A few weeks ago, I finally got the Internet Phone Book delivered to my house. I can’t remember now where I first heard about it but this project to gather together websites that represent the independent web and small websites — all outside the large companies and social media platforms that now dominate our connected lives — appealed to me. The fact that it was in book form, published independently as an act of love, also got my attention. (Interestingly, in the introduction, one of the curators noted that they built the book as a website first, in HTML, and then later it became a paper book about websites).
The book is a collection of 737 entries, curated and edited by Kristoffer Tjalve and Elliott Cost, and peppered with links sent in by the artists, writers, photographers, game designers and others who heeded the call to submit a website link (something I missed). Tjsalve and Cost then organized the indie web links under a series of themes: Atmosphere, Ecology, HTML, Idiosyncratic, Independence, Multiplayer, Myth, Play, Publish, Small and Text.
There are also a series of essays about the Internet and the idea of small, personal websites as passion projects, and assorted sketch drawings, HTML code that read on the page like poetry, and more. It’s a beautiful project, right up my alley. And apparently, up the alley of others, too, since the self-published book has already sold out.
As I took an eyeball tour of the 737 sites listed in the Internet Phone Book, I became fascinated by the short descriptions that some of the website owners left (not all wrote a blurb, which is too bad) and I began using my yellow highlighter to mark sites that I want to visit. I can’t tell you how happy I am to stumble upon this kind of link-gathering project in book form. (Which, to be fair, has been done in different forms by others in the past — so this is not necessary an original idea but the way this book is put together, and its metaphorical anchor, really appeals to me).
And then I decided: why not make my explorations an inquiry project for 2026?
So what I intend to do is to slowly, over time, visit the 50-plus sites that I highlighted in my book and report out. This will document my travels to these chosen indie web sites, and maybe showcase them to a wider audience (is there anyone out there?) and perhaps connect me with more like-minded folks. At the very least, given the tone of the short descriptions, I suspect I will be entertained by the oddities and passions of the makers. As a bonus, if I come across any interactive sites that resonate with our DS106 Daily Create projects, I will submit them into the Daily Create assignment bank.
I plan to start these explorations after January 1. Until then, I am going to read through the essays and better understand the underpinnings of The Internet Phone Book project.
BUT — I would like to share the diagram/map that Tjsalve and Cost share near the start of the phone book. This Diagram Website is pretty cool to explore. As I understand it, this was one way they began thinking of the indie web, and how they started to narrow down themes.
Try the Random Button at the bottom left of the chart and see where it takes you. Let the explorations begin.
Peace (on your journeys),
Kevin
This sounds like a really interesting project, Kevin! Looking forward to what you find.
And thanks for the diagram website. I’m already exploring one on AltText as Poetry. 🙂
Keven, this paragraph from your article describes my hope that others will take a similar role digging through my website, blogs and library.
“I plan to document my travels to these chosen indie web sites, and maybe showcase them to a wider audience (is there anyone out there?) and perhaps connect me with more like-minded folks.”