Trying to define it is somewhat akin to trying to define America: while it has a relatively well-defined geographic border and place in time, its people, laws, philosophies, and principles, while typically very similar, can vary and change over time. What it is can be different for everyone both within it as well as outside of it. It can be different things to different people based on their place, time, and even mood. In the end maybe it’s just an idea.
A basic definition of IndieWeb
In broadest terms I would define being part of the IndieWeb as owning your own domain name and hosting some sort of website as a means of identifying yourself and attempting to communicate with others on the internet.
At its simplest, one could say they have an IndieWeb site by buying their own domain name (in my case: boffosocko.com) and connecting it to a free and flexible service like Tumblr.com or WordPress.com. Because you’ve got the ability to export your data from these services and move it to a new host or new content management system, you have a lot more freedom of choice and flexibility in what you’re doing with your content and identity and how you can interact online. By owning your domain and the ability to map your URLs, when you move, you can see and feel the benefits for yourself, but your content can still be found at the same web addresses you’ve set up instead of disappearing from the web.
If you wished, you could even purchase a new domain name and very inexpensively keep the old domain name and have it automatically forward people from your old links to all the appropriate links on your new one.
By comparison, owning your own domain name and redirecting it to your Facebook page doesn’t quite make you IndieWeb because if you moved to a different service your content might be able to go with you by export, but all of the URLs that used to point to it are now all dead and broken because they were under the control of another company that is trying to lock you into their service.
Some more nuanced definition
Going back to the analogy of America, the proverbial constitution for the IndieWeb is generally laid out on its principles page. If you like, the pre-amble to this “constitution” is declared on the IndieWeb wiki’s front page and on its why page.
Some people may choose to host the business card equivalent of a website with simply their name and contact information. Others may choose to use it as the central hub of their entire online presence and identity. In the end, what you do with your website and how you choose to use it should be up to you. What if you wanted to use your website like Twitter for short status updates or sharing links? What if you wanted to use it like Facebook to share content and photos with your friends and family? What if you want to host audio or video like Soundcloud, YouTube, or Vimeo allow?
The corporate social media revolution was a lovely and useful evolution of what the blogosphere was already doing. Thousands of companies made it incredibly easy for billions of people to be on the internet and interact with each other. But why let a corporation own and monetize your data and your ability to interact with others? More importantly, why allow them to limit what you can do? Maybe I want to post status updates of more than 280 characters? Maybe I want the ability to edit or update a post? Maybe I want more privacy? Maybe I don’t want advertising? Why should I be stuck with only the functionality that Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, LinkedIn and thousands of others allow me to have? Why should I be limited in communicating with people who are stuck on a particular service? (Would you use your phone to only call friends who use AT&T?) Why should I have hundreds of social accounts and an online identity shattered like just so many horcruxes when I could have one that I can fully control?
By decentralizing things to the level of owning a domain and having a simple website with control of my URLs, I can move to cheaper or more innovative web hosts or service providers. I can move to more innovative content manage systems that allow me to do more and communicate better or more broadly with others online. As a side effect of empowering myself, I can help create more competition and innovation in the space to do things I might not otherwise be capable of doing solely by myself.
Web standards
Almost all of the people behind the IndieWeb movement believe in using some basic web standards as a central building block. Standards help provide some sort of guidance to allow sites to be easier to build and provide a simpler way for them to communicate and interact with each other.
Of course, because you have control of your own site, you can do anything you wish with it. (In our America analogy we could consider standards to be like speech. Then how might we define free speech in the IndieWeb?) Perhaps a group of people who want some sort of new functionality will agree on a limited set of new standards or protocols? They can build and iterate and gradually create new standards that others can follow so that the infrastructure advances and new capabilities emerge. Generally the simpler and easier these standards are to implement, the more adoption they will typically garner. Often simple standards are easier to innovate on and allow people to come up with new ways of using them that weren’t originally intended.
