IndieWeb Deep-diving
While browsing the web I often came across the term “indieweb”. I still don’t fully understand it, but I surely love its philosophy as well as the small web, Web 1.0, etc. That’s why I first created this blog on Bearblog.
The Tech
More recently I learned about microformats2 and how they could transform static websites like mine into precious gold mines. They can provide simple commenting systems with Fediverse integration, show the likes of a webpage, or just the mentions. About the latter, webmentions by Aaron are the ones that struck my attention first.
I love the idea of POSSE: post here on my personal space/website first, then copy (syndicate) it elsewhere. I asked AI (Claude and ChatGPT) to provide a Python script to integrate and manage in my publishing flow, and for now it seems to work well: the new Notes section of this blog is syndicated on my GoToSocial instance. It is my website, and here you can find everything about me — notes included1.
I tried to implement webmentions using WebMention.io and a CLI tool by Remy, so both the Notes and Posts of this blog should display them. As a bonus, the Notes display the boosts, likes, and comments of the syndicated posts (I would have never achieved that without AI; that’s what it is useful for).
The People
While digging in the wiki of IndieWeb and microformats2, I realized how great the people behind these ideas are. These are minds whose simple geniality sparks are so precious in the centralization era when everything is in the hands of a few organizations.
Obviously I always step into the station when the train has already departed. Many of these concepts are already 10 years old, if not more. It’s true that, at that time, blogging wasn’t even an option for me, but these concepts are completely hidden to 99% of internet users — that’s the indie part of the name, I guess.
Anyway, this project really excited me and made me wonder if I could participate in the community in one way or another… I’m no programmer at all, and I barely scraped the surface of these concepts… but I’m even more enthusiastic than when I discovered Mastodon and the concept of the fediverse.
The community is what makes a project active, and it was a post by Naty that introduced me to a whole new world of good-old-style blogs curated by wonderful people. In the last few months, the small web went “viral” again thanks to Kagi and Wander. There are also aggregation sites such as IndieWeb News and the very new Bubbles… Other than the Bearblog Discovery feed, which is always good.
Probably because of the juxtaposition with the world news, it’s wholesome to see so many people just… being people. With no social algorithms or products to sell. Just the will to write and share something.
By the way, I love the IndieWeb Carnival and IndieWeb Fiction Carnival concepts, and I hope they will give me the strength to write more… even if it would mean waking up at 6AM. The days are getting much longer, and the countryside work calls me… but I am eager to find an equilibrium to merge the technologic side of me and the newly found rural one.
Closing words: expect more changes to this website (always better2, I hope), and, optimistically, more words in it!
🎧 I have Monosphere playing in my ears right now, and I’m positively surprised!
📖 On the last pages of Project Hail Mary
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While browsing the web I often came across the term “indieweb”. I still don’t fully understand it, but I surely love its philosophy as well as the small web, Web 1.0, etc. That’s why I first created this blog on Bearblog.
The Tech
More recently I learned about microformats2 and how they could transform static websites like mine into precious gold mines. They can provide simple commenting systems with Fediverse integration, show the likes of a webpage, or just the mentions. About the latter, webmentions by Aaron are the ones that struck my attention first.
I love the idea of POSSE: post here on my personal space/website first, then copy (syndicate) it elsewhere. I asked AI (Claude and ChatGPT) to provide a Python script to integrate and manage in my publishing flow, and for now it seems to work well: the new Notes section of this blog is syndicated on my GoToSocial instance. It is my website, and here you can find everything about me — notes included1.
I tried to implement webmentions using WebMention.io and a CLI tool by Remy, so both the Notes and Posts of this blog should display them. As a bonus, the Notes display the boosts, likes, and comments of the syndicated posts (I would have never achieved that without AI; that’s what it is useful for).
The People
While digging in the wiki of IndieWeb and microformats2, I realized how great the people behind these ideas are. These are minds whose simple geniality sparks are so precious in the centralization era when everything is in the hands of a few organizations.
Obviously I always step into the station when the train has already departed. Many of these concepts are already 10 years old, if not more. It’s true that, at that time, blogging wasn’t even an option for me, but these concepts are completely hidden to 99% of internet users — that’s the indie part of the name, I guess.
Anyway, this project really excited me and made me wonder if I could participate in the community in one way or another… I’m no programmer at all, and I barely scraped the surface of these concepts… but I’m even more enthusiastic than when I discovered Mastodon and the concept of the fediverse.
The community is what makes a project active, and it was a post by Naty that introduced me to a whole new world of good-old-style blogs curated by wonderful people. In the last few months, the small web went “viral” again thanks to Kagi and Wander. There are also aggregation sites such as IndieWeb News and the very new Bubbles… Other than the Bearblog Discovery feed, which is always good.
Probably because of the juxtaposition with the world news, it’s wholesome to see so many people just… being people. With no social algorithms or products to sell. Just the will to write and share something.
By the way, I love the IndieWeb Carnival and IndieWeb Fiction Carnival concepts, and I hope they will give me the strength to write more… even if it would mean waking up at 6AM. The days are getting much longer, and the countryside work calls me… but I am eager to find an equilibrium to merge the technologic side of me and the newly found rural one.
Closing words: expect more changes to this website (always better2, I hope), and, optimistically, more words in it!
🎧 I have Monosphere playing in my ears right now, and I’m positively surprised!
📖 On the last pages of Project Hail Mary