DH-10 • FALL 2024 • UNDERGRADUATE

Digital Archaeology of the Early Web

An interdisciplinary introduction to the methods, tools, and ethical frameworks for preserving, analyzing, and interpreting digital heritage from 1990–2000. Students will engage with primary web artifacts, archival methodologies, and computational text analysis.

👤 Dr. Elena Vance

📍 Hybrid / Asynchronous

⏱ 3 Credits

🏷 Digital Humanities • Archival Studies

Course Modules

Module	Topics & Readings	Archive Access
1. Foundations Web history & digital preservation theory	Yoke, M. (1998). Preserving the Digital. Latham, P. (2012). Preserving the Past for the Future. 📄 Syllabus PDF 🌐 CERN.html (1991)
2. GeoCities & Personal Pages DIY web culture, amateur digital archives	Mackenzie, M. (2020). Web Culture & Participation. Case study: Angelfire backups. 🌐 GeoCities Reconstruction 📊 Link Analysis
3. Frames, Tables & Early CSS Technical archaeology & markup evolution	Dive into source code comparison. W3C validation reports (1996–1999). 🌐 Frame-Based Portals 🛠️ HTML Validator
4. Dot-com & E-Commerce Commercial web, early UX, accessibility gaps	Pine-Garrido, F. (2019). Web Accessibility History. Retail archive snapshots. 🌐 1998 E-Commerce Archive 📈 Traffic Metrics
5. Y2K & Digital Anxieties Cultural narratives, preparedness pages, memes	Schwartz, M. (2003). What the Millennium Bug Means. Forum archives & countdowns. 🌐 Y2K Prep Sites 💬 Forum Scraper

Archive Lab: Primary Source Viewer

1990webarchive://viewer/render?uri=geocities/areas/5542

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html><head>
<title>Welcome to CyberCafe 98</title>
</head><body bgcolor="#000033" text="#00FF00">
<center>
<font face="Times New Roman" size="4">
★ Welcome to my homepage! ★
</font>
<br><img src="construction.gif" alt="[Under Construction]">
<br>
<table border="1" cellpadding="5">
<tr><td>Link 1</td><td>Link 2</td></tr>
</table>
</center>
</body></html>

[SYSTEM] Rendering pipeline: Netscape 3.0 emulator
[SYSTEM] Assets recovered: 14 GIF, 3 MIDI, 2 HTML frames
[LINK] View source code | Compare with 1997 snapshot
[META] Timestamp: 1998-11-04T14:22:00Z | Status: Verified Archive

ERa FILTER

1990–1994 1995–1997 1998–1999 Y2K Era

CONTENT TYPE

Personal Pages WebRings E-Commerce Academic

QUERY STRING

✓ 4,218 matches found across 3,892 domains

Assignments & Deliverables

OPEN

1. Archive Curation Brief

Select 3 early web pages and write a 1,200-word analysis covering technical structure, cultural context, and preservation challenges. Include screenshots and markup excerpts.

📅 Due: Oct 12 📊 25% of grade

OPEN

2. Computational Text Analysis

Using the Archive API, extract text from 50+ pages. Run frequency analysis, topic modeling, or sentiment tracking. Submit code notebook + 800-word interpretation.

📅 Due: Nov 05 📊 30% of grade

DRAFT

3. Interactive Exhibit

Build a public-facing digital exhibit using recovered artifacts. Must include metadata standards (Dublin Core), accessibility features, and archival citation links.

📅 Due: Dec 10 📊 40% of grade