Re: <nettime> Harv Stanic: ASCII: Amsterdam Subversive Code for Information Interchange.

["Harv S." <harv@subsignal.org>]

> >    The conclusion was, in our case, that to do cool stuff one doesn't
> >    really need permanent space. The result of which would be creation
> >    of hierarchies within  the collective and a danger  of becoming an
> >    institution.    

>  in contrast we here in Vienna had a distinct need for such physical
>  locations, so we founded the http://metalab.at in April 2006 and in the
>  very last few years one could spot a clear trend for emerging hacker-
>  spaces and the growing exchange between their participants.     

> Check out http://hackerspaces.org    

Hallo Peter, James,

Text about ASCII was written for the book on "hackerspaces". 
..............................................................
..............................................................

Hidden history of such places and maybe some unknown facts...

It all depends on whether you want to create permanent, temporary or
institutionalized place and why. ASCII was envisaged to be temporary and
on the move due to specific Amsterdam's circumstances. 

Around 1999 in Vienna was ASCII's offspring lo-res.org that did really
cool stuff teaching Linux and promoting F/OSS, doing courses on security
and administration and all this without any public or external
funding...in Graz mur.at did the similar things...Lotec was in
Berlin..Lowtech in Sheffield...Autistici in Italy, so many to mention.

If one wants to have some insight in the history on
"hacker-internetworkplaces-meetspaces-cafes" there were also conferences:

http://squat.net/pnp/index.html

..just to put it in a context of time - it was all happening during late
90's and early 2000.

"Internetworkplaces" are really important and imho. i would like to see
them in every city and community as a normality of modern urban
landscape, being open to everybody and not as a hype or a trend which is
happening at the moment.

It is all about the idea and people that had some reason to
make and create such places. 

So many different ways and varieties of exsistance...

James pointed that really good out:

> So my question to ASCII is this: How do you maintain a sense of 
> community and keep the network together (and feeling, instinctively, 
> together) without a physical space? And how do you recruit new people to 
> your community?  

That is now the big question. How to find the way to exist as a group
formed around an idea, that has been implemented and realized, without
actual physical space? 

ASCII existed as an "internetworkspace" in a form of an open cafe with
free internet access and aggregation point of knowledge - under very
specific circumstances and in specific time and it was envisaged as a
temporary place and temporary community. 

But it had an idea that inspired many.

So our second purpose was to agitate and inspire others to do the same or
similar.  

> Maybe you have an answer which we haven't found.  

I guess we are all looking for an answer if such one exists, at all. 

 It always depends on the aim and a purpose. Of course if one wants
to run sustainable and permanent place that is the case.

You already concluded that "No" is  an answer, from your experience.
I agree there and maybe I might go more in some sort of a metaphysical way
there.

I have always seen ASCII as an idea, not as a place. It became place
wherever its members were together, no matter where and it did aggregate
and recruit new people and start new ideas and projects.

Maybe to start thinking from there could lead to some sort of new "free of
physical space" concept?

Maybe worth of further discussions?

grtz

Harv


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