Search became a destination
Results pages increasingly answer the question themselves. Useful, certainly. But fewer journeys begin with visiting the source.
EPISODE 0 / FIELD RECORDING ZERO
The internet got efficient and less alive
Why does the internet feel boring when it has never contained more things?
FIELD RECORDING ZERO
COMING SOON
BEFORE THE TRANSMISSION
Why the internet feels less alive
The internet is more useful, convenient and full than ever. It can answer a question, deliver almost anything and play whatever it thinks you want next. Yet finding something unexpected, specific and unmistakably made by a person often feels harder.
That is not simply nostalgia. Discovery has moved from wandering between websites to receiving ranked results, algorithmic feeds and AI-generated answers. These systems are efficient because they remove detours. The detours were also where much of the internet’s character lived.
THE FIELD QUESTIONS
How algorithms changed internet discovery
Feeds learned what performs
Recommendation systems are good at repeating successful shapes. The result can be abundant content with a strangely narrow range of feelings.
AI removed another detour
A generated summary can be helpful while making the people, evidence and websites behind an answer easier to overlook.
Human websites still exist
Personal sites, strange tools, archives and small communities are still being made. The problem is finding routes towards them.
A ROUTE OUT
How to find interesting, human-made websites
Search beyond the largest engines. Follow links from personal websites. Visit small web directories. Browse archives and blogrolls. When you find something good, link to the actual site rather than only sharing a screenshot inside a platform.
Broken Internet Club’s Interesting Websites directory is one starting point: a deliberately small collection in which every destination has a reason to be there.
TRANSMISSION STATUS
The video is still being made.
Episode 0 will turn these field notes into the first BIC recording. When it is published, this page will contain the video, full transcript and links to everything mentioned.
Explore interesting websites