Having recently discovered the Indie Web, I’ve decided to join it. It might be a little while before I actually join it, but I’m planning on it.
Before I actually join, I have a few things I need to take care of first. I need to get my existing GitHub Pages website ready to represent me on the web, and I need to buy a domain name. As of now, I’m making it possible to actually write and publish posts, starting with this one, which will actually serve a sort of test to make sure everything is working.
Even as a young boy, I experimented a little with operating a blog. I tried both Blogspot and Wordpress. I think I even tried out Google Sites. Those projects didn’t last very long, and were eventually discarded. However, my desire to eventually have my own website never died.
As I got older, I started getting into coding, productivity, cooking, and a few other random interests. As I researched topics related to my interests, I frequently came across personal websites created by people who seemed to have a similar personality to me. I admired their contribution to my learning and discovery, and I started to assume that I would eventually end up making my own website similar to these other people.
As time went on, I discovered that I could host all my random HTML5 projects on GitHub Pages, which I promptly did. It was exciting to me to figure out how to represent my projects on my website. When my brothers and sisters wanted to access any of my projects, I could simply point them to my website, which was just my universal username “thomasm124” followed by “.github.io”. I was happy to have a single, simple URL that served as a gateway to all the projects that I had made available online.
I still wasn’t completely satisfied with it all though. Although English was my least-favorite class in school, I had been coming to appreciate the value of writing my own thoughts, not just so others could read about them, but also so that I would have more clarity, and a record I could refer to. I also saw a few videos in my research about productivity in which the creator explained the value of being a producer of content in addition to a consumer. This was one of the pivotal moments that kick-started my desire to start writing.
Fast-forward to a week or so ago from today. I saw a video about the Indie Web. The term caught my attention, so I did some more research and found that there’s a whole corner of the Internet dedicated to reviving the personal nature of the early Internet before social-media websites replaced all the random little websites that people were making for themselves. Why would people go through the effort of making their own website if they could just have a few social-media accounts? Social-media websites made it easy to create an online home, but removed much of the magic of it all at the same time. Each account looks essentially the same, and an ever-present authority rules over all the content on the whole website. In contrast, the personal websites on the Indie Web look widely different, suiting the individual needs of their creators.
Excited by the novelty of this community, and empowered by the support and guidance offered to those who wish to make their own website and join, I immediately started the process. After learning the basics of Jekyll, refactored my current website and began looking into purchasing a domain name. I’m now almost finished, and look forward to adding my own humble contribution to the Internet.
Comment