This type of growth can be seen in the relatively new W3C recommendation for the Webmention specification which grew out of the IndieWeb movement. Services like Facebook and Twitter have a functionality called @mentions, but they only work within their own walled gardens; they definitely don’t interoperate–you can’t @mention someone on Facebook with your Twitter account. Why not?! Why not have a simple standard that will allow one website to @mention another–not only across domain names but across multiple web servers and even content management systems? This is precisely what the Webmention standard allows. I can @mention you from my domain running WordPress and you can still receive it using your own domain running Drupal (or whatever software you choose). People within the IndieWeb community realized there was a need for such functionality, and so, over the span of several years, they slowly evolved it and turned it into a web standard that anyone (including Facebook and Twitter) could use. While it may have been initially meant as a simple notifications protocol, people have combined it with another set of web standards known as Microformats to enable cross-site conversations and a variety of other wonderous functionalities.
Some people in the IndieWeb might define it as all of the previous ideas we’ve discussed as well as the ability to support conversations via Webmentions. Some might also define an IndieWeb site as one that has the ability to support Micropub, which is a standard that allows websites to be able to accept data from a growing variety of applications that will allow you to more easily post different types of content to your site from articles and photos to what you’re drinking or reading.
Still others might want their own definition of IndieWeb to support the functionality of WebSub, MicroSub, IndieAuth, or even all of the above. Each small, free-standing piece expands the capabilities of what your personal website can do and how you can interact online. But since it’s your website and under your control, you have the power to pick and choose what and how you would like it to be able to do.
So what is the IndieWeb really?
Perhaps after exploring the concept a bit, most may not necessarily be able to define it concretely. Instead they might say–to quote United States Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart—“But I know it when I see it […]”.
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?
Come help us all define it.
@c Great post.
@c
“a Utopian dream of what the decentralized, open Internet could be.”
As the man once said: Damn Right. Great Post.
@c FYI, your highlight/annotate functionality makes it nigh impossible to select and copy some text on iOS 🙁 Thank goodness for Reader mode 😉
@c I really like the article; it makes it easy to wrap one’s head around the definitions of IndieWeb.
The one bit I did dislike, and it’s small, and a bit orthogonal, but still related:
I get your point there, especially in context, but I still don’t like the perpetuation of the idea, brought forth by these big data/social media corporations, of the flattening of identity. Before corporatized social media, it was relatively easy on the Internet, as it has always been in real life, to expose only a facet of your identity to a certain group, a different facet to a different group, and so forth. Everyone everywhere did not need to know all of me. This is one of the things that, despite all of the IndieWeb movement’s great strides in liberating us from the worldviews and constraints of the social silos, the IndieWeb doesn’t seem to have a good answer for (that I know of). Maybe there isn’t an answer that’s compatible with “a domain of one’s own”, and maybe that’s OK and I’m just reacting negatively to the appearance of that language. Dunno 🙂
@smokey Agreed. Perhaps one needs several domains, to split one’s identity across?
@smokey Personally, I don’t think anyone should share 100% of themselves on the Internet.
With the IndieWeb, it gives you the control to share what you want and how much. But more importantly (and for me) the IndieWeb is all about owning your data and your identity, something you don’t control/hold with social media sites.
@c Very good post.
@unoabraham For sure, we should share less than 100% of ourselves, and own and control that which we do choose to share. But—and this is a small issue, but it’s one that, for whatever reason, I get hung up upon, we should also be able to only share certain parts with certain people, and I don’t see a good solution yet to that issue with a single, centralized (but yes, under my control) “repository of me” on the the web. @bradenslen’s idea of multiple domains is certainly food for thought.
@smokey Further to my point about flattening of identity, @simonwoods posted this tonight. I’m priviliged that none of these real-world identity-flattenings affect me, but there are lots of people for whom it is a life-or-death situation, and the IndieWeb needs to be aware of the issue and iterate a little bit on this “single, centralized me” part of the message 🙂
@smokey A couple of observations from my personal experience.
Typically when you follow a person you want to discover all of their content, so we begin to search for all of their blogs, YouTube channels, etc. Not really possible to segregate content unless you start blogging under a pseudonym.
I have been somewhat of a domain collector with over 80 domains and grand plans for each of them. Unfortunately, it’s way too much work and too much hassle for anything really meaningful to get done with so many domains. I did plan one for a blog, and for a microblog, a photography blog, one for status updates, etc. and while I did try it for a month, it was too much work. So I eventually cut them down to 5 domains in total and to just one blog, and one photography blog.
