From GeoCities to NeoCities: Net Art, Nostalgia, and the Future of Online Community Spaces

The year is 2000 and you’ve finally upgraded from your family shared dial-up PC to apersonal Windows Vista. You sit at your desk, CRT in front of you with your browser booted upand you log into Xanga or LiveJournal and begin tweaking the HTML of your personalized page.From glittery GIFs to custom cursor trails, your webpage was as unique to you as everyoneelse's; a blip of individuality and teenaged non conformity in the clean uniformity of web spacehistory.

As blogging platforms like MySpace, Blogspot, Xanga, and Tumblr gained traction, alongwith personal homepage platforms like GeoCities and Angelfire, spaces for online communitybuilding were born. Users could experiment with identity, code, and custom digital environments.In contrast to its descendants, these web platforms provided it’s users with the tools needed tocraft their own spaces long before the capitalistic imposition of media templates and uniformedcontent structured around engagement metrics. Web social culture at the time was viewed asexpressive, raw, and visually chaotic which led to the rise of a media revolution, titled by OliaLialina, a media theorist, “web folk art”. They blurred the line between documentation and digitalartistic practices, in particular teen users and those from marginalized communities, throughtheir experimentation of identity, narrative, and HTML as creative outlets. These platformsfostered early forms of digital authorship that were deeply afective and aesthetically1unruly—precursors to both contemporary net art and social media performance.

Through a historical lens this paper explores the rise and fall of blog culture and customhomepages as the building blocks of Web 2.0 and its corporate social platforms. Focusing onhow visual aesthetics, diferent platform structures, and social communities created in the1990’s and 2000’s online spaces served as groundwork for community based net art and socialexpression. As well as the decline of the decentralized web, as noted by scholars such asLenarcic and Sarkar (2010), the decline of blogging reflects broader tensions between personalautonomy and platform capitalism in the digital age.2

But as the new wave and contemporary resurgence of early Y2K web aesthetics inplatforms such as NeoCities arises, this begs the question, why now? Is it the cyclical trend thatall fads of bygone eras face, or is it the desire to re-engage with a more expressive and lesscommercial social platform?

II. Historical Background: The Rise of User-Created Web Spaces

During its initial stages, web blogging and homepages were heavily regarded as aplayground for social experimentation, though not only through the lens of personal identity. MegHourian, the co-founder of Blogger, highlights that the key philosophy that they followed duringthe development of the early social platform was that blogging should embrace all facets ofindividuality. They wanted to create a platform that was open, personal, and allowed the creativeexpression of users. This is in stark contrast to modern day influencer culture and its focus onmonetization, algorithmic appeals, and networked visibility. Bloggers and online diaristsprioritized personal narrative regardless of engagement, further fostering a more diversecommunity due to lack of competition and algorithmic uniformity that the old web had. This gaveusers higher agency over their self expression.

Though blogging culture arose far before the term was coined and web hosts becamereadily available to the public, the online forum was the birthplace of the individualism andcommunity that predated the online blogspace. The “User’s Network”, Usenet for short, wasactive from 1979 to the early 2000’s. It was originally started by two Duke graduate students,Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis, with the intent of sharing and communicating research files betweenUNC-Chapel Hill. Over time Usenet grew into a global newsgroup and discussion forum. Onthese servers and platforms users contributed both long and short form opinions, articles, andquestions for the general community to engage. Oftentime sparking discussion threads and led to the creationof separate hubs for specific subtopics (callednewsgroups) referred to as “posts” by the generalUsenet community3. At its peak Usenet had more than120,000 active newsgroups, from which a very importantcontributor was active: Justin Hall. At 19 he had createdthe first personal website on the internet. Heavilyinspired by the issues he faced in using sub spaceswithin Usenet, Hall felt the platform was impersonal anddisconnected in regards to its refresh rate and lack ofdigital archiving. From there Links.Net was born. Removing Hall from the Usenets environmentwhere he was just another voice in a crowd, on his own site, Hall could set the rules. “What Iwanted to do was give people the same feeling I had when I first got online. [The idea] that youcould create your own place and make it as weird or intimate or radical as you wanted”4 Fromthere, many emulated the ideas and principles that Hall presented in the creation of his website,setting the foundations for the popularization of blog culture.

