Tag: newcomers | Mr.Kapowski

| June 27th, 2019

💬 Replied to: a post

“That’s exactly what the Indiewebcamps are about. I’m thinking of trying to set one up in Düsseldorf – outside of the regular yearly one organized before Beyond Tellerrand – Nobody said there can only be one bootcamp a year. At these events we’ll get together and focus on solving our Indieweb adaptation issues and gathering feedback on how to make the experience easier for non-tech folk.”

I did think while I was writing that there was likely some overlap between what I was thinking about, and the (mostly) offline activities like IndieWebCamp and Homebrew Website Club. However, I’m talking about reaching people who are unlikely to ever attend such a meet-up. To use the IndieWeb Generations definition, I’m thinking about the 3s and maybe 4s in my network. And they might be people I only have a connection with online. I guess where I was going with it was more about seeking a way to engage and coach these particular users into their first steps, rather than relying on them to work through a guide or documentation. (There is still very much a place for more documentation!)

Admittedly it’s still only a half-baked thought, and I’m sure smarter people than me have already thought this through 😃

Chris M.

| June 27th, 2019

💬 Replied to: An Obligation to Explain the IndieWeb

“Frank Meeuwsen pointed me to this article by David Yates, which contains explanations of IndieWeb components and their purposes, for less tech-oriented people. It concludes that, yes IndieWeb has a wide range of cool features, that let you use the Web itself as social medium, but that implementing t…”
Ton Zijlstra ( )

Like you, I’ve had an itch to write up some guides and explainers around getting started with the indieweb. Mostly aimed at those I converse with in niche hobby communities. Lots of them have a blog of some sort already, but they rarely use them in favour of Twitter and/or Instagram. I’d love to help change that, and get more of them to post on their own domain. The sticking point I’ve had is how to pitch it at an appropriate level.

Maybe one solution is less about adding more documentation, and instead engaging in a process of inspiring an interest in how existing indieweb-enabled sites work, then giving 1-to-1 coaching to get them setup and teach the principles? It’s a slower process, but it’s less reliant on people being able to find and follow technical guides. As the number of "converts" grows and learns more, they are in a position to do the same for others. Maybe it’s a pie in the sky idea, but it’s one I think I’m going to explore a bit.