Log in
Audrey Witters remembers the creativity of the early web.
When she was launching her career in the mid-1990s, being online was more about exploring and having fun than figuring out how to make a return on investment. Witters said if you were curious about someone’s web page, you could simply click to see their code or email them with questions. She enjoyed how accessible the early web community was and the feeling of connection.
Now a business consultant in San Jose, she spoke at the Internet Archive’s Oct. 22 celebration, praising its efforts to save digital content and encouraging innovation through experimentation.
Watch Witters’ remarks:
“Thank you to the Internet Archive for preserving the history of the early web, that time of collective effort and quirky, chaotic creation, so that we can have really fun moments of nostalgia,” Witters said from the stage, “but even more so that the next generation of creators can be inspired to find their own ways to promote exploration, collaboration and joyful expression.”
Witters shared the story of her career and the influence the internet has had on her work before there was much pressure to monetize content.
After graduating with a degree in electrical engineering from Cornell University, Witters built her early career in the tech sector. Witters garnered attention for helping design a small, animated alien GIF at a graphic art software company. Her work was featured in a 1996 book, GIF Animation Studio, by Richard Koman.
In those early days, it was exciting to come into work each morning to see if any new web servers had launched, Witters said. She was on the lookout for new and interesting approaches to digital layout, movement, or interactivity. She followed a graduate student posting pictures of his daily vegetarian lunch – a forerunner of the food bloggers – and witnessed the beginning of e-commerce. Content was diverse and the web reflected a diversity of voices.
Witters leveraged what she learned to develop an expertise in project management, and said she’d like to see more of that early online creativity carried over to confront today’s challenges.
“Business relies on innovation. Innovation is based on creativity, and creativity comes from fun,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of time for fun these days.”
Prioritizing profit without including time for play is not good for individuals, society or businesses in the long run, Witters maintains. As systems evolve, creativity is needed to meet changing demands and unleash new ideas.
For 20 years, Witters worked at Stanford University in the Graduate School of Business, including a decade as the inaugural managing director of online executive programs. Following that role she founded her own company, Learning Impact Advisors, helping higher education clients develop career programs that amplify their mission.
Witters recalls with fondness the “Wild West” days of the early web: “It’s important to preserve that spirit and be inspired by it.”
