From harelb@math.cornell.edu Mon Jul 12 14:06:10 1993 Return-Path: <@CORNELLC.cit.cornell.edu:harelb@math.cornell.edu> Date: Sat, 10 Jul 93 21:35:54 EDT From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai) To: hbar@pencil.cs.missouri.edu Subject: electronic.activism II Topic 72 Electronic Activism: Part II 3 responses harelb Youth and Activism 9:47 pm Nov 25, 1992 (at math.cornell.edu) From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai) Subject: Electronic Activism: Part II For now, in two parts (later, multi-part w/table of contents), and less "final" a draft than _Part I_ (life is busy...) The first "part" of Part II, the first response, covers "power-tools of electronic activism" -- Automatic Archiver and Automatic Poster notably (also more basic things like ftp (file transfer) -- and also has a section with some thoughts about the potential for radical democratization inherent in these tools/technologies. The second part I hope to proofread and post soon -- an updated description of the PSN-EN project (see response #4 to Topic 28 The PACH Project Response 1 of 10 in youth.activism for an earlier version (1990)). --Harel Barzilai Conf? Topic 72 Electronic Activism: Part II Response 1 of 3 harelb Youth and Activism 9:48 pm Nov 25, 1992 (at math.cornell.edu) From: harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai) Subject: Electronic Activism: Part II [Please excuse some remaining ***notes*** to self and indented "maybe for later version of this article" paragraphs] ======================================================= E l e c t r o n i c A c t i v i s m , P a r t I I ======================================================= ================================= B y H a r e l B a r z i l a i ================================= [intro/cover page:] Part (I) of _Electronic Activism_ was a "Guided Tour of the Electronic World" in which we examined key components of this "online world"; the overview of each of these components was followed by an example illustrating how that feature can be used -- and indeed *has* been used -- in activism; hence _Electronic Activism_ We began this "crash course of the electronic Nets" with an overview of electronic mail - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ([possibly \footnote] "E-mail" or just "email"), - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - followed by an example of how email can be used for electronic activism: the El Salvador Project (1990) in which I was involved, which was coordinated online, by using email to seek volunteers nationwide; coordinate strategy and exchange ideas; to draft a Statement to be sent out to all U.S. Senators and to major media by swapping successive drafts by email; fund raising; and collecting online "signatures" online for the Statement from people in some two-dozen states. Since _Electronic Activism: Part (I) was completed, a letter written by none other than Ralph Nader has been circulated online (electronically), via an online account of the Teledemocracy Project, in which Nader solicited electronic "signatures" for a letter to Congress -- as we did in the online El Salvador Project over two years ago; people would email their consent to add their name as a signator -- this time in support of an amendment on cable television legislation which would have helped organize local Cable Consumer Action Groups (CCAGs) to represent the interests of consumers directly before regulatory and legislative bodies as "a way to create countervailing power to some of the large corporate interests that control our information infrastructure." Our survey in Part (I) continued by looking at the world-wide electronic bulletin board system known as the _UseNet_, which we and other activists have been using to make contacts, spreading the word about projects, and generally sharing information by posting announcements to "newsgroups" (what each of the electronic bulletin boards are called) dedicated to relevant topics -- newsgroups like _alt.activism_, _soc.women_, and _talk.environment_, for example. It should be added that the size and rate of growth of the UseNet readership is such that it has increasingly become, in and of itself, a worthwhile vehicle for disseminating information, with the readership of our newsgroup misc.activism.progressive (see below) having become comprable to that of _Z magazine_ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [ and _In These Times_. ??] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Our survey also included electronic mailing lists, describing our Activists Mailing List (AML, founded winter 1990) which, having steadily grown in readership to some hundred "members," was automated and converted into the present-day "ACTIV-L" (spring 1990) by means of the "ListServer" software, automating distribution of messages to all members of the mailing list. ACTIV-L grew to over 1,000 readers (and remains in existence today), prompting us, in turn, to create the UseNet newsgroup misc.activism.progressive (MAP) in the aftermath of the Gulf Crisis (March 1991). This led to an overview of PeaceNet and EcoNet, the networks run by the nonprofit Institute for Global communications (IGC), with whom we at ACTIV-L worked closely during the Crisis, disseminating critical information and analysis which had been bared with near-totalitarian efficiency from the mainstream news media in the wave of Orwellian mass-media hysteria. Finally, we excerpted in some detail samples of email we received as to illustrate dramatically the impact this network of information dissemination made during the Gulf Crisis -- an ad hoc network which went well beyond ACTIV-L and IGC, in which people with access to online information passed it on to many friends and colleagues who were without access for use in speeches, for making pamphlets and newsletters, and other forms of activism. *** *** *** We begin this article by widening the survey initiated in Part (I) with some more information about ListServers as well as other automated devices and ways of accessing remote information (telnet, ftp, online catalogs) and to features for sorting, searching, and other forms of information processing. We will then content ourselves with this broader (though still far >from exhaustive) view, moving to an examination of ways of linking electronic activism with "traditional" activism, including expanding the existing projects described earlier to networking with and to servicing larger, existing, non-electronic activist movements and projects. In other words, while recognizing the importance of continually bringing more activists online, we must simultaneously to *bring the Nets* to more people -- student, community, and labor activists in particular -- who do not yet have access to them. In this spirit, we describe in the second half of this article a project to create a network of Progressive Student Newspapers (PSNs) linked to the electronic networks through MAP and IGC. ================= M A P T o d a y ================= An update on the status of misc.activism.progressive (MAP) must begin with an update on the UseNet. It was mentioned in Part (I) that the UseNet had some "two million [readers] world-wide, with some 10 million email accounts having access or potential access" to the UseNet newsgroups. In a subsection entitled "Explosive Growth," we noted that the UseNet's readership growth is estimated to be growing at a rate of roughly doubling in size every year -- with comparable growth rates in volume of the information posted. This estimate -- based on electronic automated "Nielson ratings" which are conducted on a regular basis on the UseNet, and on statistical inference based on these data -- turned out to be remarkably accurate, with a growth from 2 to some 2.5 million readers in the three month period since Part (I) was completed (April 92) and late summer 1992, just as the "growth model" would have predicted. [Note: they have since "revised" their "total readership" estimates] As MAP was able to grow from 0.6% to 0.8% of the UseNet readership period during this period, our audience grew from an estimated 12,000 to 19,000 during this period (again based on these electronic "Nielson" type surveying) -- or by almost 2,000 readers per month. We hope to increase these percentages, but our current "audience share" is not at all bad for a read-only newgroup conveying not merely "liberal" but progressive (and some "radical") information and activist resources within the more "mainstream" UseNet community. While "talk.politics.misc" has some five times as many readers, and alt.sex some fifteen times as many, these newsgroups offer a diet consisting (primarily) of hot air, "debates," insults etc, and entertainment, respectively, not crucial information largely supressed in the mainstream new media or the seeds for a movement for progressive action and change so sorely needed in this society -- indeed, this world -- if it is to survive the coming decades in a meaningful sense. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ======================== Automatic File Retrieval ======================== Part (I) described how the _Listserv_ mailing-list maintainence software on which ACTIV-L(*) is based automatically keeps track of who was on the list, accepting "please add me to this list" (or "drop me >from it") type commands, and generally making the distribution of files posted to all list members easier and more efficient. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (*)Along with thousands of other mailing lists, as we saw. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Another standard feature of this software is it's "archiving" facility which maintains a complete record (while computer disk space remains) of all the items ("articles") that have been posted to the mailing list, as well as a Library of files of special interest, hand-picked by the moderator(s) of the list. Both of these -- the records of earlier messages posted to the list and the files in the Library -- are available for *automatic retrieval* from what we might call the Automatic Archiver which the Listerver sets up and administers. By "automatic retrieval" I mean that, just as in the case of joining or leaving the mailing list, the Listerver "understands" certain simple commands (which you email to its address(*). - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [(*)if the mailng list is "board-sail@abcvax.bitnet" this address would probably be "listserv@abcvax.bitnet"] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Thus a one-line email message GET AI VIDEOS ACTIV-L sent by email to: LISTSERV@MIZZOU1.BITNET will "tell" the ListServer it to email you the file "AI VIDEOS" (continaing a listing of some videos avaialbe from Amnesty International which we put into the "library"). Similarly, you can "request" from the listserver by email that it send you all items posted to ACTIV-L with a certain subject (title), or which were posted on a given date. *** *** *** In fact, there are more elaborate "database-searching" facilities which are available. These are described in the file AMLDBASE DOC which Rich Winkel(*) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (*)(mathrich@mizzou1.bitnet andrich@pencil.cs.missouri.edu) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -- ACTIV-L's administrator and my main co-conspirator in the ACTIV-L and MAP projects -- has prepared and which itself is available with the GET command; i.e., by sending LISTSERV@MIZZOU1.BITNET a 1-line email message consisting of: GET AMLDBASE DOC ACTIV-L - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - FOOTNOTE: Similarly, we've created the file ACTIV-L ARCHIVE, which is available with the GET command, and which is a listing of files from the Library, by subject matter, which are available with the GET command (There is also an "INDEX" command which lists all files in the library but which is not organized in a nice format or "by topic" as is ACTIV-L ARCHIVE) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To give a few examples: search warheads missles Will "match" all messages posted to the specified mailing-list ("in activ-l" can be given on an earlier line, or at the end of the line in the example) which contain the string "warheads" in the message body. The Listsever would email you the index-numbers of all files so "matched," allowing you to request that it send you any/all of these files. More complex logical expressions like search table and (chair or stool) but not seat or search table and (chair or (stool and seat)) or search table and not (chair or stool) are also possible, as well as searches which look at the "Subject:" line (which all email messages