ABSTRACT
This chapter argues that A. Gell has provided us with a superb instrument for understanding a phenomenon quite apart from any that he himself studied: that is, the contemporary website. It aims to demonstrate through the direct application of his ideas that Gell has left to the study of material culture a tremendous legacy, in the form of some of the most significant and innovative insights and perspectives ever constructed for understanding the fundamental relationship between society and things. The similarity between them is made evident when Gell’s analysis of artworks is extended to that of websites as aesthetic traps. Family websites may be prominent, but so can websites of those who share a dominant interest in a particular sport or hobby. Compared to the teenage or even the student sites, most commercial websites look relatively conservative in their construction.
