2016/Berlin/onboarding

IndieWeb onboarding was an all-day session on hacking day during IndieWebCamp Berlin. We tried to analyze where the current paths for becoming part of the IndieWeb may not serve new target groups, segment these newcomers and generate an approach for easing their onboarding process.

In the demo session, it was agreed that commenting and further work on these concept stubs can happen in the Discussion section at the end of this wiki page.

Participating

Background

We started with a short rundown on the history of the IndieWeb movement, which helped to understand why the original entry requirements were intentionally rather high - "keep out people who just talk, and get things done instead".

We reviewed IndieWeb generations, a model from 2014 that can be utilized for us to build upon. In our discussion, we identified that the IndieWeb is currently somewhere at the border between gen 1 and 2, or maybe already with gen 2 well underway (e.g. looking at the demographics of IWC Berlin 2016 participants).

Results of morning discussions

We discussed various aspects of onboarding: personality, motives/motivations, possible roadblocks, ideas for making... (sorry, notes partly in German)

Personas

N.B. below table is preserved for documentation purposes - the personas have since been developed further, see Indiewebcamp Nuremberg 2017 session

In the afternoon, we worked on developing personas of "future IndieWeb users" (work-in-progress, unfinished)

	Publicist "Steven"	Occasional contributor "Milena"	Social media human "Ellie"	Development leader "Tom"
Trivia / person	45y, divorced experienced journalist broad interdisciplinary network interested in public opinion reads a lot medium.com, 1 article/month LinkedIn, Xing, GitHub Twitter, Facebook, Instagram	30y, mother/family UX/UI developer well networked professionally advancing in career, senior position likes reading future-oriented LinkedIn, Xing, GitHub Twitter, Facebook, Instagram undecided whether to use Medium or own site to write	24y, in a relationship nurse well networked socially sportive sociable and outgoing occasional vegetarian snapchat, instagram, whatsapp only posts on social media sites (silos) never got used to Twitter	38y, single/independent technophilic self-employed technology consultant self-optimizer very ambitious no LinkedIn or Xing 10k Twitter followers tests silos mainly for development purposes (e.g. FB) always first on every new service to try out ...and to secure his alias website runs on his own CMS
Personal goals	societal participation influencing, explaining/evangelism getting known sharpening of profile	professional profile become better as a person knowledge sharing efficient time management knowledge exchange work-life balance	be informed attention stay in contact curious sociable/communicative need for affiliation	control over data and decisions quantified self "cyborg" control self-referred polarize and exchange
Behaviour / approach	engaged convinced of their mission self-conscious methodistic communicative endurance interested to curious	focussed responsible, engaged patient endurance goal-driven communicator, bringing people together openly interested	spontaneous happy-go-lucky superficial entertainment-oriented	direct open assertive pragmatic efficient led by principles motivating extrovert
Functional- emotional- expressive	rational, recherche, message	observer and (r)evolutionary	lifestyle impulsive life-affirming	analysis and principle
Thinking patterns	rational critical, scrutinzing, analytical didactical rhetorical quality-focussed	solution-driven community-orientation conflict-solving attendant cooperative empathic	conflict avoidance lightness readiness to help others focussed on the present ready to switch friends more important than platform	philantropist problem-solver
Expectations and perception	wants to be heard publicity influencing reach networking and referencing	professional development proportionality of tools is important personal archive / "knowledge vault"	social confirmation/affirmation (feedback) extreme simplicity low barrier group dynamics "unique snowflake"	progress freedom & individuality control over identity independence
Decision making (what is important?)	"study and observe": not a fast decision maker conscious decisions ease of use sttyle-conscious workflow-oriented	reasonable time effort improvement stability easy learning curve user/need-oriented reach	ease of use what's trending? enjoyment/fun group dynamics micro-individuality	chances for success efficiency innovation experimentation
Relevant technical skills	HTML/CSS Mac user since OS9 writing tools note-taking and archiving tools 100 tabs open in browser	HTML/CSS, jQuery visual and design basic programming skills	does not know what HTML is uses default browser on her Samsung smartphone has all the silo apps on her smartphone types superfast on her smartphone; 2 thumbs	pro knowledge active open source contributor

Future ideas

Utilize understanding of new target groups to develop suitable onboarding flows.

Use personas to ease the consideration of different personalities in the design of IndieWeb documentation, marketing, events etc.
Reconsider the participation threshold for IWC, indieauth vs. other sign-up (connected with providing a guaranteed starting session on Saturday mornings before session planning starts)
Turn the understding about different variables and thresholds to design easy-to-use intro material online (e.g. a "step-by-step guide" that asks the user a series of questions and then presents them with an individual roadmap how to join the IndieWeb

Discussion

Add your thoughts, comments, and ideas here...