Join the 128kb challenge! 🚀

Instagram, Twitter, TikTok… All the main platforms that technically  have the required features to connect emerging communies for Creative  Coding and can be visible beyond are… total crap. Flooded with ads and  bullshit content. I very often feel sad and trapped in this perverse  system. Is there an easy way out? No. But I recently had an idea: would  it be possible to develop a frugal alternative to these platforms for  the creative coding community, an MVP,  nothing more than a simple feed? Then I started to develop a prototype  just for fun, where I noticed problem number one: With large media  files, i.e. videos and animations, the platform quickly becomes so big  in size that it would be expensive and time-consuming to keep it  running. And then I thought that it would be exciting to simply  radically limit the file size. For example to 128kb. Problem solved.

Problem number two is communication. Developing a website where  members can write comments, follow each other and publish posts  autonomously requires a lot of technology. A database, for example. And a  front end that can communicate with this database. Insanely complex.  But there are solutions: For example, moving all communication to a  program like Discord.

This is how the project 128kb.timrodenbroeker.de came to life. Don’t  get me wrong, it was never intended to serve as a real alternative to  social media, that would exceed my capacities. But maybe it can be at  least a symbol, a frugal alternative, a prototype and perhaps one day  even a collection of many valuable ideas from the creative coding  community, a snapshot of the scene at the time.

Now, here’s the thing: You can participate, because it is connected  with a challenge: Whoever submits a 128kb gif animation gets the chance  to be featured in that feed. You can find out how it works here. I have also created a dedicated channel on our Discord server where resources and results can be shared.

I would be really happy to see people submitting their work here!

Let’s make this a inspiring cyberspace! ✌️😊

https://128kb.timrodenbroeker.de/