~ Early Web Links ~

Link Punk is a linkblog by Braden Slen that curates and comments on daily news stories spanning politics, civil liberties, and current events with a distinctly skeptical, left-leaning voice. The format is clean and RSS-friendly, offering a steady stream of annotated links to journalism and longform reads from across the web.

Built by Michael I. Niman, a journalism professor at SUNY Buffalo State, this site curates critical resources for Media Studies and American Studies researchers, including links to media watchdogs, propaganda analysis, censorship coverage, and alternative media outlets validated for accuracy. It also archives Niman's syndicated columns and recommends books from independent publishers that challenge corporate media culture.

Slower News is a human-curated digest tracking technology's effects on geopolitics, politics, economy, society, ecology, and more, deliberately filtered to surface relevant trends and edge cases without the noise of mainstream news cycles. Hand-coded, JavaScript-free, and tracking-free, it offers a thoughtfully minimal reading experience organized around broad themes like AI, de-dollarization, demographic shifts, and free speech.

The Iranian is a long-running English-language publication founded by Jahanshah Javid in 1995, covering news, culture, and commentary about Iran and the Iranian diaspora. Its archive spans from 1995 to 2021, preserving decades of features, essays, and contributor work that document Iranian life and geopolitics across multiple eras.

OnlyTheGood.org is an experimental art-tech project by Donnachie, Simionato & son and Antonio Riello that automatically classifies news headlines from major services like Google News and Reuters as emotionally positive or negative, then plots the results in real-time graphs. The project blurs the line between digital art installation and media criticism, and was exhibited at a solo show in Stuttgart, Germany, with RSS feeds and a portable graph widget offered for public use.

John Philpin's public journal serves as an outward window into his private writing life, sharing daily commentary on technology, culture, media, and the open web. Posts link out to and riff on articles about AI, RSS, credit bureaus, and design history, making it a thoughtful stream-of-consciousness digest for the curious reader.

Unfogged is a long-running group blog with multiple contributors including Ogged, Fontana Labs, Heebie-Geebie, and others, covering politics, current events, and everyday musings in a lively community format. Posts touch on topics from hurricane damage to Trump administration policy, and the active comment sections often run into the dozens, making the discussion as valuable as the posts themselves.

Aardvark Daily is New Zealand's longest-running online daily news and commentary publication, now in its 30th year, run by Bruce Simpson covering science, technology, and current events with a distinctly Kiwi perspective. Visitors will find opinionated columns on topics ranging from energy policy and fuel scams to computing history, making it a veteran voice in independent tech journalism.

Arts & Letters Daily has been curating links to the best articles, book reviews, and essays on philosophy, literature, history, and culture since 1998, amassing a remarkable archive of over 17,000 pieces. Run by editors connected to The Chronicle of Higher Education, it serves as an essential daily digest for intellectuals and anyone who loves serious ideas and criticism.

Paper Tiger Television is a long-running independent media organization dedicated to freedom of speech, personal expression, and social justice through grassroots video production. Their site offers access to an archive of activist media work, a history of the collective, and resources connecting visitors to their mission.