In the second episode of the series Luisa Conti and Fergal Lenehan, from the Centre for Digital Interculturality Studies, talk to Nathalie Fridzema from the University of Groningen in the Netherlands and Anya Shchetvina from the Humboldt University of Berlin in Germany. Nathalie and Anya are PhD scholars and historians of the Internet, who presented a paper at the ReDICo-Conference in June 2025 called “Nostalgia, DIY and Internet Critique: The Emergence of the Vernacular Web as an Imaginary of Alternative Digital Futures.” The conversation touches on the vernacular web and what exactly this is, platforms dealing with the past of the Internet such as the Yesterweb, and the nostalgia-tinged imagining of Internet futures.

So, is the vernacular web simply a nostalgic-conservative imaginary of the past or is it, actually, a suitable imaginary for re-thinking the future of digitality, beyond the stranglehold of corporate platforms? 

Listen to find out!

For more information on ReDICo and the ReDICo Centre for Digital Interculturality Studies, see: www.redico.eu

To join the ReDICo Hub, go to: https://hub.redico.eu 

Visit the ReDICo YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@DigInterculture 

For more on the work of Nathalie and Anya, see their joint blog: https://matterofimagination.neocities.org