Webmuseum.dk: Research-based online presentation of web design history

Since the emergence of the WWW in the early 1990’s, the internet has become one of the most important tools for information, entertainment, trade and social networking. From a primitive, text-based medium the web has become a highly sophisticated and complex mass-multimedium that represents multiple forms of design. Despite the importance of the web as a design medium, the development of website design has only been sporadically described, and no historical documentation has yet been assembled of web design history. This paper presents a new initiative, which uses a research approach to document and describe Danish web design history in an international perspective. The initiative is called Webmuseum.dk; it is an online source of information on web design history. The paper describes the museum’s theoretical framework and its basis in design history and material culture studies and discusses the implications of this framework for its recording and collection strategy and its work-concept. Furthermore, the paper discusses the museum’s presentation levels and reflects on the background for the structure and presentation of exhibits.