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Networking & community building

type=project

Global Sister Networking Site

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GlobalSister.org, a project of The Sisterhood is Global Institute (SIGI), is a global communications network and unique online social networking space, enabling women and organizations to advance issues from a local platform to a global stage.

GlobalSister.org is…

- A virtual “women’s center” for women and women’s organizations to meet, organize, discuss, coordinate, and mobilize.
- An online learning and communications environment for women’s organizations to share and teach social organizing tools and techniques without boundaries of time, space, and location.

Type of project: 
Blog & Web 2.0
Group/Network
Topic: 
Activism
Global affairs & transnationalism
Networking & community building
type=digital_archives

BlogHer (Bloggers Webportal)

Location

United States

Welcome to BlogHer, the leading participatory news, entertainment and information network for women online.

Founded in February 2005 as a labor of love by three bloggers, BlogHer's mission is to create opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment.

type=digital_archives

National Women's Council of Ireland (Blog)

Location

Dublin
Ireland
53° 20' 38.7744" N, 6° 16' 2.9784" W

Welcome to the new website of the National Women's Council of Ireland. We hope that you find it exciting and interesting, and that you are inspired to use it to further your own efforts to bring about equality for women in this country. We hope, too, that you like our new, womanly logo, designed for us by Alison Burns, and our photographs, many of them taken by Derek Speirs.

We urge you to join us, and our 160 member groups, in the National Women's Council, whether as part of a group, or as an individual member. Women are bearing the brunt of this recession, as carers, as low paid workers, as the providers of a wonderful range of community groups and services, now under threat. The National Women's Council is campaigning under the banner, "No Going Back". Join us and let us make this country work for women!

Susan McKay
Director, National Women's Council of Ireland

type=digital_archives

The Lady List (Website)

Location

Ireland

The Lady List: For Ladies Who Like Ladies

The Lady List is an independent online resource dedicated to providing comprehensive and up-to-date information on events and gatherings happening around Ireland for gay, lesbian, bi and transgender /gid women.

Why was it set up?

As the gay scene advances and improves in Ireland, so too should the access to information and it was felt that a proper professional service was not being provided for the lesbian community. Information was fragmented, sometimes outdated, unclear and at times, difficult to source. The Lady List is trying to change that.

type=digital_archives

Palabras (Magazine)

Location

Brussels
Belgium
50° 50' 46.6116" N, 4° 21' 17.0172" E

The magazine Palabras / Palabres broadcasts stories of concrete struggles of women, South and North, in a fresh perspective.

It disseminates stories of grassroots groups, living in Southern Europe, Latin America and francophone Africa.

The project gives voice to women's groups in southern and northern countries to tell and write about a specific action which illustrates social engagement.

type=interview

“There’s no need to be afraid of technology”: An Interview with Gabrijela Ivanov from cunterview.net, Croatia

Topic: 
Alternative economies
Internet & digital divide
Networking & community building
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Like any non mainstream media, cunterview.net has emerged from the feeling that something is missing. In this case [the] missing link was the voice of the arty 3rd wavers, or to be more specific: Women- made online space that focuses on art, creativity, skill exchange and offers women’s and/or feminist view on [the] world in Croatian society.
- Boosting creativity and collaboration: cunterview.net

With its tongue in cheek name, cunterview.net aims to ‘participate with a dynamic and diverse voice in the media map of Croatia’. Founded and edited by Gabrijela Ivanov of the Expanse of Gender and Media Culture ‘Common Zone’ civil society organization, this women-led e-zine offers an entertaining and informative webportal, documenting women artists and Central and Eastern European feminist culture.

Red talks to Gabrijela about grassroots media, alternative economies, and the need for feminists to embrace technological competency.

