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2 April, 2008
Webzine - the Return
Personal web sites have been called a number of things over the years. Online diaries, homepages, blogs, and webzines. Webzine is an empowering word; it calls on the tradition of amateur print 'zines, combined with the ease and power of internet publishing. And, it suggests collaboration beyond ordinary online onanism.
So, Webzine!
In the late 1990s and early millenium, there was a conference called Webzine: a series populated by old freaks, tree huggers, hippies, anarchists, and jump-ropers. San Francisco gathered online publishing amateurs and enthusiasts.
When the internet stock bubble burst, a lot of the energy drifted out of the web scene in San Francisco. Webzine publishing continued, of course, and expanded exponentially with the avent of easy blogging software.
So now, it's time for another gathering - Webzine 2005. To celebrate the independent roots of online publishing, to understand the millions of new amateur efforts to share stories and put a stake down for artful personal expression.
This weekend, in San Francisco, and I'm honored to be emceeing. I'll see you there, webziners!
Posted by justin at September 23, 2005 2:56 PM
Comments
So this is like... Webzine 2.0?
:p
Posted by: Boris Anthony ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://interactive.usc.edu/members/jhall/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 23, 2005 8:59 PM
how about an update? how did it go?
Posted by: SEDinehart at September 27, 2005 4:39 PM
Thanks for asking!
Webzine 2005 was grand. It reaffirmed my faith in eager geek culture. There was a great showing from passionate web publishers, people who were convinced that these tools could be used to serve good.
I was inspired by a community activism panel, where Eddie Codel (http://www.eddie.com/) talked about helping Pam Pam "theimposingfigure" and her http://www.sfpeacemakers.org/ - an anti-violence group. He helped with their website, he helped them put videos online, and he enlisted people at the conference to help with PamPam's podcast.
So it was a full-on use of technology to help a social cause. And I was sitting there thinking, man I already know how to do so much technology. And USC is surrounded by these struggling-seeming neighborhoods. So isn't there some community activist who might want my help putting their videos online, or building out a web site for themselves?
So I left Webzine charged up to see what good I could do with the technology I know. And that seems to be about the fundamental spirit of Webzine: independent publishing for positive social change. Along the way, if you sit through the conference, you learn about all kinds of fun geeky shit like video and audio online, and self-publishing books and neighborhood wiring. I got a bunch of free magazines, all of top caliber - particularly http://www.othermag.com/ and http://www.makezine.com/
So all in all a great weekend! And uniquely SF - I don't think there's such a high concentration of progressive geeks anywhere else in the world. Some of the people during Q and A were pushing for people to take their expertise on the road. So that's how I left it.
You can see the Flickr stream here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tags/webzine2005/interesting/
And there were some notes taken on the wiki: http://webzine.jot.com/WikiHome - though not enough.
Probably your best bet for another wrap-up is Technorati Webzine2005: http://technorati.com/search/%22webzine+2005
Posted by: Justin Hall at September 27, 2005 8:29 PM
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