iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 30/05/2026

Just to clarify re the error you got, is this the link you clicked and did you see these options? I did notice when I clicked “full profile” it didn’t really work. But if you click the “Bluesky” link, it seems to come up ok.

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 16/01/2026

Had a day off today and went to Hay-on-Wye (the UK’s book town) with my daughter. I managed to find a 2006 web design book, packed with screenshots. Anyone else a fan of the “Web Design Index by Content” books? #WebDesignHistory

Web Design Index by Content.02 book cover

Web Design Index by Content0.2, showing screenshot images inside the book

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 15/09/2025

I'm sure this was the intention, but the Boy Kavalier character in Alien:Earth so reminds me of Zuckerberg whenever he's in a scene. (aside: I had no idea Adrian Edmondson played the henchman character until I saw his name in the credits last night, after E4! Such a change for him.)

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 10/09/2025

OMG, I just discovered I got a mention in Tim Berners-Lee’s memoir!! Totally unexpected. Ok, he spelled my name wrong, but that doesn’t matter :) The read-write web lives on!

Despite the lull in development of the semantic web of the 1990s, by the late 2000s, I was beginning to see a way forward. I have always believed the web should be a two-way thing: a place to write, as well as to read. Richard McManus, a journalist and blogger, captured this spirit in a blog he named the read-write web'. It was also a big value with the W3C team: my original WorldWide Web.app on the NeXT had been an editor, not simply a browser: an application, like a word processor, which allows you to create and modify material as well as just read it. At INRIA, the French national computer science lab, Vincent Quint and Irene Greif had built a hypertext browser-editor, where you could even edit diagrams. The W3C website was set up so that you could submit your own web page. And of course, Wikipedia is a great realization of this idea.
So for documents, we can set up a read-write web.

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 19/08/2025

As the 21st century dawned, Ziggy Stardust — David Bowie’s most famous personification of an alien — was no longer interested in playing guitar. Now, Ziggy ran a web portal and swapped MP3 files with Weird and Gilly. cybercultural.com/p/napster-19... #BowieForever

David Bowie the internet visionary, in 1999

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 07/08/2025

It is indeed :) One thing I'm wondering though, the handle is longer than on my Mastodon-bridged a/c (Classic Web): see attached screenshot. Is it supposed to be that long — I would've thought I could use @feed@webtechnology.news (i.e. without the ap.brid.gy bit)?

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 17/06/2025

Hey Bluesky webheads, I have a poll running that I'd like your input on: What do you call your personal website these days? (if none of these options, please comment) Attached are the current results, but there are 8 hours left to run on the poll, over on Mastodon: mastodon.social/@ricmac/1146...

poll: What do you call your personal website these days? (if none of these options, please comment)

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 02/06/2025

In sunnier news, this wonderful little red robin was enjoying the seeds at the bottom of the bird feeder this morning. #birds 🐦

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 21/05/2025

“Aren’t you guys too big for this playground?” Two magpies take over the bird-feeder and scare away the local finches and other small birds. #birds #ukbirds 🦅

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 13/05/2025

A European goldfinch turned up today…we don’t see many of them, so it was a pleasant surprise. #birds #ukbirds 🐦

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 18/04/2025

A beautiful kea in Staglands Wildlife Reserve, Akatarawa Valley, just north of Upper Hutt, New Zealand. #birds 🐦 🦅

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 17/04/2025

North Island robin, from Zealandia sanctuary in New Zealand. #birds 🦅

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 11/04/2025

Don’t worry, the New Zealand media is covering the important things.

F1: Liam Lawson finishes ahead of Yuki Tsunoda in both Bahrain practice sessions

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 02/04/2025

I won a paid of socks at the GitHub booth (do I need to disclose this in the next article I write about them?) #KubeCon

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 02/04/2025

Wouldn’t be a tech conference without a group of tech experts attempting to fix a dongle issue to get a presentation started. #KubeCon

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 02/04/2025

Seems like the #KubeCon action is on Bluesky, not Mastodon. Anywho, here are some highlights from the keynote by @cra.dev

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 29/03/2025

Lovely starling today at our bird feeder. #birds #ukbirds 🐦

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 17/03/2025

In case anyone was wondering, the victorious pheasant from last week’s battle is this one. He has his lunch under the bird feeder most days and otherwise prowls around making sure other male pheasants don’t intrude on his territory. He’s also not at all bothered by our 2 cats. #birds #ukbirds

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 10/03/2025

A territorial battle between two pheasants in our front yard today. #birds #ukbirds

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 23/02/2025

Nice side-on shot of the pheasant. #birds #ukbirds

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 23/02/2025

A pheasant drops by the bird feeder. #birds #ukbirds

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 20/02/2025

On February 19, 2007 — 18 years ago! — David Karp launched #Tumblr: "A tumblelog isn’t better than a blog. It’s not a replacement. But we’re certain it will be a fabulous alternative to the 90% of web users who don’t care to maintain a blog." davidville.wordpress.com/2007/02/19/t...

