountability.

But the lingering question I have is, is public learning useful? I mean, would anyone get value from reading other people’s rough notes and thoughts?

I am not sure, but I know that writing has a lot of benefits aside from being valuable to others. Writing has the ability to refine your thoughts, improve your communication skills, and more. Doing this in public gives you a perceived accountability that writing in private does not.

Perhaps the true value of public learning lies in its accountability rather than its ability to deliver value to others.

I see similarities between this idea of public accountability and starting a blog, newsletter, or a YouTube channel. Going public with your work makes you more aware of your production schedule and encourages you to work on it more. While you can always start a private blog or digital garden, making it public-facing can motivate you to put in more effort.

Starting a blog typically involves writing longer articles that require more effort. Whereas, a digital garden eliminates this friction by allowing you to write “notes” that can be as rough or as refined as you like. Which is why I think is why the concept of creating a digital garden became so popular.

So with that in mind, have you ever wanted to start something learning/producing in public ? If you are worried about the effort and friction involved, maybe creating a digital garden is suits you.

Following the theme of public learning, I decided to take the leap and create my own digital garden.

You can check it out here . Let me know what you think!

Have a great weekend.

I'll see you in the next one.

​

Braden