Interviewee: 
Gabrijela Ivanov
Interviewer: 
Red Chidgey
type=digital_archives

F.I.A. (Blog) + Zina LF RO (zine, 2005 + 2007)

Location

Romania

Statement:
the F.I.A. (fete/femei/feminism in actiune/activism - women/girls/feminism in action/activism) group, formed in 2008 from the former ladyfest-ro collective, focuses on various anti-sexist initiatives in Romania. an important part of the group’s mission is collaborating and working together with other groups and people, as well as supporting other initiatives, that deal with social justice, including gender justice. our main projects are a “travelling” library of zines, books and other feminist/feminist-friendly materials, the f.i.a. site and blog, and the “gender network” list.

The ladyfest-ro collective has so far also organised two ladyfests in Bucharest (2007) and in Timisoara (2005) and published two zines (Zina lf_ro #1 & #2) to accompany the festivals which can get read on this blog

type=digital_archives

Eva & Co (Magazine, 1982-1992)

Location

Austria

Eva and Co was founded in 1981 by a group of women coming from different fields: visual arts, music, literature, and jurisprudence. By combining different disciplines, Eva and Co intended to bring about a theoretical discourse as well as active intervention into social consciousness and the art world.

The magazine contained theory, social issues as well as all forms of artistic expressions. Similar to the strategies of commercial campaigns, we tried to find a broader public for feminist contents via public relations, art competitions, and frequent presence in mainstream media.

Important aims were to promote the work of contemporary women artists and activists, as well as building up networks between women artists in local and international contexts.

The presentations of the magazine were accompanied by readings, performances, exhibitions, concerts, interventions and poster campaigns.

From 1986, each issue focussed on a different topic, e.g. “Architecture”, “Visual Arts”, “Film and Video”, “Music”, “Literature”, “Science Fiction” or on contents like “Men”, “Work”, “Power”, “Violence”, “Desire”, reflected from the viewpoints of visual artists, writers, theoreticians, activists...

From 1989 Eva and Co was member of IAWA (International Association of Women in the Arts), a European network of Women Art Associations. As a result, some of the issues were published bilingual (German/English, German/Spanish). There were connections with other feminist European Art Magazines, like “Ruimte” (Amsterdam) and “Women´s Art” (WASL, London).

By 1992, the production of physical publications seemed to become obsolete due to the upcoming of the new medium internet, and the women involved in Eva and Co decided to continue art activism and networking in many different ways – according to their manifesto: “We will infiltrate everything! We will go underground and to the sky. And be warned: in the future we will camouflage ourselves.”

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Women's News (Magazine, 1984-2007?)

Location

Ireland

Women's News was established in 1984 by a small group of volunteer women who recognised that the lack of women's voices in society was detrimental not only to the development of peace but also to the condition of women. Conflict silences women's voices and the magazine provided a forum through which women could communicate across the divide on various issues affecting not only women but society at large. From its birth Women's News has encouraged grassroots women to use the magazine as a way of having their say and contribute to reconciliation and peace in a safe and effective way. The majority of the contributors to the magazine are grassroots women and Women's News operates various programmes to enable women to access and utilise the media as a means of participation. The power of the media in regards to shaping and influencing the public agenda should not be underestimated, the media not only follow the agenda but also lead the agenda. Without the voice of women being integral within this industry an egalitarian society will never become a reality.

Women's News is the only feminist magazine in Ireland and it adheres to a feminist ethos, however it is completely inclusive and opens its pages to debate and discussion. There is a huge range of magazines on the shelves aimed at women, however none deal with peace building, attitudinal change, challenging the status quo et cetera to the degree that Women's News does. Very few if any, rely on grassroots women for its articles and provide such an open and inclusive forum for expression and communication.

type=digital_archives

Isis International Bulletin (1976-1983)

Location

Switzerland

The story begins with a group of inspired feminists, many brilliant ideas and a good typewriter to put them together with... From the setting up of a feminist information and communications collective in 1974, to the first published bulletin that Isis put out in 1976, and all the way through to the present, Isis has been blessed with the courage, creativity and vision of the many women who committed to realising the organisation's vision for social transformation and women's empowerment.

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