Category: the grassroots

A shipment of this nicely illustrated full-color map, handbook and directory arrived at our IMC this week. It is unbelievably chock full of very useful information like what to do if arrested, lists of cheap eats and public toilets, hints for getting around, an event calendar, and much more. A lot of care and organization…

Today the Champaign-Urbana paper The News-Gazette covered this coming Friday’s National Summit for Community Wireless Networks. I’m glad one of the most exciting elements for me made it into the article: The network also could be used as a community “intranet” for a variety of localized purposes, from broadcasting school plays and communications among emergency…

Sascha Meinrath, from the Champaign-Urbana Community Wireless Network, and Ben Scott, of Free Press, will be our guests to talk about the upcoming 2004 National Summit on Community Wireless Networks, being held here in Champaign-Urbana on Aug. 20-22. We’ll discuss what the goals of the conference are, who will be there, and what the role…

Political journalist Kirsten Anderberg rounded up a small array of independent media makers for some Q & A on what motivates them, and what they think can be done to improve the state of independent and alternative media. My pal Aj’s zine gets mad props from one of the interviewees: 1. What are your three…

Writer and blogger Paul Schmelzer has posted a “writer’s cut” of a piece he’s written for the upcoming issue of Adbusters that gives an overview of the guerrilla technologies that will be used by RNC protesters. Two of the technologies use unlicensed radio to spread information. The more interesting, and disruptive, application is: Flash radiojacking:…

There’s a little bit more information on Radical Reference from the NYC IMC. My partner, Ellen Knutson, is one of the radical librarians fielding questions. She is one of the founding radical librarians at the U-C IMC Library, as is another one of the radical reference librarians, James Jacobs, who has since moved on to…

The New York Sun has a short article on the Radical Reference effort, including short quotes from some of the principals. There’s even a tidbit of information I didn’t know (even though I share a house with one of the radical librarians): But Radical Reference is more than a Web site. During the convention, it…

Organizing against the Republican National Convention in New York City at the end of the month is going full-steam, and from my outsider’s persepctive, the planning seems to be very together. One of the most interesting and innovative efforts is Radical Reference, in which a team of radical librarians around the country will help answer…

I’m really pleased that my local community radio station, WEFT, had decided to run alternative Democratic National Convetion coverage from Pacifica. But what pleases me more is that WEFT’s Programming Committee [PC] decided to add a local call-in show to the mix. Rather than just have listeners call and talk to hosts, Kimberlie Kranich, the…

Congratulations to the Crossroads Infoshop collective in Kansas City for getting their space open, and for a successful opening gala last Friday night. Every community should have at least one infoshop or similar type of community space that serves both as a place to gather and a place to find and disseminate information. I can’t…