brackenSep 21
I picked up a copy of @timbl's new autobiography This Is For Everyone today and am very much loving the first hand story and history of the birth of the web. So many great insights and lessons. One of my favorites so far:
Referencing a presentation on a system for organizing data at CERN:
"As the presentation continued, I saw how with each new constraint the author of the software introduced, another part of the audience was alienated."
Show threadbrackenSep 21
Then on the following pages he explains the need for a universal space, a universal language, and a universal portal.
Tying that to the already popularized concepts of hypertext, hypermedia, and hyperlinks and an implementation of those in HyperCard the product. He establishes the preexisting foundation that enabled the web and I love it! :)
Show threadbrackenSep 21

"The URLs were in fact the most crucial, most innovative piece of the web." (In that they enabled the _universal_ nature of links) I enjoy his commentary on how this was so difficult to explain.

"The entire design of the web was all about using formats and languages and concepts which people might have come across elsewhere."

Show threadbracken

On the design of URLs: users/alice/book/chapter3#section1

"To the right are identifiers for objects in the world of hypertext. ... To the left are the bits about networking. In the marriage of networking and hypertext that is the web, that hash sign is where they meet."
"If you learn anything about the design of the web, let it be this: the design merges networking and hypertext, and they meet at the hash sign. If you get that, then you basically get it." - @timbl

Sep 21 at 11:20pmWeb
Show threadbrackenSep 24

I just finished This Is For Everyone, it's excellent and I recommend it to all. Thanks @timbl for the inspiration and hope that there is still time to build a human-centric web we can trust.

Now to put this inspiration to work! I know exactly how to use Solid towards the human-scale social web I want and towards the whimsy and delight it affords! ;)

First up: a vanilla web component Solid client implementation just for fun and learning!

Show threadbrackenSep 24
Lots of fun stuff to play with: https://activitypods.org/
ActivityPods - Personal data spaces powered with ActivityPub

Brings together ActivityPub and Solid Pods and empowers developers to create truly decentralized applications.

ActivityPods
Show threadAlan is @cogdog 🇨🇦Sep 24
@bracken @timbl I’m eager to pick up my ordered copy tomorrow