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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-GB link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Thanks this is a great find! I really like the cottage image. Judging by the number of responses I’ve had along these lines, the Unix origin seems very strong so now the question now is, as you say, where did that notion come from?<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Thanks to all who replied – I’ll get back to each of you backchannel.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Best<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'>Sue <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #B5C4DF 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0cm 0cm 0cm'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> Hansen Hsu [mailto:hansnhsu@gmail.com] <br><b>Sent:</b> 08 May 2012 00:01<br><b>To:</b> Sue Thomas<br><b>Cc:</b> members@sigcis.org; aoir list<br><b>Subject:</b> Re: [SIGCIS-Members] History of 'Home' in internet browsers<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>This is just a guess...<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>Could it possibly be related to the similar terminology in Unix accounts, the notion of a user's "home" directory?<o:p></o:p></p><div><p class=MsoNormal>On the NeXT platform, which had a graphical UI on top of Unix in the late '80s, this was represented by an icon that looked like a house <img width=48 height=48 id="_x0034_7f25491-79a2-48f4-b9f5-b03fe325328e" src="cid:image001.gif@01CD2CE9.52939C20" alt="[Icon]"><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>in the "Workspace" – the file browser application, equivalent to the Finder on Mac OS X or Windows Explorer on Windows.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>It's well known that Tim Berners-Lee developed the web on a NeXT, so maybe this was a natural extension of that Unix concept to the graphical medium of the web?<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Here's a screenshot of the NeXT File Viewer:<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=dCczblScSoYC&pg=PA11&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false">http://books.google.com/books?id=dCczblScSoYC&pg=PA11&source=gbs_toc_r&cad=4#v=onepage&q&f=false</a><o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Scroll down to page 12 to see the screenshot.<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal>Now, where the notion of "home" directory for a Unix user's account came from, maybe that has much older roots someone else might know...<o:p></o:p></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>On May 6, 2012, at 5:46 AM, Sue Thomas wrote:<o:p></o:p></p></div><p class=MsoNormal><br><br><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Hi<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>I wonder if anyone can help? I’m trying to track down when and why it was decided to use the term ‘Home’ and its accompanying icon in web browser design. Does anyone have any information on that?<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>We have got so used to it that it’s almost invisible in our consciousness, but Home is not default in every part of the world. In the Middle East for example, that function is called the Main Page, not the Home Page. I’m thinking that ‘home’ is probably an American concept in this context.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>I’d also like to collect more equivalencies from non-English speaking countries, so please do get in touch if your country’s browser features something other than ‘home’.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>I’d be most grateful for your thoughts on the above. Please reply backchannel to<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="mailto:sue.thomas@dmu.ac.uk">sue.thomas@dmu.ac.uk</a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Many thanks<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Sue<o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:7.5pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>_________</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>Sue Thomas<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><br>Research Professor of New Media</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>IOCT/Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities<br>Clephan 1.01d, De Montfort University, The Gateway, Leicester LE1 9BH, UK +44 (0)116 207 8266</span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>w:<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://www.technobiophilia.com/">http://www.technobiophilia.com</a><span class=apple-converted-space> </span>Technobiophilia: Nature and Cyberspace<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><br>e:<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="mailto:sue.thomas@dmu.ac.uk"><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:windowtext'>sue.thomas@dmu.ac.uk</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>t:<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="http://www.twitter.com/suethomas"><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:windowtext'>@suethomas</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'>g:<span class=apple-converted-space> </span></span><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'><a href="https://plus.google.com/110733806086330324299/"><span style='font-size:8.0pt;color:windowtext'>+suethomas</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p></div><div><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"'> <o:p></o:p></span></p></div><p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________<br>This email is relayed from<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="mailto:members@sigcis.org">members@sigcis.org</a>, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. The list archives are at<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/">http://sigcis.org/pipermail/members/</a>and you can change your subscription options at<span class=apple-converted-space> </span><a href="http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members">http://sigcis.org/mailman/listinfo/members</a><o:p></o:p></p></div></div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></body></html>