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- >>> The Alternative Information Network Conference <<<
-
- Contribution 1.
- From: William Bowles, Editor, New York On-Line, an alternate information
- resource, and distributor of Southscan, a weekly bulletin of southern
- African Affairs.
-
- Electronic Addresses: a) possibly here, where you are now reading this, or
- at New York On-Line: (718) 852-2662; Peacenet: nyonline; MCI Mail:
- wbowles; GEnie Mail: w.bowles
- Print Address: P.O. Box 829 Brooklyn NY 11202-0018
- Voice Address: (718) 875-8949
-
- [If you upload this to an electronic system, please try to upload the
- additions as well. The same goes for print collections]
-
- Form
- A Statement of Intent/An ongoing conference/discussion document on:
-
- The need for the formation of an alternative information exchange, that
- will encompass both print and electronic media. Such a system could be a
- database of alternate information drawn from existing print directories
- such as the Alternative Press Index. Or it could consist of both print and
- electronic editions of newsletters, magazines, books, papers, news wire
- services, press releases, discussion papers (such as this). But far more
- importantly, it is the recognition that it is the harmonious combination of
- both traditional and new technologies that is at the root of such a system.
-
- Interestingly, the final form is not known yet, nor is it important that we
- know. The main thing is to get it moving.
-
- Consider: Reuters News agency grew to occupy the place that it does today
- simply because some individuals were in the right place at the right time
- to exploit the new technology of wireless telegraphy. About 6 years ago
- Reuters and other global information systems lost their monopoly on
- knowledge gathering and dissemination. Potentially, each and everyone of
- us has the same access to information from around the world.
- More importantly, the new technologies alter our relationship to "news"
- and information. No longer need we be passive consumers of predigested
- pap. Instead, we have the opportunity to SEEK OUT knowledge. But this
- implies the use of critical judgement and discrimination in what it is you
- read, and where you get the information from (something you may have
- noticed that is entirely missing from network news).
-
- Who should "join" this conference? Everyone from Mother Jones to
- Processed Word, community groups, solidarity groups, media workers, the
- list has no end...
-
- Question: "What is the end product?"
- Answer: Ultimately, a worldwide network of information exchange, linking
- citywide desktop publishing coops. Such city (or community) based coops
- would be on the one hand, the final destination of the information, and on
- the other, the originators of information. With such a system we can
- bypass the corporate media entirely.
-
- A flight of fancy: A BBS running on a personal computer, with a HyperCard-
- based front-end to an optical disk (or disks!) Such a system would contain
- as much data as a VERY LARGE library and would be interactive. Cost?:
- About $3500
-
- Question: "What do you want me to do?"
- Answer: Initially, just read this, the first contribution to the conference.
-
- Question: "Then what?"
- Answer: When you have finished reading this, decide if it applies to you or
- your group and reply to it, either in print or electronically. Your response
- can be whatever you think is relevant. Whatever it is, it immediately will
- become a part of this conference and help shape the final outcome. If its
- in print form it will be added to the print edition (which will be loose-
- leaf), and either sent in toto, or just the new additions will be sent to
- those who already have it.
-
- Using desktop printing techniques, not only can it be produced quickly and
- easily, but such things as updating indexes, references, directories, is
- vastly simplified. Of course the electronic edition will be available in
- many forms: Electronically, as part of a searchable database, or as part of
- a collection of text files (depending on the location and the facilities)
-
- There are obvious problems to overcome, especially with the print edition.
- 1. How for example, will publishers of different editions keep current
- with each other?
- 2. Should we have a limited number of "approved" publishers? (they
- would serve as central distributors for any given region)
- 3. Who will pay for the print editions?
- 4. Should we constitute ourselves as an organization and collectively
- support its development by sharing costs? If for example, we could get
- every alternate press, group, publisher or individual supporter to chip in a
- few dollars, that could amount to an enormous pot to work with. In return,
- everyone who pays will automatically get the ongoing conference
- directory (or access to it electronically, which they probably would have
- anyway).
-
- Finally, its size and composition is irrelevant. It will be as small or as big
- as we want to be.
-
-
- WHY?
- We have reached a watershed in human existence. Increasingly, people are
- realising that we must act decisively, or perish. From nuclear
- disarmament to the environment; from alienation in the workplace to
- empowerment in the community, individuals and groups are forming across
- the planet, who, for once, appear to pointing in the same direction --
- forward.
- Concurrently with this process, new technologies have appeared which
- link us globally, enabling us to exchange information as easily with a
- friend in Zimbabwe as with a friend around the corner.
-
- It is not too far fetched to say that we are slap-in-the-middle of a global
- revolution
-
- Background
- o We are in the midst of a revolution in production
- o Information has become the primary commodity of advanced industrial
- states
- o This revolution-in-the-making is worldwide
- o The new working class now in the process of formation, is
- increasingly universal in character
- o The computer is dissolving barriers between office and factory
- o Today, 26 corporations control over 80% of the media output in the
- U.S.
