Here’s a great introductory post written by Rob Arcand on his brand new blog: Why Bother? A Statement of Purpose. The background of this post is about working in academia and losing his PhD advisor to cancer last year. Rob’s mentor made his life’s work to produce “better citizens of reality” and even long maintained a personal website with resources for academics at every stage of their career.
As I continue forward through this difficult, rewarding PhD process, I am reminded of Jonathan’s web presence, and how much I want to develop a similar site of my own. Looking through the old photos and blog posts his site contains as part of the preservation process has shown me how powerful a personal website can be, both to oneself as a personal archive and to the larger community it can cultivate. I want to use this site, blog, and newsletter to better document the work I’m doing, and make a deliberate space to produce new work on my own terms. I look forward to doing that together, in public, with you.
Webmention is how I found this one so quickly. One of my older notes (from January 2024) is linked in this. Reading my older note now makes me cringe a bit. What a difference a couple years’ perspective makes.
My definition of “indie web” is still broad, and I want it to be inclusive. I see having a presence on the web as something bigger than a hobby—it’s your voice.
My favorite bit from Coyote:
If it’s not for someone whose every dollar is already being sucked up by survival, then it’s not for everyone. If it’s not for the hungry and the homeless then it’s not for everyone. If it’s not for the refugee and the runaway then it’s not for everyone. If it depends on having cash to spare on renting a custom domain name then it’s not for everyone. People in these demographics do use the internet, and they deserve better than to be ground up for a predatory machine, which is why we need more options that are easy and free and independent from venture capital and corporate giants.
