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The IndieWeb Carnival

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This is a monthly blog carnival celebrating writing and the independent web! Each month, a host selects a theme and invites the community to write on their websites.

Table Of Contents

How It Works

At each month's beginning, a host announces their theme. Throughout, participants write posts on their sites in response. When you publish your post, you notify the host!

At the month's end, the host compiles submissions, creating a collection of perspectives. To participate, learn more, or to host a month, visit the IndieWeb Carnival's page.

Carnival List

Below is a running list of all carnival editions, organized by month and year. Each entry links to the host's roundup post where you can explore all the wonderful submissions.

2026

2026

2025

2025

2024

2024

2023

2023

Host Interviews

Each month, if the hosts have the capacity, I ask them the following five questions about the theme they chose. I love learning about how hosts think about their carnival themes!

  1. What drew you to this theme?
  2. Did you consider any other prompts before settling?
  3. How did you decide on your prompt's wording?
  4. Did hosting change how you think about the theme?
  5. Did the submissions surprise you in any way?

Listed below are their responses, and what month and year they hosted.

Jun 2023: Sara Jakša

Jun 2023: Sara Jakša

In June 2023, Sara Jakša selected 'IndieWeb And Cooking' as the very first theme.

Q1: What drew you to this theme?

Since I was the first carnival host and I wanted to remove the barriers to people participating, I had wanted the topic that is both easy to talk about, relevant to everybody and it had some tech IndieWeb applications.

At the time, a couple of blog posts were talking about the problems with recipes and how they are displayed on the sites and how much pain in the ass they are and on the end it simply makes them easier to steal. Which is why I figured that it would make the theme relevant also to the people that the are interacting with the IndieWeb from the tech perspective. (Two people wrote about these problems)

Plus, I figured it will only be of interest to the small amount of people and it will pepper out in a couple of months. Which is why I picked what I considered a practical choice for who might be interested. I figured that the interest would be low enough that would allow me to host with a topic that would be of more interest to me later. Well, that didn't go as expected. XD

Q2: Did you consider any other prompts before settling?

I think I did. It might have been books if it would not be cooking? Probably something else as well? It had been a long time ago.

The cooking also allowed me the most puns in the post. That I wrote the first post while waiting for the potatoes to cook in the oven might have helped with the final choice.

Q3: How did you decide on your prompt's wording?

I didn't gave it much thought once I decided on the cooking theme.

Q4: Did hosting change how you think about the theme?

Nope.

Q5: Did the submissions surprise you in any way?

Not surprise in the meaning of I didn't expect it. If you read my original post you would be able to see that I have made the ways to participate very broad. If I was surprised in any way it was that nobody submitted any code for it. (We got poetry instead, so I am satisfied :) )

Feb 2024: Manuel Moreale

Feb 2024: Manuel Moreale

In February 2024, Manuel Moreale hosted on the theme of 'Digital Relationships'.

Q1: What drew you to this theme?

I am an odd individual. I have a very private and somewhat lonely real life, but a very active and connected digital one. I made many friends over the years through various digital channels. Some of them have even slept on my couch.

The topic of digital relationships, both at a personal, human level, but also relationships with technology itself, is core to my interests, and so it was an easy choice.

Almost everything I do online (aside from my actual job) is in some way tied to the goal of connecting people and pushing for interactions that go deeper than simple social media exchanges. I genuinely believe that the ability to connect and share in deeper ways, through technology, could be a force for good, and it's currently underutilized.

Q2: Did you consider any other prompts before settling?

Nope. I knew what the topic was going to be the moment I got asked to host a month. Because it's a topic that's so important to me, I wanted to know what others think about it.

Q3: How did you decide on your prompt's wording?

There was no planning. Like almost everything I write on my blog, I sat down, and I wrote it. I usually don't even proofread it. I also didn't want to give too many instructions because I personally appreciate it when the topics are fuzzy. Makes for more interesting submissions.

Q4: Did hosting change how you think about the theme?

No, but it confirmed my intuition that there's a lot of value to be found in technology as a way to connect with each other in this messy world.

It was also fun to read entries from people who approached the topic from weird angles. That's probably one of the best parts of these prompts.

Q5: Did the submissions surprise you in any way?

I was certainly surprised by the number of replies. Previous editions were getting a dozen or so replies, and that's what I was expecting when I accepted to host it. Getting 44 of them was quite the surprise, I can tell you that. But I loved reading through them all!

May 2024: Juhis

May 2024: Juhis

In May 2024, Juhis hosted on the theme of 'Creative Environments'. Juhis will be hosting again in May 2026!

Q1: What drew you to this theme?

My theme was creative environments. At the time, I was unemployed and spent more time than usual following my creative ideas — mostly writing — and spent a lot of time doing that outside of my home: in the libraries, pubs, trains and so on.

To me, leaving home and going somewhere with vibrant life and buzz was a major influence in my own creativity. I was wondering how others experienced the effect of their environment to their creative process so I picked that theme.

Manu's People and Blogs was an inspiration as well. Around the same time, I had read a bunch of stories from fellow bloggers on the topic through their interviews for that publication.

Q2: Did you consider any other prompts before settling?

No. It was already something I had been thinking about and when I was encouraged to host one myself, I immediately knew where I wanted to go with it. I have been thinking about other prompts ever since though which led me to pick up another hosting spot for this following May where we'll explore love letters.

Q3: How did you decide on your prompt's wording?

The main part of my prompt was:

What kind of environments you create in and what works for you or what you'd like to improve. Has things changed lately? If yes, was it intentional or forced and how has it affected your creative energy?

Do different creative efforts benefit from or even require a different environment? How does different time of the day, month, year or season play into the question?

You could also share stories from environments that you deem creative either themselves or the way they are created.