offer) of the items posted, and/or the date on which is was posted, for example: search (chair or table) in activ-l from 90/12/01 to 25 dec 90 or search * where sender contains harel and subject does not contain peace the last example especially being virtually plain English. *** *** *** Along with more straightforward applications, one novel use of the Automatic Archiver is in what might be called "active footnotes" "Active" meaning you can look them up as soon as you encounter them in the article you are reading online. For example, by the time we had Noam Chomsky's article _The Victors, Part II_ from Z magazine, we already had online an Amnesty International report about the killing of street-children in Brazil that Chomsky refers to in the article, as well as the _Excelsior_ article with the estimate of 100,000 children dying each year from air pollution in Mexico City. So in our online version of _The Victors: II_ there are side-notes next to these points in the text giving brief instructions to readers on how to have the Automatic Archiver email them these documents to which Chomsky refers. ===================== Remote File Retrieval ===================== FTP stands for "File Transfer Protocol" which enables different machines (different computers(*) running different "operating - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (*) Generally, mini-computers or workstations. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - systems") to communicate effectively with each other for the purpose of copying or transferring data files between them, by means of some network. "Ftp" is also the name of a standard Unix utility or user-level program ("File Transfer Program") which implements this protocol. Users on a given machine who have access (e.g. an account or an appropriate generic password) on a foreign machine can use "ftp" to access files on the remote machine. In this way, entire "libraries" of data can be stored and made available to users elsewhere, avoiding the need for the possibly considerable disk space ("memory") required were each user to keep their own private copies of these files. FTP also allows for transferring files *to* a remote machine. Many host machines allow limited "anonymous ftp" access -- meaning that a certain selection of the files and directories on that machine are available for viewing and copying by anyone logging-in by ftp who gives "anonymous" or "guest" as the user name. For example, the Free Software Foundation offers the latest versions of software being developed, its documentation, and so forth, by anonymous ftp from the host prep.ai.mit.edu -- one uses "ftp prep.ai.mit.edu" for anonymous ftp access(*) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (*)Footnote on FSF here? Didn't I promise in footnote in Part (I) a full/fuller overview of FSF? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The array of software, games, articles, and other data stored around the world at sites allowing for anonymous FTP is truly vast, and programs now exist (one being "archie") which allow you to search for such "informational freebies" by topic -- e.g. we might ask for a list of anonymous ftp hosts with files on "linguistics", or databases with particular types of medical information. At ACTIV-L and MAP we've made files available by anonymous ftp from pencil.cs.missouri.edu(*) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (*) Use "cd" to "change directory: "cd LOOKEE_HERE/map" - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - which are of temporary usefulness, for example, and hence not worth having stored by the Automatic Archiver. There exist also such commands as "telnet" and "rlogin" (remote login) which allow one to actually log-in to a remote machine as a user, with full user privileges; for example, if you have a second account on a machine on another continent, or are travelling to another country, this is how you would be able to log in to your account, read your email, and do whatever else you normally do when at home. Other information available online includes Online Public Access Catalogs (OPACs) which provide information for bibliographic research as well as opportunities to try various system software packages prior to purchase. =================================== Data Searching and Databases on IGC =================================== IGC(*) offers several databases online, including "UN NPPA," a U.N. List of National Parks and Protected Areas; the "Harbinger File," A directory of citizen groups, government agencies and environmental education programs concerned with California environmental issues, and "EPA," which contains bibliographis citations compiled by the U.s. Environmental Protection Agency library Network. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (*) IGC is the Institue for Global Communications, a nonprofit project of the Tides Foundation. IGC runs PeaceNet and EcoNet; see Part (I) of Electronic Activism for more information - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - As mentioned in Part (I) of this article, IGC offers an email-to-fax link which allows users to send faxes(*) through email. IGC's "interACT" is an interface with a database of fax numbers which allows users to find the fax numbers of the organizations they are interested while they are online; they can then go directly to using the email-to-fax link to send off their (text) fax message. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - (*) Rather cheaply; for just 30 cents for the first page and 23 cents per subsequent page - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - IGC also offers search-capabilities through a given conference (IGC's term for a newsgroup) by subject or by author, as well as an IGC-wide searching feature, "confscan" which allows for searching for a keyword or keywords in the subject of any article posted to any IGC conference. New capabilities are constantly being added/planned, and may already have been implemented by the time you read this article. ================================================= The Future: Democracy through Information-Access? ================================================= I would like to make some remarks now about the potential impact on the individual which these technologies offer. First, I haven't mentioned the immense power available in terms of searching and informational access through one's single computer account. On a unix system-based account such as the one I use and which is available to many college/graduate students these days, one can not only collect a huge amount of information -- close to 10 megabytes(*) in my case - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Footnote from Part (I) to quantize "megabyte"] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - which I've colleged over just the past few years of electronic activism, resource/informational files and articles which I've picked up by means of the UseNet, or through IGC, or which I or others have typed in -- but, with a hierarchically arranged directory of one's personal files and a powerful editor like the Free Software Foundation's GNU Emacs, one can search through hundreds or thousands of files to find the file you are looking for, and to find within the (possibly quite huge) file, the section(s) you are looking for, very, very quickly. For example, suppose I would like to include some data in support of a national health care system in what I am writing or posting, and remember that I have a chart in one of my files showing how the U.S. private health "system" is far less efficient than existing single-payer national health systems. In under 20 seconds, I just entered the "lib" directory and then the "domestic" subdirectory (with emacs speeding this up by my only having to type the first few letters of both directory- and file names, enough to identify them uniquely), which automatically ran emacs' "dired" or DIRectory-EDitor on the directory "domestic" and I then searched for file names I indicated -- the ones containing "health"; found the right file and started looking at it, as which point I remembered that the word to search for in the vicinity of the desired chart was "overhead" -- and found that chart and copied it into a special emacs "buffer" and am hereby "pasting" it below: ============================================================ Percentage of premiums consumed by overhead: Private Insurance Companies: 12% (overhead & profits) Public payers (e.g. Medicare, Medicaid): 3% Canadian provincial insurance plans: under 1% ============================================================ Similarly I save much time in the frequent "debates" on the UseNet where the myths perpetuated by the consumers of the mainstream lies about Central America and Nicaragua in particular can be dispensed with very quickly thanks to the library of files I've collected on these matters. So on the matter of human rights I can similarly go to the "lib" and then to "nica" directories, search for the file with "contra" in it, and then search within that file for "americas" and find, and "copy," within some twenty seconds(*) again: - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [(*)in the case of files and directories I am less familiar with, it may take twice or three times this amount of time] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "The contras have ROUTINELY attacked civilian populations. Their forces kidnap, torture, and murder health workers, teachers, and other government employees." -- Americas Watch ...and various references if needed. Other examples could be provided, but for the reader willing to exercise their imagination about the possibilities, perhaps these two suffice. *** *** *** What does this have to do with demoracy? With all the talk of the "Information Revolution" and "Informational Overload" it is perhaps not immediately obvious that, relative the technology already in existance (let alone the very likely improvements in the near future), and, more to the point, as far as *meaningful* information relevant to people living in a "democracy," we are living in an information-starved world where citizens' access to information they can make sense of and use and which is relevant to choices in a participatory democracy is extremely poor, but which, at least technologically, could easily be vastly improved, despite the limited resources available to dissidents/activists. When the Administration makes some claim about human rights on TV, why shouldn't we be able to access online Amensty International's and Human Rights Watch's rerports, and summaries of these reports, quickly getting a comparison of the human rights situation in U.S.-backed El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, for example, next to the far better situation in Cuba let alone Nicaragua under the Sandinistas? Why should we not be able to search for the reports of independent international development organizations like Oxfam and find, with some "smart" features and advanced searching, what they have to say about the United States' policies towards the region and their effects on the people who live there? Why should we not be able to search for sources of data like infant mortality, literacy, etc, and, chosing a few sources, like the World Bank and the Childrens Defense Fund, quickly look up in tabulated format their figures on these indicators, for this year, as well as 5 and 10 years ago, for different countries? When we passively wasch TV or read the New York Times, *they* decide which figures to give; which not to give, which comparisons to make or not to make; whether to show us "trends" of the last anomalous period or in-context information, and so on. Much of this information and the tools needed to access it are already present in the "online worlds" -- and can be made available to millions of Americans; via a network of progressive media well-linked to the electronic nets, now; on the individual citizen level, later. Why should we not be able to use advanced searching and the "artificial intelligence" at the level it exists today to help us, upon hearing that Presidents Reagan and Gorbachev have signed a "historic" agreements to cut nuclear weapons, to find reports and data online on what these cuts actually are, what they will mean, that missiles from which warheads are removed will not be destroyed, and so on? Why not for that matter a search for Administration lies and disinformation about arms, or on past EPA lies and errors about pesticides? And what other countries are saying about our glorious "liberation" of Granada or Panama as it happens? In other words, technology exists not only to help the smart