2012/Positive Arguments

Positive Arguments for the Indie Web was a session at IndieWebCamp 2012.

Notes from etherpad: https://etherpad.mozilla.org/indiewebcamp-mrx

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When: 2012-06-30 14:00

Positive Arguments

Non-negative reasons for the indie web (it's a marketing problem not a technical one)

Presented by: Brett Slatkin http://onebigfluke.com Hash tags: #mrx #indieweb

Survey results presented:

• https://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/view?survey=bthtoflmqfy3u&question=1&filter=&rw=1
• https://www.google.com/insights/consumersurveys/view?survey=wjq533toracp6&question=1&filter=&rw=1

Positive reasons

• Customizing the look & feel
• Makes it easier to search through your content
• Professionalism
  • Easier discovery -- e.g. avoids multiple profile confusion
  • personal brand; design skills; nunchuck skills
• No Censoring - say whatever you want!
  • autonomy, nobody can stop me from what i'm doing; different than anonymous
• Something you identify with
  • especially email – instead of being "Jan of Gmail", which is endorsement in a way; use own domain for content and email – even if you route it to Gmail
  • (What your email address tells about your computer skills: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/email_address )
• 5 whys:
  • autonomy; you're in control of it; you can take it with you; number portability; email portability; strategy for email migration; archival of content is the problem
  • affiliation with the company; often linked with autonomy
    • Is there a positive affiliation? Captain planet
    • more like external; show someone else you're affiliated; where as autonomy is internal; that you are in control
  • appreciation; i have to keep updating my address book
  • status; perceived as cool
  • (the sixth why) privacy
• Metrics; who checks my site?
  • Ego; status
  • Why don't you get this for Facebook?
  • Hosting your own analytics software (e.g. piwik) for control over your data
• Being on the forefront of something new
  • Freedom to upgrade to the latest thing, not restricted by devs elsewhere
  • Equally, freedom *not* to upgrade
    • E.G. public outrage at FB ui+ux changes
• Personal & personal brand
• Technical: Convenience for hosting a page; technical freedom
  • similar to email, even when you’re on Github pages you can use your own domain to hide the fact
• Animated gifs!!!
• Personal expression; can't set background color like myspace, embeds; can't type more stuff
  • customization; feel
• Discovery; Facebook page can't link to everything; personal site can; central hub for you
• Pulling responses to content from around the web back to the original, all in one place
  • See http://indiewebcamp.com/backfeed
  • life stream
• Freedom to choose monetization (or not); how people pay for the content
  • could pay myself; or pay to tumblr
  • Flattr?
• Family sites
  • extended family sites
  • age-independence; kids can participate
  • computing eduction benefits: educates kids about the web
  • multiple people participating together; collaborative site; part of a group
  • firstname.familyna.me, firstname@familyna.me
• Archivability; static site generator; value in private mirrors; always have a copy
• Learning experience of creating a site; Ham radio argument
  • bicycle maintenance
  • cooking
• When you die; you can say who gets your data
  • put your domain name in your will
  • memorial experience on facebook
• Ownership
  • artistic: People are proud of what they own
  • date: People own their copyright
• Part of a cool club: it’s hard but you can do it
  • Fixie bikes
  • You can sign up for IndieWebCamp
  • We all met

Other stuff

Reading List: Where can we refer people to (apart from IWC Wiki) for good reasons for #indieweb?

• http://NoMoreSharecropping.org
• http://waterpigs.co.uk/articles/chopped-up-cloned-you-choose

Use five core concerns to build better relationships.

• Express APPRECIATION – listen to your coworker’s perspective, find merit in it, and communicate your understanding.
• Build AFFILIATION – look for ways to connect; face challenges together, side-by-side.
• Respect AUTONOMY – be careful not to tell the other what to do.
• Acknowledge STATUS – respect the experience and expertise of the other; when status is recognized, people feel more calm, relieved, and relaxed.
• Make ROLES more fulfilling – help people craft roles that are meaningful and effective.

– from Roger Fisher and Daniel Shapiro, Beyond Reason: Using Emotions As You Negotiate http://alexlinsker.com/82/

5 basic User Experience principles, fulfilling the human needs for

• autonomy
• competency
• stimulation (self-oriented)
• relatedness
• popularity (others-oriented)

Improvements to the Survey questionnaire:

• question: Do you know what a domain name is?
• every question should have one free-form field
• "How much do you spend a month?" should have 0 as choice

See Also

• 2012/Schedule