Blogs as Wunderkammern

Wunderkammer, or Cabinets of Curiosities/Wonder, could be classed as collections of objects that fascinate or interest the collector. I suppose you could say that Jay Walker’s personal library is a type of wunderkammer, and quite an impressive one at that.

Heather McDougal suggests that blogs are a type of wunderkammer, and I’m inclined to agree. I definitely view Lone Gunman as a “personal taxonomy”.

Blogging, more than any cultural technology, allows for an approach to wonder in an intimate and often apparently whimsical environment: bloggers present a collection of images, ideas, and objects in a style and order specific to his or her own vision: a personal taxonomy. The software encourages the collection to be accessed according to flexible parameters, allowing movement through different kinds of “rooms”, depending on the viewer’s interests.

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