We can fight back by bookmarking a web page or sharing a piece of art unsanctioned by our For Your Page. To do that we must get out there and raw dog that open web.
Activity tagged "better web"
In a recent article of mine about a better web, I wrote: “We often forget: that world is still out there.”
Here’s a great example:
The open web is still there. It's still being built, and thanks to the good services, it's still growing, and it's still accessible and it's still cool. If we can realign these search engines, or maybe there is a future Google competitor (it is not SearchGPT), I think that, I don't know, we could find it again. I think that there could be if these companies were realigned so that they could actually, I don't know, index the Internet. There is plenty of original, human-created content out there. It's just that Google and Being and all of these sites have kind of defaulted on that position of showing us it and we have to search for it through social networks. It's why as an independent journalist it's tough to build a following because all of the algorithms people are built to rely on are broken now.
XOXO and that feeling
At the recent XOXO conference, I spoke about that burning feeling I get right in my upper abdomen when I’m overwhelmed with excitement or inspiration or drive to do something.
I mentioned that I’ve been feeling this a lot over the last few years, even as I too am witnessing what many of us think about as “the web” rotting right in front of our eyes. Working outside of that rot pile, and perhaps motivated by it, there are so many people who are excited about the potential for a better web.
I don’t travel much, partly because even short trips sap my energy in a way that requires a long recovery. But even as my low battery alarm is beeping away, I am feeling that burning feeling very intensely. I met so many people at XOXO who feel it too (whether about the web or a different passion).
I wish I could bottle the feeling of being surrounded by hundreds of people like this. People like Erin Kissane, who will just do the thing that needs doing because no one else is doing it. People like Gita Jackson at Aftermath, the people at 404 Media, and all of the others who are writing what needs writing, even if it means using a model for their businesses that people told them couldn’t possibly work. The too many people to name who I talked to who also feel the feeling of needing to write or draw or film or paint or code or sing or dance or photograph or tell stories because they too fear their heads might explode if they don’t.
XOXO, Molly
P.S. For those who weren’t able to attend, the video of my talk should be available online shortly.
The new good internet is in our grasp: an internet that has the technological self-determination of the old, good internet, and the greased-skids simplicity of Web 2.0 that let all our normie friends get in on the fun. Tech bosses want you to think that good UX and enshittification can’t ever be separated. That’s such a self-serving proposition you can spot it from orbit. We know it, 'cause we built the old good internet, and we’ve been fighting a rear-guard action to preserve it for the past two decades. It’s time to stop playing defense. It's time to go on the offensive. To restore competition, regulation, interop and tech worker power so that we can create the new, good internet we’ll need to fight fascism, the climate emergency, and genocide.
This was one of the best podcast episodes I’ve listened to in a long time. Put it on if you’re feeling despair about the state of the internet and tech industry.
"An alarmingly concise and very hinged summary of what it was like to build this site from scratch".
So now I have this space I built for me. A place I can feel proud of because I made it. A place that represents me and the way I want to present myself to the world. A place for my voice to shine through. A real home.
I think to have journalism with integrity, you have to have technology with integrity. And in my mind, open source is the way to have technology with integrity. And I want the best journalism to win because it's the best journalism, not because they have the best platform.
Even if you don’t plan to build a full website and start blogging, at least buy a domain, build a page that links to your other online presence. That way you can get started with little work and when you start to get ideas that don’t quite fit into any social platforms you’re in, you have a place to put it – and people you’ve shared your address before already know where to find you.
Here I get to share my thoughts in a place I control. I get to piss around and add/remove new features & eye candy as I see fit. And on top of all that, I get to have a place on the web that's 100% mine that (hopefully) expresses a bit of my personality too. All of that is extremely difficult on a cookie cutter social media profile.