- (and 70% of the world's output is controlled by western nations)
- o Tools previously only accessible by corporations or the rich are now
- available to individuals
-
- How?
- For the first time we are in a position to challenge the hegemony of the
- state and the media/communications giants. The new technologies are now
- affordable by all but the poorest amongst us (and by using cooperatives
- even the most disenfranchised can gain access to these technologies of
- empowerment). Consisting of a personal computer, modem and laser
- printer and possibly an electrostatic copier, this combination of tools
- puts the power of an entire collective work process in the hands of a
- single individual.
-
- More importantly, these new tools do NOT replace traditional means of
- communication. Far from it; for it is the judicious combination of new and
- old that guarantees the widest circulation of ideas and information.
-
- o The computer is a "meta-tool." The advantage of the computer is that
- it has no single, or multiple functions, but instead can be shaped to fit
- any task.
-
- Examples of the versatility of the computer to empower the individual
-
- o This conference
-
- o The FCC proposal to increase access charges, was in large part
- defeated by many thousands of people using the electronic mail
- capabilities of the computer to bombard the FCC with letters opposing
- the rate hikes. The message was spread from computer to computer
-
- o A telegram service that one can use to automatically send mailgrams
- to government leaders anywhere in the world. You can even assign the
- writing and sending of grams to a solidarity or community group of
- your choice (average cost: $5 per month)
-
- o Using desktop design and printing it is possible for an individual to
- put
- out a newspaper or newsletter filled with information collected from
- literally around the world, in under 6 hours in both print and electronic
- format (I have been doing it every week for past 18 months).
-
- o add your own examples...........
-
- o
-
- o
-
- Ok, that's it for now. This is just to get the ball rolling
-
-
- New York On-Line Proposes the Formation of
- The Association of Alternate Information Providers
- Discussion Paper #1
-
- Introduction
- Small publishers abound in this country, producing an
- immense variety of printed material aimed at all manner of
- people and covering every conceivable situation. Most produce
- relatively small print runs, as most are what we would call
- "specialist" publications. Yet taken collectively, they
- constitute an enormous resource of alternate news and
- information, that if it had a larger distribution network
- would rival the established media corporations in size and
- would most definately surpass them in the depth and breadth
- of coverage of national and world events.
-
- Many are in fact not really publishers at all in any formal
- sense, but are activist, solidarity, or community-based
- organizations that need to inform their constituencies or
- members of what is happening or what needs to be done (one
- thinks of Central America solidarity groups, or environmental
- activists, but the range is vast). They may publish weekly,
- monthly or quarterly newsletters or brochures in a variety of
- formats. They may put out information in the form of alerts,
- or even your basic flier. Whatever their format, collectively
- they constitute a valuable resource that informs and
- enlightens in ways that the established media does not and
- never will do.
-
- How can we take better advantage of this collective
- resource? Can we reach a bigger audience? Is there a bigger
- audience out there?
-
- Obviously the economics of the situation determine to a large
- degree why it is so difficult to reach a larger audience. Most
- alternate news/information providers have no access to the
- mainstream media, whether it be print or electronic. Even
- fairly well funded alternate news organizations find it
- impossible to break the monopoly of such corporations as
- Reuters, UPI, AP, the New York Times or Dow/Jones News
- Retrieval, for a variety of reasons that we needn't go into
- here. Most magazines, newspapers, radio and television
- stations are owned by a handful of corporations. The contents
- are homogenized and "safe" for mass consumption. All
- reinforce the status quo.
-
- "Freedom of the press belongs to those who own one"
-
- There have been many attempts to catalog this plethora of
- material (The Alternative Press Index is one such example),
- but API does not distribute nor is that its function. Small
- bookshops may contain a cross-section of such publications,
- but small bookshops are few and far between and tend to be
- concentrated in major urban centers (NY, LA, SF or Chicago
- for example), hence they reach only a relatively small
- audience. The alternative press offers one such outlet for
- news about these publications, but again the problems reside
- not in production but in distribution. Distribution is costly.
- Most small publications survive by selling subscriptions via
- mail. The alternative press itself is in the same predicament!
- Major print retailers do not carry alternative newspapers
- such as In These Times or the Guardian. Printing and postage
- constitute the bulk of costs and the only way to recover these
- costs is either by making the price so high as to restrict
- access, thus defeating the stated purpose. Mass circulation
- requires big bucks and the advertising to support it. It would
- appear to be a "no-win" situation.
-
- Recent developments in computer technology, both in the field
- of communications and printing have created the potential to
- change this situation. This is where The Association of
- Alternate Information Providers (AAIP) comes in. But before
- we come to look at the actual mechanics of our potential
- production/distribution system, a few words on the actual
- technology itself and what it is capable of.
-
- 1. Computers/Printers
- Computers are now relatively cheap. A complete PC, with
- monitor, hard disk, keyboard and sufficient memory to
- undertake most tasks can now be bought for as little as $370!
