I mean by "open collections", arrangements to gather or collect without any provision for capping or halting the gathering. My clothes and my pocket handkerchiefs have no lid, no top, no maximum. My Kindle books and my blog posts have no halting number. I did get informed by Google Sites that my website Kirbyvariety was close to maximum allowed size but I started Kirbyvariety2 successfully. I have a large collection of Kindle books and a large collection of posts on my blog Fear, Fun and Filoz.
One thing that I appreciate is a collection that is searchable. Often, a sign that a searching arrangement is in place is an icon of a magnifying glass:
The presence of such an icon usually means I can search for a given word or phrase and the computer will find every instance of that word in the document or collection I am searching. Sometimes, I can search for a number or a date as well.
My wife recently questioned my collection of bound, paper books. She asked if I ever use them and I admitted that the answer is "not much". Similarly, what about my collection of old shoes? Why am I keeping 18 pairs of worn-out, rejected shoes? The process of collecting is smooth and easy: the shoes I am wearing get criticized for being too old and beat-up. I buy a new pair to look more acceptable but the older pair might come in handy when my shoes get wet and need to dry. So, I add the pair to my collection. Don't worry: I do plan to get around to getting rid of some of them.
