HotWired retrospected

Jeffrey Veen samples screenshots from HotWired, reminding me of the early days of the web (or Web, as we used to capitalize it).

“HotWired,” launched in October 1994, was originally a project led by Howard Rheingold and a few colleagues, and the name HotWired was an oblique reference to “Howard” himself.

The early discussion I heard about HotWired was that it would capitalize on the broadening network of content creators on the internet. Rheingold envisioned “virtual bureaus” (my term) from other wired cities, including a part of the site devoted to Vancouver news and happenings. This idea was apparently shelved and HotWired remained a solidly Bay Area operation. For a short time however, the site provided some exciting and original reporting on global culture and technology innovations.

In June 1994, Rheingold and other leading lights of internet and new media culture attended the W.R.I.T.E. conference (Writer’s Retreat on Interactive Technology and Engineering, sponsored by UBC Continuing Ed) at Granville Island. This event gave me my first exposure to the World Wide Web on a Mosaic browser. It seemed like every internet geek in the Lower Mainland was at this conference. Dick Hardt (sxip, Active State) attended, as did many grads from Cap College’s innovative New Media Studies program, including tech columnist Dave Watson.

Ray Bradbury gave the event’s keynote speech, which I recall being very inspiring. I think William Gibson spoke on a panel beside fellow sci-fi author Spider Robinson. Howard stood out thanks to his broad-brimmed hat, warm demeanor and endless supply of loud shirts.

In 1994 the World Wide Web brought about a low-bandwidth revolution of communications and culture, shared then by perhaps a few thousand people around the globe. 12 years later I still think we have yet to scratch the surface of how this connectedness will positively change our world.