Fun_People Archive
7 Jan
THE DIGITAL CITY (DE DIGITALE STAD)

Date: Fri,  7 Jan 94 16:15:11 PST
To: Fun_People
Subject: THE DIGITAL CITY (DE DIGITALE STAD)

 From: Keith Bostic <vangogh.CS.Berkeley.EDU!bostic>

                 THE DIGITAL CITY (DE DIGITALE STAD)
                 Amsterdam, Netherlands
                 3 January 1994

   In the Netherlands on the 15th of January 1994 a new city will be born, 
   a digital city. This digital city can be visited by computer and modem, 
   and is connected to the worldwide computernetwork called Internet. 
    
   The Digital City is an initiative of Cultural Center The Balie and Hacktic 
   Netwerk and is supported by the city of Amsterdam. The aim of the Digital 
   City is to investigate the possible contribution of (data)communication to 
   debates about the future of the city. The project runs from the 15th of 
   January 1994 till the end of March and covers the period, in which local 
   elections will be held in Amsterdam. 
    
   The Digital City can be reached on phone number +31-20-6225222
   (by modem); access is free, apart from the normal telephone costs. 
   Internet address: telnet dds.hacktic.nl
    
   Public terminals
    
   Visitors can call in by their own computer, but there will also be a 
   few public terminals in Amsterdam, from where you can reach the Digital 
   City. These terminals will be placed in the city hall, the public library, 
   the Amsterdam Medical Centre, De Balie, the Stedelijk Museum and other 
   locations. 
    
   Internet
    
   The Digital City explores a new territory for the Netherlands, while 
   at the same time it is using the knowledge and experience which have 
   been gathered in the United States during the past ten years. At the 
   present moment there are some 15 million users of the Internet, among 
   which most Dutch universities. The Digital City is constructed along 
   the lines of the so-called 'Freenet-systems' that exist in the U.S. 
   These are free information services, which give citizens access to 
   various networkfacilities.
    
   The Amsterdam city hall 'on line'
    
   The Amsterdam city hall will be part of the network. Administrative 
   information of the city council will be accessible in the Digital City. 
   Various members of the city council and other political representatives 
   will participate in the discussions which will take place in the Digital 
   City. In the Digital City all parties will have their own offices, from 
   where they can distribute their election programmes, positions on current 
   issues and other information in digital form.
    
   Participation in electronic discussions
    
   In the Digital City the visitor can also join discussiongroups, apart 
   from looking through digital archives. Discussions will be held about 
   Schiphol (the Amsterdam airport), cultural issues, building and 
   breaking in the city, the elections, income politics, etc. 
    
   Exploring the Internet
    
   Visitors can explore the Internet. Whether you are interested in
   libraries in Japan or in Finland, or in paying a visit to the
   White House, or in the latest NASA-information: you just have to
   hit a few keys on your computer and you can travel around the world.
    
   Visitors can become builders
    
   The Digital City offers organisations and individuals the opportunity 
   to develop new territories. The citizens can react, bring in new ideas 
   and propose changes. The Digital City will partly be built in cooperation 
   with its residents and visitors.
    
   Information brochure 
    
   In the second week of January 1994 an extensive information brochure 
   will appear. Apart from that there will be a Dutch manual for the 
   Digital City and a 'helpdesk' where you can ask questions during the 
   project.
    
   Other activities / Smart TV
    
   Various activities will take place in the orbit of the project. Smart TV 
   will broadcast four programmes on the local television channel of Salto 
   (on the 15th of January, the 5th and the 26th of February and the 
   26th of March 1994), which will deal with the developments surrounding 
   the new information technologies. On the 26th of March 1994 a symposium 
   will be held in De Balie.
    
   Thanks
    
   The Digital City was made possible by (among others) the city of
   Amsterdam, the NLnet Foundation, Tornado Modems and Dataman.
    
   Technical data
    
   The Digital City will be run at Hacktic Netwerk on a Solair 10/30
   with 4.8 GB of diskvolume. 12 Tornado HighSpeed modems are connected 
   to it through a terminalserver. The Solair is running Solaris 1.1 Unix 
   with FreeNet software on it. A Gopher-client is used for the connection 
   with the Internet, which is made possible by the NLnet Foundation. The 
   modems are lent out for the period of the project by Tornado.
    
   Persons to contact
    
   For additional information you can contact:
   Marleen Stikker: stikker@hacktic.nl
   Rop Gonggrijp: rop@hacktic.nl 
   Felipe Rodriquez: felipe@hacktic.nl
    
   SnailMail:
    
   The Digital City
   c/o De Balie
   Kleine-Gartmanplantsoen 10
   NL 1017 RR Amsterdam
   Phone: +31-20-6233673
   Fax: +31-20-6384489
        
   {contributed by Ira Machefsky and Richard Bishop}

© 1994 Peter Langston