What is the point of the Webpage Jam?

One thing I’m pondering: what’s the point of the webjam? Is it to push your personal envelope and do something neat? Is it to create something enjoyable for other people? (Of course, it could be any/both/neither for different people.)

~pgadey

~pgadey asked me to give my opinion about this question regarding the upcoming Ctrl-C Webpage Jam, so I thought I might just post my response for anyone curious to learn more about it.

I wrote up some similar thoughts in the journal when I first launched the Jam two years ago:

but I think it’s worth revisiting with a fresh post.

I won’t repeat the basic details of the Jam here; for that, visit this page:

Alright, so what, in my eyes, is the point of the Webpage Jam?

If you participate in the Webpage Jam, what I would like for you is that you come away with something you are proud of. Something you can show off to friends, or link to from your homepage, or revisit from time to time to say, “wow, I’m glad I made that”.

I don’t want anyone to feel like it’s an assignment or a burden, or that they have to be done with their chosen project in ten days for it to be a legitimate participation. It’s nothing more than a gentle nudge from me, asking you to create something you and I might both enjoy checking out on the web.

Another framing might be: if you found it on someone else’s site, would you want to bookmark the page? Though that might depend on your bookmarking habits. I am admittedly a pretty heavy bookmarker myself, so the threshold for what I will bookmark is basically whether I could imagine myself ever wanting to come back to the page.

So, to more directly address ~pgadey’s questions: the point of the Webpage Jam is to make something you’re proud of. If you won’t be proud of it unless you push your personal envelope, then you gotta do that. It doesn’t have to be enjoyable for other people as long as you yourself like it, but I would selfishly ask that you consider making something that I, ~gome, might also enjoy, since I started this Webpage Jam for my own entertainment. And yes, the point may be different for different people. Feel free to disregard everything I’ve written here and just do what you want with the Webpage Jam. Just make a webpage. Happy jamming!

If you are a member of Ctrl-C, please consider joining the Webpage Jam. As always, you can let me know your thoughts at my Ctrl-C email: gome ​@ ​ctrl-c.club.