A good idea to have multiple domains, but it’s way too much work unless you have a content creation team on hand.
Mildred Marianne asked How do you define #IndieWeb? and a couple of us weighed in. My own brief answer concluded “More a state of mind than a thing, I’d say” but Chris Aldrich went into a lot more detail. His piece is well worth checking out in detail, as it offers a bird’s eye view of all the different things the IndieWeb is and could be. I might take issue with singling out the country of America for his metaphor as being a tad parochial, but one could choose any reasonably democratic place instead.
I want to respond to a little thing. In questioning the closed nature of the big silos, Chris asks parenthetically: Would you use your phone to only call friends who use AT&T?
The simple answer for many people is yes. One reason why dual-SIM phones are popular, and why many people own two or more phones, at least in Italy (and probably many other places too), is that many carriers offer reduced rates to call other numbers on the same network. At least, that’s the explanation friends have given me as they rummage through handbags looking for the specific phone that is ringing. I guess that with PAYG on a “free” phone, that approach makes sense. Or used to; it does not seem so prevalent these days. I don’t know whether calls to the same network still get a discount. Possibly not. Either way, giving a discount to people on the same network is on a par with restricting converation to others in the silo.
As for Chris’ final question — What do you want the IndieWeb to be? — that’s something I sometimes struggle with myself. Part of me just wants to go back to simpler times, times when I first discovered NucleusCMS and bought this domain and another, almost 14 years ago.1 But the rest of me likes being able to write from my phone, to add photos, to have different kinds of posts, to respond from here when I choose, etc. etc.
In the end, the state of mind thing is what gives me most reward. As I work towards being more IndieWeb, which I also can’t actually define, I’m forever learning new stuff, putting some of it to work, ignoring some, squirrelling some away for a rainy day.2 I still learn things via the big silos, but I’ve never learned anything in the process of actually using them.
It wasn’t, actually, my first domain, which I may have got in 1997, but as I no longer own that it doesn’t count. (The current owners could probably do with giving their site a little love. I have to think nobody actually visits.) ↩
Case in point: Chris offers a fragmention for any text I highlight on his site, but I choose not to use it. For me, copying the text will do. Others may choose to use the fragmention. That too is part of the IndieWeb. ↩
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:
This comes back to your point about building a better web:
@smokey The multiple domains “solution” is what I ultimately went with. I wanted a blog of commentary on politics and world affairs where I was free to rant and thump (I’m a centerist so I thump both the Right and the Left) but I didn’t want to bring bloody chunks of raw meat into MB. I value the community here at MB, the guinea pig photos, the level of discourse, the chat, the developer stuff: it didn’t seem right for me to drag my political rantings in here. It seemed to me that would be doing to MB what I didn’t like about Twitter and FB. And it’s all in or all out on MB, I couldn’t selectively post here. Another reason, which fits into what you are talking about Smokey, is that I didn’t want my “web presence”, my other domain, to get overrun by political stuff, that is just one part of me but you need to be careful where you place your lightning rods. 🙂 So, I split, a domain for Nice Boring Brad and a place for Evil Brad. And yet this approach still can be within the Indieweb movement, own your own domain(s), own your own content, syndicate elsewhere, you are free to merge the two if you want in the future, etc.
@smokey I’ll see what I can do to minimize it or potentially eliminate it (particularly on mobile where the UI could use some help.) I’d previously tested Android which wasn’t horrible, but could be better. Thanks for letting me know.
@smokey I think you’re right that this part of the identity piece hasn’t been figured out well within the broader IndieWeb. There is a broader idea of “publics” that covers some of what you’re talking about. I suspect that @kevinmarks has written about it extensively in the past if you’re looking for some general guidance. Some of the other relevant pieces I’m aware of are those of “audience” and several have played around with the idea of private webmentions as well, though these have yet to be built out to enter the mainstream yet.
On my personal website I have several friends and family who have access to various private areas which they can only read and comment on while logged in, so it’s a small start, but isn’t nearly as flexible as one might wish.
