{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mstdn.social/@mike_k/112889498748013734",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>\"These convolutions are niche, techno-aristocratic IndieWeb fever dreams which discourage and alienate those desperate to break from corporate web-silos and start anew on a simpler, more human web. Ignore them.\"</p><p><a href=\"https://mstdn.social/tags/Indieweb\">#<span>Indieweb</span></a> \"levels\" are a turn off to be sure.</p>",
        "text": "\"These convolutions are niche, techno-aristocratic IndieWeb fever dreams which discourage and alienate those desperate to break from corporate web-silos and start anew on a simpler, more human web. Ignore them.\"\n\n#Indieweb \"levels\" are a turn off to be sure."
    },
    "published": "2024-08-02T00:04:08+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41811947",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mastodon.social/@xavdid/112889265103365759",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>I also added fediverse creator tags to the site, so that'll hopefully pop up now on this link: <a href=\"https://david.reviews/games/live-a-live/\"><span>https://</span><span>david.reviews/games/live-a-liv</span><span>e/</span></a></p><p><a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/SmallWeb\">#<span>SmallWeb</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/videogames\">#<span>videogames</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/reviews\">#<span>reviews</span></a></p>",
        "text": "I also added fediverse creator tags to the site, so that'll hopefully pop up now on this link: https://david.reviews/games/live-a-live/\n\n#SmallWeb #indieweb #videogames #reviews"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T23:04:43+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41811658",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mastodon.social/@xavdid/112889250492814027",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>This week on david.reviews, I added filters to my big review lists! </p><p>In keeping with the goal of shipping the absolute minimum JS,  the filtered pages are totally separate, with a control that makes it seem like you're moving between them. </p><p>It works great on desktop and decently on mobile (where page loads are more noticeable). May revisit, but am very pleased right now</p><p>Check them out: <a href=\"https://david.reviews/movies/awarded/\"><span>https://</span><span>david.reviews/movies/awarded/</span><span></span></a></p><p><a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/SmallWeb\">#<span>SmallWeb</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/reviews\">#<span>reviews</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/movies\">#<span>movies</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/videogames\">#<span>videogames</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/books\">#<span>books</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/webdev\">#<span>webdev</span></a></p>",
        "text": "This week on david.reviews, I added filters to my big review lists! \n\nIn keeping with the goal of shipping the absolute minimum JS,  the filtered pages are totally separate, with a control that makes it seem like you're moving between them. \n\nIt works great on desktop and decently on mobile (where page loads are more noticeable). May revisit, but am very pleased right now\n\nCheck them out: https://david.reviews/movies/awarded/\n\n#SmallWeb #indieweb #reviews #movies #videogames #books #webdev"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T23:01:00+00:00",
    "photo": [
        "https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/889/249/972/066/500/original/3d704a758ad6dfee.jpeg"
    ],
    "post-type": "photo",
    "_id": "41811659",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mastodon.online/@brentlineberry/112888513730123727",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>\u201cworking in a similar fashion to the highly successful IndieWeb Carnival, where someone selects a film each month, and invites others to reply with their thoughts &amp; opinions on that month\u2019s movie. Followed by a round-up post by that month\u2019s curator.\u201d</p><p>I like this idea and am tempted to participate.</p><p><a href=\"https://marksuth.dev/posts/2024/07/indieweb-movie-club\"><span>https://</span><span>marksuth.dev/posts/2024/07/ind</span><span>ieweb-movie-club</span></a></p><p><a href=\"https://mastodon.online/tags/Indieweb\">#<span>Indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://mastodon.online/tags/Movies\">#<span>Movies</span></a></p>",
        "text": "\u201cworking in a similar fashion to the highly successful IndieWeb Carnival, where someone selects a film each month, and invites others to reply with their thoughts & opinions on that month\u2019s movie. Followed by a round-up post by that month\u2019s curator.\u201d\n\nI like this idea and am tempted to participate.\n\nhttps://marksuth.dev/posts/2024/07/indieweb-movie-club\n\n#Indieweb #Movies"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T19:53:38+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41810338",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mas.to/@noc/112888069049255515",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>who\u2019s out here doing <a href=\"https://mas.to/tags/blaugust2024\">#<span>blaugust2024</span></a> ? i\u2019m setting up my <a href=\"https://mas.to/tags/rss\">#<span>rss</span></a> reader (moving back to omnivore from readwise/reader) and i wanna follow youuuuu</p><p><a href=\"https://mas.to/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://mas.to/tags/blogging\">#<span>blogging</span></a></p>",
        "text": "who\u2019s out here doing #blaugust2024 ? i\u2019m setting up my #rss reader (moving back to omnivore from readwise/reader) and i wanna follow youuuuu\n\n#indieweb #blogging"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T18:00:33+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41809556",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

IndieWeb Movie Club: August 2024 - The Matrix (1999)

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2024-08-01 17:02:00",
    "url": "https://marksuth.dev/posts/2024/08/indieweb-movie-club-august-2024-the-matrix-1999",
    "category": [
        "Article"
    ],
    "name": "IndieWeb Movie Club: August 2024 - The Matrix (1999)",
    "content": {
        "text": "The inaugural pick for IndieWeb Movie Club is a somewhat easy option, The Matrix (1999).\nAs described yesterday, IndieWeb Movie Club is a way to share thoughts and opinions on ...",
        "html": "<p>The inaugural pick for IndieWeb Movie Club is a somewhat easy option, The Matrix (1999).</p>\n<p>As described yesterday, IndieWeb Movie Club is a way to share thoughts and opinions on ...</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Mark Sutherland",
        "url": "https://marksuth.dev/",
        "photo": "https://marksuth.dev/images/avatar.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "41808669",
    "_source": "6127",
    "_is_read": false
}

Choosing Tools

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2024-07-31 23:22-0700",
    "url": "http://tantek.com/2024/213/b1/choosing-tools",
    "syndication": [
        "https://news.indieweb.org/en/tantek.com/2024/213/b1/choosing-tools"
    ],
    "name": "Choosing Tools",
    "content": {
        "text": "One of the biggest challenges with tools for making things, even just for the web, is there are so many to choose from. Nearly every tool has a learning curve to overcome before being able to use it efficiently. With proficiency, comes the ability to pursue more efficient use of tools, and find limitations, papercuts, or outright bugs in the tools. If it\u2019s an open source tool or you know its creator you can file or submit a bug report or feature request accordingly, which might result in an improved tool, eventually, or not. You have to decide whether any such tool is good enough, with tolerable faults, or if they\u2019re bad enough to consider switching tools, or so bad that you are compelled to make your own.\n\n\nThis post is my entry for the \n \n  2024 July IndieWeb Carnival theme of tools, \nhosted by James G.,  \nand also syndicated to IndieNews.\n\nCriteria\n\nI have many criteria for how I choose the tools I use, but nearly all of them come down to maximizing trust, efficiency, and focus, while minimizing frustration, overhead, and distraction. Some of these are baseline criteria for whether I will use a tool or not, and some are comparative criteria which help me decide which tool I choose from several options.\n\nTrustworthy tools should be:\nPredictable \u2014 it should be clear what the tool will do\nDependable \u2014 the tool should \u201cjust work\u201d as close to 100% of the time as possible\nActing as you direct it \u2014 the tool should do exactly what you direct it to do, and not what other parties, such as its creator or service provider, direct it to do\nForgiving \u2014 if you make a mistake, you should be able to undo or otherwise correct your mistake\nRobust enough to keep working even when not used for a while\nEfficient tools should:\nBe quick and easy to start using\nBe responsive, with as low a latency as possible, ideally zero perceptible latency\nReduce the work necessary to complete a task, or complete multiple tasks with same amount of work otherwise\nReduce the time necessary to complete a task, or complete multiple tasks in the same amount of time otherwise\nBe quick and easy to shut down, or otherwise put away\nUse little or no energy when not in use\nFocused and focusing tools should\nProvide clear features for accomplishing your goals\nEncourage or reinforce focusing on your tasks and goals\nNever interrupt you when you are using the tool to accomplish a task\nBad tools can have many sources of frustration, and nearly all of these involve inversions of the desirable qualities noted above. Frustrating tools are less predictable, work only some of the time, randomly do things because some other party directed them to (like auto-upgrade), ask you to confirm before doing actions because they have no capability to undo, or stop working for no particular reason.\n\n\nInefficient tools take too long to be \u201cready\u201d to use, are unresponsive of otherwise have a delay when you provide input before they respond, cause you more work to complete a task, or make you take more time than simpler older tools would, require waiting for them to shut down, or use energy even when you are not doing anything with them.\n\nUnfocused tools have many (nearly) useless features that have nothing to do with your goals, encourage or distract you with actions irrelevant to your tasks or goals, or interrupt you when you are working on a task.\n\nBaseline Writing Tools\n\nExamples of tools that satisfy all the above:\n\nPencil (with eraser) and paper\nA typewriter (ideally with a whiteout band) and paper\n\nThat\u2019s it, those are the baseline. When considering an alternative tool for similar tasks, such as writing, see if it measures up to those.\n\nTools I Like Using\n\nFor myself, I prefer to use: \n\n\nBBEdit \nfor writing, which requires near zero maintenance for years of reliable use, for both prose (and markup) for my posts, and code for my personal website\n\nMediaWiki based wikis for collaborative text authoring like on:\nindieweb.org\nwiki.mozilla.org\nwww.w3.org/wiki/\nand of course Wikipedia\n\n\nTools I Tolerate Using\n\nI do also use the iOS and MacOS \u201cNotes\u201d app notes to sometimes write parts of posts, and sync text notes across devices, both of which have unfortunately become just frustrating enough to be barely tolerable to use.\n \niOS Notes (as of iOS 17.5) are buggy when you scroll them and try to add to or edit the middle of notes. MacOS Notes have a very annoying feature where it tries to autocomplete names of people in your contacts when you type even just the first letter of their name or an @-sign, when you rarely if ever want that. MacOS Notes also forces anything that starts with a # (hash or pound) sign into a weird auto-linked hashtag that is nearly useless and breaks text selection.\n\n\nThere are no options or preferences to turn off or disable these annoying supposedly \u201chelpful\u201d automatic features.\n\n\nThere\u2019s definitely an opportunity for a simple, reliable, easy to sync across devices, plain text notes application to replace iOS and MacOS notes, that doesn\u2019t require signing up to some third-party service that will inevitably shut down or sell your information to advertisers or companies training their LLMs or leak your information due to poor security practices.\n\n\nSimilarly I also frequently use Gmail and Google Docs in my day-to-day work, and I\u2019ve grown relatively used to their lagginess, limitations, and weird user interface quirks. I use them as necessary for work and collaboration and otherwise do my best to minimize time spent in them.\n\nBetter Tools\n\nI have focused primarily on writing tools, however I have made many distinct choices for personal web development tools as well, from writing mostly directly in HTML and CSS, to bits in PHP and JavaScript, rather than frameworks that demand regular updates that I cannot trust to not break my code. I myself try to build tools that aspire to the criteria listed above.\n\n\nAt a high level, new tools should provide at least one of three things:\n\nHigher efficiency and/or quality: tools should help you do what you already could do, but  faster, better, cheaper, and more precisely\nDemocratization: tools should help more people do what only a few could do before\nNovelty: tools should help you do new things that were either impossible before or not even imagined\n\nMostly I prefer to focus on the first of those, as there are plenty of \u201cobvious\u201d improvements to be made beyond existing tools, and such improvements have much more predictable effects. While democratization of tools is nearly always a good thing, I can think of a small handful of examples that demonstrate that sometimes it is not. That\u2019s worth a separate post.\n\nLastly, tools that help accomplish novel tasks that were previously impossible or not even imagined perhaps have the greatest risks and uncertainty, and thus I am ok with postponing exploring them for now. \n\n\nI wrote a few general thoughts on what tools and innovations to pursue and considerations thereof in my prior post: \nResponsible Inventing.",
        "html": "<p>\nOne of the biggest challenges with tools for making things, even just for the web, is there are so many to choose from. Nearly every tool has a learning curve to overcome before being able to use it efficiently. With proficiency, comes the ability to pursue more efficient use of tools, and find limitations, papercuts, or outright bugs in the tools. If it\u2019s an open source tool or you know its creator you can file or submit a bug report or feature request accordingly, which might result in an improved tool, eventually, or not. You have to decide whether any such tool is good enough, with tolerable faults, or if they\u2019re bad enough to consider switching tools, or so bad that you are compelled to make your own.\n</p>\n<p>\nThis post is my entry for the \n<a href=\"https://jamesg.blog/2024/07/01/indieweb-carnival-tools/\"> \n  2024 July IndieWeb Carnival theme of tools</a>, \nhosted by <a href=\"https://jamesg.blog/\" class=\"h-card\">James <abbr>G.</abbr></a>,  \nand also <a class=\"u-syndication\" href=\"https://news.indieweb.org/en/tantek.com/2024/213/b1/choosing-tools\">syndicated to IndieNews</a>.\n</p>\n<h2>Criteria</h2>\n<p>\nI have many criteria for how I choose the tools I use, but nearly all of them come down to maximizing trust, efficiency, and focus, while minimizing frustration, overhead, and distraction. Some of these are baseline criteria for whether I will use a tool or not, and some are comparative criteria which help me decide which tool I choose from several options.