WTF is the IndieWeb

From my perch looking out at the state of technology has been in an arm race for data over the decade. Upon reflecting on my footprint of data and web persona over the decades I realize that much of that has been lost over my lifetime. I ceded control of my data to various platforms, some of which are no longer around, some of which have drastically changed what they do with content I've shared with them, and all of which could change overnight without my input. Practically this has manifested itself in two outcomes. Some content I created on external platforms is gone forever, and some of that content is practically gone. Rather than remaining complicit to the direction the corporate web is heading, I'm embracing the revolution of the IndieWeb.

What is the IndieWeb exactly?

The IndieWeb is collection of principles and tenets around pushing back against the "corporate" web of today. Those principles include:

• Own your data - control how your content is used, and retain access to it
• Use & publish visible data - Make for humans first, APIs second
• Make what you need - Make tools, code, and widgets for yourself first and foremost. Don't build for everyone, family, or even friends.
• Eat your cake - Use what you make, don't build just for the theory
• Document - Useful as a source of "blogumentation". Help others benefit from your wisdom gained from the journey of discovery, including your future self
• Open source - Duh! Build on the shoulders of giants, contribute what you can for those to come after you
• UX over protocols - Be more concerned about the User Experience than the plumbing
• Build to be platform agnostic
• Longevity - Build for the long web
• Have Fun While the IndieWeb maintains a list of principles it's important to remember to not treat them as a checklist,

If you don't own your data and rely on a platform to maintain it on your behalf, your data will eventually disappear and die. I'm looking at you Xanga, MySpace, and Google Plus. While most of this is fine, what's unfortunately is that I did not get to review or make that decision. Perhaps I would have made the decision to delete it as well, but I would have preferred the choice. Beyond entire platforms shutting down this can also be effected by data retention policies of platforms. Slack and Discord communities can get shutdown. Facebook groups can be deleted. Google will delete your Gmail account if you don't log in for two years. All of this is in the best interest of those platforms. To best support your personal data the option is clear; own your data.

One of the best ways to get started is to create your website, host your website, and start posting your content. This starts to satisfy some of the principles key to the IndieWeb, while also paving the way for further expanding. You now control your data on your terms, and can start to publish.

With a website hosted this opens the door to POSSE (publish on site syndicate elsewhere). This allows friends and colleagues to still discover and consume your content on their terms, perhaps even on a different platform such as Twitter or Facebook. This will allow engagement with users on 3rd party services, while still maintaining control of your content, and reducing the dependency on those platforms, which in time will certainly fade away.

The IndieWeb is a punk rock movement against the continued enshitification of the corporate web. It's about the self reliability of decentralization. It's about control over your data and content in a web that is in a constant march to cede that control from users. For me, it's about embracing the ideas of the open web I grew up on in the 90s and early 2000s. A web before the time of algorithmic feeds, long since deleted pseudo forums like slack and discord communities, and deceased projects. A web where I can share my ideas, thoughts, and content on my terms without having to agree to binding arbitration in a new terms of service. If any of these ideals resonate close to home, I would encourage you to head over to IndieWeb and join the community. Most of all consider publishing your own website.