activist find answers to their questions which so well shatter the myths dished out daily by the "Nooz" media, but also to help activists -- and other concerned, if less "radicalized" citizens -- find the right *questions*. All of these are, essentially, quite feasible with today's technology, and would make possible a citizenry informed to a degree unheard of today, not because they would store ten times more information in their heads, but because relevant information could be found and accessed very, very quickly and easily. In fact, they would store ten times -- or a hundred times -- more *relevant* information in their heads, i.e., as opposed to Madonna's latest fashions and sports statistics. *** *** *** Of course, as radicals/progressives, and activists outside the mainstream in general realize, the key underlying problem is that the passive viewers of TV Nooz do not *bother* to think critically and to *question* whether they are hearing lies, or distortions or partial, biased information, or even what questions to ask (e.g. to ask about infant mortality and hunger and other indicators rather than just the GNP of the country how the Dow Jones is doing, or to ask for working conditions and benefits, not just the unemployment rates). The public education necessary for overcoming this huge and fundamental obstruction to meaningful democracy in the United States (and elsewhere), not to speak of the democratization of the media into popularly controled organs, not the tools of the corporate elite, are extremely difficult but important and necessary long-term tasks; not just necessary, but realizable, at least in part, using tools including the Electronic Activism "pushed" in this article because it is such an unknown, under-used, and yet powerful and "equalizing" tool given the vast imblances in money/power dissidents facing elite interests must constantly deal with. As we struggle in this task, the technology is available which could make our own activism -- for those of us who *are* "demoractically aware" far more powerful and informed. We need to develop the technology, and warehouses of information, which are today realizeable and which could make significant contributions to activist struggles if these tools are put into the hands of activists and other members of the public as they become ready and willing to use them. I do not wish to appear to focus on pure, dry information; it is quality and accessibility and manageability of information which *inform* meaninful inter-personal, inter-organizational, and natinoal/international communication, dialogue, and *organizing* on a scale and with speed and immediacy not previously available to "the masses." - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [\footnote: ] While secondary, speed of access to information in and of its own is not to be underestimated, due to the frequent need to counter State lies and propaganda (e.g. Reagan decrying the vicious nature of the Soviet's shooting what they "knew" was a civilian aircraft after *Reagan* had known, had been briefed, that it was a mistake, a misidentification) very quickly after it occurs rather than as a little-noted "correction" after the lies have seeped into public consciousness. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ======================== MAP Today: What We Offer ======================== Aside from forwarding items from {\it PeaceNet} and {\it EcoNet} (with whom we have been working closely) to the {\it UseNet}, misc.activism.progressive ({\bf MAP})'s information ``feed'' includes (occasional) items from other {\it UseNet} groups, {\it BITNET} mailing lists, and reader contributions. Also included are Resource Files which our Automatic Poster posts, for example, ``Today's Quote'' once per day; files listing government/media addresses/telephone/fax numbers; files listing alternative books; videos; publications; catalogs; audio-tapes; speakers; and more). One other main component of {\bf MAP} is articles from alternative publications. We have permission to post articles from {\it Z magazine} and from {\it In These Times} (with credit / subscription info). We also receive all {\it Lies of Our Times} and {\it Z} articles by Noam Chomsky on disk from a contact and have created \lit*chomsky.views* on {\it PeaceNet} (see Topic 1 of this conference for a summary of our work with {\it PeaceNet}). And we have recently started an email dialogue with The Nation which just came online at PeaceNet, and hope to have similar policies with them. The entire American Friends Service Committee's (AFSC) _Peace Education Resource Catalog_, the Amnesty International Catalog, and David Barsamian's _Aleternative Radio_ catalog of audio tapes have been completely "scanned" in [\footnote: Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software together with digital scanners allow text to be entered into the computer by allowing the pages to be read by a photocopy machine-like device] =============================== MAP Today: The Automatic Poster =============================== One of the electronic "engines" behind MAP is the Automatic Poster, which is an automated feature allowing for the posting by the computer -- on a pre-given date and time, or on a regular basis -- say, every first Tuesday of the month -- of pre-specified files. We have some 50 files -- mainly the "resource files" mentioned earlier, plus "public service announcements" for example about Credit Unions and Socially Conscious Inverment Funds, Deep Dish TV, and others -- which are posted on a regular basis in a 3-month cycle. The "Automatic Poster" is based on a standard unix utility ("command") which we have coupled with the Free Software Foundation's powerful GNU Emacs editor -- which is really not merely an "editor" but an entire environment from which you can edit files(*), - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [(*)footnote: (including complex searches and substitutions; in fact, running any unix command on any part of the file, do spell-checking, cutting and pasting by regions or by columns, and much more) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - read and send mail, read and post to newsgroups, edit entire directories, and much more, all customizable and in fact programmable, >from re-defining the keyboard for commands and writing macros, to more elaborate programming in "elisp" the emacs "dialect" of the Lisp programming language. In fact, one can do all of the above *simulatenously*, the different features, Emacs *modes*, in different "buffers" -- between which you can instantly switch. The buffers are like multiple screens, one behind the other; or, if you have a window system, there are vertions of emacs with real "windows" interface capabilities. "GNU Emacs" is a project of the Free Software Foundation whose radical philosophy and achievements deserve an article of their own -- see side-bar. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Well, this needs to be written up. Use online version of BYTE magazine interview with FSF founder Richard M Stallman (including comments amounting to a non-"radical" sounding but serious critique of Capitalism) and FSF's newsletter] [Quotes re "easily rebutted" from GNU Manifesto; Remarks in BYTE re free pens, *public* meaning *more* than "free" e.g. parks -- "free" can be taken away by someone and not be something society can permanently enjoy, etc remarks] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ____ Love's posts to Prog-Pubs about public access to publically-financed gov't databases (WINDO etc) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ****************************************************************** "see side-bar" above (FSF) *mark* for future ref. ****************************************************************** [when excerpts are posted, we include a note as to how to obtain the entire (electronic copy of) catalog thanks to the Automatic Archiver (and also how to get the paper copy)] ****************************************************************** Using Emacs, we are able to write instruction sets of "macros" to be executed -- by emacs, which is run by the unix machine at the specified date and time, whether or not someone is logged in at the terminal -- and to perform various manipulations on files before posting them. The point being that these manipulations are done automatically, so no people-hours are spent doing the concomitant editing, cutting-and-pasting, etc, that are built into the macros. For example, we have a large file of quotes; each day, the Automatic Poster runs a macro which: finds the "mark", an electronic "arrow" which points to the quote to be used on that day; posts that particular quote as "Today's Quote" to MAP and ACTIV-L; and advances the "mark" and saves the file -- moving the "mark" to the top of the file if necessary, i.e. if reaching the end of the file, so as to "cycle" back to the beginning. So without any human time spent, we have "Today's Quote" posted every day, with changing quotes posted on a rotating basis, and at any time we can edit the big quotes file to add or delete quotes or to re-order them. Another application of this type of macro is what we do with New Liberation News Service packets which we receive by email from NLNS's PeaceNet account (nlns@igc.org; usually, Phillip Zerbo). These are large packets that come out monthly and contain several dozen articles >from the alternative student press which NLNS distributes to its member Progressive Student Newspapers (PSNs), who can run any/all of the articles. Were we to post the entire huge file at once, each month when it came out, people away from their account for several days would miss the entire packet because UseNet articles have a set period of time before "expiring" (the information flow on the UseNet is too huge for any machine to store more than the last few weeks -- on some machines, days -- of articles). More to the point, however, is that given the tremendous informational traffic on the UseNet, it is very tempting for most readers to skip multi-hundred- or thousand-line "articles" that are posted -- so we avoid gigantic posts when possible. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [\footnote: [Also people trying to "download" from the UseNet to their PC sometimes find this difficult if the file is too large]. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - The "standard" alternative to posting the huge batch of NLNS articles all together as one post, one "article" on MAP, would be to have some person, each day, sort through the entire file and post the next story, typing in the relevant "Subject:" line and "header" about who NLNS is, and so on, starting on the day we receive the NLNS packet and until all the stories in the given packet are posted. This would mean an average of an additional 15 minutes per day given all the peripheral manipulations necessary. Given that as wonderful as they are the NLNS packets are only a very small fraction of what MAP "broadcasts" and that there are only a handful of us involved, it is easy to see how useful technology is which automates this type of work, hence allowing very few people to do the work of many electronic activists (who in turn can do the work of many more still non-electronic activists, in many cases.) So what we do instead, as in the case of "Today's Quote," is that our Automatic Poster (using another emacs lisp macro), finds the "mark" for the article to be posted that day, "remembers" that and also the article's title, and then posts *that* particular story, with that story's title appearing as the UseNet article "Subject:" line, to MAP and to ACTIV-L, also inserting at the top a "header" about NLNS and a "trailer" about how to retrieve that month's *entire* NLNS packet, for those intersted in and ready for the entire NLNS batch at once, from the Automated Archiver. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [possibly add in a version for Z: If Z went online, a similar procedure could be used on Z's "Zaps" section to post one item at a time -- or, with a more sophisticated macro, to post Events from Zaps, say, twice; one month before the date of the event and one week before, for example. All of this could be done on a daily basis with not a finger raised by anyone, once the macros are written and set in place, and once that month's issue of Z is uploaded. The examples with NLNS and Zaps are relatively simplistic -- although as far a providing resources to thousnds and saving dozens of activist-hours, they are extremely useful -- and even the macro using dates gives only a glimpse of what could be accomplished; essentially, anything you could explain in a coherent, logical fashion, what to do, when, and to what, and what types of parameters (e.g. dates, keywords, etc) to consider -- could be made automatic. The sheer number of hours which could potentially be saved for activists -- or, saying the same thing, the vast expansion of activism in general, and information sharing and distribution in particular, which could take place with a fixed quantity of time spent, we are now just beginning to appreciate] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - We also have a macro for posting once per week -- each Friday -- a collection of alternative videos under the subject "Friday Night Videos" and each Tuesday the Automatic Poster uses an emacs macro to post a section of David Barsamian's _Alternative Radio_ catalog, under our regular Tuesday feature, "Alternative Radio Presents: ..." Still in the works: a similar mechanism for posting, each Wednesday, say, a selection of books; for example, a section of the South End Press catalog, with whose help (we hope), we could scan in the entire catalog. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - [Draft remarks for Z version, "how people can help/get involved": However, to push forward these ideas, we need help; in particular, technically proficient volunteers. The emacs lisp macros described I wrote myself, although I have neither the expertise, nor the time away from overall management of MAP and related project, to write any but relatively simple macros, nor on a regular basis. In fact, I don't even know the programming language lisp let alone "elisp"; the lisp macros are "translations" into lisp from simpler "keyboard macros" -- fortunately, we didn't have to ask a lisp programmer to do the translation since we obtained an *emacs program* which does this for us. More elaborate and more efficient schemes, however, will require more expertise, and a greater number of people involved.] - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ################################################################## -- Hit or for more (96% read) -- Conf? [Continued] Topic 72 Electronic Activism: Part II Response 1 of 3 ################################################################## ======================= * * * M I S C * * * ======================= [for possible inclusion later] ****************************************************************** FUTURE: Graphics (e.g. M. Wuerker cartoons, diff't fonts, etc, would be the norm); audio transmissions (e.g. tape of Noam Chomsky by instantaneous email to tens of thousands of people); video transmissions (e.g. camcorder in East Timor...dir.ly to activissts and the public); NeXT's 256 Mega-byte disks to hold the huge info amts. ****************************************************************** Other information sources include a large and still growing catalog of newsletters, newswires, and electronic magazines from PeaceNet and EcoNet. There is now a PeaceNet conference "propaganda.review" where all the old copies have been uploaded Idea for _Nation_ and _Z_ to follow(?). and new issues appear there. IGC's two-dimensional setup of newsgroups allows the articles from a given issue to be posted as "responses" to the Topic which contains the given issue. For each such posted issue, there is a following Topic for feedback and discussion among IGC readers. Conf? Topic 72 Electronic Activism: Part II Response 2 of 3 harelb Youth and Activism 3:44 pm Mar 23, 1993 To: harelb@math.cornell.edu Subject: part 2? From: joost@aps.hacktic.nl (Joost Flint) Date: Mon, 22 Mar 93 15:08:56 GMT Organization: Activist Press Service, Amsterdam dear harel I read your article on 'electronic activism'. Found it very interesting. I will translate parts of it into dutch (guess that's ok with you?) for users and future users of our local APS bulletin board system. APS (activist press service) has Internet access and we run waffle since a short time so informing (potential) users about networking becomes more important. I wondered what happend to part two of your article? Was it ever transmitted through misc.activism.progressive? If so something must have gone wrong here, since it is not available on our bbs here. Could you send part two to my electronic mailbox? Thanks in advance: joost flint amsterdam joost@aps.hacktic.nl Conf? Topic 72 Electronic Activism: Part II Response 3 of 3 harelb Youth and Activism 3:48 pm Mar 23, 1993 To: joost@aps.hacktic.nl In-reply-to: Joost Flint's message of Mon, 22 Mar 93 15:08:56 GMT Subject: addendum to _EA (II)_ see esply last section (lines starting "+") --text follows this line-- ################################################################## From: Harel Barzilai Subject: Reintroduction of Participants ################################################################## [In hind-sight, the words "I know this is long. Bear with me; this is my big "presentation" -- or the closest thing to such that I'm likely to have a change of making for the time being" which appear below should appear here at the top --HB] [...] The next phase of "The Project" as I see it, after ACTIV-L and misc.activism.progressive, is inelegantly named the PSN-EN or Progressive Student Newspaper Electronic Network. It is described along with _Electronic Activism: Part II_ (and *in* _EA: Part II_) in the following excerpts. I will then remark on how I would hope IGC might get involved in this. I know this is long. Bear with me; this is my big "presentation" -- or the closest thing to such that I'm likely to have a change of making for the time being. * As I mentioned, the first part of \underbar{Electronic Activism: Part * II} concerns some ``power tools'' of electronic activism -- automatic * posting and automatic archiving especially -- as well as more basic * things like ftp (file transfer). The later part is an overview of what * I see the next logical step in the progression of electronic activist * projects which have led to misc.activism.progressive. This is the idea * of linking progressive student newspapers (PSNs) to our newsgroup * (misc.activism.progressive, or MAP), PeaceNet, and other rich * (electronic) sources of alternative information; there is no reason why * we cannot have a network of PSNs linked to our online networks and thus * bring crucial, otherwise suppressed information and analysis to * literally millions of students. to give more