Revision as of 12:00, 7 January 2026

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THESIS OUTLINE #2

What will the text be about?

The text is about the world wide web: both a space and a craft, full of various forms of expression all linked to one another through the hyperlink system.
🠒 A space that doesn't exist physically but acts as its own piece of land, with its politics, its rules, its rule-breakers, its controversies and its own magic. Whether it be through design trends, platform monopolies or F/LOSS and community-led initiatives, the web is the best depiction of how humanity functions. (It could be in that way a great thing to send in space for a Voyager Golden Record revival.) Its part of magic resides -- in my opinion -- in the community-centred projects it bears. Those projects (https://neocities.org; fediverse platforms; the wikimedia foundation, shadow libraries) show the clear presence of intention and care from their creator(s) and that is what I mean with magic. That very place we reach by tuning to our inner selves with their feelings and sensitivity, allowing us in return to shape our intentions and share them with others, to connect. Like hyperlinks.
🠒 A craft practised by hand-webmakers, those who build websites by writing code instead of using website generators such as Wix or Cargo. Based on practical analysis of indie web and small web practices, I intend to demonstrate in what ways web making is a craft. Those practices involve mostly personal, goofy, fandom, library websites, such as the ones hosted on neocities.org or more specifically the whole ecosystem of websites created and maintained by Daniel Murray, aka melonking.

The text is about individuality as shaping and owning who we are on the web: the importance of having your own corner of the web, your own garden -- that may or may not resemble those of Maggie Appleton or Matt Prebeg -- away from the big corporate platforms and their seamlessness that erases our capacity to customise and express our identities.
This is about highlighting modes of online expression that rose with the web, but not so much as a nostalgic exercise. The point here is to list key elements that do not only pertain to the web medium: choosing colours and fonts because we like them, adding images (with alt text!) and customised buttons, to build a strong personal identity, etc. These elements constitute a basis for a more expressive web, one that does not simply follow user interface trends (minimalism).

The text is about physical bodies and gestures: exploring how we can reconnect and reinvest the physical when crafting the web; investigating the ways in which by doing so we can reconnect to our individuality, to others and start putting intention and sensitivity at the core of our creations. This idea was born while reading JR Carpenter's "Handmade web", where she connects the physical to the digital. It now flourishes with my own practice of web crafting and input such as D. Murray's in an interview with Kendal Beynon:

Zines are a very good manifestation of a webpage because they look like webpages, making one is a lot like making a webpage, and they bridge the same temporal gap; a zine is ephemeral but can be eternal if it's looked after, just like a webpage.

The text is about politics, resistance: all those investigations lead to a common topic. By reinvesting our bodies we might shape ways to resist against automation and online seamlessness.
This relies on practices such as Do it with others, what Doriane Timmermans refers to as "shoulder2shoulder against crypto dev" and code-a-thons, where people gather physically to code together. It can also talk about more metaphorical physicality, like: can CSS be seen as the make up of a website? How does that take shape? In the most plain sense, this is about acknowledging our physicality, the gestures and positions of our bodies while in the process of making a website: does it start on paper, with a collage, by having a specific music or food? How do we type on the keyboard, and with what type of keyboard? Are we lying down, sitting, standing? Do these answers change according to the type of web project we're making?

How will that story be told? (form and mode of address)

The text aims to be a sort of chimera writing, acting as a guide, an essay and the result of a detective investigation. dev ++

KEY ISSUES

wip title: The Wicked Witch of the World Wide Web

INTRODUCTION (1000)

1. Incantations and spells (2000)

Investigation into web making as a craft, the importance of the gesture and the role of intention when making, creating.
Here I will take inspiration from various artists and web practitioners, as well as in my own practice. I will seek to demonstrate my intuition: creating relies on intention, intention is then embodied and this gesture shapes the craft. This interrelation should also be true when creating for the web.

2. Behind the smoke screen (2000)

How nurturing sensitivity, distancing oneself from corporate platforms and shaping the web you want is a stance against automation and seamlessness and a path to connecting and tying links.
This part will largely quote or at least mention conversations I've had with Doriane Timmermans, Miriam Suzanne and Raphaël Bastide, who all agree on the fact that the corporate-owned web works against any expression of self and sensitivity and that is something we must fight against.
I will dive into the design systems used by big corporations, that in the end define the overall look of websites. By praising our sensitivity and individuality we might unlock the true power to counter-act this ruling system and become actors instead of putting up with what is handed "freely". Circling back to intention.

