If we truly want to open up the web for everyone to publish on, we have to make it easier. Let’s give people choices. Let’s give people options for tools they can set up and use, with no more knowledge than the knowledge they already have.
Tag: Indieweb
“Semantic-Linkbacks” is open source software. The following people have contributed to this plugin.
Wordfence told me that there was issues with semantic-linkbacks, so I disconnected it after seeing that Matthias Pfefferle had archived the app. However, I agree with Khürt Williams, it made my site “feel like an 8-track cassette player.” So I am reactivating it. I guess we will see.
The IndieWeb is a community of personal websites, connected by simple standards. These follow the principles of publishing content at your own domain name and owning your data.
Indiekit uses these standards to help you publish content to your own website and then share it on popular social networks.
Paul Robert Lloyd’s Indiekit looks like another interesting blogging platform. It offers a different approach to the IndieWeb that does not depend on WordPress.
David Shanske (david.shanske.com)Indieweb Post Kinds actually does a few different things. It creates a taxonomy to classify posts, similar to the old post formats options. This just allows for automatic creation of archives. I also use the selector to change the interface, but this could be done differently. It also uses Parse This to create rich embeds of linked content. But it adds the microformats for different types of Indieweb posts outside of the traditional content block using WordPress filters. That is something I never particularly liked, and wouldn’t mind replacing with something integrated into content.
I have long been intrigued by this David, so thank you for sharing. I have tinkered with blocks in my long form site, but still see it as overkill most things.
For my two cents worth, I really like the idea of integrating the response box into the content.
I love that the fediverse exists. And I have the utmost respect for the gargantuan effort that’s going into it.
And yet, I am also very concerned17 that the design decisions that have been made incentivise centralisation, not decentralisation. I implore us to acknowledge this, to mitigate the risks as best we can, to strive to learn from our mistakes, and to do even better going forward.
So to the ActivityPub and Mastodon folks, I say:
Consider me your canary in the coal mine…
Aral Balkan reflects upon the perils of managing his own instance of Mastodon. He explained the ever present dangers of denial of service and the challenges associated with this. (Personally, I experienced this in part once when Balkan shared a link to a post I had written.)
The big issue according to Balkan is the incentive to join an instance that seemingly absolves users of such problems, this however just kicks the can down the road. For Balkan, instances should be limited from getting too big and ideally we should all have our own instance linked to our own domain, the ultimate form of verification.
I have tinkered with using my site as an ‘instance of one‘. Although I liked the idea, I could not get it all to work how I would prefer, so I persisted with my POSSE approach. This also have me thinking about Jim Groom’s reflection on life in the cloud. I guess the reality is that there is always a cost.
Jan Boddez (jan.boddez.net)I want my microformats “baked into” my posts, so that if I were to ever disable this plugin, all of my existing content stays untouched. Current microformats plugins rely on PHP “front-end” hooks and such, which I wanted to avoid.
Jan, this looks interesting. I am intrigued in an alternative to Post Kinds. I fear that I am going to hit a wall at some point if or when the classic plugin is no longer supported. I like what it does, but agree with your concern about it being outside of the post. One of the things that I am coming to realise though is that unless I were to roll out my own solution (which seems well beyond me) that I am always at the whim of somebody else’s design principles.
Marty McGuire (martymcgui.re)Maybe Webmention can be thought of as less of a “building block” and more like a glue. You can do so many things with glue, like combining a bunch of planks into a table, or building a parade float sculpture with papier-mâché, or doctoring the photo in a passport!
Marty McGuire attempts to reclaim what it is we talk about when we talk about webmentions. Whereas Chris Aldrich’s article unpacks what webmentions are and how to use them, McGuire explores some of the technical challenges and frictions. This includes different ways of implementing the specifications, such as via javascript and webmention.io.
