Adding the “e” (for “electronic,” somewhat anachronistically) transforms the physical object into a virtual one. But the translation into metaphor is always incomplete, and always carries with it associations and conceptions that can be limiting.

• A physical portfolio, for example, is a collection of discrete objects. The objects may speak to each other, they may connect, but the portfolio itself does not tell any story of those connections. The portfolio itself is a container. It’s not a story and doesn’t have a theme or meaning of its own.
• And a portfolio is shown intentionally, to a limited audience. And that’s an external audience—it’s for display to others, not for the artist herself. I
• t’s not public and can’t be discovered without guidance.
• And a portfolio contains two-dimensional objects, images and text.
• And while a portfolio may contain a covering letter, explaining or reflecting on the significance of the items it contains, the explanation and reflection are secondary, peripheral, tangential.

So I tried, and have tried in talking to students, to come up with some different metaphors (which have their own limitations, naturally, but having a choice of metaphors has been helpful as we will see below in having an array of options).

The cabinet of curiosities (picture) as one metaphor, is one that I’ve found very appealing. The cabinet of curiosities is not just for others (although it may be shown to others), but significantly it’s for oneself. For reflection and for memory. And it has different shelves or drawers or sections which can contain different chapters or stories. And it can be finely shaped and designed http://www.andreapacciani.com/ushak/negozio/arte/scarabattolo-2/ for 976 euros

And it can contain a variety of different types of items, large, small, and diversely shaped.

And it can contain objects that are created, but also found or given significance.

The other metaphor was that of the museum. (Peale image here) Even more than the cabinet of curiosities (from which, to some degree, museums arose), this is designed for public display, which can be guided or unguided. It can include the work or discoveries of one artist or scholar or many. And it has an identity, a story, of its own. It’s not just the items, not just the creator, but the museum itself is a place. A place