About
A working example of a web built for people.
Fix the Web campaigns for people's control and wellbeing online. Villow turns that ambition into a product you can use, question and improve. It demonstrates possible controls; it doesn't yet prove their effects.
Who built it
Villow was designed and built by Nicholas Nucifora, founder of Fix the Web.
Nicholas intends to continue developing and maintaining Villow, and to use working tools like it to help change how the web works for people.
A fuller founder bio is still to come: TBDshort bio.
Why “Villow”?
Video plus pillow, somewhere comfortable to watch. Like willow and meadow, the name also leaves room for life outside the feed. Watching for entertainment, comfort or rest counts too.
Help Villow reach people.
A useful prototype only has a chance to change things if people actually use it. You can help in several ways:
- Use Villow: create your own or join a friend's, and see what fits your day.
- Invite friends: give people a trusted place to try it and something to watch together.
- Spread the word: share it with creators, communities and people with reach. Describe what you found useful rather than promising an outcome.
- Give feedback: optional check-ins and the app's Feedback page help improve the design.
- Contribute: code, bug reports, accessibility feedback and tested owner guidance.
- Support the wider movement: Fix the Web campaigns for these kinds of choices across the internet.
Help fund ongoing maintenance.
Villow is free and open source. Villow adds no ads and sells no viewing data. Donations are highly needed to sustain development and maintenance.
Donation destination: TBDpublic donation destination still to be chosen. Contact Nicholas about supporting the work, or visit Fix the Web.
What we're learning
Villow is a substantial working prototype. We want to learn whether finite feeds, optional reflection, explained suggestions and social support help people spend time in ways they value. These are design intentions, not established wellbeing or polarization results.
Private viewing measurements stay in the Villow you use. Only feedback you choose to submit goes to Fix the Web. Voluntary feedback can strengthen the evidence, but self-reported surveys have limits. Findings will need context about who participated and how they were measured.
Contact
- Questions, bugs or support: get in touch.
- Feedback about your experience: the Feedback page inside Villow.
- Code: VillowTBD and the extension.
- Your installation or stored data: contact its owner as well as the project if needed.
Working tools. A bigger ambition.
Villow demonstrates that these controls are possible. Fix the Web is asking platforms to offer them directly to everyone.