Venture capital backed corporate social media has cleverly inserted themselves between us and our interactions with each other. They privilege some voices not only over others, but often at the expense of others and only to their benefit. We have been developing a new vocabulary for these actions with phrases like “surveillance capitalism”, “data mining”, and analogizing human data as the new “oil” of the 21st century. The IndieWeb is attempting to remove these barriers, many of them complicated, but not insurmountable, technical ones, so that we can have a healthier set of direct interactions with one another that more closely mirrors our in person interactions. By having choice and the ability to move between a larger number of service providers there is an increasing pressure to provide service rather than the growing levels of continued abuse and monopoly we’ve become accustomed to.
A simple bookmarklet to find the RSS feed for a YouTube channel. On a YouTube channel’s page, like this one, tap the bookmarklet and you’ll be redirected to its RSS feed.
I remember reading about how to capture the YouTube feed, but always found it cumbersome. Colin Devroe’s bookmarklet makes it all so much easier. I really should make more of an effort to collate my feeds reclaim my YouTube consumption.
For a few years now, it has been a goal (or more of a dream) to build my own feed reader which integrates directly with the blog making it easy to perform indieweb actions such as likes and replies. I started building a WordPress plugin back in 2018 but quickly abandoned it as I didn’t have the coding skills necessary at the time.
Today I am officially unveiling /reader, my new indie, integrated feed reader.
Colin, this looks great. I really like the idea of a customised reader. I wish I had the skills to achieve what you have done. Maybe one day.
A Webmention plugin for WordPress. Contribute to pfefferle/wordpress-webmention development by creating an account on GitHub.
Today I discovered that all my self-pings had disappeared. On further investigation, I found that self pings on the same URL and domain had been ticked. I did not tick these, so assume that something might have happened in an update.
I have unticked the boxes now, but am now wondering what would be the best way to reinstate my self-pings. Maybe I am misusing the technology, but I use self pings to link to and build upon past posts.
I’ve been using the Post Kinds plugin for a few years on this WordPress site. It allows you to easily style a specific type of posting (a like, bookmark, reply, rsvp, read, check-in etc), it automatically pulls in the relevant information form the posting you’re reacting to, and adds the right m…
Ton, I think that this is something I have been in denial about for a while. I like what Post Kinds provides me, but I have often wondered about what would happen if I decided to walk away from the Post Kinds Plugin or WordPress. I like Manton’s idea of a special export. Definitely left me thinking and realising the limits to my skills.
Mrs. D (dianoetic.me)IndieWeb isn’t about getting Webmentions working, or being able to post to your blog from an app on your phone (as happy as it makes me to be able to do so). The technology is fascinating, but if you’re focused on the technology, you’re missing the point.
IndieWeb is for simplifying. It’s for putting your thoughts out into the world in a space that you own, and thus, don’t have to worry about. Your presence on your own website can’t be shadowbanned or cancelled, your data sold – there are no arbitrary terms to run afoul of except your own. It’s a weight off your chest that you didn’t know was there until you publish for the first time and see it, live and of your own making, on your own domain.
Wouter Groeneveld (brainbaking.com)Another strange habit of many contemporary IndieWeb bloggers: the urge to publish simply everything. A result of perhaps chanting “own your data!” a couple of times too much? For example, endless “likes” such as https://collect.readwriterespond.com/abridged-literature-classics/ or “checkin…
Thank you Wouter for the read. I accept your criticism of my practice. To explain my personal intent, I used to use Diigo to capture such links. However, I turned to using my own sites as I wanted to own the data. I am not worried about whether it is ‘blogging’ or a ‘weblog’, my focus is on collecting the dots to develop longer form reflections upon. I felt awkward when I clicked on Dave Cormier’s site and found it was full of my pingbacks. My site therefore acts as something of a canonical link in-lieu of the actual link.
In regards to following the firehose, I have discussed was of adjusting the feed before. However, I am yet to set up a page like Chris Aldrich. From your points, I guess I should.
I did think that maybe my monthly newsletter sufficed, obvious not.
As a side note to all this, I also wondered about what it might mean to capture absolutely everything to form a deeper appreciate my presence on the web, but I long gave up that hope. I read way more than I respond to.
Chris Aldrich (boffosocko.com)Perhaps if everyone reads and writes from their own home on the web, they’re less likely to desecrate their neighbor’s blog because it sticks to their own identity?