- Even laser printers no longer constitute a major capital
- investment (as little as $1000 will buy you a laser printer,
- and the cost will keep on dropping). Inkjet printers can be had
- for as little as $250, with relatively good output. We all know
- about the ubiquitous fax machine and its impact on political
- events across the world! There are now relatively few small
- organizations that don't possess a computer or even a fax
- machine. Portable computers are dropping in price, so even
- being "in-the-field" and "in-touch" is now a reality for even
- small organizations and individuals. They have become
- indispensible to the modern office. Yet many of us do not
- realise that the computer is but the tip of the
- communications iceberg. By linking the computer to the
- telephone network, we can send information around the world
- just as easily as we can send it across town! We can even link
- computers to fax machines and visa versa. But what does this
- mean for us? Essentially, the job of collecting, formatting
- and printing a periodical or newsletter can be done by one
- person in day utilising this technology. What are the
- implications of this technology in the context of challenging
- the media monopolies? How can we use this technology to the
- best advantage, for in the final analysis, we are still faced
- with the age-old problem of distribution. So near yet so far!
- 2. The Telephone
- The telephone network now spans the globe, linking
- hundreds of countries together in a single, electronic web.
- Until recently this web was the almost exclusive domain of
- corporations and governments, by virtue either of price or a
- lack of access to the technology. Even now it's still not cheap
- to "phone home". Yet it is cheaper than its ever been, and the
- advent of packet-switching networks enables us to send and
- receive data via computer to the four corners of the earth for
- the cost of a local phone call and a nominal hourly access fee.
- PeaceNet for example, charges only $5 per hour off-peak
- access. You can send a lot of data in 1 hour! Typically,
- connection time to send say a 10,000 word article would take
- only a few minutes at the higher speeds of the new modems.
- Modems which transmit at 240 characters per second can now
- be bought for less than $150. By comparison, Telex transmits
- 11 characters per second! A 24-fold increase in speed! Even
- higher speeds are now available, making transmission rates
- of up to 2000 characters per second, or more, possible! This
- is an over 180-fold increase in speed over Telex!
-
- 3. Distribution
- Yet all of this technology by itself, is useless to us unless
- we have a distribution system that can take advantage of it.
- We are still faced with the problem of an enormous number of
- single sources of information attempting to reach a widely
- scattered and diverse audience. Moreover, there is still the
- fundamental question of how even gathering and processing
- this information is to be paid for, let alone its distribution!
- So we have the added problem of the cost of the labour
- involved in writing, researching and collecting the data
- needed. Most small, alternate organizations, pay peanuts
- salaries, offer no health plan or any of the other benefits the
- corporate world can afford. Are we expected to work for
- nothing, all "for the cause"? Obviously, most of us are not in
- this solely for the money, yet we pay capitalist prices for
- rent, food, and all the other necessities of life. What we can
- describe as our alternate society or culture is not exactly
- bursting with financial resources, yet it does raise and spend
- billions of dollars in the course of a year. In other words it is
- an economic force on the landscape.
-
- How do we do take advantage of our collective power? One
- way would be to combine forces. However, this presents us
- with a number of perhaps more daunting subjective problems
- that need to be overcome, not the least of which are a range
- of political problems, like for example, getting such a
- disparate assemblage of groups to collaberate together on
- such a joint project without tearing each other's hair out. Yet
- these problems are not insurmountable. Indeed, they are
- potentially easier to solve than many of the problems that
- confront us now.
-
- 4. Some Suggestions as to Solutions
- What could our AAIP do that all of the individual groups
- cannot do?
-
- a) By combining forces we can spread the cost of distribution
- between us.
-
- b) We could establish "joint ventures" such desktop publishing
- cooperatives.
-
- c) We could amortize the cost of distribution by producing
- collective publications (see enclosed sample).
-
- d) We could set up electronic networks for collection and
- distribution of information. This already exists and is working
- (see enclosed information).
- e) We could use our collective economic muscle to advertise
- our wares.
- f) We could form regional mutual help associations, that
- formed the basis of the national association.
- g) We could offer our information services (for a fee) to
- small newspapers and local radio and television stations.
-
- h) We can internationalize ourselves and form asssociations
- with similiar groups in other countries, where perhaps there
- is more funding, but definately more information for us to
- share and exchange!
-
- As you can see there are a number of solutions to our
- problem, each one addressing specific aspects of the overall
- situation. There are many more that have not even been
- presented here. No doubt, you the reader can supply others. I
- offer these as part of AAIP's "starter kit".
-
- What we must never forget is that what we offer is unique:
- The information we possess! Let's not beat about the bush; we
- are in the business of selling valuable information about the
- world we live in! Our collective understanding of our
- increasingly inter-dependent planet is unique. It is something
- the corporate world does NOT possess. What makes it valuable
- is the form we present it in.
