The Medium Is the Language

Hello, HN

I am an independent researcher interested in the commoditization of hypermedia. Simply put, I argue that hypermedia authoring remains a highly artisanal process, making it niche and largely inaccessible to the general population. This is why hypermedia ecosystems are predominantly controlled by service providers, who abstract away the complexity of a medium that should not be complex to begin with. The primary source of this complexity is the misguided coupling of hypermedia with web technologies, which undermines the medium's potential to be tradable and usable beyond browsers.

Linked is a draft article introducing FIFO: an experimental hypermedia language inspired by the file system paradigm. FIFO rethinks hypermedia from first principles, aiming to be a base layer for accessible authoring environments.

Here’s an insightful question that might help you internalize FIFO’s model of hypermedia: what if file system entries were ordered and some entries could be rendered inline by the UI client?

All feedback, criticism and questions are welcome