Tag: IndieWeb

start considering the user

Dear IndieWeb, it may be time to start considering the user, not just the technical spec. by Eli MellenEli Mellen (eli.li)

For one, folks building IndieWeb tech can’t assume that their users care about the technical implementation of their project. The vast majority of users aren’t going to read the spec., nor care to ever do so. The vast majority of users will care, first and foremost, about themselves and their content. They will, most likely, already know enough to care about owning their content. This means their content is important to them. This also probably means that they’re itching to create content. To write.

This should be our (the IndieWeb’s) holy mission — empowering all sorts of folks to post content that they get to control.

I recently wrote a post similar to this one.

I appreciate the work of the people behind the IndieWeb. I love what the IndieWeb plugins, especially Webmentions, have done for my WordPress blog.

But the startup process was a bit bumpy and somewhat frustrating and distracted me from focusing on the content.

All of this is a work in progress.

Smashed my 500px lens.

500px Now 100% Owned by Visual China Group (Michael Russell Photography Photoblog)

So what now?

No matter what networks you share your work to – having your own website and making it the center of your activity is a good idea. It is only on your own website that you can truly control your content. Buy a domain name if you don’t already have one. I host mine with Dreamhost.com, though there are a lot of other great hosts out there. Research them before you sign up – and get the level of hosting you require. I also host my Image Library on a site called Photoshelter. If you just have a few photos online at this point you could start with a some basic WordPress galleries and get some experience with that platform.

Good luck!

[exif id="34928"]

I deleted my account and sent a request to 500px to delete my images from all servers under their control. Fingers crossed.

Keeping my images on my website may be the only way I can keep some control of my copyrighted content. Now what about Instagram?

Bringing Out the Worst In Us

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This is one of the reasons why I no longer “surf” Facebook and twitter. I've defaulted to the old ways of the web. Back to a reading from a controlled list of bloggers and news sites.

I have a list of photography, lifestyle, and security bloggers and web sites in my RSS reader. I recently culled the list to remove dead sites or sites whose focus had changed. When Trump won the election I added a filter for the keyword “Trump” to reduce the chance I would see blog posts about that.

I started participating in the IndieWeb. The IndieWeb isn't new. It's just the web as I think it was meant to be.

I don’t think social media is useless but I do my best to mitigate the risks of the downside. It sometimes fails. But … that’s how the universe works.

Image CC0 via Unsplash