loading . . . The Human Web The year is 2026. AI has hollowed out what little humanity remained within the enshittified husks of the big tech slums us mortals digitally reside. Our privacy has been laid waste, our identities subjugated, our voices silenced, and our (digital) world sterilized. But this need not be our fate. A web revolution has begun my friends. What was once the nascent spark of a long lost web, is now a flourishing of digital gardens—personal sanctuaries on the net. It is there that once again people are free—to express themselves, to find others, to share their thoughts—without the fear of algorithmic oppression, corporate censorship and mass-assimilation. This revolution is known by many names—the “IndieWeb”, the “small web”, the “old web”—whatever you call it, it’s a more _human_ web. A _better_ web. Will you join us?
# Flavors of A More Human Web
Remember personal blogs? Well they’re still a thing. These sites, unique in their design, and owned / operated by _real_ human people, are part of what I like to call the “**human web** ”. This is an all-inclusive term for characterizing all things “IndieWeb”, “Personal Web”, “Old Web”, “Small Web”, etc… Some (_me_) use these terms interchangeably, while others are more adamant about what type of site is included in what form of “web”. Generally, I’ve seen each of these terms differentiated as follows…
* “**IndieWeb** ”: See here.
* “**Personal Web** ”: Sites operated by single people in individualistic, idiosyncratic ways.1
* “**Old Web** ”: Sites with a visual style resembling the web 1.0 era. 2
* “**Small Web** ”: Sites that are simple in nature, accessible to a wide variety of web clients, don’t require JavaScript or other modern web bloat, etc… 3
Ultimately, I don’t think it’s important to fixate on these various subsets—the larger movement is what matters. Together, they represent a diverse and unfiltered showcase of thought, of individuality, of tradition, of technology, and of the human experience. Made _for_ real people, _by_ real people.
**Note** : In practice, I consider and talk about my site as part of the “IndieWeb”, and I use that term generally to mean sites that are part of the larger human web. I understand others think of the IndieWeb as something different, or nuanced, and that’s fine.
# The IndieWeb
What is the **IndieWeb**? Its origins can be traced to indieweb.org. It was here that I developed my own formative understanding of this more human web and its various communities and ideals.
_Indieweb.org_ defines the _IndieWeb_ as a people-focused alternative to the “corporate web”—a community of independent and personal websites rooted in 3 foundational principles.
1. Your content is yours, and in your control.
2. You are in control of your site and your content. You can post what you want, in any format you want.
3. Your site is _connected_. Your content can be distributed anywhere else on the web and your site can facilitate replies, likes, and other status messages.
The first two principles I’m totally on board with. Where indieweb.org loses me though is on this mandate to be “connected”. This expectation that your site _must_ contain social-like functionality (e.g. comments, likes) and it _must_ syndicate its content to other places (i.e. social media sites) is **bizarre**. Your site shouldn’t need to be _social_. It doesn’t _need_ to share its content elsewhere (though I do highly recommend having an RSS feed).
I think I know where this insistence on connectedness orginates from though. Indieweb.org states that their movement is to create an alternative to the “corporate web”. You see, in the days of yore, your presence on the web was a blog/site. Since the advent of MySpace, through today, your identity and presence on the web has been relegated to https://BIGTECHSOCIALPLATFORM.COM/YOURNAMEHERE. Effectively, we moved away from blogs and personal sites as the de facto standard for ones identity on the web to these big, centralized social media platforms. You are now who Facebook says you are, or LinkedIn, or Twitter, etc…
Indieweb.org’s response to this is to shift not only one’s canonical presence on the web from big social _back_ to personal sites, but also to lessen or entirely eliminates one’s reliance on these big social platforms to do, well, “social” things. Why else would they mandate that your blog (of all things) be capable of engaging with other sites via likes, and “status messages”—traditional social media-type behaviors.
