Aims of this work

This research is being conducted within the context of the Critical Information Spaces project. The subject of the research is the WWW browser which is used to access or represent the WWW - an information space - as well as for navigating and interacting in it.

The aim of the research is to discover the biases inherent in the current "mainstream" WWW browsers as well as in information space they interface: the WWW. Furthmore, suggestions for future browser designs will be presented.

The aim will accomplished by first defining the role and nature of the "mainstream" browser, second by examining "alternative" browsers and plug-ins which defamiliarize the WWW experience, third by analysing the strategies employed in them and finally by proposing the development of software for browser design.

Background

When trying to understand the aspects of the WWW as an information space and the dimensions which affect the experience of it one must examine the software which gives it form: the browser. While it could be argued that the nature of the WWW comes from the "code" used to construct it, the contention of this research is that it is the browser which ultimately gives the WWW the form that affects user experience. This is one of the main points of the research and will be elaborated on later when alternative browsers and plug-ins are looked at.

"Browsers made by the two best-know players frame most peoples' experience of the web." - Rhizome; in interview with Geert Lovink

Currently over 98% of WWW users use either Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer.*

http://statmarket.com/SM?c=Browsers

The shear volume of Netscape and Microsoft Internet Explorer users makes all other browsers "alternative" or marginal. Most people's understanding and experience of the Internet's most popular section, the WWW, is generated by how these two browsers render the space, the navigation they allow and the locations they encourage users to visit.

The statics speak for themselves of how the two browsers limit the use of the WWW; how they curtail the experiences that the wealth of data on the web could potentially offer if it ever was found or shown. According to 75% of the web trafic goes to only 5% of the sites. The biases and reasons for this are explored later in this section.

Alternative browsers and certain plug-ins hint at how the use of Netscape and Internet Explorer limit the use of the WWW. They are eye openers and enablers which through strategies of abstraction and deconstruction among others critique the type of information space the two mainstream browsers are constructing.

Alternative browser and plug-in development is equally important from an artistic viewpoint. On a conceptual level the browser is an embodyment of the aesthetics of digital art. According to digital designer Steve Cannon, formerly of io360 digital art should accomodate an unpredictable data source. The beauty of the art work is in its abillity to transcend the data set. The development of alternative browsers which "transcend" data contributes to the on going debate on digital aesthetics which in turn is an important component of user experience in an information space. In fact, the most famous alternative browsers are considered to be art. The Netomat was launched in an art gallery and the I/O/D Web Stalker is usually referred to as being browser.art. It could be argued that the alternative browser is the ultimate form of net.art.

Research Method

The research consists of analysing alternative browsers and browser plug-ins in terms of the strategies they employ and the biases they uncover. The degree to which they are actual alternatives, i.e. substitutes, to Netscape and MSIE is also considered.

The artfacts are studied and found strategies form a database which can be browsed and from which concepts for future alternative browsers can be composited with the Alternative Browser Meta-Matic (here after Meta-Matic).

The Meta-Matic is software which will be created to communicate the findings of the research. It is the center around which the theoretical and practical research findings will be organized. In addition to serving future browser designers the Meta-Matic acts as an interactive commentary on the past, present and future of web browsers, on usability and media activism. The proposed software will be designed and implemented in the neodadaist spirit of Jean Tingueley's Meta-Matic inorder to underline the impossibility of the task of creating software for creating software.