A New Home for My Documentation#
When I first started documenting my work on my old Google Sites website, I had a simple goal: to have a public copy of the work I was doing and had done. It was a way for me to track my progress, organize my thoughts, and maybe even help someone else who stumbled upon it. I didn’t put much thought into longevity—I assumed that once something was on the web, it would remain accessible in some form, either through archiving or persistence in search engine indexes.
However, I recently realized that’s not necessarily true. Despite the internet’s reputation for permanence, entire platforms can disappear, and with them, the content we rely on. My Google Sites blog was deleted because my blogging account was removed due to inactivity. The account was tied to my OSU account, which I used heavily at the time but lost access to after graduation. Google likely attempted to notify me, but since I no longer had access to the account, I missed any warnings and lost my content permanently. This served as a wake-up call: if I want my work to endure, I need to be more intentional about where and how I host it.
Vercel: A Fresh Start#
To ensure my blog remains accessible, I’ve migrated everything to GitHub Pages, now under a custom domain. Not only does this give me greater control over my content, but it also allows me to embrace best practices for independent publishing. As I work on re-adding the content from my old site, I’m planning to do a better job of actively sharing and promoting my work, this time around.
I’ve also decided to start fresh with a new theme and a more focused approach to my content. My old blog was run on Jekyll, now I’m using Zola, a static site generator written in Rust, which I find more enjoyable to work with and more aligned with my current interests.
While thinking about how to maintain my blog1, I came across the Indie Web movement and the Small Web community. These communities of creators emphasize ownership over their own content, avoiding dependency on centralized platforms, and fostering genuine connections among like-minded individuals. I find this philosophy fascinating—rather than relying on social media algorithms to dictate reach, the Indie Web encourages a more direct, human approach to sharing ideas and work. Since the work that I want to share is kind of niche, technical and somewhat personal, I love the idea, especially since I don’t plan to monetize my blog, I don’t need to worry about SEO or ad revenue.
POSSE: Publish on My Own Site First Philosophy#
A key principle in the Indie Web movement is POSSE (Publish on your Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere). This means my primary content will always live on my own domain, and I will share it across different platforms as needed. This ensures that my work remains under my control while still reaching a wider audience through syndication. POSSE is an evolution of POSE (Publish Once, Syndicate Everywhere), which is more flexible but lacks the strong emphasis on self-hosting. As I integrate these principles into my workflow, I hope to build a blog that is both enduring and easily shareable.
What’s Next?#
Going forward, I’ll be restoring old posts and actively maintaining my blog as a long-term resource. I’ll also experiment with tools and strategies that align with the Indie Web philosophy, ensuring that my content remains accessible, independent, and useful.
If you’re interested in similar ideas, I’d love to hear from you! I have included my socials on my blog, so feel free to reach out!
Footnotes#
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Github Pages Issue: How to disable pages-build-deployment workflow? #5810 ↗ ↩