Hall’s Links.net served as a baseline for the creation of personal web publishing sites,digital DIY culture, and blogging hosts in active communication with forum adjacent webspaces.GeoCities (1994-2009) was one of the earliest web hosting platforms which gave users a more centralized hub, rifing off of the Usenets “newsgroups”, GeoCities allowed for its users to createand publish blogs under specific tabs and niches, called “neighborhoods”, pertaining to thesubjects that they would actively contribute to and write about. GeoCities ofered its users withan accessible entry point to web customization and basic HTML coding and editing, giving themcreative autonomy separate from the forums decentralized approach, much like UseNet,Geocities was a democratic form of online existence, with no patrolling or limitations surroundingtopics and themes that users wished to blog about.

Similar in concept to GeoCities, there was Angelfire (1996-present day) which alsoprovided free web hosting but with a more streamlined approach to HTML coding. Angelfireusers were given both the space to purchase web domains as well as delve into more complexcode using WYSIWYG (“what you see is what you get”) editor. A software specifically designedfor non programmers to easily create their own websites with more complex visuals withoutneeding to use code, as the software would code it for them based on the selections and toolsthey would manually input. Thus lowering the barrier for web design and blogging, and openingspace for marginalized groups to create safecommunities on the web, and for net artists to moreeasily convey digital spaces and hubs for theircreations. One example is Olia Lialina’s work “MyBoyfriend Came Back From the War” (1996): animmersive narrative web work which was made usingWYSIWYG HTML editors like Netscape composer andMicrosoft Frontpage.5 Through the discussion of herwork Lialina discusses the role of amatuer aestethics,such as frame based navigation, heavy visual contrast,pixel art, and user generated content in the early stagesof net art, arguing in favor of its recognition as well asits preservation as a medium.

As users became more accustomed to HTML through the use of Angelfire manymigrated to other more code centered web spaces such as Myspace. Considered to be thedigital precursor to Facebook, Myspace was the most influential blog and webhost platform ofthe early 2000’s, peaking in popularity between 2003-2011. Myspace ofered its users anextensive library of customization tools. As an HTML and CSS friendly website, users weregiven the space and tools to play with far more complex code, while still working off of a basetemplate hub. Heavily inspired off of Justin Hall’s Links.net use of embedded hyperlinks (notredame)6, Myspace users often linked their friends or blogs which inspired their personal visualidentities onto their pages.

III. Net Art and Cultural Value

Much like Lialina’s implementation of the web and code into her work, many artists in the1990’s and early 2000’s embraced code art as a creative medium, recontextualizing thesignificance of the internet as both a canvas and a gallery space for recognized andunrecognized artists alike. Utilizing the common visual themes present in blog culture to curateand create immersive web experiences for their viewers to engage with, net artists made theirworks more accessible, while also giving rise to the net.art movement. Net.art explored the useof the web’s capabilities and functionalities in interactivity, hypertext, and multimedia facets toengage the viewer in ways that other visual art mediums could not formally convey. Key figuresof this movement included Alexei Shulgin, Ben Benjamin, Daniel García Andújar, Heath Bunting,JODI, Olia Lialina, Rachel Baker, and Vuk Ćosić. All of whomheavily incorporated viewer interactivity into their pieces. JonIppolito discusses the border context in which net.art exists,emphasizing its operation outside of contemporary art spacesusing the internet's capabilities to create participatory work andexperiences. He notes that net art ofers the viewer the option ofchoice through diverse web navigation and globalinterconnectivity through its accessibility.7It’s much like BenBenjamin's work Superbad (1997) which consisted of a webspacewith over 140 navigable subpages.

JODI, a collaboration between Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans, deconstructed theuser webspace into something more abstract and heavily reliant on viewer interaction. Jodi.org’suse of hypertext and digital collage lends itself visually to challenging what viewers expect out oftraditional web navigation and the potential of web art anda multifaceted medium of abstract visual communication.This work and many others present in the net.artmovement laid the groundwork for the further explorationof the intersection of art and technology, birthingconcepts such as Post Internet art highlighting theinternet's passive influence on visual culture and societalconfiguration.8 JODI and Vuk Cosic used many of theearly web's blogger interface styles such as glitches, poorformatting, and low resolution media to honor and referdirectly to authentic digital culture and its importance.

