Introducing the IndieWeb movement

[mozfest-bot]

[ UUID ] fc55c838-d148-4f64-bc67-3918b99292e0

[ Submitter's Name ] Calum Ryan

[ Submitter's Github ] calumryan

What will happen in your session?

The session will begin with an introduction about why the IndieWeb movement came about and what its principles are such as decentralisation, owning the data you publish as well as being in control of it. This will be interspersed with audience participation in the form of open discussions about how participants currently publish content to the web. We'll look to discuss the challenges and opportunities we face using a somewhat centralised web through existing social network platforms like Facebook. A referee for this session is Tantek Çelik. As well as being one of the movement’s co-founders, he is also a Web Standards lead at Mozilla in San Francisco.

What is the goal or outcome of your session?

From the session I hope participants come away from it more engaged and interested in the way they publish content and manage their presence on the web. I hope that they will be more aware of the Indieweb community and feel compelled to contribute to it in any way they can be that through code, design, written documentation or simply fresh insight. From the audience participation I’d like to learn more about what everyday challenges people face using an increasingly centralised web and feed this back into the movement’s own discussions to make it more attractive to new community members.

Time needed

60 mins

[cubicgarden]

Ah nice... we have been looking at something from the IndieWeb community...

[timcowlishaw]

Aha yes, this sounds great and exactly the sort of thing that we'd be after. I'd also (or instead of) be very interested in a practical session on how to publish along indieweb guidelines for those who perhaps aren't as technically literate. If I'm a web user with no knowledge of the underlying web technologies, what practical steps can i take to embrace the indieweb ethos in my own use of the internet?

[jontutcher]

Paging @calumryan for comment :)

[calumryan]

@jontutcher @timcowlishaw yes this is very much something that the session aims to look at informing participants about through presentation and discussion. I'd not be aiming to run practical, workshop-style session as this would likely need more than an hour to do. I'd encourage anyone attending to come along to a future IndieWebCamp or our regular Homebrew Website Club meetups that are more geared for such activity.

The output of this session would also help shape the content and structure for an online learning resource I'm in the process of creating for getting people started that may feel overwhelmed/put off by the current Wiki presentation approach on indieweb.org

[calumryan]

I would only be able to run this on 28th as I will be flying out to Berlin on Sunday.

[dvigneshwer]

Hi @calumryan

As MozFest is approaching we require the following information from your end to better support your session in the Decentralization learning forum space. You can get back to us by replying to this issue or emailing us directly, whichever communication channel is convenient to you.

1. Provide us a brief outline of your session topics and time estimates
2. Does your session require any additional materials or electronic equipment other than a projector and general office stationery?
3. Please let us know if you want to make any modification to your session proposal

Thank you! Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any queries.

[calumryan]

Hi @vigneshwerd I shall bring my laptop for presentation, this will require HDMI (I've a USB-C to HDMI adapter).

Adaptation of my presentation published here https://calumryan.com/talks/fel-280116/ will be used throughout. General office stationery such as paper and pens to document discussions (either in groups/as whole depending on audience turnout).

I'm finalising this but what I have drafted so far to fit within the hour:

Part 1 (15-20 minutes) Introduction about why the IndieWeb movement came about. I shall briefly review the history of personal website creation pre-social media through to present day dominance of silo-based presence on the web such as Facebook, Twitter and other platforms.

Part 2 (10 minutes) Open discussion on people’s general backgrounds (audience participation). Poll audience on past and present day usage of social media versus personal websites.

Part 3 (10-15 minutes) Return to presentation to give overview of IndieWeb principles and technologies/tools that can be used by end users in addition to or as an alternative to centralized platforms/tools.

Part 4 (10 minutes) Open discussion of drawbacks, challenges and fears people may have when setting up a website.

Part 5 (5 minutes) Wrap-up conclusion and next steps including upcoming IndieWeb events people can participate in for practical demonstrations and guidance.

[dvigneshwer]

@calumryan Thanks for this.The outline looks very good to me.

[tantek]

This recent post also provides a good overview for "those who perhaps aren't as technically literate" as @timcowlishaw put it: https://medium.com/@m_ott/going-indie-step-2-reclaiming-content-matthias-ott-user-experience-designer-85667a797121