IndieWeb Carnival Jan ’25 round-up

First of all, many thanks to everyone who contributed to this month’s IndieWeb carnival. The theme was On the importance of friction and invited writings on how we might view friction, both on the web and in life itself, not as a problem but as an integral part of a process.

The following are 31 contributions for the month (one for each day?) in the order in which I received them. I had a wonderful time reading all these essays as I have no doubt everyone else will too.

If you are one of the contributors and have not done so already, it would mean a great deal to me if you could please turn to the guestbook and leave a note—but only if you are OK with doing it too.

Jeremy Cherfas Exploring how we listen to music, in Listen to what, Jeremy discusses past experiences with reducing friction and how being intentional with listening to music means reducing it further. I enjoyed this article even more when I looked at it backwards: in reducing friction on their terms, streaming services like Spotify cannot possibly cater to how we want to listen to music on our terms. The article also reminds me of the IndieWeb, of building our own tools and approaches, adding our friction if you will, to what we do our way.

Steve Ledlow In an essay titled Friction is a feature, Steve discusses how a familiarity with friction in life can generally make life itself easier and less overwhelming. In a particularly meditative paragraph Steve points out how ‘Friction transforms energy from form to form’ and without it life can be ‘small, empty, and unnecessarily fragile’. Rather than addressing any specific aspect, this is a piece on friction in life itself.

Joel Dueck Expanding upon a previous essay titled Friction in publishing Joel overviews the friction involved in various ways someone can set themselves up on the IndieWeb today. From setting up a CMS to writing individual HTML files, friction is everywhere but in different forms during different phases of your journey. I found myself nodding vigorously when Joel suggested webmentions can “quintuple your phase-one friction”. The comparisons to print publishing were interesting and took me to an area I have previously given little thought to. Throughout this essay is a sort of dance between opportunity, preference and availability, with friction the music in the background.

Fabian Holzer In Accidental complexities of the IndieWeb, Fabian discusses the interesting notion that in moving between tools and workflows we are “trading one kind of friction for another one”. I loved how the essay calls out the IndieWeb community reminding us that the IndieWeb principle that “UX and design is more important than protocols, formats, data models, schema is both valid and collectively neglected by the community”. This month’s theme, to me at least, was not only about recognising how the CorpoWeb is rebuking friction but also acknowledging that there is friction on the IndieWeb. Fabian’s is a great essay that discusses handling such essential complexities on our turf.

Daniel Savage In the personal narrative There is thrill in the friction Daniel describes friction through the ‘mysticism around [Gorillaz], a sense of the unknown that felt so different from the clean-cut, hyper-accessible pop’ of today. The article goes on to reflect on society’s evolving relationship with the music it listesns to and the artists behind that music, making keen observations on how there is friction in listening to as well as in discovering music but the friction takes a completely different form in each case.

Nick Simson Titled Friction and resistance, this brilliant essay takes a deep-dive into apps and our complex relationships with them, the parallels between our physical and digital lives, the erasure of friction on which the gig economy thrives albeit at much greater hidden costs—“The gig apps have a long history of sidestepping local and state efforts to regulate them, and relying on them seems to accelerate a race to the bottom”—and of course the IndieWeb itself. There are a lot of poignant discussions about a lot of different aspects of how we use technology today, connected by the thread of friction. This is a long essay and it will be more than worth your time reading it.

Tracy Durnell There are several important discussions in Sanding off friction from indie web connection that speak directly of the state of the IndieWeb today. “On the indie web, people are talking to each other from different places,” says Tracy, rightly pointing out that “if it feels like there’s no way to connect with others via the indie web, [people will] simply continue to migrate from silo to silo.” From social friction to audience control, from moderation to neighbourliness, Tracy’s categorical breakdown of things the the community can work on paints a roadmap for the future of the IndieWeb.

