This essay is based on my lecture given at Interface Critique, Berlin University of the Arts, November 7th 2014.
Thank you for hosting me. Today I’m talking as the Geocities Institute’s Head of Research, an advocate for computer users’ rights, and interface design teacher.
I’ve been making web pages since 1995, since 2000 I’m collecting old web pages, since 2004 I’m writing about native web culture (digital folklore) and the significance of personal home pages for the web’s growth, personal growth and development of HCI.
So I remember very well the moment when Tim O’Reilly promoted the term Web 2.0 and announced that the time of Rich User Experience has begun. This buzzword was based on Rich Internet Applications, coined by Macromedia,1 that literally meant their Flash product. O’Reilly’s RUE philosophy was also rather technical: The richness of user experiences would arise from of use of AJAX, Asynchronous Javascript and XML.
Jeremy Allaire: Macromedia Flash MX—A next-generation rich client, macromedia whitepaper, 2002