When putting together this list, we weren’t necessarily looking for the biggest or the best-known cultural websites in Scotland. We were looking for unique and interesting ideas, cleverly realised and lovingly maintained on the web. This might mean that your favourite bookmark hasn’t placed: a number of the sites in our longlist were eliminated because, although very good, they were basically just a Scottish version of the sort of site you can find anywhere. Similarly, we knocked out some great original ideas where the content was patchy or infrequently updated.

What’s been interesting is that most of these sites, from fashion blogs to online

magazines, new music hubs to foodie havens, aren’t professional concerns. The most passionate, well-written and original content seems increasingly to come from interested

amateurs, or at least people who started out that way. Here’s to you, digiScots.

Words: Kirstin Innes Illustration: Daniella Zelli

16 THE LIST 21 Jul–4 Aug 2011