\n</p>\n<p>Trustworthy tools should be:</p>\n<ul><li>Predictable \u2014 it should be clear what the tool will do</li>\n<li>Dependable \u2014 the tool should \u201cjust work\u201d as close to 100% of the time as possible</li>\n<li>Acting as you direct it \u2014 the tool should do exactly what you direct it to do, and not what other parties, such as its creator or service provider, direct it to do</li>\n<li>Forgiving \u2014 if you make a mistake, you should be able to undo or otherwise correct your mistake</li>\n<li>Robust enough to keep working even when not used for a while</li>\n</ul><p>Efficient tools should:</p>\n<ul><li>Be quick and easy to start using</li>\n<li>Be responsive, with as low a latency as possible, ideally zero perceptible latency</li>\n<li>Reduce the work necessary to complete a task, or complete multiple tasks with same amount of work otherwise</li>\n<li>Reduce the time necessary to complete a task, or complete multiple tasks in the same amount of time otherwise</li>\n<li>Be quick and easy to shut down, or otherwise put away</li>\n<li>Use little or no energy when not in use</li>\n</ul><p>Focused and focusing tools should</p>\n<ul><li>Provide clear features for accomplishing your goals</li>\n<li>Encourage or reinforce focusing on your tasks and goals</li>\n<li>Never interrupt you when you are using the tool to accomplish a task</li>\n</ul><p>Bad tools can have many sources of frustration, and nearly all of these involve inversions of the desirable qualities noted above. Frustrating tools are less predictable, work only some of the time, randomly do things because some other party directed them to (like auto-upgrade), ask you to confirm before doing actions because they have no capability to undo, or stop working for no particular reason.\n</p>\n<p>\nInefficient tools take too long to be \u201cready\u201d to use, are unresponsive of otherwise have a delay when you provide input before they respond, cause you more work to complete a task, or make you take more time than simpler older tools would, require waiting for them to shut down, or use energy even when you are not doing anything with them.\n</p>\n<p>Unfocused tools have many (nearly) useless features that have nothing to do with your goals, encourage or distract you with actions irrelevant to your tasks or goals, or interrupt you when you are working on a task.\n</p>\n<h2>Baseline Writing Tools</h2>\n<p>\nExamples of tools that satisfy all the above:\n</p>\n<ul><li>Pencil (with eraser) and paper</li>\n<li>A typewriter (ideally with a whiteout band) and paper</li>\n</ul><p>\nThat\u2019s it, those are the baseline. When considering an alternative tool for similar tasks, such as writing, see if it measures up to those.\n</p>\n<h2>Tools I Like Using</h2>\n<p>\nFor myself, I prefer to use: \n</p>\n<ul><li>\n<a href=\"http://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html\">BBEdit</a> \nfor writing, which requires near zero maintenance for years of reliable use, for both prose (and markup) for my posts, and code for my personal website</li>\n<li>\n<a href=\"https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki\">MediaWiki</a> based wikis for collaborative text authoring like on:\n<ul><li><a href=\"https://indieweb.org/\">indieweb.org</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://wiki.mozilla.org/\">wiki.mozilla.org</a></li>\n<li><a href=\"https://www.w3.org/wiki/\">www.w3.org/wiki/</a></li>\n<li>and of course <a href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/\">Wikipedia</a>\n</li>\n</ul></li>\n</ul><h2>Tools I Tolerate Using</h2>\n<p>\nI do also use the iOS and MacOS \u201cNotes\u201d app notes to sometimes write parts of posts, and sync text notes across devices, both of which have unfortunately become just frustrating enough to be barely tolerable to use.\n</p> \n<p>iOS Notes (as of iOS 17.5) are buggy when you scroll them and try to add to or edit the middle of notes. MacOS Notes have a very annoying feature where it tries to autocomplete names of people in your contacts when you type even just the first letter of their name or an @-sign, when you rarely if ever want that. MacOS Notes also forces anything that starts with a # (hash or pound) sign into a weird auto-linked hashtag that is nearly useless and breaks text selection.\n</p>\n<p>\nThere are no options or preferences to turn off or disable these annoying supposedly \u201chelpful\u201d automatic features.\n</p>\n<p>\nThere\u2019s definitely an opportunity for a simple, reliable, easy to sync across devices, plain text notes application to replace iOS and MacOS notes, that doesn\u2019t require signing up to some third-party service that will inevitably shut down or sell your information to advertisers or companies training their LLMs or leak your information due to poor security practices.\n</p>\n<p>\nSimilarly I also frequently use Gmail and Google Docs in my day-to-day work, and I\u2019ve grown relatively used to their lagginess, limitations, and weird user interface quirks. I use them as necessary for work and collaboration and otherwise do my best to minimize time spent in them.\n</p>\n<h2>Better Tools</h2>\n<p>\nI have focused primarily on writing tools, however I have made many distinct choices for personal web development tools as well, from writing mostly directly in HTML and CSS, to bits in PHP and JavaScript, rather than frameworks that demand regular updates that I cannot trust to not break my code. I myself try to build tools that aspire to the criteria listed above.\n</p>\n<p>\nAt a high level, new tools should provide at least one of three things:\n</p>\n<ol><li>Higher efficiency and/or quality: tools should help you do what you already could do, but  faster, better, cheaper, and more precisely</li>\n<li>Democratization: tools should help more people do what only a few could do before</li>\n<li>Novelty: tools should help you do new things that were either impossible before or not even imagined</li>\n</ol><p>\nMostly I prefer to focus on the first of those, as there are plenty of \u201cobvious\u201d improvements to be made beyond existing tools, and such improvements have much more predictable effects. While democratization of tools is nearly always a good thing, I can think of a small handful of examples that demonstrate that sometimes it is not. That\u2019s worth a separate post.\n</p>\n<p>Lastly, tools that help accomplish novel tasks that were previously impossible or not even imagined perhaps have the greatest risks and uncertainty, and thus I am ok with postponing exploring them for now. \n</p>\n<p>\nI wrote a few general thoughts on what tools and innovations to pursue and considerations thereof in my prior post: \n<a href=\"https://tantek.com/2024/180/b1/responsible-inventing\">Responsible Inventing</a>.\n</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Tantek \u00c7elik",
        "url": "https://tantek.com/",
        "photo": "https://aperture-media.p3k.io/tantek.com/acfddd7d8b2c8cf8aa163651432cc1ec7eb8ec2f881942dca963d305eeaaa6b8.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "41807136",
    "_source": "1",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://500.social/@RDK/112887130020075045",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>A new instance means a new introduction. Hi, I'm RDK! I'm a blind Apple entusiast. I write primarily about indie apps, workflows, accessibility, and much more on my blog from the perspective of a screen reader user.</p><p>You will also find several categories, such as blogging and weeknotes.</p><p><a href=\"https://justtext.net\"><span>https://</span><span>justtext.net</span><span></span></a></p><p><a href=\"https://500.social/tags/introduction\">#<span>introduction</span></a> <a href=\"https://500.social/tags/accessibility\">#<span>accessibility</span></a> <a href=\"https://500.social/tags/apps\">#<span>apps</span></a> <a href=\"https://500.social/tags/indieWeb\">#<span>indieWeb</span></a> <a href=\"https://500.social/tags/blogging\">#<span>blogging</span></a> <a href=\"https://500.social/tags/writing\">#<span>writing</span></a></p>",
