On the nature of whimsy

Whimsy is elusive and difficult to define.

“Like a person's dancing simply for the pleasure of feeling the music of movement rather than the need to perform, and like a wit’s expressing a pun for the play of the words rather than the import of the message, whimsy arises from desire embodied in the pleasure of expression and expressive mastery rather than conflictual, vital need." (Poland 2010)

"Defined by its capricious irrationality, whimsy seems out of place in the adult world. Intrinsically joyous, whimsy exceeds the ways in which life is variously calculated, assessed, specified, managed and otherwise intervened in. (...) Whimsy arises in between our familiar conventions to present itself as disconcertingly both recognisable and obscure, without any obvious reason to exist." (Mann 2015)

"Whimsicality is distinguished as an aesthetic category by its low affective intensity, temporary duration, unproductive disposition, and mimetic structure." (Geary 2025)
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Designing a whimsical information system

Whimsy was considered at every step of the design process, from the definition of the system's purpose, to its form, content, categories and organization.

A physical prototype was created, consisting of hundreds of index cards organized into 40 categories. This "data set" was generated mostly within the Building 21 space, using input from fellow scholars, who were encouraged to fill out cards on any topic of interest to them, using their own voice. Each card consists of a title and description, with optional cross-references to other cards (existing or not).

The 40 categories were determined by the author of the project. Some of the categories are intentionally whimsical (e.g., "Can't or shouldn't be touched," "Most likely true"), while others are straightforward (e.g., "Concepts," "Language," "Metaphors"). Some of the categories appear to say more about the person doing the categorizing than about the information found on the cards (e.g., "Brings me joy," "Makes me hungry").

The categories needed to be broad and open to interpretation, so that each card could fit in more than one category, thereby forcing a subjective choice on the part of the person doing the classification.

Ultimately, the whimsy occurs during the act of classification itself. While the organizer can put cards in "obvious" categories, they always have more whimsical options at their disposal. The "Britney Spears" card could go in the "Persons (real or imagined)" category, or in the "Brings me joy" category. The "True crime" card could go in "Possibly false," "Modes of expression," or "Bad vibes."
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Whimsical interactions

During the showcase, people were invited to interact with the system in three ways: by browsing the cards in the different categories, adding information by filling out a blank card, or recategorizing an existing card into a different category.

The system thus remained unstable, never complete, always changing according to the whims of the users interacting with it. In that sense, the system subverts the totalizing tendencies of traditional classification by embracing the lightness of whimsy. Knowing that no decision is final, one can simply enjoy the act of categorizing as a form of play, an experimental dance of exploration and discovery, as opposed to a means to an end.
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Bibliography

Geary, Christopher. 2025. “Dialectic of Whimsy.” Eighteenth-Century Fiction 37 (1): 98–114.

Mann, Joanna. 2015. “Towards a Politics of Whimsy: Yarn Bombing the City.” Area 47 (1): 65–72.

Poland, Warren S. 2010. “Whimsy.” The Psychoanalytic Quarterly LXXIX (1): 235–40.
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