I suspect that as things progress and laws like GDPR require more of it, these ideas will become larger itches for more people so that they can maintain just one website which only reveals the facets they want and only to the audiences they want.
Thanks for re-raising the issue. We definitely need more people thinking about and working on it.
@smokey Incidentally, I suspect that one of the communities that is likely to begin building and implementing a lot of this is the education sector which values semi-private posts to cordon off material for particular classes that aren’t as public facing or that may run afoul of FERPA. I know a few IndieWeb developers who are working in the health care areas professionally and so some of the HIPAA regulations may seep in that way too for people owning their own medical data and keep it private.
Of course all this doesn’t mitigate the fact that we need to do better outreach to more diverse and potentially marginalized people and communities who might help to better build out these pieces as well.
@c @smokey I think the euphonybof a domain of one’s own is the problem here. I have domains of my own that expose different aspects of “me” and each is Indieweb to a slightly different extent. I’ve worried in the past about how to tie them together but it has become a lot less important to me over time.
There was a thing recently where someone asked me if I was also one of my other identities. I just said yes.
@jeremycherfas Much the same for me. This site is the first to use my full name & for now is purely short posts. I have two other domains, that I use at least semi-regularly, for different things. Longer posts on one, craft stuff on another. @c @smokey
@ChrisaLdrich recently posted an article asking folks to define the #IndieWeb. As an educator it means more to me than just having a Domain or a blog. As a parent my exasperation with the current digital landscape has only grown. It isn’t that if we don’t act the web will be ruined for our children. It is more a crisis if we don’t act the web will may ruin our children.
#IndieWeb isn’t just right. It’s a responsibility. And If we ignore this responsibility we forgo our rights.
The Web is to essential in what Vygotsky called the perezhivanie involved in child development. Which <a href=”https://via.hypothes.is/https://ethicalpolitics.org/ablunden/pdfs/Blunden_article+response.pdf>Andy Blunden notes cannot be translated into English but describes it more than a “lived experience.” Blunden notes Vygotsky included the processing of “lived experience” in conjunction with the environment of the said experience. It is the whole process of life changing experiences some building over time and some in moments of crisis that have lasting effect.
We are now allowing the perezhivaniya of our children’s digital avatars to accumulate over time on spaces they do not own in places that do not make us happy. Below is a post I made to the XMCA listserv exploring this further.
featured image credit: “We are beautiful (EXPLORE!)” flickr photo by bejealousofme https://flickr.com/photos/thexbeautyxofxlove/2873007427 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license
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@ChrisaLdrich recently posted an article asking folks to define the #IndieWeb. As an educator it means more to me than just having a Domain or a blog. As a parent my exasperation with the current digital landscape has only grown. It isn’t that if we don’t act the web will be ruined for our children. It is more a crisis if we don’t act the web will may ruin our children.
#IndieWeb isn’t just right. It’s a responsibility. And If we ignore this responsibility we forgo our rights.
The Web is to essential in what Vygotsky called the perezhivanie involved in child development. Which Andy Blunden notes cannot be translated into English but describes it more than a “lived experience.” Blunden notes Vygotsky included the processing of “lived experience” in conjunction with the environment of the said experience. It is the whole process of life changing experiences some building over time and some in moments of crisis that have lasting effect.
We are now allowing the perezhivaniya of our children’s digital avatars to accumulate over time on spaces they do not own in places that do not make us happy. Below is a post I made to the XMCA listserv exploring this further.
featured image credit: “We are beautiful (EXPLORE!)” flickr photo by bejealousofme https://flickr.com/photos/thexbeautyxofxlove/2873007427 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license
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#IndieWeb, Rights, Responsibility (and Some Russian)
I enjoyed Greg McVerry’s post about responsibility and the IndieWeb:
@ChrisaLdrich recently posted an article asking folks to define the #IndieWeb. As an educator it means more to me than just having a Domain or a blog. As a parent my exasperation with the current digital landscape has only grown. It isn’t that if we don’t act the web will be ruined for our children. It is more a crisis if we don’t act the web will may ruin our children. #IndieWeb isn’t just right. It’s a responsibility. And If we ignore this responsibility we forgo our rights.
The Web is to essential in what Vygotsky called the perezhivanie involved in child development. Which Andy Blunden notes cannot be translated into English but describes it more than a “lived experience.” Blunden notes Vygotsky included the processing of “lived experience” in conjunction with the environment of the said experience. It is the whole process of life changing experiences some building over time and some in moments of crisis that have lasting effect.
We are now allowing the perezhivaniya of our children’s digital avatars to accumulate over time on spaces they do not own in places that do not make us happy. Below is a post I made to the XMCA listserv exploring this further.
Read the rest of the post… Also on:
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This Article was mentioned on wiobyrne.com
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Source: Defining the IndieWeb
If you’re a regular reader of this blog and my social feeds, you’ve noticed the topic of the “IndieWeb” showing up quite a bit. Chris Aldrich has an excellent post defining the IndieWeb that I recommend you checking out if you really want to understand what this all means. Aldrich indicates: In broadest terms I… Continue reading →
This Article was mentioned on wiobyrne.com
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Background image via JustLego101
My Month of June
I moved departments and subsequently desks. It is interesting how the space you work can influence you. It has provided me a totally different perspective on the project, as well as feel more at home as I was the only one in my old team bridging the gap between the learning, teaching and the central management system. In my new team everyone is involved in integrating with the system, it is therefore helpful in developing a more systemic view.
In regards to the family, our youngest continues to excel with swimming. It seems like the centre questions her age every second week, assuming that she is ready to move up. In part this is confidence, as well as having an older influence around.
The oldest one has turned into a walking karaoke machine, pumping out song after song. She has also continued to develop her own songs on keyboard, mashing up her practice tunes with her own hook lines. Only three chords away from being a star!
Personally, I have been reading James Bridle’s new book New Dark Age. I have also been listening to the latest offerings from Father John Misty, The Presets, Soulwax and Snow Patrol, as well as way too much Baby Shark.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XqZsoesa55w?rel=0&w=560&h=315%5D
In regards to my writing, here was my month in posts:
Being Analogue: Often we talk about ‘being digital’ but what does this imply in reverse? What might it mean in today’s day and age to be analogue?
Is Sharing Caring? – A Reflection on Comments and Social Media: What does it mean to be caring in online spaces and how is this related to sharing?
Technology, Transformation and a Complex System: A reflection on changing positions within a complex system.
Read Write Interview – Telling the Story of My Domain: Alan Levine recently put out a request for stories about domains as a part of the Ontario Extend project.
Here then are some of the thoughts that have also left me thinking …
Learning and Teaching
Digital Portfolios and Content: Silvia Rosenthal Tolisano unpacks a number of questions and considerations associated with digital portfolios. This includes being open to authentic audiences, reimagining the idea of branding, creating a consistent habit and ethically using content. In a separate post, Diane Kashin reflects upon the interpretative nature of documentation. It can be so easy to discuss the use of technology to support the process, however this is often to no avail without pedagogy and a purpose.
Lessons from the Screenplay: In this YouTube channel, Michael Tucker breaks down the art of film and scriptwriting. A useful resource for exploring various techniques associated with storytelling. Australian Centre for the Moving Image and Amazon also provide some other useful resources associated with films and storytelling.
Using Picture Books With Older Students – A How-to Guide: Pernille Ripp provides a detailed guide to using picture books in any classroom. This includes choosing the right picture book, how to display them, their place in supporting fluency and how they can be used as introductory texts. This is all a part of knowing yourself as a reader. I too have used picture books in the past to support teaching comprehension.
Effort and Achievement Charts: Emily Fintelmen reflects on the co-construction of charts and culture in the classroom. This approach offers an opportunity to unpack various myths, such as whether a silent classroom constitutes a good classroom. Maria Popova provides a lengthier introduction to the concept of growth mindset, while I have written about effort and encouragement in the past.
Learning in and with Nature: The Pedagogy of Place: Diane Kashin discusses her interest in nature as a space to learn and play. She shares the story of collecting beach glass on the shores of Lake Huron. This reminds me of Alan Levine’s reflection on ‘106‘ and Amy Burvall’s focus on looking down. Kashin’s story of collecting that which was once rubbish reminds me of Shaun Tan’s picture book The Lost Thing. Kath Murdoch also shares a series of ideas and activities for noticing nature.
