Read: This domain joined the IndieWeb!

Read This domain joined the IndieWeb! IndieWeb brid.gy webmention.io IndieAuth microformats2 834 words · 4 minute read by Edwin Wenink

I joined the IndieWeb!
What does that mean? For the long version, I recommend reading An Introduction to the IndieWeb. Here is a super short version:
1) This web domain now is my main online identity, and I can use my domain as a way of authentication with a) “rel=me” links b) and my domain name…

A stream-of-consciousness story of getting started on the IndieWeb

Read: On Reading Feeds #Indieweb Style

Read On Reading Feeds #Indieweb Style by Ton Zijlstra

This is a quick exploration of my current and preferred feed reading patterns. As part of my activities, for Day 2, the hack day, of IndieWebCamp Utrecht.
I currently use a stand alone RSS reader, which only consumes RSS feeds. I also experiment with TinyTinyRSS which is a self-hosted feed-grabber a…

Ton Zylstra talks about his feed reading habits as part of IndieWebCamp Utrecht.

In Cal Newport’s article on indie social media, he talks about the community-oriented feel of the IndieWeb. I also cover this subject in my new book: Microblogging: History, Practices and Tools. Check it out!

Read How I Twitter by Leo Laporte

As you may know I deactivated my half-million follower/bot twitter account last August. I don’t miss it at all except as a newsfeed.
Twitter practically killed RSS readers by providing a firehose of instantaneously “curated” news. With all its flaws, that firehose is useful for a variety of re…

via Chris Aldrich, a neat description of how Leo Laporte uses Twitter to collect links for his shows, some good workflow concepts that could be made part of other tools.

Read: Can Indie Social Media Save Us?

Read Can “Indie” Social Media Save Us?

Artisanal versions of Twitter and Facebook hope to keep the good while jettisoning the bad.

Cal Newport talks up Micro.blog and Mastodon as alternatives to Facebook.

Watched the Blazers-Warriors game last night, Steph Curry looked really good! I hope that Portland can rebound and make this a good series – or even win it!

My microblogging book is available on Amazon!

My book “Microblogging: History, Practices, and Tools” is now available on the Amazon Kindle Store! From the book page:

Many people are aware of microblogging, but how did microblogging get started? What are the practices of microblogging, and how is it different from regular blogging? Also, most people know about Twitter as a microblogging tool, but are there other tools available? This book describes the history of communication technology that led to microblogging, discusses common practices that apply to many tools, and an overview of five different microblogging tools you can use to start microblogging today!

Feedback is welcome!

How to avoid the corporate takeover of podcasting

In the past two weeks, there have been quite a lot of postings on the startup Luminary and its predatory practices toward podcast creators. Dave Winer, John Gruber, Marco Arment, and Smokey have voiced concerns, among others. The main benefit of Luminary is getting premium audio content for a fee, as well as regular (free) podcasts. The main concern, as I see it, is that Luminary is messing up the information from the free podcasts, and also hoping to capture listeners within their app/ecosystem, so that users would use Luminary as their podcast app of choice.

Content providers trying to lock in users is not a new concept. All of the major video streaming services (Netflix, Hulu, Amazon) are producing original content that can only be viewed through their service. Apple and Google through iTunes and Google Play are gateways that people access podcasts, and Apple has been called out before for controlling podcast distribution through its extensive directory.

To me, these are the two ways of avoiding the takeover:

Innovate on features and discoverability
Find ways to help podcast producers know more about their listeners

Marco Arment took a nice step on point 1 with his clip feature that he added to the Overcast podcast app. Other innovations might be to support more distributed directories to assist in podcast discovery (OPML inclusion, anyone?).

Progress on point 2 might be difficult (requiring collaboration, between podcast app makers and other groups of people), but it might be better to band together to create new standards/processes/protocols than to be “picked off” one by one.