Here's the August update on what's new at Infoshop.org, what's in development, and how you can help support this project.
WHAT'S NEW AT INFOSHOP.ORG
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August 19, 2002 | number 2 | Dog Days of Summer edition
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"I don't believe in charity. I believe in solidarity.
Charity is so vertical. I goes from the top to the
bottom. Solidarity is horizontal. It respects the other
person. I have a lot to learn from other people."
-- Eduardo Galeano
Welcome to the second issue of an irregular update on the Infoshop.org project. We hope that this update can help you find new features and understand what is going on with this project. As the Infoshop.org project grows and includes more and more volunteers, regular communication is becoming more important.
Infoshop.org has been causing trouble on the web since it went online in January 1995 as the Mid-Atlantic Infoshop. With over 3 million hits a month as of last year, Infoshop.org is considered by many to be a valuable resource to the anarchist and anti-capitalist movements, as well as for thousands of people who are simply looking for alternatives to the current capitalist system. The website is graciously hosted by the flag.blackened.net server, which is part of a collective of anarchist and anti-authoritarian digital activists. The webmaster and coordinator of Infoshop is Chuck "Chuck0" Munson. The website is becoming more of a collaborative network project every day.
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LINKS OF THE WEEK
PrisonTalk Online
http://www.prisontalk.com/forums/
Facilitating communication between prisoners and their loved ones.
Anarchists in New York City
http://www.anarco-nyc.net/
An online guide to anarchists and anarchist activities in New York City
Burning River Revolutionary Anarchist Collective
http://www.burningriver.org/
Anarchy in Cleveland, Ohio.
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SUMMER FUNDRAISING APPEAL
Consider supporting the Infoshop.org project financially.
http://www.infoshop.org/feed_infoshop.html
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NEWS WIRE FROM INFOSHOP.ORG
The Infoshop.org News email list disseminates a range of anarchist, activist and alternative news, both from alternative and corporate sources.
Subcribe today!
http://flag.blackened.net/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-news
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COMING SOON!
What you don't know / What they don't tell you
The PDF version of a new two-page flyer that Chuck0 has created to promote alternative media to working people. It's a very simple idea–put together a list of alternative websites, magazines, and books on two sides of a flyer and distribute copies of the flyer to people on the streets. This simple idea has the potential to get hundreds of thousand of people to visit our websites and read our books and magazines. This should be available online later this week.
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NEW FEATURES AND PAGES AT INFOSHOP.ORG
Infoshop Forums
http://www.infoshop.org/forums/phpBB2/
Find an anarchist. Talk about burning issues in anarchism. Talk about
anarchists and workplace organizing. A new Infoshop.org bulletin board
powered by phpBB.
Sacco and Vanzetti - 75th anniversary of their execution
http://www.infoshop.org/sacco_vanzetti_75.html
A protest and commemoration happening this week in New York City.
Infoshop auf Deutsch
http://deutsch.infoshop.org/
The german version of Infoshop is now interactive and allows you to
contribute news (thanks to PostNuke).
An Anarchist Guide to Critical Thinking
http://www.infoshop.org/critical_thinking.html
Reader's Guide to Anti-capitalism
http://www.infoshop.org/octo/anticap_biblio.html
A guide to online articles on anti-capitalism and the anti-capitalist
movements.
Fall Protests Against the World Bank and IMF
http://www.infoshop.org/octo/thebigone.html
Another Infoshop guide to the upcoming protests.
Organization?
http://www.infoshop.org/activism_organization.html
Anarchist perspectives on the question of organization.
Activism?
http://www.infoshop.org/wither_activism.html
Anarchist perspectives on the question of activism.
Rethinking activism
http://www.infoshop.org/rethinking_activism.html
A new series of articles from activists on the state of contemporary
activism, its problems and what is being done right.
What is anarchy?
http://www.infoshop.org/whatisanarchy.html
Technology Pages
http://www.infoshop.org/technology.html
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UPCOMING FEATURES
Features that are in development can be divided into three categories: new pages and sections, new interactive services, and new feature content.
## New Pages and Sections ## S
ince the main focus of the webmaster this month is on the development of interactive web services, there isn't much to announce. Possible new pages include:
* Anarchism in the Philippines
* The Foolish Anti-Capitalist - A working person and her money is soon
parted.
* Office of Homeland Insecurity - tracking the Bush administration's
current wag the dog campaign.
* How to do an anarchist bookfair - in development at:
http://www.infoshop.org/library2/pages.php?page=How+to+do+an+anarchist+bookfair
## New Interactive Services ##
Many of you are familiar with the popular Infoshop News Kiosk (http://www.infoshop.org/inews/), an interactive anarchist news service that runs on phpWebLog software. Other interactive features on Infoshop.org include The American Gulag (prison news - http://www.infoshop.org/gulag/) and the Anarchist Librarians Web (http://www.infoshop.org/library2/). Several new interactive features are currently in development (thanks to the volunteers who are helping), which include:
* Non-English sections: The project that will migrate the non-English sections of Infoshop to an interactive news and content system (using PostNuke) is proceeding. The german subsite is now active (http://deutsch.infoshop.org/) and needs german-speaking volunteers. The site still needs some tweaking and development.
