WHAT HYPER(+)DROME IS

is an open ended collection of people. is a distributed effort to realise what is unfolding before our own eyes, yet we may be unaware of due to tactics of disinformation employed by corporate-fed media in an epoch resembling a media-saturated inward-looking time bomb.

what is our goal? samizdat.net say: don't hate the media - become the media! while this is certainly a goal worth pursuing, and we mean no disrespect to the brilliant samizdat people (au contraire, we very much like samizdat), we feel the media is something too dirty and damaged; something capable only of presenting a crippled view of reality. we don't seek to become the media. we seek to remain outside mainstream media's sphere of influence. we seek to report on issues that have not received the attention we reckon they deserve by mainstream media or that have been treated in ways favourable to hidden (and not so well hidden) shallow agendas. we seek to publish work that is too radical for the taste of mainstream outlets. we seek to provide writers, activists, programmers, photographers, artists and anyone feeling marginalised by the dehumanising effect commonly associated with the process of traditional top-down media production with a space/place where they can express themselves.

we cover culture, economics, and politics from a radical perspective. for example, the way we see it software enginneering is a powerful form of politics, as well as cultural creation. we believe technology is highly political, reflecting the political beliefs and advancing the political agendas of its creators. we also believe that cultural production is political. having said that, we are independent of any political party, cultural institution, and commercial agenda. we don't take advertising. we're not being paid for what we contribute to hyperdrome. if however, you contribute something to hyperdrome - and you are very encouraged to do so - and someone contacts us and says "we'd like to pay some real money for this", we will make sure all the green tickets flow back to you. if you're still interested in being part of what hyperdrome is, then sit back, fasten your seat belt, and jack-in.

we host a number of projects. we feel strongly about new genres of collectively produced art like flashmobs that would not have been possible without the Internet. we interview people who have something important to say. we push for open standards and free/open source software and hardware. we've put together the journal of hyper(+)drome.manifestation where controversial subjects are explored in greater depth. and we are open to any ideas about projects that should be fostered here. indeed, if you have a project and would like to have it hosted here, be our guest.

last but not least, hyperdrome lays particular emphasis on the geographical area of greece. for this is where some of our physical avatars live. but most importantly, for, despite its great heritage, the state greece is in with respect to cyber-culture and politics is bleak. with the exception of a handful of people and groups, the greek cyber-culture goes largely underdeveloped and the greek cyber-community has been reduced to the eyes of the public as a loosely coupled network of crackers (not that we think crackers ought to be cast with dishonour - nothing like that, besides the way we see it crackers are situated at the vanguard of the digital revolution; but the wider public and unfortunately lots of technologists too treat crackers as second class cyberians), or worse as a community of people who jack-in for the mere purpose of consuming images of porn (not that there's anything wrong with pornsites and porn - online or offline - in general, as long as, of course, one knows how to configure a web browser to avoid being conned into making those notorious phonecalls to africa or australia to some dodgy server and then having to pay a fortune) and engaging in acts of intellectual property theft (yeah, the term intellectual property itself is ill-conceived, to begin with, we know, but then again is it only the term that is ill-conceived?). we're not happy with this idea and we've taken to turning it upside down.

there is an idea of cyberspace. cyberspace as a shopping-mall, a convenient consumer paradiso metaphor that has proven immensely successful in shaping common perception as to what the internet was, is, and will be. we dont have to repeat that although the commercial sector has a lot to benefit by using cyberspace, it nonetheless does not own it, nor the Internet was designed to promote corporate agendas.

cyberspace is a tremendous resource for all of us - a massively distributed engine of creativity and passion. it spawns new genres of art like flashmobs. it enables the development of a swathe of free software/open source projects like linux and perl. it is a facilitator of a higher state of democratic conscioussness. don't make the mistake to assume that cyberspace is merely about commercial transactions and information bits.

cyberspace is about communication, collaboration and co-ordination. it is the ultimate rhizome. but that is not so because of its nature, as some people reckon. for cyberspace has no nature. it only has software and hardware. we believe the resource whose potential is yet to be realised and remains untapped is the people inhabiting it. we're not helpless. we're not powerless. we are the people. bear with us and dare to co-evolve along.