# Uniform Resource Locator

## Introduction <!-- 14:15 -->

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About Constant and why we are here this afternoon. Using Wefts. 
<http://constantvzw.org/site/Uniform-Resource-Locator.html>

To edit this weft: https://pad.constantvzw.org/p/url.feed

Transparency/opacity and Open Skies
<http://cdn.wiels.org/website/images/dbfiles/7746/large/Open-Skies.jpg>

Fragility, (lack of) agency, relationality. Watching the URL bar. Olia Lialina: _Summer_ (2013)
<http://reas.com/olia/summer/>
<https://emiliegervais.com/olia/summer/>
<https://www.constantdullaart.com/olia/summer/>
Terms and conditions <http://art.teleportacia.org/olia/summer/terms.html>

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### Weaving the web

URL as 'fabric'. Addresses vs. links. Politics and possibilities of association and relation, but are all links created equal? Economy, infrastructure.

### Web 1.0: Industrialization of the hyperlink

Search Engines and PageRank


http://cdn.wiels.org/website/images/dbfiles/7746/large/Open-Skies.jpg
https://www.constantdullaart.com/olia/summer/

### Web 2.0: from user-generated linking to platform-aggregation

From manually created links to ones created by software.

Social Media buttons and link automation.

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### Layering

QR codes
<https://www.the-qrcode-generator.com/>

URL Shortening, Link wrapping. Removal and disappearance
<https://resource.constantvzw.org/links>

## Uniform <!-- 14:45 -->

Reading: RFC 1738
<https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1738>

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### Universality and uniformity

Alphabet and computing. Universal language
In 1996 already proposal for more universal uniformity: <http://lists.w3.org/Archives/Public/uri/1996Dec/0038.html>

Different ways the alfabet enters. ASCII and Unicode

Unicode as a new universal layer
<https://www.unicode.org/Public/UCD/latest/>
<http://www.unicode.org/consortium/members.html>

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### Internationalizing Domain Names
<http://idn.jodi.org/>
<https://www.charset.org/punycode>

## Resource <!-- 15:15 -->

Reading: Sadie Plant, Zeros and Ones (1997), p48-50 Nets

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### Buying and selling

ICANN: The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. 
'The private sector, non-profit corporation created in 1998 to assume responsibility for IP address space allocation, protocol parameter assignment, domain name system management, and root server system management functions.' <https://www.icann.org/>
From IP-addresses to Domain Name Spaces:
- Root servers A-M, root zone file <https://root-servers.org/>
- Top Level Domains (TLD) <https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1591> ccTLD, gTLD
- Registrars and resellers (or: re-renters?) and labels
- whois <https://who.is/dns/constantvzw.org> or <https://be.godaddy.com/whois/results.aspx?domain=constantvzw.org> or ...

Domain squatting, Domain trading, Domain brokers
<https://sedo.com/us/>
<https://sedo.com/search/?itm_campaign=BuyDomains&itm_source=Auction_Calendar&itm_content=GreatDomains&itm_term=US&listing_type%5B0%5D=4&language=us&auction_event%5B0%5D=525>
... and emoji domains, of course.

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### URL shortening as resource and location

URL-interfaces to track and quantify 'clicks', the basic unit 
links as 'brands', dashboards for metrics and analytics.


A good analysis of this evolution in the modes of making and reading of URLS and hyperlinks can be found in Anne Helmonds' [The Algorithmization of the Hyperlink](http://computationalculture.net/the-algorithmization-of-the-hyperlink/).

Turning locations into resources
<http://computationalculture.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/shorturlimage1.jpg>

How is the wrapping experienced (or not)
<https://resource.constantvzw.org/links/>

Link Branding = Turning your links into a resource
<https://cutt.ly/login> u=vincenzomarazzi@yopmail.net p=Resourc3
<https://rebrandly.com/features>

## BREAK <!-- 15:45 -->

## Locator <!-- 16:00 -->

Viewing: [Glissant on opacity, relations and broccoli](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aTNVe_BAELY) + reading: Edouard Glissant, Poetics of relation (1997). p191-194: For Opacity

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### Organizations that do not fit anywhere else

ORG - This domain is intended as the miscellaneous TLD for

•     organizations that didn't fit anywhere else. Some non-
•     government organizations may fit here.

1. ICANN lifts price cap from .org domains
2. Public Internet Registry (PIR) -> owned by non-profit Internet Society (ISOC) -> bought by Ethos Capital
3. Ethos Capital buys the registry

<https://techreport.com/news/3467106/org-domain-sold-to-private-equity-firm-price-caps-dropped/>
<https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/12/03/internet_society_org/>

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### Linkrot and cool URls

When links break. Resource cannot be found (404).
<https://www.w3.org/Provider/Style/URI.html>
<http://www.milliondollarhomepage.com/>

A certain pressure towards maintaining links for different reasons from different directions.
<https://web.archive.org/>
<https://perma.cc/> addressing a need for reliability coming from academia and the judiciary system ( proof and reference must be preserved. )

Also a material picture of the state of the relations.
Alexei Shulgin, Refresh <https://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9610/msg00000.html>

## Transparency/Opacity <!-- 16:30 -->

https://pad.constantvzw.org/p/url.feed

- Internetbodies, who participates and how they are legible. It does not mean mutable.
- Linking selective opacity? <https://www.w3.org/DesignIssues/LinkMyths.html>
- Fediverse?
- ...