[Nettime-bold] mySpinach - Independent Server Report (Feb 02)

[s|a|m <sam@myspinach.org>]

mySPINACH REPORT – FEB 2003 (by Sam de Silva)
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mySpinach is an Australian-based independent server providing net services to 
a difficult-to-categorise bunch of people who are somehow involved with 
working towards challenging, discussing and celebrating the worlds around 
them. 

The server was established in late 2000 and is hosted on the VA network. 
Unlike some of the other net servers (such as cat.org.au and octapod.org), 
mySpinach is not run by a collective, but is currently managed primarily by a 
couple of volunteers. I am its coordinator and its technical side is 
professionally serviced by Iain Pople of brunny.com. Having said that, 
mySpinach does provide facilities to a like-minded community of people and is 
guided by peer feedback, especially from members of the SpaceStation Media 
Lab (www.spacestation.org.au). The mySpinach server lives on the Virtual 
Artists (va.com.au) network. We have a commercial relationship with VA where 
we are effectively charged a little bit more than what it costs VA to provide 
us internet connectivity.

During the past 2 years, mySpinach has grown to host some diverse content. 
Some of the virtual websites that call the server home includes the Coober 
Pedy Community Radio (www.dustyradio.org), net theory and research group 
Fibreculture (www.fibreculture.org), the environmentally aware dance party 
group (www.tranceplant.org), an independent newspaper (thepaper.org.au) the 
living archive of public trouble-making and street creativity  
(www.cleansurface.org), an exploration of community media in the Asia-Pacific 
(www.smallvoices.org) and a space for websites of Aboriginal & Islander 
people and their friends (www.kooriweb.org). And it hosts some activist 
campaign projects such as the Woomera protest 
(www.woomera2002.antimedia.net). 

More sites are indexed at www.myspinach.org

There are over 40 virtual domains (full websites) on mySpinach and many of 
those domains sub-host smaller sites. According to Webalizer log file 
analysis, on a monthly basis, mySpinach web content is accessed by over 
76,000 visitors, generating more than 1.2 million hits, and the lists provide 
regular discussion and announcements to over 700 active users. The mySpinach 
server also provides email addresses for users – and currently there's over 
50 individuals and groups making use of email and webmail. The server is 
performing under capacity. It could easily host about 3 to 4 times as much as 
it currently does.

Though the mySpinach server was originally established to provide spaces for 
projects that may have difficulty finding a home,  the most significant 
threat at the moment is not the possibility of content censorship, but rather 
the financial cost of bandwidth. Unfortunately in Australia, bandwidth is not 
cheap. The mySpinach server is in a catch-22. The more content it hosts and 
the popular it gets, the higher the bandwidth costs involved. 

Virtual Artists provides us with one of the best deals in Australia – so its 
not really possible to shop around in the domestic market. Therefore, one of 
the solutions to our problem is to relocate our server to the US, where 
bandwidth costs are significantly less. But mySpinach is not interested in 
this 'sweatshop' strategy. Rather, I feel that it is important to host the 
content in Australia – not for any nationalistic reason – but rather because 
it is important to create spaces where we live where we can afford to host 
high-demand content. Virtual Artists is not a large corporation – and 
mySpinach would rather be connected with a friendly business here in 
Australia than an anonymous and indiscriminate server farm in the US. 

The strategy that I am interested in exploring to fund the mySpinach server is 
a combination of a voluntary user-pays system and a careful sponsorship plan. 
The volunteer user-pays system has been adopted by some of the users and 
around 30% of  the current mySpinach costs are being covered through that 
process. Much of the content on the server is from groups and collectives who 
operate on zero-budgets, and will not be able to make a financial 
contribution. So far, a subsidization strategy has been in place. I have been 
fortunate enough to have obtained a couple of grants from Cinemedia for an 
electronic art project – and effectively, the component of the grant 
allocated to me is being used to fund mySpinach. But this grant has now come 
to an end – and during 2003, the user-pays system and the sponsorship plan 
needs to be implemented in a more complete way.

Sponsorship is the other strategy that we will explore during 2003. There is 
content mySpinach hosts that attracts specific audiences. For example, some 
of the art and culture content attracts a large audience interested in 
graffiti and street art. There are many organisations that would like to 
expose their messages to this kind of audience. Of course, I am not talking 
about corporations such as Coke and Nike (who would probably love to be 
connected with mySpinach) – but rather creative design faculties and 
government funding bodies may be interested in sponsoring content that 
engages with audience. There are many other examples of sponsorship plans – 
but I am very aware that we need to proceed with caution. If external 
sponsors ever influence the content on mySpinach, then that is when the 
mySpinach project dies.

Finally, it is important to stress that mySpinach is not a provider of 
services to the general public. Rather, it only wants to work with particular 
types of network groups and individuals.  Like any machine, like any 
community, it needs looking after and mySpinach is operated on a professional 
level whilst maintaining its independence. 

How long mySpinach lasts will depending on the sustainable strategies it is 
beginning to implement. Let's see what happens!

Comments, feedback and advice always appreciated :)

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