DEADWORD.COM is an historical archive of Word Magazine (then www.word.com) from 1995 to 1998.
This archival site was built in the early days of the web,
so some things might look a bit wonky on modern browsers. Enjoy the nostalgia!
Launched in 1995, Word.com was one of the first-ever online magazines. In an era when the word “blog” hadn’t yet come into existence, Word captured individual voices telling honest, funny, weird, sad, and strange tales with a “realness” that, at the time, was nowhere to be found in mainstream print journalism. Stories were showcased by a colorful, weird, and eclectic digital design that won continuous clumsy negotiations with a technology in its infancy.
By the time Word was shuttered in the year 2000, it had become a repository for writing, music, visual and multimedia art from a list of luminaries too long to mention in a short introductory paragraph. Sadly, because much of Word was built with old timey web applications that no longer exist, the content here only covers the years 1995-1998. The archive from 1998-2000 is in pretty bad shape, with various broken links and missing images and sounds. Happily, we’re in the process of slowly restoring it. In the meantime, please enjoy these screenshots from the later era of Word, where semi-legendary multimedia projects like Sissyfight 2000, Fred the Webmate, Pixeltime, and USA Waste freely roamed the digital universe.
Q: What was Word Magazine?
A: Here's the article from Wikipedia.
Launched in 1995 by Carey Earle, Tom Livaccari and Dan Pelson, Word Magazine was one of the earliest and most influential e-zines. For over five years, Word created original stories, interviews, games, applications, music, interactive objects and art, and community spaces. Word published new content daily, and each story was treated as a unique interface design experiment. Word was also a pioneer in the use of online advertising and was the first website to integrate "microsites" into brand advertising online.
Word's editorial team was originally led by Vibe founding editor Jonathan Van Meter and creative director Jaime Levy. Marisa Bowe took over as Editor-in-Chief prior to the site's June 1995 launch and Yoshi Sodeoka became Creative Director in early 1996. Daron Murphy was a founding senior editor. Jason Mohr was a senior designer. Later senior editors included Sabin Streeter and Rose Kernochan. Streeter, Bowe, Murphy, and Kernochan later co-edited a book of interviews with Americans about their jobs--inspired by Studs Terkel's Working, called Gig
Word won awards from I.D. Magazine and Print Magazine, among others and was placed in the permanent collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Walker Art Center and the Museum of the Moving Image.
Word was originally owned by Icon CMT until its sale in April 1998 to Zapata Corporation. Zapata closed Word.com in August, 2000.
Links:
Forbes, The 10 websites that changed the world
Animal, This Is What the First Online Magazines Looked Like by Kyle Chayka
Digital Archaeology, The one and only, Word.com by Jim Boulton
NYU TISCH Adjacent, Cyberspace Trailblazers: Women of the Early Internet in NYC
The History of The Web, VAGUE BUT EXCITING By Jay Hoffmann
New Yorker Intelligencer, Punk-Rock Cyber-Publishing Pioneer by Claire L. Evans
Turn-based strategy online game developed by the Word staff, SiSSYFiGHT 2000
Chatbot Fred the Webmate
Marisa Bowe, Editor of Word.com discusses the seminal website.
Screenshots of Word Magazine 1998-2000.
Contact: deadword2000@gmail.com