~ Early Web Links ~

Brent Simmons, creator of NetNewsWire, writes thoughtfully about the collapse of Twitter's dominance as the internet's de facto town square and what it means for the open web. The post argues passionately for a return to the decentralized, creative energy of the early web and the RSS-driven blogosphere.

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.

TheZONE is a quirky, space-themed creative hub built around an ongoing e-zine called the Super Secret Zone, now on its fifth issue, featuring original comics, short fiction, art, and classified ads. Visitors can submit anonymous "super secrets" via a web form, which may be featured in future issues, giving the site a participatory and irreverent old-web personality.

A research guide from Dallas College Library curating digital and physical zine archives, covering topics from Black history and feminist politics to heavy metal fanzines and transgender history. Part of a broader zines research guide series, it connects students and researchers to freely accessible zine collections, preservation projects, and university zine libraries across the country.

An archived 1995 HotWired article by Josh Quittner exploring the birth of 'Way New Journalism' and how the web might fundamentally transform media, publishing, and the economics of content distribution. A fascinating time capsule from the early commercial web, capturing the excitement and uncertainty journalists felt as digital publishing upended traditional print models.

Chapman University's Digital Commons hosts this archive of student-created feminist zines produced through the Women's and Gender Studies program, covering topics like reproductive justice, intersectionality, the female gaze, and women's health. Each zine combines writings and artwork by student teams, making this a rich collection of undergraduate feminist scholarship in a creative format.

Jeff Kaufman's personal blog covers a wide range of topics including effective altruism, urban housing policy, parenting, contra dance music, and technology. The site features regularly updated posts with thoughtful analysis on civic and social issues, alongside links to his music projects and coding work.

Plokta is a twice Hugo-winning science fiction fanzine edited by Alison Scott, Steve Davies, and Mike Scott, with over 41 paper issues and 25 converted to HTML for the web. The online archive includes bonus features like color photos, jokes, and hyperlinks to referenced sites, making it a rich piece of SF fan publishing history.

Antiquated Future is a small press and zine shop based in Portland with an extensive links page connecting visitors to indie bookstores, record shops, zine distributors, and zine culture resources across the US. The links section serves as a curated directory of the underground publishing ecosystem, from Quimby's Books in Chicago to Stolen Sharpie Revolution and Broken Pencil zine archives.

A low-bandwidth podcast archive hosting daily episodes of TOSOM (The Other Side of Midnight), optimized for listeners with limited data caps. The site provides a practical alternative feed so fans can consume roughly 20 episodes per month using only a fraction of a typical 10GB bandwidth allowance.