About

Dot.com Histories is a collection of resources that aim to connect various archives, artifacts, stories, businesses, and people related to the web’s first decade (~1993 – 2003), with a particular focus on the discourses surrounding professional web design, ideas about value and quality, and the development of commercial web industries. This project is maintained by Megan Sapnar Ankerson, an asst. professor in Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. This site offers a small sampling of the personal archive that I have built for my own research and I hope to expand these offerings over time.

Like all archives, there are biases and omissions. Too much of this material is US-centric and tends to feature the biggest players and dominant discourses, mainly because these traces of the past were well circulated and reported. I hope to collect a variety of stories, experiences, and materials that can help us better understand the dot-com era and the cultural work of making the web. If you have thoughts, concerns, anecdotes, or objects to share, please don’t hesitate to contact me at ankerson AT umich DOT edu.