This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Digital Collection
It probably isn’t your mission in life to amass a collection of things, but you do so whether you realize it or not. We tend to think of collections as groups of things that have a specific theme. You may know people who collect physical things like coins, teddy bears, or decorative plates. In those collections one thing holds true: The collection has a theme. And the collector can easily tell you if a particular object does or does not belong in the collection.
While you may have many collections, all the things you own combined create a greater personal collection where the theme is you. You are the arbiter of what belongs or does not belong.
Increasingly, the things you gather for that collection are digital. This includes both things that you obtained and things that were sent to you. Songs you’ve downloaded on iTunes or email messages you’ve received are good examples. These things were created by someone else, but you now have a copy of them in your digital collection and your copy is exactly like theirs. That’s one of the most powerful ideas about digital files: Two can be exactly the same.
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So, there you have it: The things you gather join your greater digital collection alongside the new things and reflections you’ve created. That sounds like a lot of content, and that’s exactly the case. And, you guessed it, it’s only going to grow.