The Tiny Awards, celebrating the best personal, independent, non-commercial, and newest websites

The resurgence of personal, independent, and non-commercial websites has been with us for several years, propelled in part by the IndieWeb/SmallWeb communities, and a heap of discontent — to say the least — with the present, excessively commercial, nature of the web. And this revival couldn’t be more timely. When once we looked at scores of websites daily, today the attention of many people is dominated by perhaps a mere half dozen. But escaping the claustrophobic confines of these so called walled-gardens need not be a challenge. Web directories — being listings of websites — once a staple of the early web, are also returning in abundance, and teem with links to personal, independent, and non-commercial websites. Ye Old Blogroll is but one example, and if you’re seeking the other web, is a great starting point. Discovery by way of web directories is not the only path to a more personal, less commercial web, however. Web awards are another option. In the same way perhaps the long and…