• A Handmade Web by J.R Carpenter

Discussion Questions

1. What is the thesis of this article?

2. Carpenter describes the handmade web as a form of resistance. In your own words, what is being resisted?

3. Reflecting on your own experiences, what are other examples of drawing attention the "physicality" of the web?


1.  In the article, Carpenter reflects on the uniqueness of the “handmade web” from the 1990s, emphasizing its nostalgic and significant qualities. Carpenter’s concept of the handmade web is both a nostalgic and significant approach, advocating for its adoption to inspire meaningful personalized web development among the present commercialized web space. Furthermore, Carpenter emphasizes the intimate nature of the web in 1990s. Specifically, Olia Lialina’s essay “A Vernacular Web“ describes the web in the 1990s as “bright, rich, personal, slow and under construction” (2005). Lialina’s description highlights the intimate connections between the readers and the writers, the personality of the web creators, and the desire to continuously refine and actively create the pages, which are all qualities that Carpenter emphasizes that web creators should long for in the article. Moreover, Carpenter connects the handmade web using the words: to “code by hand”. He explains that the past code of a web page is never erased forever or “dead”, but it is part of a guide that makes the “web in progress”. Like how one may cross out and write over in pen to rewrite similar words to convey the same message. Lastly, Carpenter longs for the nostalgia of the handmade web where he emphasizes the collaboration in labour. Specifically Carpenter discusses the transformative power of web pages as readers have the option of re-writing the source code. One example being Nick Monfort’s “Taroko Gorge” where readers can engage in “making” or modifying the code to create an interactive web.


2. Carpenter’s concept of the “handmade web” is a form of resistance to contemporary web landscape where the contemporary web pages experienced the effects of heavy commercialization, the loss of identity, and hectic social networks. The current internet is dominated by big corporations that not only releases web pages that do not connect with Carpenter’s concept of the “handmade web’ but they also sell products such as read-only devices that encourages this interaction of the commercialized web. This is why Carpenter highly advocates for “hand-coding” and the idea of publishing self-projects that encourages experimental web art. Moreover, in the past the web was a way to express oneself through artistic creation and create a personal identity through handmade coding. Specifically Anil Dash highlights this concern as they explain that in the contemporary web, there are users who will depend on commercial sites to host their “online identity”. Lastly, the contemporary web are filled with social networks that create chaos and noise, proving that the expectations and behaviours of the users neglected from what makes the handmade web. Specifically, with social media like Facebook, the labour to operate the code becomes numbing as one user may never understand how Facebook will truly work and the labour required to make the code deviates away from the DIY personalized approach. This is why Carpenter longs for the nostalgia of the handmade web in the 1990s as he encourages for “slowness” and “smallness” as a form of resistance that a web creator could use in their work.


3. It should be noted the web has tangible interactions that can also be experienced in the physical world. One example of this is wearable tech like the Apple Watch. The Apple Watch brings the web into a physical space by providing real-time data and notifications. It also refers to the concept of data collecting where the user themselves have consented and can contribute their own data to the Apple Watch, such as data related to their fitness and health. In other words, the presence of the watch on the wrist connects the digital world to the user’s personal and unique physical experience. Another example would be 3D printing. One can go on the internet and download a free file to print any object, such as a cup. Furthermore, one can also design a 3D object of their own with the manifestation that they will be implementing this object into the physical world. So they would have to consider the physicality of the material, the dimensions, and other factors all in the digital space that would theoretically accurately reflect the physical space.