Replied to What I want from a GLAM/Cultural Heritage Data Science Network by Jez CopeJez Cope (erambler.co.uk)
As I mentioned last year, I was awarded a Software Sustainability Institute Fellowship to pursue the project of setting up a Cultural Heritage/GLAM data science network. Obviously, the global pandemic has forced a re-think of many plans and this is no exception, so I’m coming back to reflect on it and make sure I’m clear about the core goals so that everything else still moves in the right direction.

It warms my heart to see another person in the education/library space using Webmention on their site. Even more so when I think that Jez Cope is doing so while starting to build an online community. Being able to communicate from website-to-website this way while also being able to reach out to people who choose to use Twitter or Mastodon is a very powerful thing to see and is an incredible example within the Education, Domain of One’s Own, and Library Carpentry spaces.

So much of the tone of this piece has not only an IndieWeb feel, but also sounds like it could benefit from some of the organizational structure that I’ve seen the IndieWeb employ, particularly small scale events and collaborations I’ve seen at Homebrew Website Clubs. This may help to

“Organise less-formal learning and sharing events to complement the more formal training already available within organisations and the wider sector, including “show and tell” sessions, panel discussions, code cafés, masterclasses, guest speakers, reading/study groups, co-working sessions, …”

Read Fractal communities vs the magical bullhorn by Ben WerdmüllerBen Werdmüller (Ben Werdmüller)
In her book Emergent Strategy, adrienne maree brown eloquently describes a model for decentralized leadership in a world of ever-changing emergent patterns. Heavily influenced by the philosophy laid out in Octavia Butler's Earthseed novels - God is change - it describes how the way we show up in the...
Read Thread by @krusynth (threadreaderapp.com)
Read Let's grow online greenspace for healthy sociality & mutual aid by Howard Rheingold (Patreon)
tl;dr Now that so many are forced to use online media to communicate, let's use this opportunity to create many smaller virtual communities and social networks outside the enclosed world of Facebook.
Read When Community Becomes Your Competitive Advantage by Jeffrey Bussgang and Jono Bacon (Harvard Business Review)
How businesses shift from selling products to building networks.
The IndieWeb isn’t a business like many of the examples mentioned here, but it’s doing doing a lot of the things mentioned in the article and doing them well. It’s definitely one of my favorite communities of builders and collaborators.
Read Who sponsors Drupal development? (2018-2019 edition) by Dries BuytaertDries Buytaert (dri.es)
An in-depth analysis of how Drupal's development was sponsored between July 1, 2018 and June 30, 2019.
I love the depth and reflection Dries puts into this report. Having recently watched the State of the Word for WordPress, I wonder if WordPress publishes these sorts of numbers and analysis? Could they in the future?

👓 Blog Engines and Indieweb Controlling Upstream | Brad Enslen

Read Blog Engines and Indieweb Controlling Upstream by Brad EnslenBrad Enslen (Brad Enslen)

All this WordPress 5.0 Gutenberg stuff got me thinking.  With WordPress it seems like the Indieweb starts making serious and cool progress and the WordPress people come along and knock the game board and pieces off the table.  And it sounds like the disruption from WordPress is going to continue for a couple of years.

Why not take a page out of Apple’s playbook and take control higher up in the food chain? Why not come out with an Indieweb compatible blog engine of our own?  Either fork an existing open source project or build new?  This does not mean you have to make it exclusive but make it the way the Indieweb wants the Indieweb elven magic to function.  Also put in the standard blogging features most people expect.  Why keep trying to adapt the Indieweb stuff to blog or CMS platforms that are at best indifferent, never designed for or just that don’t want to play ball?

This isn’t a slam on the coders who are working so hard to make everything work on WordPress, I’m just asking if maybe it’s not time to find better terrain to fight from.

If the Indieweb really wants widespread adoption they need to come out with a turnkey solution.  It would act as a solution for many and a proof of concept for others to emulate. Something that can be put in hosting C-panels for one touch install. Something that just works, is easy to move to and move away from. Something supported, active, growing with enough polish that it inspires confidence in the user.

I’d really like to hear serious discussion on this.