Patrice Riemens on 16 Feb 2001 07:13:36 -0000 |
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[Nettime-bold] 'Refoundation' of the Amsterdam Digital City Update: 1st General Assembly of the DDS Users Association |
The Digital City is not saved - yet. But the first General Assembly of the Association to do so, hold yesterday evening in the auditorium of the Amsterdam Polytechnic (HvA), was a success. Much beyond what could have been expected in the light of the developments of the last one - two weeks, when prospects were looking increasingly dim. On the Association's side, the discussion mailing-list, which first had an almost exemplary noise-to-information ratio, was getting more and more clogged with frantic, frivolous, and sometime personal one-liners, and was failing in a quite some measure to focus on the real issues at stake. The interim board, itself not a totally coherent body, was less and less transparant in its operation, as IRL meetings in Café Pleinzicht were dropped, and more and more confering was done 'behind the scenes' - not one, but several of them - and on the IRC channel. All this probably contributed to a levelling-of of the number of new members registering (tab now at something like 450), with actual members complaining or even dropping of from the discussion-list (keeping up with which was becoming a very time-consuming affair - over 700 messgs in February alone). But by way the worst came from 'the other side'. Having already taken a 'wait and see' attitude (after a few timid positive signals in the beginning), the two owners of the DDS Holding adopted an increasingly dismissive style in their (non-)dealings with the Association. The DDS Foundation (the purported watch-dog over the Holding's actions regarding the 'spirit' of the DDS), through its chairman, Internet 'guru' Eric Huizer, appeared to make a mockery of its 'public domain' brief by openly siding with the Holding's management and questionning the Association's relevance to the future of the Digital City. In a long and extremely perceptive article in the Amsterdam daily "Het Parool" on February 7, journalist Addie Schutte listed all parties that were, or could be, takers or even indirectly involved in an eventual salvage of the DDS community and declared the Association totally side-lined in the present configuration. It was clearly time for the mouse to roar. And it did so with gusto. The 75-80 members that showed up took an increasingly combative stance as the evening went by. They were helped along in this by a pragmatic, fair, yet involved and perceptive chair in the person of publicist Karin Spaink. And by an early intervention of HvA 'host' Caroline Nevejan, who impressed the assembly on the need to put the imprescriptible rights of the community and its inhabitants (as the Digital City's users call themselves) firmly on the center stage. From then on - and I may add, at last - the focus of the discussion moved away from all too mundane concerns about how to wheel and deal with the Holding's owners to a much more principled stance, leaving the owners, one of whom (Joost Flint) was present at the GA, with the less than enjoyable prospect of a full-fledged court case if they continue to be unforthcoming in their approach of the essential issues concerning the DDS community. This led to a much called-for fleshing up of the association's statutes which were amended then and there to provide for the defense and upholding of users rights as paramount and irrevocable principal objective of the Association. Whereupon a board was duly elected, unfortunately with not more than one candidate per post (but fortunately with at least one candidate per post ;-). In these circumstances, the board wisely let it known that this first associative year would end on April 30 2001, and that a fresh GA would be convened to confirm this or elect a (partially) new board, as the case may be. Annual membership due was also voted at NLG 25.- (Euro 11,50), up to April 30, 2002. The evening ended with the endorsements, congratulation, and best wishes of several individuals, groups and institutions, most notable of which might have been that of the Internet Society Netherlands Branch, which is rumoured to unhook itself from its dot.com posture and steering back to a grass-root, users-centered, public domain approach where it properly belongs. In a practical sense the ball is now in the DDS Holding's court. It has been there for quite some time now, and one can only hope (or pray) that its dodgings, ditherings and innefectual displays of guile and cunningness will now come to an end. However unpopular it is among those who abide by the time-honoured 'regent' mode of operation in the Netherlands, I myself am very happy that the Association to save the DDS (which in an ultimate, but possibly just as futile, bid to placate the DDS owners, now takes the name of 'Open Domain Association' http://www.opendomein.net for official purposes), has bound itself to act on principles, and is claiming, with success, the moral high ground. Even if it would fail to achieve its goal in the end, it will have acted as a true community, and done so with honour. Your support and endorsement is as called for as ever! Please fresh up your Dutch ;-) and channel your appreciation through the new-named site: http://www.opendomein.net _______________________________________________ Nettime-bold mailing list Nettime-bold@nettime.org http://www.nettime.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/nettime-bold