Over the years, this domain has been a number of things — a parody of a web portal, a not-quite-kosher streaming server — but mostly, it’s just been a parked domain.
Well, now it’s back, and it’s pretty much a laboratory.
When I first registered this domain in 1999, all you needed to build a remotely decent web site was an FTP program and text editor. Today, it’s all about the frameworks and AJAX and social media and …
I found myself in a position where I needed to update my training. But what was I going to build? Another content management system for a blog?
Nah. Why not combine two interests — Duran Duran and web development — into one? Luckily, I have this domain.
These days, I’m not in any way involved with the Duran Duran fan community. In fact, I’m pretty much a shade of the fan I was in the ’80s and ’90s. But Duran Duran has been the most influential band in my creative life, and they’re also pretty content-rich.
So Duran Duran Networks has returned, this time as a means to experiment and to create.
What better way to start than with a Google Maps mash-up? I’ve entered a few dozen old tour dates from the Duran Duran Timeline into a database, which I then cross-referenced with some cached geocode coordinates from Google Maps. The result? The Duran Duran Tour History Map.