These new interactive subsites will allow native speakers to post news and content in their language. The goal is to make these sections more collaborative, so that collectives can be set up for each language. The interactive software will allow people to add news and will provide user accounts and some customization.
URLs for the new language subsites (not yet active):
Spanish: http://espanol.infoshop.org/
Italian: http://italiano.infoshop.org/
French: http://francais.infoshop.org/
Portuguese: http://portugues.infoshop.org/
* Anarchist Youth subsite (http://youth.infoshop.org/): This project will migrate the current "Anarchy Kidz" section to PostNuke by the end of August (just in time for the new Unschooling Year). Here the goal is to give anarchist and anti-authoritarian teens the ability to be involved in running and developing this section of Infoshop.
* Anarchist Matchmaker and Infoshop Rideboard: Other than having submission forms, these two features currently require much copying and pasting and general HTML wrangling from the webmaster. The goal is to set up these sections so they pull from a database, thus allowing different way to search and making the information instantly fresh. Completion date: by late August.
* Comprehensive link database: Infoshop.org has thousands of links, which means that managing them all is a webmaster's nightmare. The goal of this project is to create one big database of links for the website, which would allow many different ways of presenting and organizing information. It would make it easier for people to add links, update links, and point out broken links. This will also allow Infoshop to provide more ambitious services, such as an alternative directory like Yahoo. The webmaster has been working on this project since last year and anticipates a completion date of late October.
You can see the Infoshop Alternative Directory right now at:
http://www.infoshop.org/inews/links.php
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## New Content ##
This includes special features and e-books. Current examples include the "Love and Treason" section and the online edition of "Seizing the Airwaves."
The goal in the next few months will be to add new articles to the website. We'd also like to find volunteers to help put the "Field Guide to Monkeywrenching" online. We'd also like to turn more texts into PDF files.
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HOW TO HELP!
First, some important, helpful pages:
Infoshop FAQ:
http://www.infoshop.org/faq.html
Volunteer:
http://www.infoshop.org/volunteer.html
We can also use the following volunteer help:
* Help answering queries sent to Infoshop.org. See Infoshop-help list
info
below.
* Writers and columnists: We are always looking for more writers and
columnists. We can't pay anything, but anything you write for us will be
read by thousands of people. This is not an open invitation to people who
can type rants, but who are sloppy writers. If you can't capitalize the
beginning letter of a sentence and can't be bothered to use a spell
checker, please reserve your precious gems for Instant Messenger.
* Graphics: We're always looking for graphics and volunteer artists
* Programming: Always looking for help with PHP programming. Also need
volunteers to keep our PostNuke websites running.
INFOSHOP.ORG TRANSLATION AND HELP E-MAIL LISTS
The following lists are for Infoshop volunteers:
infoshop-ca :: Infoshop.org spanish
http://flag.blackened.net/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-ca
infoshop-de :: infoshop.org auf Deutch
http://flag.blackened.net/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-de
Infoshop-fr :: Infoshop.org in French
http://flag.blackened.net/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-fr
infoshop-it :: infoshop.org in italiano
http://flag.blackened.net/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-it
infoshop-pt :: Infoshop.org portuguese
http://flag.blackened.net/mailman/listinfo/infoshop-pt
Infoshop.org Virtual Reference Desk
If you'd like to join a list to help answer Infoshop queries, please send
an email to chuck@tao.ca
HELP PROMOTE INFOSHOP.ORG
We appreciate the grassroots efforts by folks to publicize the existence of this website, including whoever spraypainted "infoshop.org" on the sidewalks of Ontario. You folks make it possible for the Graffiti Abatement Squad workers to keep drawing paychecks. We also appreciate those of you who are leaving our URL on the walls of restrooms of fine vegetarian restaurants around the continent.
First of all, we'd like to ask people to help us publicize the existence of the American Gulag news site (http://www.infoshop.org/gulag). That service has so much potential.
Secondly, we need help getting word out about this website to average working people. We have a page with ideas and materials that can help with this at: http://www.infoshop.org/outreach.html
DONATE TO INFOSHOP
Unlike many big progressive political websites, Infoshop.org does not receive any money from foundations or grants. While our financial needs are modest, anything you can contribute will help this project thrive.
See our summer fundraising appeal:
http://www.infoshop.org/feed_infoshop.html
Donate via PayPal
Donate via snail mail:
Chuck Munson (make check payable to this name)
Practical Anarchy
PO Box 76930
Washington, DC 20013
MANY THANKS go out to those of you who have generously supported this project with your donations and words of support.
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Contact the Infoshop.org webmaster at: chuck@tao.ca
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Anti-copyright 2002
Infoshop.org
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