The research project

Project	Blog	Timeline	Examples
Results	Links	Literature	Contact

The main aim of the research project ‘Histories of the Danish web in the 1990s’ is to write a cultural and media history of the early development of the web in Denmark. A second aim is to put the early history of the Danish web in dialogue with what came later (social media, mobile media, so-called Web 2.0, etc.) with a view to identifying breaks and continuities. The pre-history of the research project has been briefly described in a blog post.

The project has three focal areas:
a) The overall history of the Danish web
b) The overall history of selected areas/spheres of the Danish web
c) Detailed case studies of selected Danish websites

The overall history of the Danish web is about (not exhaustive list):

• Danish society and culture in general
• public discourses about the web (cultural public imaginaries)
• the general media landscape
• policy papers from government and similar
• computer and internet technology (hard- and software, ISPs, etc.)
• cross-web features (browsers, search, etc.)
• regulatory frameworks
• domain name handling
• how to get on the web (home, work, public libraries, internet café, etc.)
• software for website construction

The overall history of selected areas/spheres of the Danish web is inspired by Habermas’ idea of the public sphere and includes the following spheres:

• media sphere (print, radio, television on the web + born web media)
• private sphere (individuals, families, etc.)
• commercial sphere (international, national, local companies)
• cultural sphere (arts, music, food, sport, religion, etc.)
• political sphere (political parties, NGOs, etc.)
• state sphere (Parliament, Ministries, regions, municipalities)
• education sphere (higher education, high school, primary school)

The detailed case studies of selected Danish websites:

• a number of websites will be selected within each sphere to be analysed in detail
• focus on communicative functions and form of content

The study is based on a variety of source types, among others:

• archived web from the Internet Archive, and from Netarkivet
• print documents (books, newspapers, magazines…), television, commercials
• usegroups
• (internal) documents, diaries, photos…
• public policy papers
• interviews, oral histories
• statistics

Although one can argue that the history of the Danish web starts in 1992 when the first web server is established in Denmark, and that from the mid-1990s it grows from 4,684 registered web domains (1996) to 248,727 (2000), the Danish web does not emerge out of nowhere. From the beginning of the 1980s computer networks had been part of the Danish cultural imaginary, and people outside of academia had familiarised themselves with different forms of computer networks. Therefore, the project includes a study of the pre-history of the Danish web, with a focus on:

• how computer networks were imagined in the public (in newspapers, magazines, commercials, film, literature)
• Teledata, a test project for a national computer network for domestic use (1982-84), and its follower Diatel (launched in 1993, closed in 1996)
• experiences with international networks such as Bulletin Board Systems (BBS) and email

The research project is conducted by Niels Brügger, professor in media studies at Aarhus University, School of Communication and Culture, Department of Media and Journalism Studies.

---

---