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| Webzine 2000 |
Posted to <http://www.zinecities.com> on may 12 00
While most of America ponders where the recent roller-coaster ride the market is taken their tech stocks, a small eclectic group gathers in a San Francisco cafe. Their topic centers on another aspect of technology, Forget the relationship between the Internet and "The New Economy," this self-proclaimed group of pundits say, what's more important is the interaction of the Internet and culture. The idea may sound obvious, but most news outlets have focused on the money involved with online ventures, delegating the topic of technology and culture to an almost nonexistent state. So, this group tosees around terms like webzines and independent content around while the ultimate question "What does this all mean for our culture and evolving technology?" hangs in the air.
What are webzines you ask? Well, while the specifics vary from person to person the consensus reads something like this: Webzines are websites published by one or more people with the goal of sharing a set prospective and/or interest with others. To help flush out and dispense this and additional sorts of knowledge the groups' current agenda while meeting in this physical space is to plan their third annual event, Webzine2000. The idea is to gather as many people as possible for one day-long affair this summer, where the play of the Internet and society can be discuss and celebrated, whit the chief focus being on webzines. Such a focus is do to the feeling that the Internet is the great equalizer, allowing individuals and groups equal time and space among corporate entities. Another aspect of the event, known as Zinecities, is set to help remove the mystic sound of web publishing and independent content by trying to help pass on the tools and tool sets to all of those who wish to know how to publish online. The wish, after all, is to see a growing part of our culture become individuals who are not only, for lack of a better term, consumers of information, but are also their own producers. As contributing member Ryan Junell of Texas Monkey put it "What we need as a culture is to get together and share what we know." Events, like Webzine2000 then, are designed to simply to bring together members of our society for an introduction and exploration of this new two-way information medium.
This group is more than just putting together an event. In the virtual world, where physical distance doesn't matter, there are hundreds of "Zinesters" from across the globe discussing on a daily basis all types of interaction of the Internet and society. For example, their discussions of recent have included passing comments of "The Dot-Com-Guy" phenomena to in-depth debates on the ture meaning og webzines and the goals of self-publishing. "[Most] of them got into Net publishing not for the money" wrote Joanna Glasner in an article for Wired News, but because, as she quoted Steve Bishop of Terrascape.com, "[the web] is a place where you could express yourself and explore." Joyce Slaton seemed to concur while writing for SF Gate, "the point is to vent. The point is to express. The point is to piss people off, or to make them listen, or to make them think, ot to make them laugh."
Of course how we examine, analyze and critique all of this disseminating information is just as important as the fact that all of this nformation itself is entering into our culture. One aspect of the struggle to place value can be found in how the Zinesters relate their sites to each other. Since for most self-publishers "The money is not the point," as Joyce Slayton noted, the greatest insult can be that of "selling-out." But, just because a webzine is able to make money from it's content doesn't necessarily negate what it has to say, as the sellout label implies. Thus, the zinesters group is always evolving it's own definition in order to be proactive in trying not to fall into that unconscious desire to define by using general, stereotypical labels. Which brings us unto the other major focus of the group. How do we, as people rare and relate to all of this information? While mottos sich as "The truth shall set you free" and "Information is power" sound masterful, how exactly do individuals accustomed to getting information already rated and edited for their consumption not only learn how to publish their own perspective, but also learn how to process all the views they can now access? Do we really need to know that Tom's cate dies last Saturday night? We might find it interesting depending on how Tom himself related to the event and what he published. Of course this might be valued lower then say, the full text of President Clinton's last State of the Union address, but you get the point.
The facts would suggest then that just about every aspect of our would has a virtual online equivalent, While corporations and governments may make the world go round with their money, culture and society are not limited to only those facts. That groups like zinesters exist signifies that the Internet and its related technologies are seen more then Get-Rich-Quick vehicles for techno-elite groups such as VC firms. That they have taken it upon themselves to help enrich and comment on the interaction of technology and our culture would seem to note that we haven't numbed our spirit to our tools or our economy.
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The isolation of every human soul and the
necessity of self-dependence must give each
individual the right, to choose his own
surroundings. The strongest reason for giving
woman all the opportunities for higher
education, for the full development of her
faculties, forces of mind and body; for giving
her the most enlarged freedom of thought and
action; a complete emancipation from all forms
of bondage, of custom, dependence,
superstition; from all the crippling influences of
fear, is the solitude and personal responsibility
of her own individual life. The strongest reason
why we ask for woman a voice in the
government under which she lives; in the
religion she is asked to believe; equality in
social life, where she is the chief factor; a place
in the trades and professions, where she may
earn her bread, is because of her birthright to
self-sovereignty; because, as an individual, she
must rely on herself. No matter how much
women prefer to lean, to be protected and
supported, nor how much men desire to have
them do so, they must make the voyage of life
alone, and for safety in an emergency they
must know something of the laws of navigation.
To guide our own craft, we must be captain,
pilot, engineer; with chart and compass to
stand at the wheel; to match the wind and
waves and know when to take in the sail, and to
read the signs in the firmament over all. It
matters not whether the solitary voyager is
man or woman. Nature having endowed them
equally, leaves them to their own skill and
judgment in the hour of danger, and, if not
equal to the occasion, alike they perish. To
appreciate the importance of fitting every
human soul for independent action, think for a
moment of the immeasurable solitude of self.
From: Solitude of Self, Elizabeth Cady Stanton
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