The IndieWeb Carnival requires that contributions to a theme be written during the month of the carnival, but Peter Molnar kindly pointed me to an interesting essay he had written addressing this theme back in 2018 called The internet that took over the internet that I simply had to mention here. The essay takes a keen-eyed look into the individuality and specialism that characterised the old-school web and how the IndieWeb is a descendent of that. Online content has become expendable, Peter says, and the way out “of the swamp of social media is for things to require a little effort.”

Manuel Moreale In a concise post titled On the importance of friction the ever-insightful Manu discusses the CorpoWeb’s obsession with erasing friction as being embodied by the Amazon Dash. In a world already moving faster than is compatible for humans, he suggests making life “slightly less immediate.”

Oscar Ryz Speaking of a very different kind of friction in his article On the importance of friction, Oscar reflects on the old days of safeguarding oneself on the landline or in public spaces, drawing parallels with the how human behaviour shifted with the advent of social media. I liked the observation that the CorpoWeb disguised our want of dopamine “as another natural instinct: connection.” This article takes a unique approach to friction, asking if the answer lies beyond the software.

Juha–Matti Santala Warning readers to Be careful with introducing AI into your notes Juhis discusses how counterintuitive it is to employ technology that promises to erase friction in notetaking. I really enjoyed this article because it speaks of a practice close to my own heart. Juhis describes the friction in thinking, interpreting and writing. This is a brilliant case for when friction is not part of the process, rather friction is the process, and this essay does a great job of showing the value in it. (For discussions on a similar theme in an analogue medium read the essay contributed by Dominik Hofer below.)

Sadiq Saif Of course friction is not black and white, argues On the nature of friction, describing aspects of writing on a blog where negative, positive and neutral friction can be identified. The friction, though, argues Sadiq interestingly, might add joy to the process.

Nicolas Solerieu “Frictionless is the default product design motto” says Nico in On friction and texture, reflecting on how we are often so connected yet so disconnected from technologies today. Society has started trying to recapture some of that connection, through film photography or drip coffee, activities defined to some extent by their inherent friction. Nico draws a fantastic comparison between the evolution of digital textures on the IndieWeb and the friction of physical textures in ‘analogue perception’ in this brilliant essay.

GREG SARJEANT Writing about an problem involving the power button on his new Gateway 200X in On the importance of friction, Greg reflects on his experience searching for a solution, working things out by trial and error, and how writing a guide based on his own learnings and refining it based on others’ feedback was itself a learning experience in writing a technical document well. All of this came to be simply because there was some friction in the initial moments of his new journey. “Friction hampers productivity, but it stokes curiosity,” Greg says rightly, reflecting on how something so fleeting changed much of his life thereafter.

Dominik Hofer In an essay titled How friction enables more mindfulness Dominik reflects on the benefits of simpler productivity systems and the problem with “automagic” tech that promise to take our decisions for us. The discussions of bullet journals, a system that makes you pause and think regularly, reminded me of Juhi’s discussion of digital zettelkasten (see above) and how friction can play a universal role whether in analogue or digital media. “Being efficient does not mean that you are being effective,” says Dominik, reminding us to “work on the right things, not to just do more.”

I like how a myriad perspectives were addressed by the contributions to the theme this month, recognising that friction can hardly be labelled in black and white. The answer lies in striking a balance.

Going forward the contributions widen our perspectives even more, discussing everything from nostalgic tech to dark patterns to homeownership to boredom and creativity. The imperviousness of friction in every aspect of life is worth thinking about if only to recognise that, sooner or later, we will all have to decide what our individual relationships with it will be.

Aleem Shaun “Friction causes us to pause and think,” writes Aleem in Of cassette tapes and dial-up internet, reminiscing about time spent with a MicroBee in his childhood and with dial-up internet later on. It was more rewarding, more deliberate, says Aleem, but also makes a fair counter-argument: none of us wants to return that kind of friction—and yet.

