In the course of building this site I realized that my servers constitute a website graveyard. I remember, back around 2009, discovering that I could register domain names for $0.99. I researched who governed the Domain Name System (short answer: contractors to the US Dept. of Commerce), fascinated by a new relationship between names and information. I registered ᐂᐄ.net, which I thought looked cool. In the address bar it morphs to xn--ycee.net, like all non-ASCII domains translated into a string beginning with xn--. I was interested in relationship between so many symbols, non-western scripts, the Commerce Dept., and actual webpage content.
I learned I could view-source on any webpage, copying and pasting bits of HTML and CSS into my own live creations. I’d found out about net art on sites like rhizome.org and appreciated these non-commercial visions folded into corners of the Web. I tried copying some simple net art pieces in HTML, learning obscure tags like <marquee>. Last week I found one sitting on my server, definitely an imitation piece.
I’m still interested in prodding the language and symbols of the Web to see what’s hidden. Though drawn to non-commerical experiments I did eventually start coding for work. This site serves as a portfolio. But with this new blog, I’m hoping to share my research, experimentation, and writing.