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            **COURSE SIGN-UP EXTENDED TO WEEK OF OCT 7th**
               You *must* get an LBBS account to enroll
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LBBS, Left Online (email [EMAIL PROTECTED], or [EMAIL PROTECTED]) proudly
offers the third Semester of LOLU, Left Online University (email
[EMAIL PROTECTED] for full details, including complete course catalog)
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*NOTE*: YOU MUST JOIN LBBS (one time $20 fee includes manual, software,
2 hours) to enroll -- sign up now -- email [EMAIL PROTECTED] for full
info; then sign up on line ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) or by phone (508-548-9063)
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Among the offerings this fall semester (starting Oct 1st) is
_Electronic Activism via the Internet_:

        "The lectures have been useful in that they have been
        informative and encouraging..

        "the basic structure and the topics that are covered are
        excellent.  I enjoy hearing your personal stories.  The
        assignments have taught me about what is on the Net..."

        "Thank you for sharing your experiences with us!  It's obvious
        that you have a passion for your work, and that it is very
        good work."

--Comments from student Survey during last offering of this course.
        
Course Description:
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USING THE INTERNET FOR ELECTRONIC ACTIVISM
Taught by Harel B
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In this course, students will use the Internet as a communication and
information resource generally, and as a tool for electronic activism
in particular. Participants will learn about email, automated
email-servers, mailing lists, the UseNet (the worlds largest bulletin
board system) ftp, gopher, telnet, the world wide web, and more.
Homework exercises (optional) will allow participants to make this as
hands-on an experience as they choose.  Concrete examples illustrating
electronic activism in practice will include anti-Gulf War organizing
and recent anti-Contract With America coalitions. We will compare and
discuss the relative advantages and disadvantages of online activist
tools for everything from coalition-building to electronic leafleting,
and explore the online culture, especially on the quasi-anarchic
UseNet, including how some online projects have provided living proof
of the power of cooperative economics. We will discuss the potentials
and pitfalls ahead on the information highway from privatization and
commercialization, to the great potential of democratizing the
airwaves through Internet virtual broadcasting, beaming programs
directly into Americas homes. Whether the Internet becomes another
Corporate domain, or revolutionizes media, is up to us; course
graduates will be in the position to affect the outcome.

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Introduction

Overview of Email and using Email for Activism

The UseNet ; Using the UseNet for activism; Examples

Mailing lists and ListServers ; examples (global; local) of their use

IGC (PeaceNet, EcoNet, LaborNet) networks

UseNet's misc.activism.progressive (MAP); Remote & Automatic File Retrieval

The Future: Democracy through Information-Access?

Project: Progressive Student/Community Newspaper (PSN/PCN) Networks

More Automation: MAP Today: What We Offer & Automatic-Posting

Information Liberation: Various Examples of Online Projects

Focus on the GNU Project: Interview with Richard M Stallman

The World Wide Web (WWW)

Where Does the Left Fit In? (Issues raised by "Hooked and Wired" etc)

Commercialization of the InterNet. Dangers? Silver Linings?

Virtual Broadcasting: Ending Capital's Monopoly on Radio?

Interview with Noam Chomsky; critique; and obstacles ahead

Roundtable Discussion -- where do we go from here?
        

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Questions?
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Email Harel B, [EMAIL PROTECTED], course instructor
        
or

Michael Albert, [EMAIL PROTECTED], head of LBBS/LOLU, and co-Editor of Z
Magazine.
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