In Indieweb.org’s world view, “indie-“ means **independent**. Your entire presence—your identity, your content, your connections, your network—can be entirely self-contained on your site. They’re taking the power, and I mean _all_ the power, back from big social. But I think it’s a step too far.
I like to think of “indie-“ differently. For me it means **individualism**. Your site doesn’t need to be entirely _independent_ —a monolith of functionality with every feature baked into it all at once. It certainly doesn’t need to collect random _likes_ and showcase them on every article. Rather, your site needs to be something that is simply, distinctively you. Your content, your voice, your aesthetic, on a domain that is unique to you.
Let’s further dig into what it takes (_in my opinion_) to be part of the IndieWeb.
## Being Part of the IndieWeb
I made a comment recently about how Medium (the blogging platform) was antithetical to (my own understanding of) IndieWeb ideals. I gave no further reasoning at the time. The argument made in reply to my comment was that Medium allows you export your posts and email lists and that it has an API that allows you to get stuff. The point was also made that Medium had no ads or user tracking. It was a thoughtful reply and it made me think, _what is the “IndieWeb”_? _What makes a site “part of the IndieWeb”?_
###### IndieWeb Principles
For me, to be a “part of the IndieWeb”, or whatever you want to call it, your site must meet just _three_ criteria.
* Your site is hosted at a domain you own.
* You own (and have access to all of) your content.
* The site is about you–—your writing, your content. You are free to personalize the site’s design as you see fit.
That’s it!
### Is Medium Part of the IndieWeb?
So this brings me back to the discussion around Medium, and whether a Medium blog is part of the “IndieWeb”, or _IndieWebby_ in general.
Let’s judge Medium using my three simple criteria.
* ✅ **Domain Ownership** : _Yes!_ Medium allows you to bring your own domain. Though I will say, it requires you to be a paid Medium member and theres some other small limitations.
* 🤷♂️ **Data Ownership** : Does Medium allow you to _own_ your content? _Kind of_? Hopefully? Your writing and personal data are stored on Medium servers and accessible via their CMS. You have the ability to export your account data including your stories. But here’s where things get murky for me. That’s great that Medium allows this. _But like_ … what if they decided one day to _not_ allow that. What if on that day, you hadn’t taken a recent export? It’s worth considering the potential risks and how you can ensure you truly own your content and ensure your site’s overall sovereignty.
* ❌ **Individual Expression** : _Fail_. Medium (and platforms like it) severely limit your options for customization & personalization. Yes you can publish _your_ writing there, but your site is otherwise canned—a sterile clone of every other site and page across the entire platform. True may it be that the words on your site can be uniquely yours, but they will still come from the same white background, black font, serif text that you know and ~~love~~ are-bored-of.
Look, if what matters to you most is getting your words out, in plain text, then Medium might be a good choice for you. Medium has lots of benefits in terms of discoverability, monetization, etc… But there are no digital gardens on Medium.
# Parting Thoughts
I’m not trying to be elitist, or non-inclusive, or self-aggrandizing. My word on this is certainly not gospel. Afterall, I’m just some random on the Internet with a blog. I’m not saying Medium is a _bad_ platform, nor is it evil. I’m not saying you shouldn’t use it. Like with any choice of platform, or technology, there are always tradeoffs. Where you invest your time and how you build your identity on the web matters though, and I think there are risks to using Medium if what you want is to truly _own_ your space on the web and use it how you see fit—if what you want is to be part of the “IndieWeb”. What Medium does offer, among many things, is a very easy way to get started. You can bring a domain, and just start writing—and at least for now, you’re free to migrate that content elsewhere when you please. This is still much preferred to the alternative—don’t give all your content, and don’t leave your identity on the web in the hands of LinkedIn, or Facebook, or Twitter, or any of these centralized big tech platforms. If it can help, let Medium be a stepping stone to something that can truly be uniquely, and perpetually you. https://shellsharks.com/human-web?utm_source=flipboard&utm_content=ralfbeckercom%2Fmagazine%2FDECODED
