“Online platforms allowed me to cultivate a freer version of myself. Then the digital world began to close off.”
web
Posted inEditor's Pick
The Perfect Webpage
“How the internet reshaped itself around Google’s search algorithms — and into a world where websites look the same.”
Posted inEditor's Pick
Taking Stock
Rob Horning explores the term “creator” in this essay on labor, exploitation, and content production and consumption on the internet. “Creator,” like “creativity,” is essentially a null term that signifies nothing about one’s activity but instead marks one’s limitless availability — a willingness to make anything at all in one’s life into content for sale.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Why the Church of Scientology Can’t Beat the Internet
Over at The Kernel, Jesse Hicks has put together a fascinating account of the Church of Scientology’s relationship with the Internet. So, how has a notoriously secretive and hierarchical organization dealt with the world’s most “open and radically nonhierarchical platform for communication”? Not well. Scientology’s antagonistic relationship to the Internet dates back to the web’s early days: when an early […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Nothing Beside Remains (of the Space Jam Website)
Last week, Rolling Stone came out with a fantastically detailed and weird deep dive into the history of the Space Jam website. While technically operating under the purview of one of the world’s largest entertainment companies, a ragtag group of unsupervised young coders built something really revolutionary. The site was a pioneering example of how a studio could […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How an Online Forum Made the World’s Oldest Profession Less Dangerous
One of the ways the site reduced danger for workers was by making it easier for them to weed out bad dates, from poor tippers to full-on abusive creeps. Providers could choose to meet only customers who were well known and well liked on RedBook’s forums, and some workers even required references from other escorts on the site before taking on a new client.