Through both the influence of net art and the customizable subspaces of bloggingplatforms and code, the line between web user and net artist became increasingly blurred.Thanks to the rise of personal web pages, customized message boards and the abstarct visualaesthetics they incorporated, an indie net art subculture was born. Anyone could create net artand call themselves a net artist.

IV. The Corporate Shift: From Myspace to Facebook

The launch of Facebook in 2004 marked the beginning of the end for the unique digitalsubspaces that bloggers and net artists held in high regard. Where Myspace thrived incustomizability, facebook restricted. The visual design standardization of facebook ofered asmoother simpler access into social media and digital platforms for those who didn't want to gothrough the trouble of HTML coding and establishing a presencefor their digital identity, while having made it alot more accessibleto share media files and updates, with facebook's lack ofcustomizable user interface came the loss of creative autonomy,and the freedom of visual customization beyond what smallpresets were already included in the platforms pages for userintractability. Where once identity on the web was constructedthrough visual and coded decisions, Facebook replaced this witha data-driven, form-filled self.9 This visual corporate shift not onlyafected the users freedom in visual communication, but alsoheavily uniformed the online social interactions present on theweb. With Facebook's use of digital monetization and their UI’s algorithmic patterns, socialimplications surrounding what was universally considered good content and recommended tothe public shifted heavily in favor of more trend based topics and visuals. This homogenized thevisual culture and expression of individuals on the web.

Facebook’s rise in popularity is a strong shift from the digital diary style creative spacethat the blogging sphere ofered, to a more social performance based visual and interactiveculture. Not only heavily afecting the digital landscape of social interaction but also real wordsocial implications, giving rise to things like FOMO and Infulencers as concepts, which heavilypiggy backed off the users desires surrounding subjects like fake social and financial afluence.Which in terms of this digital cultures presentation was a complete turn around in terms of itsguiding principles, be them intentional or not.

While Facebook at the time had yet to establish itself as the conglomerate we know it asnow, there was still a heavy undertone surrounding the visual and corporate needs of theplatform in terms of monetization. Unlike that of the blogging spheres and web hosts present atthe time which were not profit nor numerically centered, the presence of the user in thiscorporate afiliated space changed wildly to what prior to this had been the norm. The user wasno longer the producer of content alone but a producer of value [and data]10, through theprioritization of the faux digital hierarchy and algorithmic data gathering the social sphereheavily shifted. Highlighting a concept which is now a central point of discussion and conflict inonline spaces, performance vs authenticity.

V. Resurgence and Nostalgia: NeoCities and the New Old Web

With the cyclical style of modern day micro-trends in culture comes the return of the Year2000, better known now as Y2k, and its visual culture and aesthetic, and with it the return ofblogging spheres and the cultural communal implications of it. The resurgence of this movementheavily correlates to both the web and the visual homogenization of aesthetics and style,serving as an informal resistance to the minimalist corporate visual tropes strongly present inthe contemporary world. Y2K sparked the return of the old web through platforms such as neocities and other indie web movements. Serving as a wake up call for the newer generations whohad not grown up with this digital language and resparking interest in those that grew up withthese spaces. The Indie web allows users to explore nostalgia, participate in the new age digitalresistance against the modern day corporate web, utilizing their new creative freedom.

