Excerpts from my feed reader #1

Kev Quirk recently asked his readers what kind of blogs they like to read which made me scroll through my own feed reader to see what kind of blogs I subscribe to. There were a couple of interesting insights, but also a tiny idea: every once in a while (I am not yet sure of the frequency) I want to highlight a handful of recent articles from my feed reader that I particularly liked. Think of it as my way of ensuring the IndieWeb remains a rich, meaningful web (see my manifesto for more) or, as Melon King says, a website that is a dead end is ‘dead weight for the web’.

But first let us get to Kev’s question. I was mildly surprised (although, in hindsight, I should not have been) to find that there is no discernible ‘type’ of blogs I read. But I did manage to classify my RSS subscriptions after some wrangling: scientific or academic blogs/blogs written by scientists or academics; semi-professional or professional blogs like Daring Fireball that work as businesses; niche blogs with incredibly narrow focus on topics I prefer to look up when in the mood rather than have them pop up on my feed; and lastly those I browse most often, acquaintances from the IndieWeb.

Here are some of my favourite reads from the past fortnight:

• Benji’s interview with Manuel Moreale – I enjoy Manu’s P&B series, which arrives every week like clockwork, where he asks interesting people on the IndieWeb questions about their set-up and a bit about themselves
• Peter Woit’s Not even wrong is one of the oldest blogs I’ve been following, since before my time as an undergrad studying physics, and is recently how I’ve been keeping up with the goings on in academia across the pond
• Rodrigo Ghedin asked if AI-generated photos are art in the backdrop of the Rio CCBB – a question that I am surprised has not been asked way more often and one I eventually hope to address here myself
• A fantastic essay by Tracy Durnell on generative AI, capitalism, tech, oversimplification, aesthetics and numerous other throught-provoking aspects of why coporations would want us to use AI today
• I had been looking for a more decent sounding synonym for enshittification and I found it in David Bushell’s post from just over a week ago which is honestly golden

Thanks for the prompt, Kev. It has been a great start to my Sunday morning going over my blogroll thanks to this.