[Air-l] the september project: invitation to get involved

[david silver]

Dear everyone,

I am aware that I begin most of my emails with a request to forward,
distribute, blog, etc.  Yet this one comes with a special request:
*please* forward, distribute, blog this post as far and wide as possible.
We are especially interested in having it reach folks in libraries,
information studies, and informatics.  Actually, everyone!

Here's the plan:

On December 18, 2001, by a vote of 407-0, Congress designated September
11th as Patriot Day.  We believe the most patriotic gesture citizens can
make on this day is to come together in public places like local
libraries.  Through talks, roundtables, deliberations, and performances,
citizens will participate collectively and think creatively about our
country, our government, our community, and encourage and support the
well-informed voice of the American citizenry.

Public libraries provide all citizens open and free access to information.
Almost all communities in the US have at least one library. There are over
16,000 public libraries in the US, and that's not including university
libraries, K-12 libraries, and church libraries. In other words, libraries
constitute an already existing national infrastructure.  Moreover, 96% of
all public libraries in the US are wired, partly due to the Gates
Foundation's successful library initiative.  Therefore, libraries also
constitute a national and distributed media infrastructure.

The September Project has three goals:

1. to coordinate with all libraries -- public, university, research;
local, national, global -- to foster multiple public spaces for citizens
to come together and participate in events on September 11, 2004;

2. to work with all modes of media -- popular and alternative;
streaming/digital media, radio, television, print -- in order to transform
local conversations into national and international interactions;

3. to continue doing this annually and internationally on September 11th.

The aim of The September Project is to create a day of engagement, a day
of community, a day of democracy.  Our goal is to foster a tradition for
citizens around the world to recognize and give meaning to September 11th.

We invite you to visit our web site http://www.theseptemberproject.org and
to get involved.  Although our initial organizational strategies have been
focused primarily on the US, our aim is international.  Thank you for your
time,

david silver