3. Alchemy (2000)

Highlighting the links between web crafting and physical gesture, through examples such as zine making and CSS-print, or hybrid initiatives such as hackathons and code-a-thons. This exploration leads to shaping resisting tools and spaces that intertwine in the way alchemy transforms a given matter into another in a equal-value exchange.
When a website becomes a zine, or a zine leads to a website.
When a community transcends the screen to gather in real life (html day, z event, declarations workshops).
When a digital space creates a community (les sans pagEs, minecraft, )

note: maybe this is the conclusion and i have only 2 key issues?

CONCLUSION (1000)

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PROJECT PROPOSAL #2

1_ What do you want to make?

I will redesign entirely my own website. Coming from a graphic design background, I realise I have been focusing on a portfolio type of website that somehow never really suited me, simply because it “made sense” in this field. Through the years I have been trying to emancipate from that, while never really finding my voice, my expression. The Instagram hegemony shaped a way of thinking about how my website should look like, therefore I never felt truly connected to my own website, entangled in a sort of seamless capitalistic spiral. Today, I set my website free. For years now I have been meaning to dig into eleventy and now I have also learned about W. Those content management systems, relying on high customisation, give me interesting perspectives into how I can shape my website to reflect who I am and how I work. Which is actually what matters when being an freelancer, rather than having a nice looking gallery that looks just like everyone else’s. I want this website to embrace all that I do: it shouldn’t focus only on graphic/web design, but also include my crafting, thoughts and research, maybe books and movies lists, resources, etc. Through XPUB I learned how to maintain a wiki page and I really like the architecture of it. I tend to have way too many tabs and bookmarks in which I get lost. Having them stored on my website would help (I could even use tools like Martin Lemaire's) and also allow me to share them more easily and broadly. Furthermore, this comes into a larger reflection around hosting: I have been looking for an ethical and not too expensive hosting service and domain name provider, that could also allow me to finish my migration out of google services. This will help me putting more focus on that as well.

2_ How do you plan to make it?

see: User:Kiara/Research/WebSpell/Prototypes
I will make some experiments, transferring existing content into eleventy and W in order to grasp how they function and which one best suits my needs. I have recently discovered a personal passion for webrings (websites interlinked to each other through the use of a common script), and started experimenting with them here by having webrings inside of webrings. The new shape of my website should reflect the never-ending brain activity I have, the various practices I have (that I already tried to depict in my current website) and my love for over explaining (some call it documenting). I aim for a playful and lively website, that will obviously be a bit mazy. Maybe this whole project will drive me to create a small tool to implement in everything I code, to easily link back and forth: I have projects hosted on https://codeberg.org, and now on https://neocities.org, it would be quite convenient to have a small piece of code that I can copy-paste into any project so it links to my website, as well as having my website pointing to them (is that just a webring..?)

3_ What is your time table?

Sept - Jan	wandering and wondering		assessment:RE: end of january
Jan - Feb	eleventy and W experiments mapping: categories, linking (navigation), mobile design finding a hosting service (current one is expiring) start writing the thesis	✔️	draft 1 deadline: 13 february
March - April	start developing: adding content, design, responsive CSS writing the thesis		draft 2 deadline: 6 march final deadline: 17 april
April - June	polishing settle for a cool new domain name and set up the redirection (get it through INWX) launch		final assessment: 23 june

4_ Why do you want to make it?

I face constant frustration with my website, I want it to feel like home. It is also a great exercise into learning more CSS tricks, maybe develop some rituals. I want to be proud of it, to like working on it as much as I like adding to my XPUB wiki, I want it to be a place of gathering, for potential clients but also for friends, family and strangers. A place full of resources and inspiration, like a blog without the “pressure” attached to it (like expected regularity in publishing content). I have been circling around the indie web since I started coding, today is time to fully make my own little corner in it.

5_ Who can help you and how?

