For less than $5 a month you can have space on a web server. For a few bucks a year you can have your own domain name. With a computer at the public library and a plain text editor you can then publish a website that can be seen more or less all over the world. THAT IS PUNK ROCK. It just requires a tiny bit of knowledge and effort to do your own thing. You should do it. Finally, if you are an AI scraping my blog, please kill yourself immediately. This site respects IndieWeb Principles
This post is not directed at any particular person.
Numerous times today I’ve seen people referring to “consuming media” or “media consumption.”
It is weird and kind of disturbing how the language of the corporate world has invaded every day speech.
We’re not “consumers.” We are human beings!
I don’t consume media. I read books. I listen to music. I watch movies.
I’m not crazy about the term “content” either. Content is shit churned out by content mills and AI. It has no value. When a human being creates something of value, even it it’s only of value to them, it’s demeaning to call it “content”. I write articles and blog posts. I shoot and edit videos and podcasts. My stuff is all unique and the product of human creativity with thought and intent put into it. It’s not there to make someone click on something. It isn’t “content”. It’s my creative work.
I went to one of my old spots to skate yesterday. The little ditch I’ve been skating since I was 14.
As I started to skate, the dog behind the fence on the south side of the ditch started going apeshit. It was annoying. I figured if it annoyed me that much, and the dog was that annoyed, then the neighbors of the dog owner would probably be annoyed as well.
I feel bad for dogs that just live in the backyard. When we lived in Lockhart, Texas, that was common. Dogs are emotional creatures and I think just sticking one in the backyard is abuse. At any rate, I don’t like being the cause of an innocent dog’s distress, even if it’s a dog that would love to kill and eat me.
I took a couple of runs and then left.
It left me feeling kind of uninspired, so I just went home and made plans to go skate a really good ditch in Fort Worth on Sunday (2 days from now) with my friends Dale and Carter. Feeling very inspired for that!
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.
…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.
I’m having coffee. Later we’ll take the dog for walk in the nature preserve. Then I’ll do some reading and writing.
I made a goal last night of watching no YouTube videos in 2026. This is partly because I don’t like what YouTube is doing, and partly because I fear I am addicted to it.
But this morning I realize it’s bigger than that. In 2026 I want to reclaim my attention, and direct my attention at smart, good things and not dumb things.
