About this site

This is the personal and professional web site of Brian Bender. It is sub-divided into smaller sites and sections, reflecting my interests and personal history. Everything on my sites is open to criticism.

History

My first web projects began in 1996, and included a historical exhibit about the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893. I also started developing concepts for Pop-Culture-Corn, an online entertainment magazine which survived from 1997-2000.

I started publishing a personal journal in March 1998. It was originally hosted as a subfolder on the Pop-Culture-Corn web site. The journal gradually expanded to include a photo gallery and other writings.

In 2002, I removed my personal stuff from the PCC server, and setup brian-bender.com. The centerpiece of this new site was my professional web design portfolio. Rather than separate the personal from the professional, I decided to combine the two and market myself as a creative individual for hire.

During the next couple of years, the site expanded rapidly as I published topical mini-sites such as The Great Growing Experiment and American Eats. I also continued to compile archival projects like ASGossip and Diversey High into one central location.

Goals

The overall organization of brian-bender.com was inspired by keaggy.com and lileks.com—which defy the usual rules of site architecture. Instead, they present a sprawling labyrinth of cool stuff, which encourages hours of exploration.

Besides publishing sweet content and promoting my services, an important goal of this site is to document my personal history. When I started keeping the online journal, I was 21 years old. If I continue publishing (planning on it!), I will eventually have an online scrapbook of my entire adult life. It will include photos, writings and projects I haven’t dreamed of yet.

One day, I hope that my future children and grandchildren will be able to browse this site (in a different format, I assume). Maybe it will be incorporated into a Bender family multimedia archive. I love publishing, and I’m looking forward to continuing this project until I pass away.

This all sounds pretty ambitious, but it’s really just a matter of treating the site like a permanent asset, rather than a fun waste of time. If I keep paying the hosting fees, keep updating the content and keep making backups, this goal will take care of itself. I just need to keep doing what I’m doing…

—February 2004