Edtech
Rise of the machines: has technology evolved beyond our control?: In an extract from James Bridle’s new book New Dark Age: Technology and the End of the Future, he discusses the evolution of the machine. This includes the place of the cloud, algorithmic interactions within the stock marker, the corruption of the internet of things and incomprehensibility of machine learning. It is one of a few posts from Bridle going around at the moment, including a reflection on technology whistleblowers and YouTube’s response to last years exposé. Some of these ideas remind me of some of the concerns raised in Martin Ford’s Rise of the Robots and Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction.
GitHub Is Microsoft’s $7.5 Billion Undo Button: Paul Ford unpacks Microsoft’s purchase of Github. This includes an account of the history of both companies. Dave Winer shares a number of points to consider associated with the acquisition. Louis-Philippe Véronneau and Doug Belshaw suggest that it might be a good opportunity to move to other platforms, such as GitLab. I wonder what this might mean for Github in education? It is interesting to reread Ben Halpern’s predictions for Github from a few years ago. He thought it would be Google or Facebook, wrong. For those new to GitHub, read Jon Udell’s post from a few years ago.
How (and Why) Ed-Tech Companies Are Tracking Students’ Feelings: Benjamin Herold takes a dive into the rise of edtech to measure the ‘whole’ student, with a particular focus on wellbeing. Something that Martin E. P. Seligman has discussed about in regards to Facebook. Having recently been a part of demonstration of SEQTA, I understand Ben Williamson’s point that this “could have real consequences.” The concern is that not all consequences are good. Will Richardson shares his concern that we have forgotten about learning and the actual lives of the students. Providing his own take on the matter, Bernard Bull has started a seven-part series looking at the impact of AI on education, while Neil Selwyn asks the question, “who does the automated system tell the teacher to help first – the struggling girl who rarely attends school and is predicted to fail, or a high-flying ‘top of the class’ boy?” Selwyn also explains why teachers will never be replaced.
Hacking the ISTE18 Smart Badge: Doug Levin reflects on the introduction of ‘smart badges’ at ISTE. Really just a Bluetooth tracking device that then allowed vendors (and anyone for that matter) to collect data on attendees. Levin hacked a badge to unpack their use. He explains that with little effort they could be used by anybody to track somebody. Audrey Watters suggests that, “ISTE has helped here to normalize surveillance as part of the ed-tech experience. She suggests that it is only time that this results in abuse. Gary Stager concern is the “denaturing of educational computing’s powerful potential.” Mike Crowley wonders why in a post-GDPR world attendees are not asked for consent, while David Golumbia wonders if we really know what personal data is? If this is the future, then maybe Levin’s ‘must-have’ guide will be an important read for everyone.
How to Fight Amazon: Robinson Meyer unpacks the story of Lina Khan and her investigation into Amazon and the antitrust movement. This stems from a paper, “Amazon’s Antitrust Paradox,” Khan wrote in the Yale Law Review. Although Meyer focuses on Amazon, this has ramifications for all the platform monopolies. It is also increasingly having an influence on education. Mike Caulfield puts forward another response, arguing that rather than worrying about the Walmarts and Amazons, we should use the money saved to fund an organisation that supports your aims.
Storytelling and Reflection
Your ABC: Value, Investment and Return for the Community: In response to the recent call to sell the ABC, Michelle Guthrie presents a speech explaining the value of the Australian Broadcasting Commission in today’s world. I must be honest, I don’t listen to ABC radio as much as I used to, however I follow a number of podcasts, such as RN Future Tense, and often turn to their website as a first port of call for news. In a time when there is a lot of discussion about the ownership of core infrastructure, it seems strange to sell the ABC. I wonder if this is a reflection of the changes to the media landscape that my nostalgia is overlooking?
