The first-ever archaeological dig of the Internet, Digital Archaeology, brought some of the Internet’s earliest and most influential websites back to life in an interactive exhibition that made its U.S. debut at Internet Week New York. The exhibit was created by ad agency Story Worldwide in partnership with Google.
Visitors had the opportunity to surf 28 bygone sites on the vintage hardware and software corresponding to the period of each site’s launch. The centerpiece of the exhibit was a display of The Project (1991), which reunited the first-ever website created by World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, with the pioneering NeXT Cube and the Nexus browser. Other highlights included leading lights from New York City’s early digital scene such as Word.com (1995), one of the Web’s first e-zines, and The Blue Dot (1995), an art and design playground by pioneering online agency Razorfish. The exhibit also featured experimental browser The Web Stalker (1997) and the self-destructing website for the film Requiem for a Dream (2000).
NPR’s On The Media produced an in depth segment that brought the exhibit to listeners nationwide in the way that only NPR can do (listen for yourself below). Other coverage highlights included CNN, Fast Company, Time.com, CBC, Adweek, MSNBC.com, The Next Web, Yahoo!, The New Jersey Star Ledger, ReadWriteWeb, PSFK, and New York Observer’s Betabeat.
