To simplify the historical evolution of the draft, we could say that the medieval period favored materiality (i.e., being printed), the modern period has broken away from uncompromising materiality but not yet fully embraced paperless alternatives, and the post-modern period has entirely gone post-print.
Interestingly, the cheaper and more democratized our thought and writing technology is the easier it is to work with drafts and to see one’s work as a draft. For example, the very concept of a draft was only made possible through cheap paper.
Today, with electronic files making it so easy to make revisions and even to track these, there is no better time to intentionally see one’s body of work as a perpetual draft and to experiment with draft-like techniques.
It is not surprising that digital gardening, say through my forest garden of the mind, fits perfectly well with walking and working with drafts (see writing using the talahardin is archival work).