[Air-L] History of 'Home' in internet browsers

[Radhika Gajjala]

Hi all,

Thanks to Sue for reminding us of how much we now take for granted!

How much do you think the idea of having a "home" (spatial metaphor -
placing and locating dis-[em]-bodies ) is based on practices from earlier
social networking environments such as MOOs and MUDs where we built our
homes - and what offline practices (situated/particular group cultures) do
they privilege

On Sun, May 6, 2012 at 11:50 AM, Marianne van den Boomen <
M.V.T.vandenBoomen at uu.nl> wrote:

> Hi Sue,
>
> Intriquing question! I remember working with Mosaic and Cello back in
> 1994, and they both already had a home button (an online check for
> screenshots affirms this). As far as I can see Tim Berners-Lees first
> browser in 1991 did not have a home button (see http://info.cern.ch/**
> NextBrowser.html <http://info.cern.ch/NextBrowser.html>) neither did the
> 1993 version (see here http://info.cern.ch/**NextBrowser1.html<http://info.cern.ch/NextBrowser1.html>)
> Yet, the screenshot does show a page called My homepage (in the title bar
> called: Tim's home page).
> May be the home of the home button is just Tim's home page? ;-)
>
> kind regards
>
> Marianne van den Boomen
>
>
> On 6-5-12 11:46, Sue Thomas wrote:
>
>> Hi
>>
>>
>>
>> I wonder if anyone can help?  I'm trying to track down when and why it
>> was decided to use the term 'Home' and its accompanying icon in web
>> browser design. Does anyone have any information on that?
>>
>>
>>
>> We have got so used to it that it's almost invisible in our
>> consciousness, but Home is not default in every part of the world. In
>> the Middle East for example, that function is called the Main Page, not
>> the Home Page. I'm thinking that 'home' is probably an American concept
>> in this context.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'd also like to collect more equivalencies from non-English speaking
>> countries, so please do get in touch if your country's browser features
>> something other than 'home'.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'd be most grateful for your thoughts on the above. Please reply
>> backchannel to sue.thomas at dmu.ac.uk
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Many thanks
>>
>>
>>
>> Sue
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _________
>>
>> Sue Thomas
>> Research Professor of New Media
>>
>> IOCT/Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities
>> Clephan 1.01d, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH,
>> UK  +44 (0)116 207 8266
>>
>> w: http://www.technobiophilia.com**<http://www.technobiophilia.**com/<http://www.technobiophilia.com/>
>> >
>> Technobiophilia: Nature and Cyberspace
>> e: sue.thomas at dmu.ac.uk<mailto:su**e.thomas at dmu.ac.uk<sue.thomas at dmu.ac.uk>
>> >
>>
>> t: @suethomas<http://www.twitter.**com/suethomas<http://www.twitter.com/suethomas>
>> >
>>
>> g: +suethomas<https://plus.**google.com/**110733806086330324299/<https://plus.google.com/110733806086330324299/>
>> >
>>
>>
>>
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>>
> --
>
>
> met vriendelijke groeten,
>
> Marianne van den Boomen
>
>
>
>
> Media and Culture Studies | University Utrecht
> Office: Kromme Nieuwegracht 20 (room T2.13A)
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> M.V.T.vandenBoomen at uu.nl | www.hum.uu.nl
> www.newmediastudies.nl | www.vandenboomen.org
>
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-- 
Radhika Gajjala
Director, American Culture Studies
Professor of Communication Studies and Cultural Studies
101 East Hall
Bowling Green State University
Bowling Green, OH  43403

http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik