Webmentions and Campfires
Thinking about how Webmentions allow us to have conversations through our blogs rather than through social media
Planted May 06, 2020
Last tended November 20, 2023
I grew up in a family with a number of blind relatives. My Mumās siblings all had sight problems and so did some of my cousins. As a child, I took it for granted that each of those aunts, uncles and cousins knew when I was talking to them. After all, I was looking at them, thatās how people know, right?
In most cases, that was enough. We can develop attunement and strategies that let us flourish when we are differently abled. Each of my relatives did this, in very different ways, and so I assumed everyone did.
Iāve been thinking about this a bit with blogging and writing on the internet. Seeing that as Iām engaging with the thinking of others, Iām metaphorically looking towards them. The problem is, how do they know Iām talking about and to them? Or, how do I know if someone is talking to me?
In my world, this primarily happens on Twitter. Iāll tweet about a post and those who see will maybe look and tweet back. Equally, when Iāve read a post that Twitter alerts me to, I might like, retweet or reply to the tweet. But Twitter is a stream and this continuing conversation is ephemeral - while it might add lots to the thinking of the post, it flows away.
It used to be this was solved by having a comments section on a blog. If you were really fancy, this accepted ping backs when that post was mentioned somewhere else on the internet. This is a form of bi-directional linking. Managing comment sections, however, could be frustrating, though there are some solutions available (Discus is still around). In my experience, comments sections were not great and were primarily where trolls and spammers went to hang out. There were exceptions, for sure, but not enough to make it seem worthwhile.
A W3C standard was released in 2017 for webmentions. This is a protocol that can send callbacks when one configured URL mentions another. A way to let the text know that other people are talking about it, engaging with it, continuing the conversation.
I recently enabled webmentions on this blog. You can see the outcome below - counting the likes and reposts but, more importantly, recognising that this writing is part of a wider conversation. Thatās the desire, right? That we create points of connection to gather round - campfires to warm ourselves and share experience.
I want these posts to be part of a conversation rather than a one-sided proclamation from the roof-tops. Using webmentions to poll for replies on Twitter and other blogs seems like a good start.
What other ways can we stop ourselves standing in dark rooms and shouting into the void? How can we light campfires and create spaces for conversation that are welcoming and mutually beneficial?
Honorable mentions
(3likes)
(3reposts)
Kath CunninghamHusbandface thinks he can win me over to his digital coding world by talking about gardens and campfires. At least I understand some of what heās talking about now...
Neil MatherI like the idea of blogchains and hyperconversations, too, as another form of networked communication / digital campfires. I wrote about them a bit before: doubleloop.net/2020/04/05/blogchains-and-hyperconversations/ Although have yet to actually participate in one š
Chris AldrichKevin, I like your ideas here and there are many of us who have been discussing it in various nooks of the internet over the past couple of years. Itās a movement and a discussion that has been slowly brewing, but seems to be coming to a boil. While some of these ideas sound romantic at present with minimal penetration and implementation, weāll definitely need to be cognizant of how they grow and building tools to mitigate abuses in the future as they become more common. No one wants Webmention to become a vector for spam and harassment the way itās poorly designed and implemented predecessors like Pingback or Trackbacks were. While the IndieWeb seems to be the largest hub of this conversation so far, especially for the technical portions, itās also been distributed across multiple platforms and personal websites and wikis. If you havenāt come across the IndieWeb you may appreciate their wiki and bridged chat channels. Lately Iāve noticed a big spillover into the wiki space primarily by way of Tom Critchlow, Kicks Condor, some from TiddlyWiki and the Roam Research spaces, and many of your colleagues at egghead.io. Iām personally looking forward to the convergence of the website, blog, personal wiki, commonplace book, etc. in a single platform. As I notice that youāre in Brighton, if you havenāt been before, you might consider joining in one of the local Homebrew Website clubs either there, in other parts of the UK, or across the world. I see events for Nottingham and London coming up on the schedule, but Iām sure Jeremy Keith or other organizers will do another in Brighton soon. In any case, youāre on the web, and we can āseeā and āhearā you. Thanks for drawing up a campfire to create a discussion.- Kevin Cunningham on Webmentions and Campfires. Seeing that as Iām engaging with the thinking of others, Iām metaphorically looking towards them. The problem is, how do they know Iām talking about and to them? Or, how do I know if someone is talking to me? In my world, this primarily happens on Twitter. But Twitter is a stream and this continuing conversation is ephemeral - while it might add lots to the thinking of the post, it flows away. It used to be this was solved by having a comments section on a blog. (BlogComment) This is a form of bi-directional linking. Managing comment sections, however, could be frustrating, though there are some solutions available (Disqus is still around). In my experience, comments sections were not great and were primarily where trolls and spammers went to hang out. A W3C standard was released in 2017 for webmentions. I recently enabled webmentions on this blog Over in the garden, Iāve started a section on webmentions What other ways can we stop ourselves standing in dark rooms and shouting into the void? How can we light campfires and create spaces for conversation that are welcoming and mutually beneficial?
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