Thanks to everyone who replied to this on and off-list. I'll check out all your suggestions. And thanks Marianne for the links - long time no see! I agree with Radhika that for some of us, MUDs and MOOs made 'home' important, not just because we created homes there but also because of the simple command 'home' when you wanted to return to your base. I'd forgotten about that, and it confirms, along with a comment from Simon about the early hypercard 'home stack'. So I'm guessing its history lies in the history of code rather than of the internet - I hadn't realised that. Mattia's point about the resonance of home is pertinent because the piece I'm writing relates to the restorative settings described in The Experience of Nature by R&S Kaplan, and although their approach comes from a different discipline - experimental psychology - the emotions may be similar. Thanks again, you've helped clarify my thinking here Sue