Hall of GIFs

Among the most ubiquitous design elements in the early online community Geocities was the animated GIF, which imbued many pages with a frantic (and often comical) dynamism that became a hallmark of early web design. The Hall of GIFs celebrates the creativity and cultural diversity that thrived within these primitive fan and interest websites.

large curved projection screen displaying multiple squares with a variety of shapes and colors. 6 chairs in a circle in the center
Large curved projection screen with muliple colorful squares. A group of people standing and sitting in the middle of the room.
Large curved projection screen with muliple colorful squares. A group of people standing and sitting in the middle of the room.
Large curved projection screen with muliple colorful squares. A group of people standing and sitting in the middle of the room.

Overview

With assistance from the Internet Archive, a team of NC State librarians gathered thousands of animated GIFs from the archives of GeoCities—an early online community that existed from 1994-2009 that allowed anyone to create a website for anything with the freedom to design their pages however they wanted. Among the most ubiquitous design elements was the animated GIF, which imbued many GeoCities pages with a frantic (and often comical) dynamism that became a hallmark of early web design. The Hall of GIFs celebrates the creativity and cultural diversity that thrived within these primitive fan and interest websites.

The Hall of GIFs was built to be displayed in the immersive technology spaces at the NC State University Libraries. The GIFs are displayed in a grid that fills the space’s display. The files are continuously refreshed, one at a time, so that every 10-15 minutes a completely new set of files is displayed. The exhibit is accompanied by a soundtrack featuring “chiptune”-style renditions of popular songs contemporaneous with or having currency during the existence of GeoCities.

How We Did It

The Hall of GIFs is built using Javascript, CSS, and HTML. The exhibit runs locally in a Google Chrome browser.

Team