- Sep 15th, 2024
- IndieWeb, Websites
Sunday Selection 2024-09-15
There's been a bit of drama about the IndieWeb the last few weeks. Small, personal, indie websites are experiencing a revival as more and more people become dissatisfied with the large social media platforms. There are of course differing visions for what this non-corporate, decentralized web looks like, and that has caused a bit of tension among folks in this space. However, vigorous and (mostly) polite discourse of this fashion is an important part of a growing, dynamic community, so I continue to feel like the future of the IndieWeb (however you define it) is bright.
As far as I can tell, this is the piece that sparked off this round of discourse, written a couple of months ago. The premise is simple:
IndieWeb is a social club for developers, and apparently, not for me.
IndieWeb, a standard for the smart ones. Its member exclusivity works really well, as it prevents people like me from joining. It’s a coding test for the privileged. If you can solve it, like the Three Body Problem, you’re one of the cool kids—just like the Oxford Five. You’re deemed worthy to fight against the Big Tech, for us. It’s up to you, yes, you, to decide how the future of the web can be shaped. It must feel good to be an elite.
Simone Silvestroni makes a succinct (and very good) point: the IndieWeb's various new technologies (like webmentions, microformats and even ActivityPub) are mostly unnecessary. Basic websites with RSS feeds and email are all the communication and dissemination technology that we need.
Has the IndieWeb Become Irrelevant?
Matthew Graybosch's post on the topic is probably the most comprehensive, includes links and excerpts to related posts, and Matthew's replies to some of the discussion that has been sparked. Matthew makes arguments that are technological (the complexity of ActivityPub, webmentions, etc. are too much for non-techie web people) and philosophical (it's not the website author's responsibility to support integration with other services). If you're going to read one post on this matter, this is the one to read.
Ownership, Connection and Control and POSSE is still cool
Jason offers a different perspective on the matter, and addresses some of Matthew's points in the previous article. Specifically when it comes to the idea of POSSE (Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Everywhere), Jason notes that he wants to make it easy for his readers to find and read his material on a variety of different platforms, even if that means more work and technological effort on his part. This is something I agree with (for the time being at least), and is one of the motivations behind Project Bracer Phoenix.
Has the IndieWeb become Discourse Again?
Marty McGuire mentions Micro.blog, a service that lets you have all the goodness of the IndieWeb without having to engage in any technological wizardry (unless you want to). I personally find Micro.blog not quite to my liking (for various, mostly aesthetic reasons), but it is a good place to get started with your own site. I also heartily recommend Omg.lol for something more... quirky? Marty also makes the point that a lot of the technologies on the official IndieWeb wiki are recommendations and experiments, not hard and fast rules. This is a interesting counterpoint post, and if you do read it, I also recommend going back and reading Matthew's response.
There are a couple of other posts on the matter that are worth reading, you'll find them linked from the others above (yet another reason why links are awesome). Personally, I'm conflicted. While I do want to Syndicate Everywhere, I am put off by the technical complexity that engenders. I am also put off by the ad-hoc-ness of the various technologies involved, and that new ideas keep adding. I would love to have a cohesive set of technologies that act together (along with an easy-to-use implementation), but that seems to not exist. But one can dream...