        "text": "A new instance means a new introduction. Hi, I'm RDK! I'm a blind Apple entusiast. I write primarily about indie apps, workflows, accessibility, and much more on my blog from the perspective of a screen reader user.\n\nYou will also find several categories, such as blogging and weeknotes.\n\nhttps://justtext.net\n\n#introduction #accessibility #apps #indieWeb #blogging #writing"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T14:01:44+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41807060",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mastodon.social/@macula/112886909257338224",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>It seems like these days everyone wants to train their AI on your content. Not surprising that more and more creators start looking for better ways to share their work. Read our latest guide and learn how to join <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/IndieWeb\">#<span>IndieWeb</span></a> and <a href=\"https://mastodon.social/tags/ownyourdata\">#<span>ownyourdata</span></a>: <a href=\"https://buff.ly/3S2NOPM\"><span>https://</span><span>buff.ly/3S2NOPM</span><span></span></a></p>",
        "text": "It seems like these days everyone wants to train their AI on your content. Not surprising that more and more creators start looking for better ways to share their work. Read our latest guide and learn how to join #IndieWeb and #ownyourdata: https://buff.ly/3S2NOPM"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T13:05:36+00:00",
    "photo": [
        "https://files.mastodon.social/media_attachments/files/112/886/909/141/914/929/original/acfd20693b0010b4.png"
    ],
    "post-type": "photo",
    "_id": "41806523",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://bolha.us/@guites/112886685963467294",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>feito mais um puxadinho no meu site <img alt=\":cobrinha:\" height=\"16\" src=\"https://files.mastodon.social/cache/custom_emojis/images/000/483/709/original/61d72029ce83c371.gif\" title=\":cobrinha:\" width=\"16\" /></p><p>lhes apresento a p\u00e1gina whats up? <a href=\"https://guites.dev/whatsup/\"><span>https://</span><span>guites.dev/whatsup/</span><span></span></a> , fazendo uma chupeta no rss da bolha</p><p><a href=\"https://bolha.us/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a></p>",
        "text": "feito mais um puxadinho no meu site \n\nlhes apresento a p\u00e1gina whats up? https://guites.dev/whatsup/ , fazendo uma chupeta no rss da bolha\n\n#indieweb"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T12:08:49+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41805998",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://mstdn.social/@the_cheis/112886486531782097",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Por cierto, dejo un art\u00edculo que publiqu\u00e9 hace m\u00e1s de un a\u00f1o en el blog, uno de los primeros y m\u00e1s grandes.  En \u00e9l hac\u00eda algunas reflexiones sobre la sociedad, su din\u00e1mica y la salud mental teniendo en cuenta la tecnolog\u00eda y la vida digital. Ah\u00ed ya hac\u00eda referencia a Kaczynski o al psiquiatra Thomas Szasz.</p><p>Una sociedad ansiosa y deprimida</p><p><a href=\"https://mstdn.social/tags/sociedad\">#<span>sociedad</span></a> <a href=\"https://mstdn.social/tags/blog\">#<span>blog</span></a> <a href=\"https://mstdn.social/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a></p><p><a href=\"https://thecheis.com/2023/04/01/una-sociedad-ansiosa-y-deprimida/\"><span>https://</span><span>thecheis.com/2023/04/01/una-so</span><span>ciedad-ansiosa-y-deprimida/</span></a></p>",
        "text": "Por cierto, dejo un art\u00edculo que publiqu\u00e9 hace m\u00e1s de un a\u00f1o en el blog, uno de los primeros y m\u00e1s grandes.  En \u00e9l hac\u00eda algunas reflexiones sobre la sociedad, su din\u00e1mica y la salud mental teniendo en cuenta la tecnolog\u00eda y la vida digital. Ah\u00ed ya hac\u00eda referencia a Kaczynski o al psiquiatra Thomas Szasz.\n\nUna sociedad ansiosa y deprimida\n\n#sociedad #blog #indieweb\n\nhttps://thecheis.com/2023/04/01/una-sociedad-ansiosa-y-deprimida/"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T11:18:05+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41805554",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://tilde.zone/@garrett/112884894076089952",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>How are people getting into the Small Web and related movements these days (aside from fediverse)?</p><p>I missed the whole Yesterweb thing and just finished reading their website. </p><p>Is Neocities still a common platform for progressive netizens? Should I just self host? Are we going back to web rings? What about Gemini browsers? </p><p>Please help, lol. <img alt=\":blue_heart_pixel:\" height=\"16\" src=\"https://files.mastodon.social/cache/custom_emojis/images/000/247/485/original/e3cbc02923aa5f4d.png\" title=\":blue_heart_pixel:\" width=\"16\" /></p><p>What are things looking like for 2024/2025?</p><p><a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/SmallWeb\">#<span>SmallWeb</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/personalweb\">#<span>personalweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/webrevival\">#<span>webrevival</span></a></p>",
        "text": "How are people getting into the Small Web and related movements these days (aside from fediverse)?\n\nI missed the whole Yesterweb thing and just finished reading their website. \n\nIs Neocities still a common platform for progressive netizens? Should I just self host? Are we going back to web rings? What about Gemini browsers? \n\nPlease help, lol. \n\nWhat are things looking like for 2024/2025?\n\n#SmallWeb #indieweb #personalweb #webrevival"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T04:33:07+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41803290",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://fosstodon.org/@jnv/112884689334166506",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>My July Summary | Welcome to BASIC</p><p>This felt longer than last month as I typed this post. </p><p><a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/blog\">#<span>blog</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/blogging\">#<span>blogging</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/TVShows\">#<span>TVShows</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/movies\">#<span>movies</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/anime\">#<span>anime</span></a> </p><p><a href=\"https://basic.bearblog.dev/my-july-summary/\"><span>https://</span><span>basic.bearblog.dev/my-july-sum</span><span>mary/</span></a></p>",
        "text": "My July Summary | Welcome to BASIC\n\nThis felt longer than last month as I typed this post. \n\n#blog #indieweb #blogging #TVShows #movies #anime \n\nhttps://basic.bearblog.dev/my-july-summary/"
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T03:41:02+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41802983",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://uxbrad.com/activity/20240731/214733/",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>After months of trying to find time to participate in the IndieWeb Carnival, I finally managed to eek out a post for the July topic of \u2018Tools\u2019. So check out what I wrote about the tools I use as a UX designer in <a href=\"https://uxbrad.com/posts/instruments-for-empathy\">Instruments for Empathy</a>.</p>",
        "text": "After months of trying to find time to participate in the IndieWeb Carnival, I finally managed to eek out a post for the July topic of \u2018Tools\u2019. So check out what I wrote about the tools I use as a UX designer in Instruments for Empathy."