Sara Jakša In Internet itself is a biggest friction Sara talks about a lot of hugely important aspects of friction on the internet starting with the internet itself. There is “too much of the interesting stuff there” says Sara, discussing, among other aspects, our inclination to overindulge and our lack of self-control a la chocolat, the importance of taking time off and yet the importance of—and difficulty in—recognising and retaining the good bits. Once again, this essay reminds us that striking a balance is key, and that it does not come easy.

Adrian Unger Writing about Friction and the inernet, Adrian says, “Growing up with the early internet I’m definitely disenchanted with today's landscape.” While with friction balance is key and the right balance is “ever shifting” with evolving contexts, we have too little of it on the web right now, leading to “thoughtless commodification” and the loss of “original, heartfelt” thinking.

BRITT Coxon A Fan of friction speaks about how setting limits can simplify a process and make it smoother—and doing the opposite with malicious intent creates dark patterns. Limits “allow us to deal with the friction before the creativity” says Britt and I particularly enjoyed how this piece shows us that that friction is not just choice and challenge (as one might readily think) but it is also, in the right amount, agency.

Rishikesh Sreehari Rishi’s website runs on Hugo and in Blogging with friction he reflects on moving from the WordPress platform. The move resulted in a workflow that was not as simple as before, Rishi says, “but that was the beauty of it. The challenges, the constraints, and yes, the friction, became part of the joy.” Importantly, he talks also of how there was a switch from focussing on optimising for algorithms to sparking a multitude of independent side projects, resulting in valuable learning experiences and thinking more about “crafting something” more representative of the individual behind it all—and in the end it is harder but worthwhile. As someone who moved from WordPress to Hugo myself in the past, this post captures some of my thoughts beautifully.

Robin Dotis In the creatively titled Friction creates warmth Robin discusses the web as a powerful tool that comes with great responsibilities, calling for people to consequently take responsibility for our behaviour online. One way to do this is to introduce more friction to the process of posting online, bringing up an intriguing comparison to the difficulty of etching messages on a stone with a chisel. Throwaway content would reduce, Robin argues, and it would help your mental health if you “make it harder obtain the thing you are addicted to” or perhaps charge for every post online. But what value are we paying for? Friction can help create that value, says Robin.

Daryl Sun Writing about friction in her own work in On the importance of friction Daryl points out that what looks at first like inefficiency can in fact have an underlying purpose. With friction this can be a renewed focus on carefulness, learning and, my favourite bit, authenticity. There are several minute journeys into various aspects of how friction, mainly in tech, enhanced Daryl’s daily workflows and she ends with this wonderful statement that encapsulates much of the IndieWeb: “If you’re here, then you’re not getting a persona, or AI slop ... every word is myself, preserved at that moment in time. It’s all me.”

Before we move on to the next set of entries, if anybody’s submission is missing, please feel free to send me an e-mail and even give me a piece of your mind. Further, if you would like anything about my summaries, your name or links etc. changed, please do let me know.

Dario Tordoni Drawing on experiences as a digital marketer in On friction Dario, whose work centres on reducing friction, gives another nod to dark patterns and discusses removing friction as a “tool”. Sometimes introducing friction is not about function but is straightaway part of a solution, a double-edged sword requiring that we master the use of a tool rather than pick definitively one way or another; it is more than just deciding whether to keep it in or toss it out.

Rae Rubix Calling it, rather poetically, a Cascade of convenience, Rae reflects in this wonderful essay on the costs of erasing friction in various aspects of our life: from processed foods introducing convenience at the cost of health to animal farming to Amazon making frictionless shopping its USP despite being just a middleman to film and concert tickets to streaming services. I like that some of these themes have come up in a few other contributions too, fencing in this carnival theme in an interesting manner and how we often think, almost instinctively, about these seemingly disparate areas of our life as being linked through deceptive frictionlessness. But Rae’s focus quickly darts to an aspect not addressed before: homeownership. Are REITs genuinely about empowering small-time investors or setting up numerous other forms of friction in the guide of solving a single other problem. “Friction,” Rae concludes beautifully, “is an invisible force which connects all that is.”

