Chris AldrichI’m actually happy to pay the relative pittance to renew my Reclaim Hosting account to keep my websites, wikis, and other online services. Owning my own domain can sometimes be a challenge, but it’s completely worth it.
Tag: Domain of One’s Own
Chris AldrichI am glad I didn’t go all in with Medium. I may have gotten more page views at the peak, but I think over time the long tail will be greater within my own domain. I am also feeling the same thing about Google lately. I used to cater to the SEO games, but after a couple of algorithm changes I haven’t been able to keep up, and my numbers are half of what they used to be. I find my time is better spend focusing on learning about the interesting things across the API sector, and writing a steady stream of stories, than it is tweaking the knobs and dials of the SEO beast. Google has become an ad engine, and I’m not in the business of generating revenue from ads, so it really doesn’t make sense for me to be playing that game full time.
Kin Lane reflects on his decision to persist on his own domain, rather than moving to Medium.
John Stewart (John Stewart)If act one was the development of the technical, financial, and human resource models for building Domain of Ones Own projects, act two will I think focus on answering the existential challenge of integrating Domains into “normal” pedagogical practices.
In light of #Domains19 finishing, John Stewart reflects on the achievements of domain of one’s own and the challenges that still need to be overcome. These include the seeming demise of blogging, problems of privacy, the fear that EdTech does more harm than good and the ongoing challenge of getting buy-in. Stewart suggests that for domains and digital literacies to thrive, then they need to become more ingrained:
I do not think Domains can thrive or that digital literacy more broadly can thrive, if we are only teaching digital literacy skills in DS type courses. The idea of consciously constructed digitally intensive courses that slowly contribute to the students’ digital literacies throughout their matriculation, seems more realistic. Just as no student is likely to become a great writer after their comp101 course, no student is going to grok the problems with social media, the difficulties of web sec, the affordances and production of multi-modal communication, the promise of new media, and the challenges of surveillance capitalism after a single digital studies course.
I think that this is a problem facing all facets of education, especially how we provide structured experiences, not just information.
It’s, of course, safe to assume that a web of personal websites will never be an equivalent substitute for a social network like Twitter. But that’s also not the goal. Personal websites are called personal websites because they are just that: personal. Thus, the primary objective still is to have a place to express ourselves, to explore ourselves, a place that lasts while the daily storms pass by. A place of consideration, and yes, a place of proudly sharing what we do, what we think, and what we care about. A place to contribute your voice and help others. A home on the internet. A place to tell your story.
Matthias Ott discusses the power and potential of having your own personal website. This reminds me of Martha Burtis’ keynote from Domains 17. The only question I was left wondering is the worth of a site for those who are not developers?
It’s been a year since the music links on Myspace stopped working; at first the company insisted that they were working on it, but now they’ve admitted that all those files are lost: “As a result of a server migration project, any photos, videos, and audio files you uploaded more than three years ago may no longer be available on or from Myspace. We apologize for the inconvenience and suggest that you retain your back up copies. If you would like more information, please contact our Data Protection Officer, Dr. Jana Jentzsch at DPO@myspace.com.”
Opps
Resist the siren song of the quick fix dietary advice of social media conglomerates, and setup your own blog and start building your course and disciplinary resources through a leafier, greener web.
I have used both Dreamweaver and GoDaddy to create websites in the past and found them hard work. I have considered whether to move this WordPress site to Reclaim Hosting, but there is very little cost difference (I only pay for two plugins which I renew each year on WordPress) and I am very happy with WordPress. I find it easy to use. I do use a template which I am not 100% happy with, but I don’t feel strongly enough about it to take full responsibility for my own website.
Interesting reflection Jenny on owning your own domain. I am an advocate for this, being both immersed in the IndieWeb and using Reclaim Hosting, however I am mindful that one size never fits all. I always come back to this post from Mike Caulfield.
To me, the ‘owning your own IP’ (because at the end of the day that is what it is, your Intellectual Property) is the key.
Do you own it? Is it protected? Can someone lift this entire article and post it as their own? THAT’S the ownership debate.
John Philpin reflects on content, ownership and intellectual property. It reminds me of the discussion associated with domain of one’s own from last year.
Weblogs@Harvard, as it was then known, was considered pioneering. Facebook didn’t yet exist. Social media was in its infancy. And starting a blog usually required some knowledge of code. Harvard’s blogging platform, now known as blogs.harvard.edu, made it easy.
Lindsay McKenzie discusses Harvard’s recent announcement that Harvard is closing down blogs.harvard.edu. This piece collects together a number of perspectives from academics. Mike Caulfield wonders about the temporal nature of institutional and self hosting. He discusses the multitude of sites that have now disappeared as they were either closed or corrupted. This is something he has discussed before. Tim Owens and Jim Groom use this as an opportunity to take a wider look at blogging and archiving.
Although this talk is directed at Domain of One’s Own, Jim Groom’s message about owning our own data, controlling who we share with and taking back the power from platform capitalism touches on the same challenges being taken up through the #IndieWeb community.