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T01:47:33+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41802984",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://fed.brid.gy/r/https://uxbrad.com/posts/instruments-for-empathy/",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>If someone were to ask me what tools I use to do my job, the answer might surprise some of you. Even 20 years deep into this field, I still encounter <strong>misunderstandings about what UX designers actually do</strong>. Some think our work revolves around creating wireframes and user flows or making things look aesthetic, but it goes much deeper than that.</p><br /><p>UX design is about understanding human behavior, motivations, and needs. It\u2019s most certainly not about the software or gadgets we use but how we use those technologies to meet those motivations and needs.</p><br /><p>As a UX designer, I rely heavily on tools that <strong>help me gain insight and understanding of people</strong>. These tools typically fall into several broad categories, and they consistently and relentlessly change. What remains constant, however, is the goal of our work - to empathize with users and create solutions, through design, that truly address their pain points and enhance their experiences.</p><br /><p>The tools I use can be segmented into those we use for research, facilitation, capturing conversations, analyzing data, and communicating concepts and ideas.</p><br /><p><strong>1. Research</strong></p><br /><p>Research is how we gain empathy, understand behavior and make sense of what people\u2019s needs and desires are. The two biggest tools needed here are:</p><br /><p><strong>Expanding Knowledge</strong></p><br /><p>In the realm of Research, we focus on gaining empathy and understanding user behavior. Research tools help us uncover the needs and desires of our users, allowing us to design with intention and clarity. What\u2019s most useful here are tools that keep me informed of new methods, processes, other research and ways to manage that knowledge.</p><br /><ul><li><br /></li><li><strong>Books</strong>. I can\u2019t read enough of them. My wish list contains enough reading for 100 people for the next 100 years. I\u2019m not sure how I\u2019m going to tackle that. Classic\u2019s like Don\u2019t Make Me Think to more recent books like the <a href=\"https://dschool.stanford.edu/books\">Stanford d.school\u2019s collection</a> are books I proudly display on my bookshelf.<br /></li><li><strong>Feed Reader</strong>. Staying current is crucial. Tools like <a href=\"https://tt-rss.org/\">Tiny Tiny RSS</a> or <a href=\"https://www.inoreader.com\">Inoreader</a> help aggregate industry news, blogs, and academic papers in one place. I like to see what people have to say on the fediverse and avoid corporate platforms like I do people.<br /></li><li><strong>Access to Research</strong>. There\u2019s a lot of it out there and in much more depth than you would normally see on the internet where a lot of articles are a bit frivolous or just reiterate what everyone has been saying for 20+ years. Tools like <a href=\"https://www.researcher-app.com/\">Researcher App</a>, or <a href=\"https://discovery.researcher.life/\">R Discovery</a> have both come in handy.<br /></li><li><strong>Conferences &amp; Webinars</strong>. There are so many free and actually good conferences and webinars. I\u2019ve been hooked on accessibility ones from <a href=\"https://www.tpgi.com/\">TPGi</a> and spend a good bit of my time on <a href=\"https://www.linkedin.com/learning\">LinkedIn Learning</a>.<br /></li><li><strong>Knowledge Management</strong>. What\u2019s to be done with all that knowledge, especially if you want to keep it handy? There\u2019s always <a href=\"https://logseq.com/\">LogSeq</a> or <a href=\"https://obsidian.md/\">Obsidian</a> (which I\u2019m quite a fan of).<br /></li></ul><br /><p><strong>Recruitment</strong></p><br /><p>Finding the right people to talk to and to share their experiences ensures our research studies are both relevant and insightful.</p><br /><ul><li><br /></li><li><strong>Email</strong>. Sometimes you just have to reach out to people. I\u2019d recommend one that\u2019s not a Gmail one.<br /></li><li><strong>Social Media</strong>. Platforms like <a href=\"https://joinmastodon.org/\">Mastodon</a> or <a href=\"https://reddit.com\">Reddit</a> can help reach a wide group of people pretty quickly, and there\u2019s no shortage of people that want to share their opinions and experiences.<br /></li><li><strong>Professional Recruitment Services</strong>. Services like <a href=\"https://www.userinterviews.com/\">User Interviews</a> or <a href=\"https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https://www.respondent.io/&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiIsfKRudGHAxV1rokEHcBuABYQFnoECBgQAQ&amp;usg=AOvVaw2FAPDA1RtTeajGEGTLTZBB\">Respondent</a> can streamline the recruitment process if you\u2019re looking for some very specific groups of people, want a lot of people and have the money to do it.<br /></li><li><strong>Appointment Management</strong>. Tools like <a href=\"https://cal.com/\">Cal</a> or <a href=\"https://calendly.com/\">Calendly</a> make scheduling interviews almost enjoyable.<br /></li></ul><br /><p><strong>Capturing Conversations &amp; Behavior</strong></p><br /><ul><li><br /></li><li><strong>Notetaking</strong>. Whether it\u2019s pen &amp; paper or a digital solution, taking notes is critical. I\u2019ve been using <a href=\"https://getrocketbook.com\">Rocketbook</a> for ages after trying basically every digital one there is. Not having to charge a pen or tablet comes in handy but using something as simple as pen and paper helps to be more present and connected in conversations.<br /></li><li><strong>Audio Recorder</strong>. It\u2019s impossible to write down everything. Having a complete record of the conversation, every small detail and quote, means you have the data to go back to. There are plenty of physical recorders if you want to look like a reporter, like the <a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/Zoom-H1essential-Accessibility-Microphones-Microphone/dp/B0CSL4PXDV\">Zoom H1</a> but really any phone app works well. I\u2019m fond of <a href=\"https://github.com/FossifyOrg/Voice-Recorder\">Fossify Voice Recorder</a> for Android<br /></li><li><strong>Transcription</strong>. You can either listen back to all the audio you\u2019re recorded and transcribe it yourself with something like <a href=\"https://github.com/oTranscribe/oTranscribe\">oTranscribe</a> or you can let a transcription service like <a href=\"https://uxbrad.com/posts/instruments-for-empathy/otter.ai\">Otter</a> take a stab at it.<br /></li><li><strong>Video Camera</strong>. Observing users in their natural habitat for Ethnography studies or capturing users interacting with a mobile device requires some video capturing. Your phone\u2019s camera is often sufficient for recording usability tests or contextual inquiries but I\u2019ve found that a <a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/AutoFocus-Microphone-NexiGo-Streaming-Compatible/dp/B08931JJLV/ref=sr_1_3_pp?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.fIgFy8iIPhFMJTGax16GPYcog3gcEigT30oBE_6cJlUVXOS0ZpQActa06v06jkQai1Z6FStn-KPOT9mPDFa468lpv3L8d4NHF4b4mTj2Q1iYC1tHvBb5bMalP7hvL9t12MSxOWAuJNNP1qNfUuB87f_y327LOdedwmKIO5E_fcNZcS53VkWT6PtCkwd2ydZHr4dcZEkcp335p0r8UURg9c3uH0v0qgKsGAwPAIG53V4.Q8rUfr1IFYx6B3CcPHOk5hgPnnkV1QF5irPmNR-4TXg&amp;dib_tag=se&amp;keywords=webcam&amp;mfadid=adm&amp;qid=1722471582&amp;sr=8-3\">cheap webcam</a> and a <a href=\"https://www.amazon.com/MamaWin-Lightweight-Extendable-Logitech-Devices/dp/B0CCKY47VM\">tripod</a> will do the trick.<br /></li><li><strong>Screen Recorder</strong>. A tool like <a href=\"https://obsproject.com/\">OBS Studio</a>, the de facto standard among streamers, is a great way to capture lots of sources. This will let you get both the screen and an external camera at the same time. The built-in screen recording features on your OS can sometimes do in a pinch.<br /></li><li><strong>Eye Tracker</strong>. Whether it\u2019s a $20 <a href=\"https://www.hackster.io/news/cheap-open-source-eye-tracking-you-can-build-yourself-7f4575d2d40f\">DIY rig</a> or $4,000 professional one like the <a href=\"https://www.tobii.com/products/eye-trackers/wearables/tobii-pro-glasses-3\">Tobii Pro Glasses 3</a>, eye tracking can reveal a good bit about what users are perceiving and where they get fixated.