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One of the early drivers in the growth of the internet was the topic of dating and romance. This episode of Net Cafe looks at some early examples of sites devoted to love, in various forms. Sites reviewed include globalmatch.com; divaweb.com and its famous advice columnist Midori; Bianca's smut shack at bianca.com; divanet.com, a site offering sexy online shopping and style advice from Nina Rage; the CyberFetish UberMall, and urge2merge.com. This show also includes a look at several safe kid sites to make sure your children don't accidentally wander into some of these sites. Included are cyberpatrol.com, netnanny.com, ratedpg.com, and sheperd.net.
This early episode of Net Cafe looks at art and artists on the Web including collaborative art sites. Web sites covered are sito.org, art.net, artnet.com, srl.org, metroactive.com, crashsite.com, and Fractal Painter. Guests include Lynne Hershman Leeson, Annette Louden, Lile Elam, Eric Paulos, and Jeremy Sutton.
It all started with "The Well" but now, from the regular chat rooms to "The Palace", web surfers are creating their own virtual communities independent of geography and held together by stong bonds of friendship and affinity.
The web became a home for unusual approaches to scientific research. This episode of Net Cafe looks at several examples including The Annals of Improbable Research, the IgNobel Awards, Telegarden, spiritofamerica.com, PigDog, The Twinkies Project, and the Mad Science Guy.
One of the first ecommerce successes on the internet was buying airline tickets and travel packages. This program looks at some of the first online travel booking sites. Demonstrations include earthwatch.org, a site for adventure travel. Also lonelyplanet.com, one of the earliest attempts to put travel guides on line. Another site, roadsideamerica.com, offered advice on "strange and wacky" vacations. Other travel sites shown are eathere.com, terraquest.com, magna.com, epicurious.com, thetrip.com, urbanaccess.com, greentortoise.com, infohub.com, and brainlink.com.
It is said that one of the most important social aspects of the internet is that it levels the playing field for people and provides new access for users with ideas. This program looks at several examples of sites that provide a platform for a variety of diverse interests. Guest DaMeila Drayton demonstrates Teenage Empowerment and introduces several teen chat sites that focus on topics of interest especially to teenagers. Muki Izora demonstrates oceanbank.com and the Plugged In program aimed at low-income families living in urban communities. Lisa Wahl shows us ataccess.org, el.net, and planemath.com, sites that offer accessibility for people with disabilities. Josue Guillen guides us through Labour Net, GreenNet, and PeaceNet, sites which help marginalized communities get their voices heard.
Sure, the web is full of information, but it also has lots of false information. How do you tell the difference? This program looks at the problem of disinformation on the internet. Robert Schafer shows us csicop.org, a site that features the Skeptical Inquirer, an online journal which debunks phoney online stories. John Whalen demonstrates conspire.com, a site that focuses on real and surreal conspiracy theories. David Mikkelson runs urbanlegends.com, another site devoted to debunking fake stories circulated on the web. Richard Metzger demonstrates disinfo.com.
We're now all familiar with mega health sites like webmd.com, but the idea of putting up health resources online started in the first days of the web. This program looks at early examples including thebody.com, a site focused on information for HIV and AIDS patients. Also, the Water Birthing Site; outbreak.org, a site about the spread of the ebola virus; several sites from Masschusetts General Hospital and the Harvard University Medical School; and a demonstration of i-phone
The web has become home to lots of strange claims and outlandish charges, all part of free speech. But some of the people affected by these cyber writings have tried to stifle this new form of expression on the internet. This program looks at several controversial stories which have led to censorship attempts. Topics covered include the Church of Scientology and its efforts to stop online stories critical of the church; the battle between McDonalds and mcspotlight.org, a site critical of McDonalds; and annoy.com, a site that tries to push the limits of online expression.
A review of several web sites about sports. Sites covered include a fan site for the San Francisco 49ers football team, sites for mountain bikers, golfers, and surfers. Also a review of major sports news sites such as cnnsi.com, espn.com, and cbssports.com.
There has always been a synergy between the web and sci-fi fans. This program looks at several science fiction web sites. Guests include Forest Ackerman, a sci-fi filmmaker who runs one of the world's largest real science fiction museums at his mansion in Southern California and who offers virtual visits to his museum online. Sci-fi writer Pam Dixon guides us through great science fiction literature online. Jeff Koga is the ultimate Trekkie and he reviews several Star Trek web sites. For Star Wars fans, Michael Kubeka is our guide to web sites covering everything from Storm Trooper outfits to lightsabers. We also look at hyperion.com, a site for fans of Babylon 5 and the Douglas Adams site on the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
Even if you don't have a zoo in your city, you can still find out about animals on the web. This program looks at several sites that bring the zoo to you. Topics covered include the new web site for the San Francisco Zoo, a zoology and animals portal run by Rachel Shaw focusing on animal pets, cyberark.com, petsinneed.org, primenet.com, apenet.com, and sites about bigfoot, cryptozoology, and weird virtual pets that only exist in people's imagination. Shot on location at the CyberSMith internet cafe in Palo Alto, California. Hosts are Jane Wither, Andrew deVries, and Stewart Cheifet.
The internet forever changed the relationship between patient and doctor, allowing patients to research their medical conditions online before seeing a doctor. This program looks at several web sites that provide healthcare information. Sites covered include storksite.com, womenshealth.org, healthy.net, med.stanford.edu, gennexhealth.com, quackwatch.com, and sexclinic.com. Guests include Dr. Patti Britton and Dr. Karen Sarpolis.
Coverage of the first annual Webby Awards, recognizing the best sites on the internet. Awards were given in fifteen different categories. San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown presides. Shot on location at Bimbo's night club in San Francisco.
This early Net Cafe program looks at comic book web sites. Included are Jonah Weiland's Comic Book Links, Hellblazer, Sandman, DC Universe, Spawn, The Preacher, Swampthng, Hitman, The Tick, Loving Henry, and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. Guests include Alex Curyea, Kristen Brennan, Jhonen Vasquez and Shawn Sanders. Hosts are Jane Wither, Andrew deVries, and Stewart Cheifet. Includes CyberBlast segment, early experiment in downloading software through the television signal.
The internet was heaven for sports fans, providing access to stats and information about any sport from anywhere. Featured sites on this program include sjmercury.com/sports, sportsline.com, cnnsi.com, sportszone.com, instantsports.com, efaxinc.com, wco.com/~ewbrian/49ers.html, surfline.com, and easports.com. Hosts are Jane Wither, Andrew deVries, and Stewart Cheifet. Guest analyst is Larry Magid.
In the nineties, it was hard to imagine that the Internet would become a place where people listened to information and entertainment. This program looks at the early stages of Internet radio including audionet.com, the precursor to Marc Cuban's broadcast.com. Other sites featured include imusic.com, radionet.com, emblaze.com, and nineup.com.
