Olia Lialina. A Vernacular Web. Links

rw-book-cover

Metadata

On some pages links were gates to additional information, on others to unrelated information. The way you looked for information was time consuming but rewarding. By following the links you could find much more than you were looking for.
Since the late 90’s linking wasn’t that hip any more. Search engines, portals and catalogues took over the linking responsibilities making searches faster and less surprising. In the quest for order and hierarchy the web changed completely. Sites with no external links at all became the norm and now constitute the facade of the mainstream web. Users jump back and forth between search engines. Links — the once typical means of conveyance — have lost their infrastructural importance.
In the end both cures delivered the same: a link to an address new to the user; an unknown topic, a surprise, an action, a deep web.

rw-book-cover

On some pages links were gates to additional information, on others to unrelated information. The way you looked for information was time consuming but rewarding. By following the links you could find much more than you were looking for.
Since the late 90’s linking wasn’t that hip any more. Search engines, portals and catalogues took over the linking responsibilities making searches faster and less surprising. In the quest for order and hierarchy the web changed completely. Sites with no external links at all became the norm and now constitute the facade of the mainstream web. Users jump back and forth between search engines. Links — the once typical means of conveyance — have lost their infrastructural importance.
In the end both cures delivered the same: a link to an address new to the user; an unknown topic, a surprise, an action, a deep web.