<br /></li><li><strong>Biometrics Recorder</strong>. Monitoring physiological responses can provide deep insights into user reactions and engagement levels - yes, that stupid mega menu can cause a bit of a panic. Someone needs to work on some better open source tools for this but a tool like <a href=\"https://pulsoid.net/\">Pulsoid</a> can integrate into OBS.<br /></li><li><strong>Site Capture</strong>. <a href=\"https://posthog.com/pricing\">PostHog</a> or <a href=\"https://www.hotjar.com/\">HotJar</a> can record website interactions, providing heatmaps and session recordings when you can\u2019t be there in person.<br /></li><li><strong>Analytics</strong>. <a href=\"https://awstats.sourceforge.io/\">AwStats</a> or <a href=\"https://uxbrad.com/posts/instruments-for-empathy/google.com/analytics\">Google Analytics</a> offer quantitative data to track user behavior and performance metrics.<br /></li></ul><br /><p><strong>2. Facilitating Conversations</strong></p><br /><p>Beyond tools, the right mindset is essential. Facilitation skills ensure that research sessions are productive and that participants feel safe to share their honest opinions and experiences.</p><br /><ul><li><br /></li><li><strong>A Positive and Encouraging Environment</strong>. Creating a space where participants feel comfortable and valued is crucial for effective UX research. Digitally, that might be about doing activities that help people open up. Physically, that could be a creative space with Legos and comfy chairs (yeh, I\u2019m that person). Both environments should give a voice to all of the participants.<br /></li><li><strong>Sticky Notes</strong>. Whether physical <a href=\"https://www.post-it.com/3M/en_US/p/d/cbgbjwus2516/\">Post-Its</a> or digital notes in tools like <a href=\"https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&amp;source=web&amp;rct=j&amp;opi=89978449&amp;url=https://www.figma.com/figjam/&amp;ved=2ahUKEwi6mK63ytKHAxWKR_EDHXZsGd4QFnoECB0QAQ&amp;usg=AOvVaw3Ng88Q1rlv_WgJkGtSx3CJ\">FigJam</a>, they are indispensable for brainstorming and organizing thoughts during workshops.<br /></li><li><strong>Whiteboards</strong>. An old-school tool, but highly effective for mapping out ideas, user flows, and brainstorming sessions. I\u2019ve been using <a href=\"https://getrocketbook.com/products/rocketbook-beacons\">Rocketbook Beacons</a> to capture and transcribe my scribbles.<br /></li><li><strong>Digital Collaboration Tools</strong>. <a href=\"https://figma.com/figjam\">FigJam</a> and <a href=\"https://www.googleadservices.com/pagead/aclk?sa=L&amp;ai=DChcSEwjT_pO6y9KHAxVDgIMHHVSlDK0YABAAGgJlZg&amp;co=1&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjwwae1BhC_ARIsAK4Jfrx9i2Zgm3zypBxRhiHVIoZ2QhMMVPnc2JVObqdSkrampQYM7PMYzu0aAptXEALw_wcB&amp;ohost=www.google.com&amp;cid=CAESVeD22krUrIn2j7onhfL9QKV0nM6ysTK76zspQ8QGnrKf9noY-Zgk94omm1Rm5Hh3SGg7roUHWGadftw4ZpNib4dr5H489F0G6TTYG8NbDau5wZrYX9M&amp;sig=AOD64_0CTLnFOyyy2zKWkALsyRBGMMTeBg&amp;q&amp;adurl&amp;ved=2ahUKEwiEsI-6y9KHAxW7BNsEHbbBLnAQ0Qx6BAgLEAE\">Miro</a> are great tools to help facilitate remote collaboration, allowing teams to brainstorm and organize ideas in real time, no matter where they are. If anyone has any open source recommendations here, PLEASE let me know.<br /></li></ul><br /><p><strong>3. Analysis and Insight</strong></p><br /><ul><li><br /></li><li><strong>More Whiteboards</strong>. I spend a lot of time moving sticky notes around digital whiteboards. See above.<br /></li><li><strong>Spreadsheets</strong>. Sometimes there\u2019s a lot of data to go through. <a href=\"https://www.libreoffice.org/discover/calc/\">LibreOffice Calc</a> or <a href=\"https://www.airtable.com/\">Airtable</a> are reasonable here.<br /></li></ul><br /><p><strong>4. Presenting Findings &amp; Concepts</strong></p><br /><p>Sometimes you have to create something in order to communicate your ideas. Often times it\u2019s a drawing, diagram, prototype, presentation or report.</p><br /><ul><li><br /></li><li><strong>Drawings &amp; Diagrams</strong>. PenPot or Figma<br /></li><li><strong>Prototypes</strong>. Again PenPot or Figma if you must.<br /></li><li><strong>Presentations</strong>.<br /></li><li><strong>Reports</strong>. I write a good bit of these.<br /></li></ul><br /><p><strong>5. Validation</strong></p><br /><ul><li><br /></li><li><strong>Pretotyping</strong>: Testing ideas can be fun and there\u2019s a lot of techniques to do it - things like Fake Front Door tests are one among an arsenal of measuring ideas. I wrote a little bit about it in <a href=\"https://uxbrad.com/posts/validating-and-measuring-ideas/\">Validating and measuring ideas before falling victim to sunk cost fallacy</a>.\"<br /></li><li><strong>A/B Testing Tools</strong>. Tools like Optimizely and Google Optimize allow you to run experiments and see which design variations perform better, providing data-driven insights for decision-making.<br /></li><li><strong>Unmoderated Usability Testing</strong>: Services like UserTesting and Lookback enable remote usability testing, capturing user interactions and feedback in real time.<br /></li></ul><br /><p><strong>6. Leveling Up</strong></p><br /><p>I always want to be better. The three biggest tools I have to continue to level up in addition to anything that\u2019s mentioned here are:</p><br /><ul><li><br /></li><li><strong>Practice</strong>. Continuous practice is key to mastering interview techniques and gaining deeper insights. I practice every usability test, interview and facilitated session before ever taking it to the streets.<br /></li><li><strong>Observation</strong>. Watching interviews, whether they are late-night talk shows or police interrogations, can provide valuable lessons in reading body language, asking the right questions, and creating rapport. Paying attention while on the other side of facilitated conversations also helps to learn new methods, approaches and techniques.<br /></li><li><strong>Feedback</strong>. Seeking feedback from peers and mentors can provide new perspectives and highlight areas for improvement in your approach. Always ask for feedback and never be satisfied with yourself.<br /></li></ul><br /><p><strong>In Conclusion</strong></p><br /><p>Don\u2019t fall in love with the tools, fall in love with what you\u2019re using those tools to accomplish.</p><br /><p>This post was written as part of the July 2024 IndieWeb Carnival, hosted this month by <a href=\"https://jamesg.blog/2024/07/01/indieweb-carnival-tools/\">James</a>. I really like to utilize deadlines. As of posting this, it\u2019s still July somewhere in the world. Thank\u2019s for inviting the participation and to those with the original idea.</p><br /><span></span>",
        "text": "If someone were to ask me what tools I use to do my job, the answer might surprise some of you. Even 20 years deep into this field, I still encounter misunderstandings about what UX designers actually do. Some think our work revolves around creating wireframes and user flows or making things look aesthetic, but it goes much deeper than that.\nUX design is about understanding human behavior, motivations, and needs. It\u2019s most certainly not about the software or gadgets we use but how we use those technologies to meet those motivations and needs.\nAs a UX designer, I rely heavily on tools that help me gain insight and understanding of people. These tools typically fall into several broad categories, and they consistently and relentlessly change. What remains constant, however, is the goal of our work - to empathize with users and create solutions, through design, that truly address their pain points and enhance their experiences.\nThe tools I use can be segmented into those we use for research, facilitation, capturing conversations, analyzing data, and communicating concepts and ideas.\n1. Research\nResearch is how we gain empathy, understand behavior and make sense of what people\u2019s needs and desires are. The two biggest tools needed here are:\nExpanding Knowledge\nIn the realm of Research, we focus on gaining empathy and understanding user behavior. Research tools help us uncover the needs and desires of our users, allowing us to design with intention and clarity. What\u2019s most useful here are tools that keep me informed of new methods, processes, other research and ways to manage that knowledge.