NeoCities, launched in 2013, was made in direct reference to the GeoCities web hostingplatform of the early 2000’s. With many of the same features ranging from HTML and CSS sitecoding, and website subcategory “neighborhoods”. This web host was born from a frustrationwith how boring and uniform the internet had become11. Having similar motivations and guidingprinciples to other Indie Web participants like Carrd, and Mastodon, which focus on fosteringcreative autonomy among its users. Prioritizing concepts surrounding intimate and interpersonalcommunity building as opposed to Web 2.0’s short lived interactions and algorithmic reachprioritization. With The new old web [being] less about escaping to the past and more aboutreclaiming what was lost: autonomy, intimacy, and joy in creation.12

VI. Contemporary Implications: The Future of Web Communities and Net Art

Does the return of this y2k visual culture mean a return for net art and other code basedinteractive webspaces? As platforms like NeoCities, Glitch, and are.na gain traction andpopularity among digital creatives and those exploring the visual limitations of code. Net art hasbegun to actively experience a digital renaissance rooted in the practices and ideals of itscontemporary predecessors. Enabling active discussion surrounding heavily anti-designconcepts, retro-futurist visuals and non user friendly interface. With the resurgence of thesediscussions in experimental design and visual language referencing the spirit and conceptualethos of the Net.art movement. With the early web having been an inherently artistic space. Itsstructure encouraged play, collage, and hybrid identities. Contemporary net art rediscoveredthese roots by bypassing the corporate web.13

As concepts presented by the Indie Web gained traction, discussions surrounding a generalgrowing dissatisfaction with the panopticon-like surveillance state of the digital web began, overcontroversial subjects surrounding the many faults present within the new web. From loss ofprivacy through data monitoring, algorithmic shifts impacting societal perceptions, and the mass commercialization of these new age web platforms. This dissatisfaction with the modernweb has inspired users on these platforms to reclaim their personal agency through these digitalfields, as we now begin to notice an active cultural shift in how users understand and demand control over their data and identities.

But is this idealized future achievable, and can we in the modern age remove ourselvesfrom the surveillance and Control of the digital spheres that we operate under in thecontemporary digital world? While for now the concept of a decentralized web where users arefree to manage and host their own personal spaces are only in their starting stages, withconcepts like Web3, Fediverse (ie. Mastodon), and Indieweb.org taking the lead in the fightagainst the corporate web, both the reach and online structure of these platforms are still veryunstable and not globally recognized enough to serve in strong parallel to the modern corporateweb. Take for instance Web3 and its block chain based servers, they strive to create noncorporate web hosting servers. Practically their practices heavily align with the Indie Webmovement’s ideologies surrounding personal data ownership, unique user hubs, and platformcapitalism. While Web3 is theoretically sound, the platform is still in the early stages of ideation,development, and proper self sustainment, meaning that presently there is a significant learningcurve in actively participating in the space. With many critics even pointing out how Web3doesn't fully remove or halt the plausible incentive of capitalistic functioning through the cryptoand block chain upon which it is built.15In contrast to Web3’s shortcomings, Fediverse andIndieweb.org have somewhat successfully stepped up net space detached from the ad revenueand data brokerage of the modern web, bypassing these systems by using Federation andOpen Web protocols as their bases as opposed to blockchain. Rather than solely focusing onreconstructing the infrastructure and economy of the web, work towards creating decentralizedsocial networks as well as personal domain publishing, actively removing corporate revenueinstead of attempting to refit it within a diferent context. While decentralization is conceptuallypromising, its mass adoption requires rethinking not just tools, but digital literacy, infrastructure,and incentive structures.16

VII. Conclusion

The digital Hubs of the late 90’s and early 2000’s were not just tools but visuallanguages, social hubs, and even galleries. They gave artists and users alike creative freedom,liberty, and ownership of their online identities. Helping shape digital culture and net art as weknow it today, Blurring the line between casual users and recognized digital artists. Made notjust for content consumption, but media ideation and visual design, through the codecustomization, and communities that blogging subspaces provided. Through the lens of our nowlong standing corporate web identities, it is easy to dismiss the visual and cultural importance ofthe chaos present in the early web as just a fleeting nostalgia of a bygone time. But the revival of blog culture through NeoCities and the IndieWeb speaks in stark contrast to those beliefs thatdiminish the importance of user curated spaces in favor of our current cookie cutter visuals.Embracing the importance of personal control in the exploration and communication of one'spersonal identity. What we are seeing now in this referential reanimation of the old web is arebellion, and desire to return to expressive and communicative visual cultures not restricted byexternal forces, a far more humane and interpersonal rendition of the new age web.