lost infrastructure
lost infrastructure is a reference to The Lost Infrastructure of Social Media, a silo post by Anil Dash calling for IndieWeb-like technology.
This follows on from Paul Ford's article calling for more AMP infrastructure.
The IndieWeb has been working on replacing, improving, and extending portions this lost infrastructure, but also providing large portions of the functionality of Web 2.0 and other social media related functionality. The chart below provides some indication of what the prior functionalities were, what current social media silos provide, and finally rough equivalents of new technologies for providing these pieces. Hopefully the chart provides some indication of areas that could be built and improved as well as providing a jumping off place for those interested in some of these new technologies.
Comparison table
| Then (silo or specs) | Now (silo) | IndieWeb | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Publishing | Blogger, Moveable Type | WordPress.com, Medium, Tumblr | micropub, Known, silo.pub, WordPress.org, micro.blog, projects |
| Search | Technorati | n/a | IndieWeb Search |
| Updates instead of polling | Technorati, Pingomatic | n/a | WebSub, Superfeedr |
| Comments | Haloscan, coComment | Disqus, Intense Debate, Livefire, Civil Comments | Webmention, Brid.gy, backfeed |
| Responses | Trackback, Pingback, Refback | n/a | Webmention, Brid.gy |
| Likes/Favorites | n/a | Facebook, Twitter, Instagram | Webmention, Brid.gy |
| Identity | TypeKey, Gravatar | Facebook, Twitter | IndieAuth |
| Friend Lists | Blogrolling,OPML, MyBlogLog | n/a | XFN |
| Following | OPML | follow/friending on Twitter, Facebook, et al. | following, Microsub |
| Syndication | RSS, Atom | AMP, Instant Articles, RSS, Apple News | h-feed, POSSE, Brid.gy |
| API | Metaweblog, AtomPub | n/a | Micropub, microformats, Webmention to Brid.gy |
| Metadata | microformats | schema.org, Open Graph, Twitter Cards | microformats2 |
| Discovery and Tagging | Blogdex, Technorati, OPML | hashtags, who to follow, Nuzzel | discovery, tags, person-tag, directories |
| Analytics | Measure Map, FeedBurner | Google Analytics | analytics |
| Advertising | BlogAds, Google Adsense | Google Adsense | advertising |
| Aggregation | Google News, Bloglines | reader, Microsub, Woodwind | |
| Time Shifting and Reading | Instapaper, Readability, feed readers | Facebook, Pocket,Instapaper, Apple News | Aperture, IndiePass, Together, Indiepaper, Woodwind |
Articles
Date-time ordered:
- 2012-12-13 : The Web We Lost (archived)
- 2012-12-18 : Rebuilding the Web We Lost (archived)
- 2016-08-24 : What if I told you, what @anildash lost*, #indieweb has rebuilt?
- 2019-11-08 : The Internet We Lost (The Weeds Podcast from Vox.com)
Brainstorming
comparing ActivityPub or Bluesky
Would it be helpful to add columns for ActivityPub or Bluesky?