important detail: * Briefly, the idea is to bring the tremendous wealth of information and * resources which MAP provides (which really needs to be seen * first-hand) to potentially millions of student readers of PSNs by * linking a PSN network (with technically proficient staff, etc) with * {\bf MAP} (and {\it PeaceNet} et al). The potential consequences of * providing a way to circumvent the corporate media's information * blockade, reaching literally millions, cannot be overemphasized. * * I've been in touch --- by email (electronic mail), naturally --- with * the New Liberation News Service. The PSN-EN is a big project. We will * need support, including but not limited to financial support [...] * * And Technology gives us the potential to be on equal footing where * previously only Money would have accomplished that. The Monetary * advantages given by the Madison Center et al to reactionary campus * publications, described in the recent {\it Z} article on ``PC'' (April * 1992, page 58) can now be matched at least in part with Technology, * ending the current sad state, which on the campuses I've been to has * meant that the reactionary publications come out every week, * full-length, on crisp paper, and are delivered to the entire campus * community; while Left papers, if they exist at all, come out very * irregularly, infrequently, and are often mere newsletters. There is no * reason why can cannot have a thriving network of PSNs coming out * regularly and providing millions of campus readers with the * information and analysis which would literally transform the polical * climate and consciousness on campuses throughout the United States. * [...] * I have already written to FAIR and received a note in April from * their new organizing director saying ``we think your project is * very exciting'' and that while she is new, and now just ``building * infrastructure,'' that ``when I have a more concrete, organized * activism network I would love to talk to you further about * PSN-EN'' ################################################################## ===================================== I G C / P e a c e N e t R o l e ===================================== SUMMARY: (1) Helping MAP and NLNS (and Alex B and his project??) joinly set up "PENS" -- Progressive Electronic News Service via an IGC conference (plural, later on). (2)Later, help us (Alex B's new list seems particularly appropriate) have the roundtable discussions necessary to sort out the desktop pulishing questions necessary to make my "picture this" dream come true, minus the graphics. (3)Above, with graphics. IGC would host a series of conferences containing photographs (from third world, showing poverty; showing effects of U.S. violence; I'm thinking like Impact Visuals type of material not to be found in mainstream), cartoons (Matt Wuerker, Beekman, etc), etc. Advanced software would allow people to view these as part of the "newsreader" program. Coupled with (2), link up with desktop publishing. See "picture this" below. [Please bear with these being quoted from a letter to NLNS's Phillip Zerbo. I've spend countless dozen hours writing up these pieces and putting related things together --HB] + Let me close by reviving one of my main PACH/PSN Project suggestions + (outside of my _Electronic Activism_ article published and co-writing + (??) part II) -- what do you think of setting up an IGC conference + (say the word, co-draft its description with me, and I'll give the IGC + folks and they'll most likely be able to create it very soon; almost + instantly for my zmagazine and justice.econ, once they streamlined + their conf-creation proceedure) + + ..IGC conf. which would hold the "top stories" -- mainly from MAP + (which is "best of IGC" (among our other non-IGC posts) but *still* + too much volume) but possibly from other sources, and which would look + roughly like this: + + Topic 101: Oct 92 Top *Eco* Stories 5 responses + Topic 102: Oct 92 Top Women/Minorities 5 responses + Topic 103: Oct 92 Top Peace/Disarm stories 5 responses + + etc, + + we make up a decent list of "categories" and frequency (here, + "monthly"; bi-weekly also possible) and put the top stories from MAP + (the co-moderator who posted them would be responsible) to this conf + as "responses" under that category. + + This would (A)help NLNS *now* (B)help PSNs getting online *now and + later* allowing them a quick place to find stories from which to + choose which to publish (also a separation of NEWS, RESOURCES, + ANALYSIS, by that type of category, also possible). + + My "dream" goes as follows: one or several such conferences organized + by TOPIC (101, 102, 103) and possibly TYPE (news, resource, + analys,etc), and one or several confs (in 1994 or whatever) with + graphics. + + ****************************************************************** + Picture this [pun intended?]: + ****************************************************************** + + PSN staff log in; [recall PSN means Progressive Student Newspaper --HB] + scan the articles confs; + scan the graphics (charts, cartoons, photos, etc) confs; + use online software to plan out which stories + and graphics to use, in which combos, the + layout, etc; + Press button (1); on the screen is displayed what the final + newspaper would look like per their choice; + Make any corrections to this initial choice based on this viewing + (have you ever used "texsun"/"dvipage" to pre-view a .dvi + file? like my article, produce by TeX? lets you see pretty + well what the laser-printed output would look like ahead of + time) + [repeat if necessary] + Press button (2) to have the planned out paper actually go out and get + printed on the laser/jet writer. ################################################################## Ok, that's a mouthful, The PSN-EN project. A big project (you can print this out and put "Proposal" on it :-) A big project which could have huge positive effects if we realize the "reaching potentially millions of students with vital, otherwise suppressed (in the mainstream) information..." I spoke of. What do you think? Harel Barzilai Co-founder, Co-moderator, misc.activism.progressive (MAP) & ACTIV-L Facilitator, justice.econ, zmagazine, chomsky.views [P.S.: See also my recent posts (forwarding email) to youth.activism regarding affordibility problems I hope IGC can address.]