💬 Defining the IndieWeb

Replied to Defining the IndieWeb by Chris AldrichChris Aldrich (Chris Aldrich | BoffoSocko)

The IndieWeb can be many different things. It is:

  • a website;
  • an independent network of websites;
  • an idea;
  • a concept;
  • a set of broad-based web standards;
  • a set of principles;
  • a philosophy;
  • a group of people;
  • a support network;
  • an organization;
  • an inclusive community;
  • a movement;
  • a Utopian dream of what the decentralized, open Internet could be.

In some sense it is all of these things and many more.

In the end though, the real question is:

What do you want the IndieWeb to be?

I have had a go at defining or at least mapping out what the IndieWeb is before here and here. However, you have taken it to the next step.

I liked Greg McVerry’s recent rewrite of the principles, as much for the intent as for what he captures. Maybe that could be a possibility for people? Like WordPress did with GDPR, provide a default starting point and revise it to represent your own flavour?

I am reminded of my many debates and discussions around the notion of ‘digital literacies‘, that what matters is the process. That is why I really liked your closing provocation:

What do you want the IndieWeb to be?

This comes back to your point about building a better web:

I’m not looking for just a “hipster-web”, but a new and demonstrably better web.

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