2022/Pop-ups/how-to-make-the-indieweb-more-approachable

 How to Make the IndieWeb More Approachable  was an IndieWebCamp Pop-ups 2022 session held 2022-11-27.

Watch:

Notes archived from: https://etherpad.indieweb.org/9Xh6BZDtT2OTL8H5SCQx

Participants

 * - jamesg.blog (facilitator)
 * https://marksuth.dev
 * https://boffosocko.com
 * https://blog.libove.org
 * David
 * Hollie Butler (blog is right now at https://hollie.micro.blog mastodon: @hollie@social.coop
 * -- https://tracydurnell.com/
 * -- https://ragt.ag/
 * ender (trying to post more/indiewebify myself)
 * Michelle Moore
 * Paul Pham

Hint: Create your own –  link with Template:sparkline (these are called sparklines). Here's James': https://indieweb.org/wiki/index.php?title=Template:jamesgoca&action=edit

Discussion

 * Webrings were a way to discover new sites without search engines
 * What questions do you have about making the IndieWeb more approachable?
 * add your questions here ...
 * can you create a knowlwedge graph using microformats? do you need SPARQL or is there something simpler (I found https://waterpigs.co.uk/articles/consuming-microformats/, nevermind)
 * ask in the chat about this! we don't have a page on knowledge graphs but we should -- i love knowledge graphs!


 * document problem points for people new to the IndieWeb - what jargon comes up?
 * more organized, structured getting started indieweb wiki (easy win)
 * indiewebify.me is great but i just found it, maybe should be linked to from wiki


 * there are some specific wants
 * requirements you have in mind that you want your website to meet (technology, how you can represent posts, amount of maintenance required)


 * validators
 * indiewebify.me

Pain Points

 * personal pain point (ender): so much coding to do and i become a perfectionist
 * choice
 * what domain name do I want? what do I build my site with? what plugins do I use? - lots of questions to answers and decisions to make.
 * kate compton's casual creator paper explains why restricting choices can improve creativity
 * "what really are my choices?" - a big question for beginners
 * when joining mastodon: which instance should I join?
 * that's after you get past the question "what's an instance"
 * ^^ i listened to a podcast where the hosts said they just gave up on mastodon because it was too complex
 * what do all of the building blocks do?
 * idea: create a visual page that explains them all?
 * ^^ great idea, visual explanations are special


 * A progression? orality, literacy, coderacy...
 * can we have a multi-path experience on our website
 * no technical experience, want something that just works
 * willing to do a bit of coding
 * happy to get in the weeds
 * (ender I'd love your thoughts on this!)
 * ^^ i think this is a great idea! and explaining the pros and cons of each approach (ender)
 * different tracks let people see what's possible with the technical details, rather than just starting from there


 * There is some work at helping to direct people of different levels to the quickest solutions: 2021/homepage
 * use a three-column view that shows different paths


 * The best way to eat a whale is one bite at a time. Michelle seems to have eaten half a whale in one big bite in the past week. :)
 * which is maybe due to our docs - we introduce too many things at once?


 * Ender made a great point about doing what you find fun / interesting


 * A good opening question for people who are first joining the IndieWeb without a site: what do you want your site to do?

Should we make the chat more prominent on our home page? There are lots of people -- from those in the weeds with the technologies to those who like our principles -- who are active in there!
 * yes, in my opinion. I have been on the wiki and had no idea there was a chat
 * this is very good feedback
 * join us today Ender! discuss <- thanks!
 * (all of the chats are connected so everyone sees the same messages no matter what platform you use)

Another resources for getting started quickly for the absolute beginner: Quick_Start

Should we make a #indieweb-getting-started channel in our chat - a place that's about basic questions without talking about too many details. What content for beginners do we have that could be made more prominent?
 * Assumed knowledge: we need to make sure beginner discussions in chat don't require background knowledge.
 * we want to encourage experimentation + building + thinking!
 * maybe a GitHub template that deployes your site to sitename.github.io and has a great CMS - turnkey to begin with but also allows for progressively more programming already exists(mostly)
 * Getting_Started

Give people sparklines automatically?

Handwriting websites: handwriting
 * a single question in chat often leads to a wiki page being created / updated as we all learn!


 * Create a graph that shows your wiki contributions!
 * https://sparkline.jamesg.blog/?username=Jamesg.blog&api_url=https://indieweb.org/wiki/api.php&only_image=true&days=30
 * Replace "jamesg.blog" with your wiki username!
 * NB: This is case sensitive!


 * What would Tantek do?
 * A few good questions to ask yourself to frame a problem
 * WWTD


 * What is the web vs. the IndieWeb? - how do we make this easier for people to understand?

Chris's chicken feed: https://boffosocko.com/kind/chicken/ :)

Where can we find these notes later? The link should be findable here on this page once they're uploaded and/or at the event page itself https://events.indieweb.org/2022/11/indiewebcamp-popup-how-to-make-the-indieweb-more-approachable-cj3LAW8IE9p5.

Posts
Did you write or post about this session? Add your post below:
 * https://tracydurnell.com/2022/11/27/making-the-indieweb-more-approachable/

Planning
The IndieWeb community welcomes anyone who is interested in expressing themselves on a personal website, regardless of technical experience. With that said, our current website architecture and homepage may not be appealing to those who do not have a technical background and are looking to start a personal website.

The goal of this session is to discuss, document, and share ideas on: (i) can we create "paths" on our website or elsewhere that give tactical guides to getting set up based on different levels of intent; (ii) what alternate mediums can we use to share knowledge about the IndieWeb (i.e. video); (iii) how can we discuss the IndieWeb with people we know who might be interested (in the same vein, what are our key value propositions).

This pop up is an opportunity for all community members to express their thoughts on how we can make the IndieWeb more approachable. We can use the outcome of this pop up to better inform community initiatives (i.e. a homepage redesign) and spur new ideas that may attract new people or help welcome and nurture existing members.

Details

 * organizer(s)

Interest
Add your +1 for interest in this topic:

IndieWebCamps

 * 2022/Pop-ups


 * Category: IndieWebCamp Pop-ups 2022
 * Category: 2022
 * Category: Events