ASCII (squat) on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Amsterdam Subversive Center for Information Interchange (ASCII) was a squatted communication laboratory in the ASCII in Javastraat is no more — Ascii
and the group declared a shift towards being a
Archived ASCII website
Pictures from the Amsterdam ASCII internet cafe squat, 1999
{{SquatNL Infoshops Evicted squats Squats in the Netherlands Hackerspaces 1999 establishments in the Netherlands 2006 disestablishments in the Netherlands 20th-century architecture in the Netherlands
The Amsterdam Subversive Center for Information Interchange (ASCII) was a squatted communication laboratory in the Dutch
Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to:
* Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands
** Dutch people as an ethnic group ()
** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship ()
** Dutch language ()
* In specific terms, i ...
city of Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...
. The first incarnation was formed in 1999, based at Herengracht
The Herengracht () is the second of four Amsterdam canals belonging to the canal belt and lies between the Singel and the Keizersgracht.
The Gouden Bocht (Golden Bend) in particular is known for its large and beautiful canal houses.
History
Th ...
243a. The lab then moved to the following locations: Jodenbreestraat
The Jodenbreestraat ("Jewish Broad Street") is a street in the centre of Amsterdam, which connects the Sint Antoniesluis sluice gates to the Mr. Visserplein traffic circle. North of the sluice gates, the street continues on to Nieuwmarkt square ...
24, Kinkerstraat 92–94, Kostverlorenkade 2e, Wibautstraat 7 and Javastraat.
ASCII became legalised when it moved into Jodenbreestraat 24 in January 2000, alongside the radical bookshop Fort van Sjakoo, but started squatting again when faced with a 900% rent increase.
The original aim was to provide a free internet
The Internet (or internet) is the Global network, global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a internetworking, network of networks ...
work space for activist
Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...
s and squatter
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not Land ownership and tenure, own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estima ...
s and to promote open source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use and view the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open source model is a decentrali ...
operating systems such as Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
and free software programs such as OpenOffice.org
OpenOffice.org (OOo), commonly known as OpenOffice, is a discontinued open-source office suite. Active successor projects include LibreOffice (the most actively developed) and Collabora Online, with Apache OpenOffice being considered mostly d ...
and Mozilla
Mozilla is a free software community founded in 1998 by members of Netscape. The Mozilla community uses, develops, publishes and supports Mozilla products, thereby promoting free software and open standards. The community is supported institution ...
. Members of the collective scavenged and rebuilt computers from trash. In 2005, ASCII was involved with a plan to set up free community wireless internet access across Amsterdam. In 2006, Javastraat was evictedand the group declared a shift towards being a
hacklab
A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" (501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology, scie ...
rather than having a physical space.
See also
*Hackerspace
A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" (501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology, sci ...
* Squatting
Squatting is the action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied area of land or a building (usually residential) that the squatter does not own, rent or otherwise have lawful permission to use. The United Nations estimated in 2003 that there wer ...
* Social centre
A community centre, community center, or community hall is a public location where members of a community gather for group activities, social support, public information, and other purposes. They may be open for the whole community or for a sp ...
References
External links
Archived ASCII website
Pictures from the Amsterdam ASCII internet cafe squat, 1999
{{SquatNL Infoshops Evicted squats Squats in the Netherlands Hackerspaces 1999 establishments in the Netherlands 2006 disestablishments in the Netherlands 20th-century architecture in the Netherlands