First of all, it’s been a while since I hosted the IndieWeb Carnival, back in June 2024. If you didn’t read it, give it a look!, and also check the Submissions Roundup Post, I know I’ll give them a re-read, because some details are a bit fuzzy.

1. What drew you to this theme?

What made me choose this particular theme was a somewhat discontent regarding the previous themes of the Carnival, and it’s something that is still continuing to this day to some extent. They weren’t bad, per se, but they became more and more abstract and philosophical, so I decided to try to challenge the community into trying to get out of their comfort zone, create something and document the process.

2. Did you consider any other prompts before settling?

I did have a few other ideas in mind, but eventually I chose the “Create something from (almost) nothing”, because it gave the freedom to each member to choose what they want to create/build, but still be a challenge in the real sense of the word.

3. How did you decide on your prompt’s wording?

I thought on various “titles” for the theme’s prompt and chose actually one with a simple message, easy to transmit and to be understoon, which gave the challengers a good idea of what they need to do. As I mentioned earlier, the main purpose of choosing this particular theme is to move away, even for a month, from the abstract and philosophical themes into the realist AFK space.

4. Did hosting change how you think about the theme?

There were a few projects I was considering to do, some were got to the point where they became drafts for future articles, and the biggest lesson I got from the entire experience was that not always your plans will unfold the way you want and finidng ways to adapt while progressing is actually a key factor to success. At the end of it all, I am very happy I chose this and I still think it’s a good theme.

5. Did the submissions surprise you in any way?

The biggest surprise was actually to have FIFTEEN! submissions, not including my own, especially given the fact that the challenge didn’t mean only to write about something, but to also do something. Among a lot of very very good articles, I was amazed by the craftiness of some of the authors, of which I want to give a big shout to Juhis for his article about crafting a tabletop game. That was an absolute unit of an article and I feel it encapsulated the theme perfectly: doing something the author likes to do, documenting it, and creating something tangible from (almost) nothing.

In conclusion, hosting the Carnival was a really fun and interesting experience, it’s still one of the Internet-social events I’m attending every month, because the themes are well chosen. And if you have a website, or thinking of making one for yourself, go and do it, there are still nice people waiting around the corner!