\n\nBooks. I can\u2019t read enough of them. My wish list contains enough reading for 100 people for the next 100 years. I\u2019m not sure how I\u2019m going to tackle that. Classic\u2019s like Don\u2019t Make Me Think to more recent books like the Stanford d.school\u2019s collection are books I proudly display on my bookshelf.\nFeed Reader. Staying current is crucial. Tools like Tiny Tiny RSS or Inoreader help aggregate industry news, blogs, and academic papers in one place. I like to see what people have to say on the fediverse and avoid corporate platforms like I do people.\nAccess to Research. There\u2019s a lot of it out there and in much more depth than you would normally see on the internet where a lot of articles are a bit frivolous or just reiterate what everyone has been saying for 20+ years. Tools like Researcher App, or R Discovery have both come in handy.\nConferences & Webinars. There are so many free and actually good conferences and webinars. I\u2019ve been hooked on accessibility ones from TPGi and spend a good bit of my time on LinkedIn Learning.\nKnowledge Management. What\u2019s to be done with all that knowledge, especially if you want to keep it handy? There\u2019s always LogSeq or Obsidian (which I\u2019m quite a fan of).\n\nRecruitment\nFinding the right people to talk to and to share their experiences ensures our research studies are both relevant and insightful.\n\nEmail. Sometimes you just have to reach out to people. I\u2019d recommend one that\u2019s not a Gmail one.\nSocial Media. Platforms like Mastodon or Reddit can help reach a wide group of people pretty quickly, and there\u2019s no shortage of people that want to share their opinions and experiences.\nProfessional Recruitment Services. Services like User Interviews or Respondent can streamline the recruitment process if you\u2019re looking for some very specific groups of people, want a lot of people and have the money to do it.\nAppointment Management. Tools like Cal or Calendly make scheduling interviews almost enjoyable.\n\nCapturing Conversations & Behavior\n\nNotetaking. Whether it\u2019s pen & paper or a digital solution, taking notes is critical. I\u2019ve been using Rocketbook for ages after trying basically every digital one there is. Not having to charge a pen or tablet comes in handy but using something as simple as pen and paper helps to be more present and connected in conversations.\nAudio Recorder. It\u2019s impossible to write down everything. Having a complete record of the conversation, every small detail and quote, means you have the data to go back to. There are plenty of physical recorders if you want to look like a reporter, like the Zoom H1 but really any phone app works well. I\u2019m fond of Fossify Voice Recorder for Android\nTranscription. You can either listen back to all the audio you\u2019re recorded and transcribe it yourself with something like oTranscribe or you can let a transcription service like Otter take a stab at it.\nVideo Camera. Observing users in their natural habitat for Ethnography studies or capturing users interacting with a mobile device requires some video capturing. Your phone\u2019s camera is often sufficient for recording usability tests or contextual inquiries but I\u2019ve found that a cheap webcam and a tripod will do the trick.\nScreen Recorder. A tool like OBS Studio, the de facto standard among streamers, is a great way to capture lots of sources. This will let you get both the screen and an external camera at the same time. The built-in screen recording features on your OS can sometimes do in a pinch.\nEye Tracker. Whether it\u2019s a $20 DIY rig or $4,000 professional one like the Tobii Pro Glasses 3, eye tracking can reveal a good bit about what users are perceiving and where they get fixated.\nBiometrics Recorder. Monitoring physiological responses can provide deep insights into user reactions and engagement levels - yes, that stupid mega menu can cause a bit of a panic. Someone needs to work on some better open source tools for this but a tool like Pulsoid can integrate into OBS.\nSite Capture. PostHog or HotJar can record website interactions, providing heatmaps and session recordings when you can\u2019t be there in person.\nAnalytics. AwStats or Google Analytics offer quantitative data to track user behavior and performance metrics.\n\n2. Facilitating Conversations\nBeyond tools, the right mindset is essential. Facilitation skills ensure that research sessions are productive and that participants feel safe to share their honest opinions and experiences.\n\nA Positive and Encouraging Environment. Creating a space where participants feel comfortable and valued is crucial for effective UX research. Digitally, that might be about doing activities that help people open up. Physically, that could be a creative space with Legos and comfy chairs (yeh, I\u2019m that person). Both environments should give a voice to all of the participants.\nSticky Notes. Whether physical Post-Its or digital notes in tools like FigJam, they are indispensable for brainstorming and organizing thoughts during workshops.\nWhiteboards. An old-school tool, but highly effective for mapping out ideas, user flows, and brainstorming sessions. I\u2019ve been using Rocketbook Beacons to capture and transcribe my scribbles.\nDigital Collaboration Tools. FigJam and Miro are great tools to help facilitate remote collaboration, allowing teams to brainstorm and organize ideas in real time, no matter where they are. If anyone has any open source recommendations here, PLEASE let me know.\n\n3. Analysis and Insight\n\nMore Whiteboards. I spend a lot of time moving sticky notes around digital whiteboards. See above.\nSpreadsheets. Sometimes there\u2019s a lot of data to go through. LibreOffice Calc or Airtable are reasonable here.\n\n4. Presenting Findings & Concepts\nSometimes you have to create something in order to communicate your ideas. Often times it\u2019s a drawing, diagram, prototype, presentation or report.\n\nDrawings & Diagrams. PenPot or Figma\nPrototypes. Again PenPot or Figma if you must.\nPresentations.\nReports. I write a good bit of these.\n\n5. Validation\n\nPretotyping: Testing ideas can be fun and there\u2019s a lot of techniques to do it - things like Fake Front Door tests are one among an arsenal of measuring ideas. I wrote a little bit about it in Validating and measuring ideas before falling victim to sunk cost fallacy.\"\nA/B Testing Tools. Tools like Optimizely and Google Optimize allow you to run experiments and see which design variations perform better, providing data-driven insights for decision-making.\nUnmoderated Usability Testing: Services like UserTesting and Lookback enable remote usability testing, capturing user interactions and feedback in real time.\n\n6. Leveling Up\nI always want to be better. The three biggest tools I have to continue to level up in addition to anything that\u2019s mentioned here are:\n\nPractice. Continuous practice is key to mastering interview techniques and gaining deeper insights. I practice every usability test, interview and facilitated session before ever taking it to the streets.\nObservation. Watching interviews, whether they are late-night talk shows or police interrogations, can provide valuable lessons in reading body language, asking the right questions, and creating rapport. Paying attention while on the other side of facilitated conversations also helps to learn new methods, approaches and techniques.\nFeedback. Seeking feedback from peers and mentors can provide new perspectives and highlight areas for improvement in your approach. Always ask for feedback and never be satisfied with yourself.\n\nIn Conclusion\nDon\u2019t fall in love with the tools, fall in love with what you\u2019re using those tools to accomplish.\nThis post was written as part of the July 2024 IndieWeb Carnival, hosted this month by James. I really like to utilize deadlines. As of posting this, it\u2019s still July somewhere in the world. Thank\u2019s for inviting the participation and to those with the original idea."