There’s lots of work to be done certainly, but perhaps we’ll get there by expanding things, opening them up, and giving ourselves some more space to communicate?
Chris, I like your point about companies opening up, it reminds me Cory Doctorow’s discussion of interoperability as a means of fixing the internet.
I’ve experimented with some IndieWeb philosophies and tools on this site, but mostly on my breadcrumbs website. I love the IndieWeb philosophy of owning your own platforms and believe in using these philosophies to show your work. The problem is that my social network exhaust and the links, short posts, and content that I shared on my breadcrumbs website was…well…exhausting.
I really enjoyed your assessment of where you are currently at. I have wondered lately about my commitment to capturing my breadcrumbs lately and can really relate to your point about it being exhausting. I wonder if something like Roam is any less exhausting? I am left thinking that with so many of these various approaches, collecting the dots and ideas is just hard work?
I’ve come to believe that the movement as it is currently structured can never move into widespread acceptance, that it is both target blind and exclusionary, and that, as a consequence, I don’t want to devote any more of my time to it.
Daniel Goldsmith reflects on the IndieWeb and where it is heading. He lays out a number of concerns and criticisms, including that you never really own your own data, that there is a design bias towards a few select individuals, that the technical requirements are too high and that cost is often exclusionary.
This reminds me of Clive Thompson’s piece on the limits to open source development:
As well as the discussion about what is really meant by a ‘domain of one’s own‘:
It was also Interesting listening to Chapter 17 of Martin Weller’s 25 Years of EdTech and his discussion of Connectivism. One of the points made, taken from a paper written in 2011, was that the cost of connecting people has collapsed. However, what is overlooked is that there is still a cost. Maybe it is a part of the business model to provide a basic level for free (see Edublogs) or maybe it is goodwill to provide such services, such as Granary or Aperture. However, this is also free as the payment comes through our data. Although there are criticisms of the IndieWeb mimicking or being privilaged, I wonder what other business model there is that does not fit the same model.
Chris Aldrich (boffosocko.com)Anyone want to collaborate on a slate of IndieWeb-related topics to submit for this? Proposals are due in late January and it would be interesting to have a handful of IndieWeb tech and some of our experiments discussed at this conference.
Thank you Chris for the mention. The OERxDomains Conference definitely sounds like an exciting event. In regards to participating, I always feel a case of impostor syndrome.
To be honest, although I am in education and work with technology, my current role involves supporting schools with reporting and attendance. A far cry from Higher Education and being technology integrator. My involvement is something of a passion project. I like Brian Lamb and D’arcy Norman discussion of the ‘edtech refugee’ on the 25 Years of Ed Tech podcast, maybe I am a IndieWeb refugee?
In addition to this, the longer I spend hanging around the IndieWeb, the less technical I feel. Although I know more now, I think I know a lot more about what I do not know. Still need to finish reading Smashing WordPress Beyond the Blog that you recommended.
If you (or anyone else) think there is something I can help with, feel free to let me know. Just wanted it known that I am still driving my low down model, used by a little old lady just once a week to blog.
Step by step guide that explains what is a site specific WordPress plugin, why you need it, and how you can create a site-specific WordPress plugin.
I have started tinkering with creating my own site specific plugin to capture things like improved search to include custom fields and stripping out emojis from the slug. This was somewhat inspired by Chris Aldrich and his changes to the Post Kinds plugin. I am also assuming that it is required to add additional kinds. Where I am stumped is the actual difference between dumping these changes in a child theme versus a site specific plugin. Aldrich talks about adding this information to wp-config.php. I am therefore wondering if I need to make a wp-config.php file in my site specific plugin and if this is all that is required? At the moment, I have just created a functions.php file and have placed my snippets there.
I am sure I just need to spend some more time down this rabbit hole, but right now I have hit the limit to my knowledge.
The latest version of Semantic-Linkbacks has fixed facepiles on my blog. I always grateful, even though I don’t do much about it for all the work of the #Indiweb and #WordPress developers.
I agree John. I help where I can, but it never really feels like enough.