Are You Blithely Unaware of How Educational Research Impacts You?: Peter DeWitt reflects on the place of research within education. He makes a comparison with the Devil Wears Prada and the way we assume fashion changes and trends. I find this interesting as both fashion and research are often outside of the reach people and pedagogues. This is epitomised by the story of Aaron Swartz who died campaigning against research hidden by paywalls. Is it possible for all educators to feasibly have access to research or is this another example of have’s or have not’s?
How Informal Learning Gets Misunderstood (And Misinterpreted): David Price responds to the criticism that creativity is dependant on a cache of knowledge. Referring to his experiences with Musical Futures, Price explains that it is creativity and passion which lead to an interest in knowledge and theory, not vice versa. Something he also discusses in his book Open. This reminds me of a post from Amy Burvall who also discusses the importance of having dots to construct ideas. Interestingly, Brian Eno suggests that such ‘dots’ can grow out of shit. Reflecting on the growing trend to ban devices, Mal Lee and Roger Broadie suggest that banning will have no impact on students digital learning and will instead have a detrimental effect on agency within schools.
Team Human: Don’t have to look like a refugee: Douglas Rushkoff reflects on the current crisis involving children been taken off their parents. He suggests that it is less about politics (or the Bible), and more about propaganda with the creation of dehumanising images of children in cages. Rushkoff’s answer is to focus on the intimacy of the sounds. Bill Fitzgerald wonders how much of this is spoken about at events such as ISTE? It can be easy to think, ‘that is America’, but Australia is no better. Whether it be the stolen generation or detention centres, Australia has had its own examples of abuse.
The 12-month turnaround: How the dumpers drove oBike out of town: I remember when I first saw an oBike in action, a guy rolled up to a train station and dumped it near the on ramp. In this article from The Age, Simone Fox Koob reflects on their rise and fall in Melbourne. The dockless bike share scheme is managed by a mobile app. After concerns were raised around Uber, I was sceptical of the data collected by the company. I feel the disruption may have gone too far and caused the creative revolt. It will be interesting to see how competitors respond and what – if any – changes they make.
FOCUS ON … Why Domains
Alan Levine put out a call for reflections on ‘why domains’. This touches on many of the ideas associated with Domain of One’s Own and the #IndieWeb. Although Levine has had a go at collecting together the various responses, I decided to create a list of my own.
Interviewing CogDogBlog.com: Alan Levine provides the back story to ‘cog’ (interest in bikes), ‘dog’ (interest in dogs). He also unpacks the numerous hallways and secret chambers that make up CogDogBlog.
The Story of My Domain: Chris Aldrich explains the meaning behind ‘BoffoSocko’ and the ways he uses his site as a commonplace book. He also shares his belief in the #IndieWeb and the ability for everyone to self-publish.
Interviewing my Digital Domains: Ian O’Byrne shares his interest and focus on documenting his learning openly online. This exercise has evolved through many iterations. Associated with this, Chris Aldrich wrote a post build around the use of Hypothesis to capture and curate highlights and marginalia. A post which Ian annotated in response.
Interviewing My Domain: Tom Woodward provides the stories and choices associated with his domains. He suggests that the biggest challenge with maintaining your own domain is sustaining it over time.
Why Domain: John Stewart discusses the association between domains and being found on the web. Although you can write a book or publish an article, a domain allows us to be found on the web.
Interviewing Your Domain for @ontarioextend: Todd Conaway considers the power publishing to the web as a way of engaging with authentic audiences. He also shares his journey from Dreamweaver to WordPress.
Interviewing my Domain: Colin Madland shares the freedom and flexibility associated with having a domain. What comes through with Colin’s reflections is the crossover between purpose and process.
Interviewing my Domain: Sandy Brown Jensen shares her domain journey associated with DS106. For Sandy, a domain offers a way to talk back to the world
A Kingdom of One’s Own?: John Johnston discusses his journey AOL to his own site. This has come to include his blogs, various web experiments and custom shortcuts to other sites.
We’re All Richer – A #WhyDomain Post: Terry Greene argues that we are all richer in having each other. Associated with this, he suggests that it can be good to have a purpose, such as DS106 or Ontario Extend, to stay active.
“Why Domains” Responses For The Folks Of Ontario Extend: Tim Clarke explains that the motivation for his domain is to make it, host it, know how it works and how to build it. This subsequently allows for a kind of info-environmentalism.
