The Backspace Project: Creating Equity Over Access [ No. 34 - August 1999 ]

James Stevens Proprietor Backspace.org London, England (realaudio clip)

"If you don't like the news, go out and make some of your own." - Scoop Nisker

In our travels we've seen a lot of web-based organizations gorged on hype. There's money to be made and most everybody in the Internet business community will do anything to make it. But what about the community of artists? What about the actual creative connections the Internet can provide? The old story of the lowly musician, writing alone at home...how can she use the Internet to raise herself up to some kind of visibility or, at least, meet like-minded players?

We've all seen the big portals, search engines and retail sites. We've seen guys in sport jackets with no musical experience posture themselves as online messiahs to the largely ignored independent musician. We've seen hacks-who-would-be-CEOs with fire in their eyes hot on the spoor of an IPO. But who is actually creating emotionally and artistically equitable community (besides your faithful FezGuys)?

Meet James Stevens, proprietor of the Backspace Project in London, an online access and arts community that exists for no other reason than to be a community. A combination of the physical and virtual worlds where artists of all shades can meet, commune, observe, collaborate, and express themselves. Created out of shoestring and salvage, the Backspace Project has become a vital, viable community that isn't interested in finding The Gimmick that will provide a Quick Cashout in hypermarketed Internetland.

We catch up to Mr. Stevens between interviews with the BBC and various European periodicals. He descibes the Backspace Project and his hopes for success based solely on its own resources. Peppering his conversation with ear-catching words and phrases like "slacktivist" and "non-hierarchical representation of the collective state of mind" he expresses visionary dreams about a self-perpetuating community based on the fertile ground of imagination. A place where creative work can "sidestep commercial and cultural co-option, and the interruption of corporate concerns."

Backspace

All this might sound like a tryptifunk groove looped out of rehashed political samples from the Marxist utopia at the beginning of the Twentieth century. But Mr. Stevens displays a remarkable ability to cull raw materials, power, connectivity, hardware and even rent out of thin air, intelligently delegating responsibility for aggregating these resources. He then stands back, to let the thing succeed or fail on its own terms.

Online and off, Mr. Stevens describes the three year old Backspace Project as an "under the counterculture" experimentation with media, tech and "the bits in-between." For £25 (about $37.00US) per month, as the introductory blurb states, a Backspace subscriber gets: "activities and interests of subscribers and friends promoting access, learning, discussion and development. Subscribers gain a full Internet access dial-up account, quality access to the Web, an email account and an open invitation to drop in any time for as long as you like, come down to events, meet up with friends or just chill out by the riverside." Mr. Stevens points out that, while there are many "virtual community" projects available, there are few that operate in a physical space as well. He observes: "A physical space means that computers, audio and video libraries, editing equipment, video projectors, etc...can be brought together to use." Assembling the nuts and bolts to roll a going concern requires a lot of legwork. Backspace is funded entirely by the subscriptions of its users, with a little help from some synchronous relationships. Situated in a 200 year-old wharf building on the Thames just west of London bridge, Backspace thrives in the fragile web of these interdependent relationships. Web serving is hosted free by (an originally grassroots, now big time, ISP in Germany that still appreciates the little guy). 512 kbps connectivity (about a third of a T1 or quadruple ISDN) is handled by others in the building who pay for and control the datastreams in exchange for free access Mr. Stevens handles maintainence and acquisition of hardware, as well. Having supplied high tech gear to many of the design and interactive businesses in London, he knows a lot of people. A sort of telecommunications hardware ragman who could be said to wander the districts in a cart overflowing with boxes, wires and advice, he barters and trades his way through town, generating interest in Backspace by meeting people and discussing broader interests then merely the Internet. Physical community is the "keystone activity" of his realm and "gritty day to day life" comes first. This existence usually works well for the 37 year old father of two. Though Backspace has "died two or three times" Mr. Stevens proprietorship emerges more "sinuous and flexible after each death." The online presence of the Backspace Project resembles an intriguingly designed, colorful and spacious virtual manufacturing facility, converted to digitally airy and well-lit lofts where behind each icon is a different and colorful gateway to another world. Within the site can be found many pages featuring audio and video realtime jamming, resources for creation and manufacture of pirate radio, and a panoply of art, ideas, diaries, games, lists, suggestions and rants that remind one of the familiar and welcome feeling of a large family. It is community in the truest sense of the word; those at the center sourcing organization and logistics, users and contributors dropping in and out, and camp followers and hangers-on, eager to get a word in edgewise in a vital and energetic civilizational soup of the most fascinating kind. Mr. Stevens comments: "It's a place where anybody can become involved and interfere with the system."

What about the audio side of this Rube Goldberg contraption? Though coming out of a rock and roll background (he started a booking agency called BRAG and also handled lighting design, roadie duties, driving, haggling with club owners, dealing with business, etc...) Mr. Stevens makes clear that, at Backspace, audio is "as important as anything else." Ninja Tune (a loose amalgamation of DJs, Samplers, Producers and Remixers) is in the building, DJ Coldcut (one of the more visible contributors of the so-called "flip-flop" scene) does some semi-regular performance and there are numerous ongoing Internet radio programs. Though only five percent of Backspace content is audio that figure takes up fully half of the disk space.

"The whole point is that people can come and use as much of the resources as possible," offers Mr. Stevens. "There are few rules. The main rule is: no one should have to wait more than half an hour to get on a machine. There are physical resources on location you can come and use anytime, whether you come everyday or just visit London occasionally. A person can join from anywhere in the world, whether they need RealAudio servers, decent disk space, or just somewhere to put their ideas into reality. Backspace is a physical space first, but open to anyone in the world. The online world lacks true community without a physical space," comments Mr Stevens. "Backspace is a place to come down and actually interact." It's a good idea. Imagine a network of physical spaces working together in which members can share online resources as they travel around the world.

What does the future hold for the Backspace Project? "There are half a dozen spin-off sites in Europe," reports Mr. Stevens, "and we are encouraging more. New sub-domains, new URLs, more content...we're pushing the space into perpetual transmission of audio and video streams. It's a pilot space, a collaborative effort, and hopefully the project will give confidence to others. As we take on more and more subdomains I expect to lose control, which is good!"

It's refreshing to remember that hordes of venture capital locusts don't necessarily make the difference in the perception of success or failure. Content still takes precedence over form.

Backspace URLs:

<bak.spc.org/vacuum>
<bak.spc.org/iod/destructo/>
<bak.spc.org/everything>
<bak.spc.org/downlode>
<bak.spc.org/j18>
<bak.spc.org/vt>

Subdomains include:

<sytonia.spc.org>
<rad.spc.org>

Spin-off sites:

<www.lowtech.org>
<www.test.org.uk/>
<www.idea.org.uk/splitshift/>
<www.ohos.org.uk>
<bak.spc.org/gallery37>
<www.irational.org/cube>
<www.okchicken.com/>

The FezGuys welcome your comments.