I had an idea for what I wanted to ask: how different environments affect people's creativity and output (or does it even affect at all). I wanted to keep it bit vague and open however because there are so many different people participating in these carnivals and I wanted to give everyone an opportunity to explore it from their perspective.

I added a

Or you can interpret in a different way that I didn't even consider when choosing the topic. World is your oyster.

prompt to explicitly give people the permission to write about whatever they wanted — it is their blog after all! While I appreciate the narrowed focus these kinds of thing bring, I always enjoy open prompts that allow me to write about whatever fits my blog best so I tried to offer the same to people participating in my festival month.

Q4: Did hosting change how you think about the theme?

Not really. I expected this to be a thing that affects people differently and the posts reflected that. Some people didn't see an effect at all and they wrote wherever they happened to be at, some were similar to me that they got their ideas flowing best when they were outside of home and others found their creativity best when in familiar environment at home.

Q5: Did the submissions surprise you in any way?

I wouldn't say surprised by I was definitely delighted! I got 26 entries and many of them from blogs that I hadn't followed before. There was a lovely diversity of people doing different things, people from around the globe and a few that led to me staying in touch and continuing discussions about variety of topics in the year and half that followed.

Hosting a carnival is a wonderful opportunity to learn about new things, new perspectives and meet new people. I highly recommend it for everyone!

Jul 2024: James

Jul 2024: James

In July 2024, James hosted on the theme of 'Tools', exploring how they influence creative processes and practices.

Q1: What drew you to this theme?

When I was first learning to code, I thought about coding as a pursuit in itself. With that said, as the years have passed, I find myself more interested in how software is designed. What tools do we most rely on? How do tools enable or interfere with creativity? What affordances do our favourite tools have that make them so compatible with how we want to work? What makes a tool delightful? What principles should we consider when we design new tools?

When I hosted the carnival in July 2024 on "Tools," I was thinking a lot about tools but knew that others' perspectives were invaluable. Part of me was interested in what attributes I like in software, but a bigger part of me was interested in what others thought and liked about the tools they use. As part of that intention, looking back I didn't limit the carnival to software, or even mention the word "software" in the announcement blog post. Indeed, while I am fascinated by software, I think we have much to learn from all tools when it comes to making interfaces.

Q2: Did you consider any other prompts before settling?

I can't remember whether I thought about any other prompts, but if I recall correctly the topic of tools was one I was thinking a lot about so it felt like a good choice. I wanted to choose a topic that would be appealing to others, that was as open-ended as possible, and that didn't require any special knowledge to respond to. One thing I really love about the IndieWeb Carnival is that the prompts are open-ended, which encourages more voices and perspectives.

Q3: How did you decide on your prompt's wording?

I wanted to encourage people to talk not only about tools, but how they affect creativity. I wanted to hear about tools in many different contexts and creative pursuits. I am fascinated by how people make things.

Q4: Did hosting change how you think about the theme?

Looking back, the topic of tools is just as present in my thinking as it was back when I chose the theme – even though the carnival was over a year and a half ago! Like all reading, I think I soaked in the responses when I read them, each one moving my thinking forward.

But, really, the most exciting part of the carnival is not how my thinking changes but how, at the end, there are a dozen or more thoughtfully-written perspectives on an idea that anyone can read. Who knows how many people are inspired in a given month by the responses people write on their blogs.

Since the carnival, there has been a specific subtle and growing thought in my mind that I have not yet written down but should share somewhere: that if we think out of the box in terms of software design, we might come up with something brilliant.

I keep thinking about software tools because I can contribute to those – software is a place where I can make a difference. But also because software touches so many parts of our lives that I think continuous discourse on how we make software the best it can be for everyone is essential.

Q5: Did the submissions surprise you in any way?

One of the things I look back on with joy is that, to the extent I can see, I had never interacted with several of the participants. They found the challenge and wrote something as part of the challenge. I love the grassroots nature of the carnival. All it takes to participate is a place to write on the web.

Jun 2025: Nick Simson

Jun 2025: Nick Simson

In June 2025, Nick Simson hosted on the theme of 'Take Two'.

Q1: What drew you to this theme?

I liked "Take Two" as a phrase open to several interpretations. I was drawn to the idea of a second take (or third, fourth, etc.), or second chances. I was also curious if the idea of going back to do something different would result in any interesting time travel conundrums.

Q2: Did you consider any other prompts before settling?

My original idea was to host a Carnival about "personal style". I was thinking how artists each have a unique style; how someone may choose an outfit or a hairstyle; or even writing a style guide like Strunk and White. But there was another recent theme on "self-expression" that I felt might be a little too close and recent for regular participants, so "Take Two". But someone else should take up the personal style idea and run with it on their own website!

Q3: How did you decide on your prompt's wording?

This was the most challenging part of hosting! I wanted to provide a few ways of interpreting the theme without writing too much of anyone's post for them. Mostly I wanted to plant the seeds of the idea through my own voice.

Q4: Did hosting change how you think about the theme?

I did try to sit down and write a post of my own responding to the theme, a couple times. In the end, I was happy just playing host. I received so many submissions (37!) in that month I was pretty busy reading and responding to all the great writing each week.

Q5: Did the submissions surprise you in any way?

Overall, folks had a variety of diverse takes on the theme, which was very satisfying. I was delighted that a few people even submitted more than one post to the "Take Two" Carnival. The biggest surprise came early in the month when Christian Tietze reached out and asked about using the same theme for his community's "Emacs Carnival". Who am I to turn down such a request? I agreed, and suggested folks participating in the Emacs Carnival also submit their blog posts to the IndieWeb Carnival.

My Submissions

I've participated in several carnival editions! Below is a list of my submissions, ordered by month and year.

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