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 12/02/2025

Thanks, those icons look like from their "2.0" version, which was around Aug 95 I think. ref poster on the right in this image (via www.goodtimes.sc/up-from-unde...)

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 02/02/2025

A great spotted woodpecker touches down on our backyard bird feeder. #birds #UKbirds

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 06/01/2025

This guy wandered into my backyard today, while I was having lunch. First time I’ve managed to photograph a fox since I’ve been in the UK.

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 26/12/2024

Hi all, several people have alerted me to this impersonation account. I reported it yesterday, but I suppose the more people who report it the better. This is the perp: @cybercultural.bsky.social The only official ricmac a/c has my full domain in it (AND has posted). Please be careful out there.

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 16/12/2024

We best keep those img tags in the box, it seems.

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 12/12/2024

This is a key passage in my book post today about the 2011 web. That was when Facebook introduced its algorithmic feed. As I note, it was a subtle change at first…but it meant FB now controlled what u see (it’s still doing this). But Bluesky lets u control the algo. cybercultural.com/p/063-the-la...

It was a subtle change that Facebook made, and the implication only became clear much later: you don’t control what you see in your feed every day, Facebook does.

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 12/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (20/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚 Challenge completed!

"Careers in Multimedia: Roles and Resources" by Hal Josephson and Trisha Gorman

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 11/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (19/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

Hackers: Heroes of the Computer Revolution
1984 non-fiction book by Steven Levy

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 10/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (18/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 09/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (17/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

A People’s History of Computing in the United States
by Joy Lisi Rankin

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 08/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (16/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

Robert X. Cringely
Accidental Empires: How the Boys of Silicon Valley Make Their Millions, Battle Foreign Competition and Still Can't Get a Date

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 07/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (15/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 06/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (14/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚 (not the most exciting cover, but this is the edition I have!)

David Hesmondhalgh
The Cultural Industries

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 05/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (13/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

JG Ballard: A User's Guide to the Millennium: Essays and Reviews

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 04/12/2024

It’s probably naff to share your Spotify Wrapped on Bluesky, but I am rather proud of this particular bit. An elite Bowie fan!

I’m a top 0.1% fan of David Bowie, according to Spotify Wrapped.

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 04/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (12/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

Thierry Bardini
Bootstrapping: Douglas Engelbart, Coevolution, and the Origins of Personal Computing

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 03/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (11/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚 (shout-out @jomc.bsky.social)

Lurking: How a Person Became a User, Joanne McNeil

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 02/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (10/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

The New New Thing: A Silicon Valley Story
Lewis, Michael

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 01/12/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (9/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

Information Architecture for the World Wide Web
by Peter Morville, Louis Rosenfeld
Released February 1998

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 30/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (8/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

David Weinbeger, Small Pieces Loosely Joined: A Unified Theory of the Web, 2002

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 30/11/2024

1/ The “thousand flowers will bloom” lie of Web 2.0. In my latest Cybercultural post, I wrote: “Web 2.0 promised that a thousand flowers would bloom, in the form of web applications and user-generated content…” I came across a couple of “thousand flowers” citations from Web 2.0 Google & Twitter…

This image is from Tim Berners-Lee, but I used it in this 2009 presentation of Web 2.0 trends. It states: “Linked Data: let a thousand flowers bloom”

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 29/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (7/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

Leslie Berlin
Troublemakers: Silicon Valley's Coming of Age

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 28/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (6/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

George Dyson
Turing's Cathedral: The Origins of the Digital Universe

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 27/11/2024

Since everyone is a fan of hyperlinks again, I’m announcing an innovative new web app. I call it “del.icio.us”. It’s an app for “bookmarking” links online and sharing them with your social network. (I’m also noodling on an idea I call “linkblogs — stay tuned!) #SocialBookmarking

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 27/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (5/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man is a 1964 book by Marshall McLuhan, in which the author proposes that the media, not the content that they carry, should be the focus of study.

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 26/11/2024

Added social icons for Bluesky and Mastodon on my website header today. I’m ignoring X of course, and pretending Threads doesn’t exist — just like they’re pretending they are part of the fediverse. Viva la decentralized web!

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Richard MacManus @ricmac.org · 26/11/2024

Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers. (4/20) #BookSky #20daybookchallenge 💙📚

Ellen Ullman; Life in Code: A Personal History of Technology

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