READ WRITE RESPOND #030
So that is June for me, how about you? As always, interested to hear.
Also, feel free to forward this on to others if you found anything of interest or maybe you want to subscribe? Otherwise, archives can be found here.
Cover image via JustLego101.
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Besides answering the common question, “What are you up to these days?”, this now page is a good reminder of my priorities.
UPDATED 2018-12-30
Health
I was at home at the end of December, recovering from a thyroidectomy. I had scheduled surgery on 17th Monday. The surgeons were concerned about my elevated heart rate and body temperature.
My surgery was pushed back while the surgeons conferred. I was moved to a monitoring room to monitor my temperature, pulse and blood pressure and put on beta blockers to reduce my heart rate. I woke up in the recovery room.
My heart rate was still elevated, my surgeon had me stay in the hospital 48 hours for observation. My neck and throat area were in intense pain and my through hurt. But I was recovering quickly. I was home by Wednesday afternoon.
My neck was sore (pain!) and I was on painkillers until Friday 21 December but I was back to work by the following Wednesday. I was not allowed to drive until I could easily turn my head so I worked remotely that week.
Life has its trying moments.
Family
Shaan had a tough year adjusting to being away at college in 2017 but is adjusting well in the sophomore year. Shaan switched to psychology.
Kiran is now 18 and preparing for college. I’m filling out financial aid forms and feeling anxious about the future. Bhavna and I have discussed what to do when it’s just the two of us. We plan on taking more trips. Once the kids are finished with college we are considering a move to a cheaper state.
My wife’s brother and his wife welcomed a new baby into the family. She is 19 years younger than Shaan.
Work
I no longer consult for the New Jersey Courts. I joined the information security team at CLS Bank as an information security architect in June 2018.
Travel
Bhavna and I took one item off our bucket list this year. We booked a hot air balloon ride over Letchworth, and we spent a weekend at Seneca Lake, hiking along the trails lining some beautiful waterfalls. We had so much fun. Our only regret is that we did not do these sooner when our kids were younger.
Photography
2018 was a bad year for photography. My trusted Nikon D5100 was dropped and the mirror mechanism was broken. I borrowed a Canon 5D Mk III and lens form a friend but I wanted my own camera. After much consideration, I sold all my Nikon gear and purchased a Fuji X-T2 + Fujinon XF16-66mm F2.8 WR OIS lens.
I started a photo project where I post the best image taken with my camera that week. The image will be posted on the Sunday of the week. I can take one or 100 photos for the week but I will post only one, the best one.
Web Tech
In 2017, I started the process of adding IndieWeb features to my website by installing and configuring a set of IndieWeb WordPress plugins. These have greatly expanded the ability of the blog with a more sophisticated commenting system and integrations with social media.
Link posted to: Twitter
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@c “No matter where you go … there you are”. One domain, multile <q>me’s</q>.
@khurtwilliams I always loved that movie. Didn’t even need to click through to recognize the quote.
@c @khurtwilliams, I don’t think I’ve ever seen Buckaroo Banzai and I still recognized the reference. 😉
@josephd @c 🤛🏾
@josephd I think my life philosophy is based on quotes from classic sci-fi. 🖖🏾
Defining the IndieWeb by Chris Aldrich
Read this wonderful article and decided to switch my blog to a more indieweb-web friendly platform (the old agilemind.blog site was using ghost, it’s now wordpress with the full set of indieweb plugins).
I will describe my take on the IndieWeb idea in one of my next posts.
IndieWeb (opens new window) is “a people-focused alternative to the corporate web.” About Chris Aldrich (2018), “Defining the IndieWeb” (opens new window) Chris Aldrich (2017), “An Introduction to the IndieWeb” (opens new window) IndieWebify.me (opens new window) is “a guide to getting you on the IndieWeb.” WebMentions Amber Wilson (2020), “Grow the IndieWeb with Webmentions” (opens new window) Shawn “swyx” Wang (2020), Clientside Webmentions (opens new window) How webmention.io parse mentions (opens new window) Syndication PASTA (opens new window), PESOS (opens new window), POSSE (opens new window)