    },
    "published": "2024-08-01T01:28:04+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41802985",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

IndieWeb Movie Club

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2024-07-31 19:00:00",
    "url": "https://marksuth.dev/posts/2024/07/indieweb-movie-club",
    "category": [
        "Article"
    ],
    "name": "IndieWeb Movie Club",
    "content": {
        "text": "During last week\u2019s HWC Europe/London, there was a decent chat about the films people have or haven\u2019t watched and sharing film recommendations between us all. Film suggestions and recommendations are ...",
        "html": "<p>During last week\u2019s HWC Europe/London, there was a decent chat about the films people have or haven\u2019t watched and sharing film recommendations between us all. Film suggestions and recommendations are ...</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Mark Sutherland",
        "url": "https://marksuth.dev/",
        "photo": "https://marksuth.dev/images/avatar.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "article",
    "_id": "41800838",
    "_source": "6127",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://tilde.zone/@xandra/112882988458754631",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>the 32-bit cafe is hosting our 5th (!!) community code jam, running from august 4th-17th!</p><p>our theme this time is *back to school*! any style of webpage (blog post, image gallery, coding experiment, etc.) is welcome to be submitted to this code jam, as long as it centers around a topic you either know a lot about, want to learn about, or are actively learning! teach us about new things through your submissions!</p><p>join us, a lot of folks are excited about this one!</p><p><a href=\"https://32bit.cafe/~xandra/events/codejam5/\"><span>https://</span><span>32bit.cafe/~xandra/events/code</span><span>jam5/</span></a></p><p><a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/smallweb\">#<span>smallweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/codejam\">#<span>codejam</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/32bitcafe\">#<span>32bitcafe</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/personalweb\">#<span>personalweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/webevent\">#<span>webevent</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/webdev\">#<span>webdev</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/cozyweb\">#<span>cozyweb</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/internet\">#<span>internet</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/html\">#<span>html</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/css\">#<span>css</span></a> <a href=\"https://tilde.zone/tags/js\">#<span>js</span></a></p>",
        "text": "the 32-bit cafe is hosting our 5th (!!) community code jam, running from august 4th-17th!\n\nour theme this time is *back to school*! any style of webpage (blog post, image gallery, coding experiment, etc.) is welcome to be submitted to this code jam, as long as it centers around a topic you either know a lot about, want to learn about, or are actively learning! teach us about new things through your submissions!\n\njoin us, a lot of folks are excited about this one!\n\nhttps://32bit.cafe/~xandra/events/codejam5/\n\n#smallweb #codejam #32bitcafe #indieweb #personalweb #webevent #webdev #cozyweb #internet #html #css #js"
    },
    "published": "2024-07-31T20:28:29+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41800791",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "published": "2024-07-31T10:33:41-0400",
    "url": "https://martymcgui.re/2024/07/31/103341/",
    "syndication": [
        "https://fed.brid.gy/",
        "https://news.indieweb.org/en"
    ],
    "content": {
        "text": "Oh! Dang! Many thanks to Kristof for pointing out a glaring oversight in my recent updates to make the IndieWeb Webring \ud83d\udd78\ufe0f\ud83d\udc8d more deterministic:\nhttps://kiko.io/notes/2024/The-fun-of-randomness-in-a-Webring/\nI forgot to give the \u201crandom site\u201d feature its own link!\nIt\u2019s back! You can now visit \ud83d\udd78\ufe0f\ud83d\udc8d.ws/random to go to a random active site on the ring.\nIt\u2019s also linked on the landing page of the webring.\nFor best results, add it to your bookmarks! \ud83d\udd16\ud83d\udd78\ufe0f\ud83d\udc8d\ud83c\udfb2",
        "html": "<p>Oh! Dang! Many thanks to <a href=\"https://kiko.io/\">Kristof</a> for pointing out a glaring oversight in my <a href=\"https://martymcgui.re/2024/06/23/ordering-an-indieweb-webring/\">recent updates to make the IndieWeb Webring \ud83d\udd78\ufe0f\ud83d\udc8d more deterministic</a>:</p>\n<p><a href=\"https://kiko.io/notes/2024/The-fun-of-randomness-in-a-Webring/\">https://kiko.io/notes/2024/The-fun-of-randomness-in-a-Webring/</a></p>\n<p>I forgot to give the \u201crandom site\u201d feature its own link!</p>\n<p>It\u2019s back! You can now visit <a href=\"https://xn--sr8hvo.ws/random\">\ud83d\udd78\ufe0f\ud83d\udc8d.ws/random</a> to go to a random active site on the ring.</p>\n<p>It\u2019s also linked on the landing page of the webring.</p>\n<p>For best results, add it to your bookmarks! \ud83d\udd16\ud83d\udd78\ufe0f\ud83d\udc8d\ud83c\udfb2</p>"
    },
    "author": {
        "type": "card",
        "name": "Marty McGuire",
        "url": "https://martymcgui.re/",
        "photo": "https://martymcgui.re/images/logo.jpg"
    },
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41799878",
    "_source": "175",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://fosstodon.org/@jnv/112882359020979599",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>Now that I moved from Neocities to Bear for blogging, I\u2019m hoping to post more frequently.</p><p><a href=\"https://basic.bearblog.dev/from-neocities-to-bear/\"><span>https://</span><span>basic.bearblog.dev/from-neocit</span><span>ies-to-bear/</span></a></p><p><a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/blogs\">#<span>blogs</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/blogging\">#<span>blogging</span></a> <a href=\"https://fosstodon.org/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a></p>",
        "text": "Now that I moved from Neocities to Bear for blogging, I\u2019m hoping to post more frequently.\n\nhttps://basic.bearblog.dev/from-neocities-to-bear/\n\n#blogs #blogging #indieweb"
    },
    "published": "2024-07-31T17:48:25+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41799565",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}

{
    "type": "entry",
    "author": {
        "name": "#indieweb",
        "url": "https://mastodon.social/tags/indieweb",
        "photo": null
    },
    "url": "https://lounge.town/@nathanu/112882118586456312",
    "content": {
        "html": "<p>For someone with a plain old static website who literally just drags and drops the files to a plain old web server using my file browser, all of this <a href=\"https://lounge.town/tags/indieweb\">#<span>indieweb</span></a> stuff seems so complicated!</p>",
        "text": "For someone with a plain old static website who literally just drags and drops the files to a plain old web server using my file browser, all of this #indieweb stuff seems so complicated!"
    },
    "published": "2024-07-31T16:47:16+00:00",
    "post-type": "note",
    "_id": "41799004",
    "_source": "8007",
    "_is_read": false
}