-
- This is crucial. We constantly undervalue what we possess
- because we are so often caught up in the ideological dead-end
- of arguing about the consumer society, whether we should
- make a living out of an alternate culture, whilst in reality,
- that's precisely what we are doing anyway! Not very well
- perhaps, and not very much money either, but that's what we
- are doing, attempting to create an alternate set of economic
- and social relationships based upon the exchange of
- information as part of the process of bringing about a social
- revolution. Period. We just need to go the distance and get
- professional at it. If we organize the vast database of social
- and historical experience we possess we can make it work for
- us. Afterall, that's precisely what the corporate world has
- done with the information it possesses on us! The irony of it
- is, that it sells it back to us at a profit! We must also
- remember that this is not about computers! It's about
- knowledge and information about the world we live in.
- Computers are tools that can be used to our advantage, but
- they are not neutral tools. They are have their functions but
- they are not a panacea. Judicious use of all available
- technologies is what we need. Identifying what kind of
- technology to use at what level is the key. For example, we
- can view the computer/telephone network as a "macro-
- collector/distributor", that is, we use the
- computer/telephone network to move information
- economically from one region to another. It also facillitates
- the collection of information. PeaceNet for example, is used
- in this capacity, or locally-based, networked pcs' like
- New York On-Line do it, utilising networking software
- to collect and distribute information. Such systems are
- already in place and are working.
-
- 5. Down to Brass Tacks!
- What are the first steps?
-
- i. This outreach. Ok, so what next?
-
- ii. Establish some ground rules, who can join, what should we
- charge etc.
-
- iii. How should we conduct our business. For this we need to
- formulate a business plan. The plan should contain a viable
- economic blueprint for the Association's economic survival and
- expansion. For example, what kind of information should we be
- looking for and in what format?
-
- iv. How should we market it?
-
- v. Advertise, Advertise, Advertise. This is absolutely crucial.
- We need to know who would want to buy our information and
- in what format. We also need to attract as many members to
- the Association as we can. Firstly, their membership dues are
- our lifeblood. Secondly, the information they possess is what
- we're all about!
-
- vi. Classify the information we possess as an association. For
- example, there are a range of publishers and organizations
- concerned solely with events southern Africa. Some are
- concerned with southern Africa itself (aid in one form or
- another), some are concerned with pressuring the US
- government to change its position on southern Africa. In this
- situation, one group possesses information that the other
- group needs in order to mount campaigns. This necessitates
- organising our collective knowledge in different ways. Each
- situation is unique. This sounds so obvious yet, to my
- knowledge it has not been done! What we actually have is a
- range of parallel activities, which sometimes crossover, but
- most often don't. The old adage that knowledge is power, is
- just as true for us as it is for any other institutions. Holding
- on to knowledge gives one power over situations. People are
- afraid that letting go of knowledge will put them at a
- disadvantage. We need to reassure people that they will
- benefit from such a collective arrangement. This is a
- political problem that has to be dealt with.
-
- vii. How will we be organised? As Chapters? As autonomous
- units? As regions? What will be the structure of the
- association? How will decisions be arrived at?
-
- viii. Funding. Should we be "non-profit"? Should we be a
- business?
-
- 6. Is AAIP a Publisher or Distributor, Neither, or Both?
- These are an important questions and at present there are no
- answers as collectively, we have not decided what we want
- AAIP to be. But let us take look at some of the issues and see
- if we can arrive at some tentative conclusions.
-
- Q. Could AAIP be a distributor?
- A. Yes it could be if we had a nationwide network in place.
- This is where the computer could prove its worth. But in
- order for such a system to work, we would need structures in
- place on a regional basis. The computer would be used to move
- the news/information from one region to another and a local
- cooperative would print and distribute, either as part of a
- national cooperative, or on an entirely autonomous basis (see
- below).
-
- Q. Could AAIP be a publisher?
- A. Yes it could. If its members supported such an idea then
- collectively we could fund a nationwide newspaper that
- would consist essentially of selections drawn from the
- output of AAIP's members. The actual mechanics of such a
- system would require careful planning, and I can see many
- political obstacles to such a system. However, it would really
- depend on where the information originates. For example,
- newspapers such as the Guardian or In These Times would be
- at a disadvantage as essentially such a digest would be in
- direct competition with them! But here you see the advantage
- of such a flexible, de-centralised system. For national
- newspapers such as ITT or the Guardian could utilise AAIP as
- a source of raw material. But take a look at the mockup of
- MediaMatters enclosed. It consists in large part of "raw"
- information, that normally has extremely limited circulation.
- MediaMatters is a digest of current news covering an
- extremely wide range of subjects. The mechanisms are in
- place to produce such a digest nationally. Each edition would
- distributed to regional centres electronically where they
- would be printed and distributed locally. And further, there is
- nothing to stop local cooperatives from using MediaMatters as
- raw material in its own right, as the basis for some other
- kind of publication! Again, at each level of the system that we
- look at, we see that potentially, a source of income that helps
- support another level. The entire structure is inter-active and
- mutually self-supporting.
-
- Q. Assuming there are revenues, how would they be distributed?
- A. One solution would be a royalty system, which would be
- disbursed monthly. Or alternatively, local
- publishers/distributors would be autonomous, and after
- paying AAIP for the news they print, they would keep the
- income to maintain the local cooperative. Of course, there's
- nothing to stop any local cooperative from producing all kinds
- of output from the raw material, and using it in any way they
- see fit. What I am outlining here are suggestions and ideas
- that I hope will promote discussion about the various options
- available to us.
-
- Conclusion
- In a sense then, what it is being described here, is a form of
- "information bank" whose "collateral" is the information
- supplied by its members. Given enough information covering a
- wide enough range of subjects, there is no limit to what can
- be done with it. I invite all who read this to contribute to this
- discussion. I have by no means dealt with all the problems or
- potential solutions to problems. Much work remains to be
- done. NYOL opens its electronic domain to continue this
- discussion, as well as the conferences on PeaceNet.
- Organisations such as the Union for Democratic
- Communications is yet another outlet for this discussion, as
- well as the many magazines, newspapers and periodicals,
- which in one way or another have a vested interest in this
- debate.
-
- Please reprint and re-distribute this discussion paper. It is
- available as an ASCII file on PeaceNet. Please leave me mail
- and I will forward it. On NYOL in the Networking for Change
- section.
-
- NYOL can be reached at the following print, voice and
- electronic addresses:
-
- 1.Print: New York On-Line, P.O. Box 829, Brooklyn NY, 11202-0018
- 2. Voice: 718-875-8949
- 3. Data: NYOL: 718-852-2662
- Peacenet: nyonline
- MCI: wbowles
- GEnie: w.bowles
- BitNet: bbowles@pratt
- FidoNet:1:107/607
- Alternet: 7:520/607
-
- William Bowles
- Editor, New York On-Line
-
-
-
- Feb. 21,1990
-
- William
- AAIP is a very good idea and one I have interest in. Some time
- last year I had a conversation with you in response to
- a topic you had posted on the AAIP idea, I'm glad you have taken
- the time to further this in a disscussion paper.
- There are many points to consider with regards to AAIP as your
- discussion paper makes evident. Where I will start in response is
- to point out that progressive news and information needs to be
- consumed with an alternative historical frame. In my conversations
- with people I meet in daily life, people that are totally reliant
- on the established media for information and do not understand
- established media for what it is, propaganda, and have a hard time
- if not impossible relating to progressive viewpoints, information
- and news. AAIP I feel would develop a body of historical information that
- one could refer to that would allow new and skeptical consumers of
- alternative information to understand a progressive article. UDC is
- showing interest in developing a syllabus on media. I feel a syllabus
- could retrieve historical facts from the black hole of historical
- information that would allow people to understand progressive viewpoints,
- information and news. Without such a framework of information the
- progressives in our society are dismissed. As a group we could point to a
- historical documentation that would allow for the understanding of
- progressive viewpoints as they relate to currant events. This would be a
- version of history not officially subscribed to and would be in it self a
- worthy task.
-
- People are interested in many different subjects. With this in
- mind I would suggest that AAIP members supplying information
- tailored to the interest of each subscriber. Knowing that so many
- of my subcribers are interested in the ocean when possible their
- subscription will include a larger amount of ocean news and
- information. Tailoring a subscribers news and information needs
- would in my opinion be a welcome change from useless pages of news and
- information that consumers of the established media ignore.
-
- The general style of a publication could be much like the "Utne
- Reader". This publication takes from a wide body of articals
- already published, second rights, reprints them and points out
- their source where one could subscribe to that publication if one
- so wished. Each issue is devoted to a particular topic where a
- majority of articals, not all, deal with that topic. Tailoring a
- subscription to a subscribers information needs with the AAIP
- theme of the month would make for a progressive publication unlike
- others.
-
- An AAIP members could also make themselves available for public
- speaking if they so wished. I feel it is the verbal transmition of
- alternative news and information that is most needed in our
- western democracy. AAIP members would have a unique edge in
- presenting progressive viewpoints privatly and publicly given the
- body of information at their hand.
-
- Lots to consider, lots to understand and lots to do.
-
- clyde
-
-
- peg:gholland
- udc.media 2:13 am Feb 27, 1990
- Yes, it's about time there was something like the
- Association of Alternate Information Providers around. Some
- ideas and comments:
- 1. NETWORKS ESTABLISHED: William, you portray the alternate
- information scene as an archipelago of seperate islands when
- in fact there are already many alternate information
- networks established, such as WISE, (World Information
- Service on Energy?) What has to be done is to coordinate
- these networks, as well as tie in the islands. So work
- needs to be done in mapping what exists to see how best to
- organize information channels.
- 2. PROGRESSIVE JOURNALISTS: A list of progressive
- investigative journalists around the world could be
- compiled. Again, I'm sure there are lists already. They
- could be notified and invited to contribute.
- 3. EDITORIAL POWERS: The AAIP must have editorial powers to
- reject shoddy journalism. If we are really worried about
- editorial intervention there could be an alternate alternate
- news service where one could access the rejects...
- 4. RENUMERATION: Either the AAIP could pay for the articles
- and news clips outright, or the journalist/information
- provider could be remunerated according to how many news
- subscribers used the material. Either way, news is going to
- be shaped to market demand to some extent (solution, educate
- the consumer to want news high in integrity and political
- consciousness).
- 5. LANGUAGE CHALLENGE: I noticed you used the term
- `nationwide' a few times, William. Languages sometimes
- delineate, but I thought national limits were irrelevant
- these days. What a great opportunity to get a balanced flow
- of news and information from the South and East! Going to
- have to coordinate the translation though! Big challenge.
- Not only would I expect most of the journalists to be non-
- English speaking, but also most of the consumers too!
- Perhaps each language domain would have a node to translate
- material coming in and going out. I would suggest two or
- three exchange languages to make things simpler (eg English,
- Spanish and Cantonese). That way each language domain node
- need only three translators, and not 800! Perhaps a certain
- uniform levy would cross-subsidise the salaries of these
- translators.
- 6. RUN AS A BUSINESS: I think the AAIP should be run as a
- business, with hierarchies. Perhaps there could be a small
- collective at the top which perhaps could be renewed or
- rotated periodically. The hierarchy could also be soft,
- flexible, flat, consultative, delegating responsibility,
- encouraging initiative, experimenting with direct worker's
- democracy etc. But let's get an efficient decision-making
- process going. There won't be a shortage of progressive
- investigative journalists if top management turns
- tyrannical!
- 7. SUBSCRIBERS: As a business, I don't think the AAIP should
- aim for `members' so much as `subscribers' just like the
- conventional news megalyths. Subscribers could be
- categorized as a) commercial b) institutions c) volunteer
- and not-for-profit organisations d) individuals, and incur
- graded subscription rates. The rates would also vary
- according to whether the subscriber intended to reprint.
- 8. NOT-FOR-PROFIT: The AAIP should be a not-for-profit
- organisation - that is to say it should set realistic
- subscription prices which covers operating costs, salaries,
- and a bit more to help through crisis periods etc It
- wouldn't make profits to finance expansion into other
- businesses etc.
- 9. CONVENTIONAL MEDIA: Hopefully, if the AAIP gains
- credibility as a provider of reliable, quality information,
- conventional commercial media might dabble here and there.
- It is in establishing that reputation and `image' that the
- challenge lies. It looks much more impressive to have a
- `New York Times' by-line after the article than something
- obscure. However `AAIP News' looks good. It's not so
- different from `AP', or in Australia we have `AAP'. Trouble
- is, they'll still be looking for the same old formula stuff.
- 10. ALTERNATIVE MEDIA: Unfortunately I'm not very optimistic
- about our chances of expanding the conventional alternative
- media. To boost sales of `In These Times' etc would
- probably need big capital injection, wizz bang promotions, a
- strategy to lure the big (and often unethical) corporate
- advertising contracts, shift of format and editorial slant
- etc etc etc. Let the fragmented alternative publications
- continue to nourish their particular audiences. However,
- the AAIP could perhaps expand and enrich their choice of
- material.
- 11. ELECTRONIC NEWSPAPER: The environmentally conscious
- networks such as the APC, the WELL, Poptel, GeoNet, and
- others, have failed still to provide an electronic
- alternative to the obscene paper newspaper. Perhaps this is
- the central role of the AAIP. Use `distnet' software (or
- some other) to package and compress the information which
- might be anything from 50kb to 500kb when unpackaged. The
- marketing then would be on individual subscribers. Local
- nodes of the AAIP could tack on regional and local news.
- Subscribers could nominate areas of interest eg. general
- world, general science and technology, general disarmament
- news, regional environment, world rainforests, finance
- local, sports local.
- 10. ADVERTISING: Subscribers could also nominate to have
- their subscription subsidised by advertising, though until
- PCs and software become more sophisticated for general
- network use (1995?), graphics would probably remain quite
- primitive. They would be more sponsorship-type advertising.
- The AAIP would have an ethics policy and a blacklist of
- unethical companies that would not be able to advertise.
- 11. CROSS-SUBSIDIES: Subscription rates would have to vary
- according to national price indexes, so there would probably
- be some sort of cross-subsidizing. Eg 50kb of daily
- newspaper might cost $US 60 cents in the US and the
- equivalent of $US 35 cents in Brazil and $US 25 cents in
- India.
- 12. PLUG FOR ACP NETWORKS: For the electronic newspaper, the
- AAIP would need national nodes to minimize subscriber
- telecom charges. In my opinion the APC networks should be
- getting a lot more solidarity and support from progressive
- organisations than they are getting. Academic groups prefer
- their own (elite) networks. Some environmental groups use
- mainstream e-mail services because the APC services are not
- quite as slick. Others use USEnet and others because they
- are free. If we are going to construct an alternative to
- the domination and control of the exclusively structured
- capitalist media and telecommunications industry, we need
- deeper commitment and solidarity. It would therefore be my
- suggestion that the AAIP use the APC as its central network,
- with gateways available to other networks - UseNet,
- Compuserve, EIES etc etc. Where local nodes are not
- available, help establish them.
- (In case you are wondering whether, with this ardent
- rhetoric, I work for the APC, or I am an initiated cult
- member of the APC, I must inform you that I am neither. I
- am a neutral academic observer with countless credentials).
- 13. YOU CAN SNOB/IGNORE: I hope the progressive
- professionals among us will not snob/ignore this visionary
- idea. I hope they will take some time off from
- deconstructing the past and present, to help construct the
- future. After all, it is the professionals who sway
- influence on the moderately progressives and who hold the
- purse strings for funding all these new wonderful
- ventures...
- 14. FUNDING CAPITAL:...because the AAIP will need
- substantial start-up capital (fulltime staff of 20 for two
- years, hardware, software development, travel/meeting
- expenses, publicity/marketing, office - say $US 1 million to
- be done properly, $US100,000 if put together on a shoestring
- with a LOT of love and volunteers).
- Geoff Holland
- APC Networks peg:gholland
-
-
- cbarney
- udc.media 8:27 pm Mar 15, 1990
-
- The articles in this topic came as a delightful surprise to me.
- After 25 years as a print journalist, I am presently working with a
- startup electronic publisher, Io Publishing Inc., whose first product is
- an electronic daily. This publication, BioWorld, is an expensive
- service for businesses, but its model could serve for an
- alternative press equally well. For many years I have been
- looking for people who are interested in using computer
- communications as a medium for an alternative news service. The
- entries by William Bowles and Geoff Holland indicate that others
- of you have the same idea.
-
- Many networks and electronic bulletin boards exist for the
- exchange of information. They have not yet been well integrated
- with print. Rather they have restricted themselves to providing a
- communications pathway for the technically adventurous. True
- electronic publishing has been limited to the maintenance of
- machine-readable databases. Even the most advanced technically of
- commercial online information services, such as [Dow Jones] have
- not interested themselves in the distribution of information
- beyond their own electronic domain.
-
- But the desktop process makes it possible for a very few people --
- one person, in extreme circumstances -- to perform the
- communications, editing, and distribution tasks that only a few
- years ago required many times their number of skilled
- craftspeople. When type was set in hot lead, the process of
- getting news into print was greatly articulated, with specialists
- at every step. A reporter would type a story, give it to a
- teletype operator, who would rekeyboard it and sent it to a
- newspaper, where it printed out on a paper ribbon in uppercase
- only. Other operators would tear off the ribbon, paste it up and
- retype it again for the news and copy desks. There it was edited
- in pencil and sent by pneumatic tube to the composing room where
- it was keyboarded again on a linotype. This machine produced
- single lead slugs of type that were put in trays and proofed, then
- put in steel forms and proofed again. And following this other
- specialists made the forms into curved plates for rotary presses.
-
- Today these many jobs have collapsed into a few. Editors can run
- both the teletype and the composing room; the result is the
- decline of Western Union and the practical disappearance of the
- International Typographers Union, which once was very strong and
- now is an appendage of the American Newspaper Guild, the editorial
- union.
-
- The technology that makes this possible is now becoming relatively
- cheap and widely available. Only ten years ago, editing was done
- on a minicomputer, with software that cost more than $100,000.
- Today, the software costs$500 and runs on a desktop computer.
- These local workstations have their own processing power, their
- own storage, and their own communications, so that they are not
- bound to a single local computer.
-
- Meanwhile, communications channels are widening. We have routine
- 2400 to 9600 bit-per-second switched digital links, instead of 115
- bit per second leased telex lines; and we have access to megabit
- channels if we really need it. Moreover, these are two-way
- multiplexed long-distance channels, which can link widely
- dispersed editing equiipment. And once inside the office, the
- bandwidth zooms.
-
- That means that today any individual or small group can own a
- desktop editing system that can comunicate with other
- computer/editing systems. Connect the desktop computer to a
- printer and you have a smart printing press that gathers, edits,
- composes, stores and distributes its own copy. Scanner and
- facsimile equipment add another dimension of electronic
- distribution. And this is for just one local node; link these
- presses in a network and the result is a distributed publishing
- system that can be decentralized or centralized to any degree one
- wishes, even both ways simultaneously. The print output can be as
- simple or elaborate as the occasion demands.
-
- Model for an alternative press.
-
- I am familiar with one profit-sector model for a desktop press:
- the BioWorld information service designed for the biotechnology
- industry by Io Publishing, Inc., of San Mateo, Calif. This is a
- business publication produced by a professional staff of
- journalists and distributed over a computer network. In addition
- to news reports, BioWorld provides directories of biotech
- information and forums for its users to communicate in. The
- entire online body of material is searchable. The online service
- is supplemented by weekly and monthly newsletters.
-
- There are four elements: editorial, production, communications,
- and marketing. What is tightly focused in BioWorld could be
- diverse in an alternative press, and these functions could be
- spread among a variety of people and places. There is more to a
- press than a news service, and the different functions of online
- databases, electronic mail, distribution, printing services, etc.,
- can be provided by as many groups as wish to use the underlying
- network.
-
- The alternative press can find its audience in much the same way
- that Io staked out biotechnology; but where the trade press goes
- after businesses, the alternative press can reach nonprofit
- organizations that are grappling directly with social problems
- like poverty and the homeless, continuing racial and political
- oppression, women's rights, drug and alcohol addiction, health,
- education, Third and Fourth World development, environmental
- concerns, etc. These groups operate on every level, some
- nationally and even internationally, others at the grassroots
- level of family advocacy groups,
- churches, comunities, labor union locals, peace and ecology groups
- and other small nonprofits.
-
- This movement is vigorous but fragmented. At present it is
- barely possible for groups working in the same field to cooperate,
- so occupied are they with their own "home fronts." Broader-based
- interaction is barely dreamed of. Yet most social activists would
- agree that workers in toxics, pollution, health, drug abuse, labor
- unions, prison reform, education, peace, ecology, etc., have a
- great many interests in common, which need wider public
- expression. They simply have no means of pursuing thee interests
- together and they are not well-served by the mainstream press.
- This community needs to be interconnected, and it needs a press
- that it just as responsive to its interests as the commercial
- press is to its own market.
-
- An alternative computer-based information utility can be built to
- serve this community from the elements of desktop publishing and
- communications. Like BioWorld, it would provide news, computer
- conferences, archives,
- databases, and directories, and would be accessible online, via
- computer diskette, and in print.
-
- Organization
-
- The alternative press, really an information utility, can be
- organized as a nonprofit corporation that offers services to
- member groups. Funded initially through foundation grants, it can
- eventually become self-sufficient through dues, fee-for-service
- operations and independent publishing. A simple dues structure,
- like Peacenet's; or perhaps better still a user-supported model
- like the Pacifica radio network's, could provide the framework for
- a budget. I agree that a fairly large budget would be necessary
- to provide the resources that such a network needs. But these
- resources would also be made available to small groups, who could
- spend as much or as little as they see fit in using the network.
-
- Some possible activities:
-
- % maintain an independent news service for members and
- non-members.
-
- % publish an independent journal for social action groups.
-
- % offer existing publications the opportunity to mount electronic
- editions.
-
- % maintain online data and text bases of information about
- legislation, politics, funding, etc.
-
- % maintain online computer conferences among its members.
-
- % publish reports stemming from these activities
-
- % provide members with an environment in which they can run their
- own information services if they choose.
-
- % provide a market for providers and users of computer services
- such as accounting, desktop publishing, etc.
-
- All of this won't come into being all at once. However the
- modular nature of the technology makes it possible to start with a
- small organizational pilot project and grow as resources become
- available, with control decentralized. Rather than duplicate or
- compete with services -- even news services -- offered by other
- groups, the utility could be a general clearinghouse for
- information and services among all of them. In that way it could
- develop into a true alternative communications medium for a global
- community.
-
- -- Cliff Barney
-
- PS -- One caveat, though: "Association of Alternate Information
- Providers" is a little unwieldy; I suggest something catchy like
- "Samizdat," to carry on the tradition of the underground network
- of typewriters and mimeo machines that circumvented the official
- Soviet press.
-
-
- web:exact
- udc.media 2:05 pm Mar 21, 1990
-
-
- Approaching "The Other Side"
-
- "The Other Side" is a magazine that features views held
- in the world that do not have a fair voice in the present world
- information order.
-
- Each issue of this publication is primarily worked on and
- through the network. Each issue is published by a local node that
- will include additional news and information with the feature
- articles of the world edition. News and information that a local
- node and it's subcribers have interest in, can be the additional
- information in the issue.
-
- Identifying articles, news and information for feature
- topics in the world edition is our starting point.
-
- Each local node identifies and includes articles, news
- and information for their local subscribers and area in each
- issue.
-
- Start up the DTP program of your choice and lets see
- what our first world issue looks like in your hands, sitting in
- your local corner store magazine rack, laying on your friends
- coffee table, at an office you frequent, etc..
-
- "Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one."
- A.J. Liebling
-
- We would never know if we never tried.
-
- clyde
-
- World View
-
-
- Press any key to continue... > Networking for Change <
- >Alternative Information Network)
-
- R)ead S)can W)rite T)itle Search Networking Echo
-
- 1) The AAIP Discussion Paper (2/16/90)
- 2) Launch statement
- 3) Compiled discussion (as of 5/5/90)
- This file contains all the messages in the discussion
- up to the date shown above, including the launch
- statement.
-
- 4) Upload a File
- 5) Networking Files
- 6) List Networking Files
-
- P)revious F)ront N)etworks H)elp M)ail U)tilities G)oodbye
-
- (31 minutes left) Command?