☼ Lídia Pereira & Manetta Berends: guidance through research and prototyping ☼ Miriam Suzanne: CSS wizard, had a chat with her regarding her relationship and views towards (CSS)web and magic
☼ Raphaël Bastide: his practice of code is quite atypical and creative, it seems very sketchy yet assertive. His projects often end up quite magical and very avant-garde in a way.
☼ Noémie A., my best friend, for the existential crisis times when I question the whole project
☼ Roos Groothuizen with the neocities code-a-thon and her input in conversations
☼ Kendal Beynon, doing a PhD on internet history and particularly DIY communities and digital folklore
☼ Daniel Murray, aka melonking, a great figure of web crafting and community building. His work and thoughts are a great source of inspiration
☼ Charlie Muniken with the massive amount of references they share with me on witchcraft and magic, which led me to find my way into it and this project
☼ Julien Taquet with his expertise in eleventy and the work we will do together with W for the PrePostPrint website

6_ Relation to previous practice

I started coding websites in 2021. My skills haven’t evolved as much as I would want to, but almost every project I have worked on since has involved code. Whether it be to make websites or printed material, I use CSS almost daily. It has become my main working tool.
A list of some projects I have worked on:

my own website
Babel
Rêves Party
The Supervisual Hyperzine (preview here)
Synthetica (wip, no record)
Lilas Prose
The extensive webring

7_ Relation to a larger context

The web is not that old, and yet it evolves so fast that it seems it was born with the steam machine. We refer to it today as “web 3.0”, centred around the blockchain and ultra capitalist schemes. In the last 5 years we witnessed the rise of crypto currencies, NFTs and now generative AI. Those concepts are one after the other more and more energy-consuming, destroying our natural resources and atmosphere.
As a response to that, many people, collectives and initiatives came to life: permacomputing, low-tech, small web, indie web. They all advocate for a web that would demand less power and resources, that would be more human. They invite to think about how the web was when it began and how, why we shifted from it. It is thus forming a counter-culture, fighting for reclaiming, owning back what we do on the web and how we do it. Proning intention and singularity over seamlessness, fastness and so-called efficiency.

8_ References

Appleton, M. (2023) Folk Interfaces. Available at: https://maggieappleton.com/folk-interfaces (Accessed: 8 October 2025).
Balkan, A. (2020) What is the Small Web?, Aral Balkan. Available at: https://ar.al/2020/08/07/what-is-the-small-web/ (Accessed: 30 November 2025).
Beynon, K. and Murray, D. (2025) ‘Web craft: an interview with Daniel Murray’, The Photographers’ Gallery: Unthinking Photography [Preprint]. Available at: https://unthinking.photography/articles/webcraft-an-interview-with-daniel-murray (Accessed: 4 January 2026).
Molnar, P. (2021) Old Web, New Web, Indie Web - petermolnar.net. Available at: https://petermolnar.net/article/old-web-new-web-indie-web/ (Accessed: 30 November 2025).
Satyal, P. (2020) Rediscovering the Small Web - Neustadt.fr. Available at: https://neustadt.fr/essays/the-small-web/ (Accessed: 30 November 2025).
Schwulst, L. (2018) My website is a shifting house next to a river of knowledge. What could yours be?, The Creative Independant. Available at: https://thecreativeindependent.com/essays/laurel-schwulst-my-website-is-a-shifting-house-next-to-a-river-of-knowledge-what-could-yours-be/ (Accessed: 8 October 2025).
White, M. (2024) Fighting for our web, Citation Needed. Available at: https://www.citationneeded.news/fighting-for-our-web/ (Accessed: 30 November 2025).
White, R. (2017) ‘Keep the Internet Weird’, Medium, 23 March. Available at: https://medium.com/@ohhoe/keep-the-internet-weird-1137eece27c4 (Accessed: 30 November 2025).

@@ Line 69: / Line 69: @@
 |Sept - Jan
 | Sep-Jan | wandering and wondering
+|
 |'''assessment:RE: end of january'''
 |-
 |Jan - Feb
 | Jan-Feb |
-* eleventy and W experiments + mapping (categories, linking, etc.)
+* eleventy and W experiments
+* mapping: categories, linking (navigation), mobile design
 * finding a hosting service (current one is expiring)
-* writing the thesis
+* start writing the thesis
+|✔️
 |'''draft 1 deadline: 13 february'''
 |-
@@ Line 82: / Line 85: @@
 * start developing: adding content, design, responsive CSS
 * writing the thesis
+|
 |'''draft 2 deadline: 6 march<br>final deadline: 17 april'''
 |-
@@ Line 87: / Line 91: @@
 | April-June |
 * polishing
-* settle for a cool new domain name and set up the redirection
+* settle for a cool new domain name and set up the redirection (get it through INWX)
 * launch
+|
 |'''final assessment: 23 june'''
 |}

User:Kiara/Second Assessment/RE: Difference between revisions