I wrote this recently on my experimental blog on nekoweb. I think it really applies to personal blogs and sites in general.
Before I get started, this post refers a lot to a talk Ian MacKaye did at the Library of Congress over ten years ago. If you have about an hour and twenty-seven minutes, watch it. It’s a fascinating talk. I first watched this video about 8 years ago and it made a big impact on me. Every time I watch it I find that it applies to even more areas of endeavor.
If you don’t know who Ian is, clicky clicky.
However, rather than watching the whole thing now…
…watch these short clips – first the one about skateboarding and then the one where he talks about what punk really is…
…because even if you aren’t a skateboarder and aren’t into punk rock, chances are this is going to be relevant to you if you are on nekoweb.
OK. Have you watched the clips? Good. Because, you see, nekoweb and virtual places like it are, in fact, punk rock. They are that open space that Ian is talking about. Places like this – nekoweb – are inhabited the same way physical spaces were inhabited by punk rock in its early days. The same energy is here! The strongly raised middle finger to the corporate web. The creativity! The freedom to be a freak! (and I mean that only in the most positive way)
I’ve seen this phenomenon called numerous things. IndieWeb. Small Web. But I think it goes beyond “not being part of the corporate web.” It’s a fucking rebellion againt bland, safe, conservative, monetized, commoditized, bullshit, evil corporatism in general, and that is huge! THAT IS IMPORTANT.
I’m a librarian. The academic area of my profession has long been known as Library Science. My degree is Master of Library and Information Science. When I went to grad school, the school was called the School of Library and Information Science.About 10 or 15 years ago they changed it to the School of Information. Last month it was announced that it was being merged with some other schools dealing with computing. The University of North Texas is actually putting the term “Artificial Intelligence” in their library school’s name.
The academics of Library Science are missing it. Totally missing it. They have such a boner for AI and the money it represents that they don’t even know that THIS is actually the most interesting thing happening with regard to information! The same way record industry execs had no idea that punk rock would change the world, the academics seem unaware that this vibrant subculture is growing — a subculture that holds their values in contempt. This is where the creativity will reside in the future. It’s where it has always resided. In the shadows. I once said “the best skateboarding happens in the shadows” with regard to real skateboarding compared to corporate marketing “street league” bullshit skateboarding. My friend Chris really liked that quote, but the truth is the best of everything happens in the shadows, away from the spotlight. The pinks walk by without even noticing, because they never learned to see the world through a different lens.
Nothing interesting or beautiful ever comes from “the corporate”. The pinks are great at co-opting, stealing, commodifying for the un-clued-in masses, but they never create anything really great. Corporate skateboarding is shit. Corporate music is shit. All the best stuff always comes from a true counterculture.
Congratulations, beautiful weirdos! You are in the right place!
The biggest threat to cool things is discovery by the masses and the subsequent theft/commodification/marketing of that thing. It will be interesting to see what happens with the small web with regard to service like this. I think that ultimately just renting your own server space and building your own thing is probably best.