Mike Chen
Senior Web Archaeologist & Collection Curator
About
Mike Chen has been documenting and preserving the early World Wide Web since the dial-up era. Originally starting as a hobbyist collecting defunct Geocities pages and WebRing networks, Mike now leads the archival strategy for 1990 Web Archive.
Specializing in late-90s HTML structures, Netscape-era rendering quirks, and community-driven web cultures, Mike has successfully recovered over a quarter-million lost pages. His work focuses on maintaining pixel-perfect accuracy while ensuring long-term digital preservation.
When not reverse-engineering table-based layouts or tracking down forgotten guestbooks, Mike contributes to open-source retro-web emulators and lectures on digital heritage at tech conferences worldwide.
Featured Collections
WebRing Ecosystems
Complete mapping of 340+ active WebRings, including navigation structures and community hubs.
Netscape Era Sites
Pages built specifically for Netscape 3.0–4.0, featuring proprietary plugins and early DHTML.
GeoCities Recovery Project
Reconstructed personal homepages, guestbooks, and under-construction marquees.