Ross A. Baker Writing about friction in software development under the metaphor of Cold steel on ice Ross asks, “If reducing friction is good, is the target zero?” Constantly hitting ‘tab’ for autocompletion is frictionless but also fanciful and unsatisfying. What I find interesting in this consice post is how, even in an arena where frictionlessness is supposedly prized, it still all comes down to reduction—to striking the right balance—and never elimination.

Ishan Sharma In Small Web is Frictionless Ishan gathers his thoughts on friction on the web and how ‘the small web’ fares by comparison. This essay wraps everything up about the internet experience today: between the homogeneity of frictionless Bootstrap websites (brilliant example) and parasitic SEO and Youtube advertisements and ad-filled social meida, Ishan points out that it is the IndieWeb that is perhaps truly frictionless in many important ways. This essay concludes with an interesting question: will perhaps a frictionless web always be small by design?

Joe Crawford Sit back and enter a trance-like state with Joe’s Meditations on friction where he takes the reader from rocks on seashores to human relationships, and then through work—experiencing friction between designers and programmers—and finally through life itself, and marriage and kids, and physics. Joe’s flowing words paint friction in its myriad forms, and perhaps most importantly as a powerful metaphor for the understated aspects of a good life.

Martín Morales There is friction in teams that we would do well not to ignore, writes Martín in Friction (also available in Spanish). And while it can sometimes be beneficial, the fact that it is not easily quantifiable leads to its being ignored with consequences that are less than flattering.

Hans Fast Sharing a touching moment with his six-year-old daughter, in Friction to learn and grow, Hans discusses how there is a “friction of boredom and discomfort ... which leads invariably to creativity”, a friction that is often erased nowadays as we have trained ourselves to reach for ‘content’ from the web. Could there be effects on cognitive and emotional development when kids resort to such habits from a young age, Hans wonders in this mellow piece that weaves through childhood and parenting and rethinking how much of our precious time technology has stolen from us because we have erased any friction between our tech and ourselves.

Claudine Chionh Writing On friction in reading and blogging Claudine reflects on her own reading habit over the years and on the various stages through which her essay went before it was published as a contribution to this carnival: pen and paper, vim, a git repo and then onto the web. In a sentence I found myself nodding to vigorously, Claudine says “I imagine that to someone whose consumption and creation of digital content is primarily through smartphone interfaces, what I just described could sound tedious or plain incomprehensible” but not only is the process befitting the user, there is also joy in it. There are some interesting thoughts here on the Fediverse too, and a general notion that it is worth thinking about balancing all the friction.

Benjamin Parry Starting off with Camilla and Jason Iftakhar's Swifty Scooters in Friction Benjamin contrasts the Swifty approach to Amazon’s frictionless, thoughtless drive to generate sales. Earlier this month Swifty voluntarily liquidated their company. Living a town over from their headquarters in Manchester I have been following their story closely. “Friction helps us slow down, reorient ourselves in our surroundings, and recognise the complexity and impact of our actions,” says Benjamin: we all need a little more friction in our lives.

Niels Gouman Taking a mathematically-inspired approach in Achieving goals, using friction, Niels discusses friction as a key variable to achieve goals. How you implement it is up to you, with every interaction involving some friction and that in turn determining how much energy you have and on what and where you put your effort. “Effort is your budget, in either time or money,” says Niels, “Friction is the cost.” And it all comes down to better managing this cost.

That makes 30 submissions in all. The 31^st one is of course my own on the benefits of friction on the IndieWeb which originally also served as an extended introduction to the theme this month.

Up next is the IndieWeb Carnival host for February 2025, Joe Crawford with the theme “Affirmations”. Head over to Joe’s and think about making a contribution if you can so we can keep this wonderful IndieWeb initiative going strong.