The Open Directory Project

"The Open Directory Project is the largest, most comprehensive human-edited directory of the Web. It is constructed and maintained by a vast, global community of volunteer editors."

(Netscape Communications Corporation)

[This project provides a valuable glimpse into the history of the Internet as a directory of hierarchically ordered hyperlinks (and an example of pre-Wikipedia collaboration).]

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A Brief History Of Virtual Communities

On The Web: The Museum Inside The Network

"Exhibited: Internet, ICC Gallery, Spiral, and P3 art and environment, Tokyo
IC'91 'The Museum Inside The Telephone Network' was an event that expanded the museum's function as 'information space' by enabling exchanges between different cultures through the use of phone lines. 'on the Web' constituted multiple events including the construction of a 'visible museum' on the rapidly growing Internet, and the presentation of performances and installations over ISDN. In the 'Net Gallery' the viewer enjoyed real-time interaction with artworks by using the latest browser software, such as Netscape Navigator, HotJava, and the VRML Viewer. To hold an exhibit on the network does not mean merely transferring the works and activities of artists who use currently existing media onto the Net. Furthermore, it is still unclear whether such works can be included in the pre-existing framework of what has come to be defined as 'Art.' It is all about process, and we have only just begun. Because Euclidean time and space do not apply to the Net, in order to understand the works and activities of artists on the Net we need to formulate a completely new form of 'recognition.' 'on the Web' forced the viewers to question their own 'comprehension of the network. 'Participating artists in the 'Net Gallery' (22 groups from Japan and abroad):Art-Com, Bulbous Plants, Carl Stone, David Blair And Florence Ormezzano, Dumb Type, Etoh Koichiro, Fujihata Lab, George Coates Performance Works, Hachiya Kazuhiko, Harada Daizaburo-Sakamoto Ryuichi, Heath Bunting, Iwai Toshio, Ingo Günther, Kurebayashi Takao+Param, Masuyama Hiroshi, Matsumoto Gento And Samata Masato, Mikami Seiko, Muntadas, Nsk, Netshopboys, Sunahara Yoshinori Yasaka Kenji, Tachibana Hajime 'InterSpace GLOBAL INTERIOR PROJECT #1' (FUJIHATA Masaki and NTT) Developed by NTT Human Interface Laboratories, 'Interspace' acts as a communication environment system that allows for the participation of multiple users. Using 'Interspace' as a platform, FUJIHATA Masaki designed a 'spatial model' that connected real space and virtual space. By wiring up on a digital network a relational system that could never exist in reality, he created a model of the world that cannot be grasped objectively as navigatable space. This was an attempt to construct a new system of recognition from which to view the world. Spiral Hall, P3 art and environment, and ICC Gallery were linked through the network and displayed FUJIHATA's work. 'Telematic Dreaming jTelematic Vision' (Paul SERMON) ICC Gallery and Spiral Hall were connected by ISDN and images of these two separate exhibition halls were exchanged using a teleconferencing system. The visitor could see their own image juxtaposed with that of someone from the other hall on a monitor. By communicating with the other person through gestures, the visitor experienced the complicated psychological condition of existing outside of real time and space. In other words, the visitor became aware not of the movements or existence of his own body, but rather, of a body that was interacting in a remote telematic space. The work's use of a 'bed' and 'sofa'-objects replete with meaning-- effectively enhanced this reversal in the visitor's perceptions, thereby eliciting a real sensation. A performance by Paul SERMON and Andrea ZAPP was held from November 3rd to 5th."
(NTT Intercommunication, 1995)

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