RYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRYRY ZCZC MUSEO DELL'INFORMATICA FUNZIONANTE FREAKNET.ORG - DYNE.ORG - POETRY HACKLAB PRESS RELEASE
About us
We are the members of 3 different organizations, and our mission is to promote computer science and culture:
- Freaknet Medialab, the first italian hacklab offering free access to computers, email and internet since 1994
- Dyne.org, free software foundry, hackers and artist network since 2000
- Poetry Hacklab, a free bricolab / hackerspace in Palazzolo Acreide, small town 40km near Siracusa, famous for his natural heritage and for his greek theatre.
A lot of artists, researchers, scientists and even simple amateurs cooperate with us; our activities are recognized all around the world and we are proud of being enlisted in the UNESCO Archive Portal and recognized by the Free Software Foundation.
Our project
We have decided to bring to life one of the projects we have been working on after 15 years of research and archiviation: the "Museo dell'Informatica Funzionante", a computer museum where people can, both physically and remotely via Internet, "put the hands" on" the historical computers, use them, know their history, learn basics of electronic and computer science, and share a piece of our history.
A place where to preserve, repair, digitize and share on the network our heritage, made of hardware but also documentation, software, electrical schemes, books and media of various kind.
What we have done so far
We have gathered, during all these years, a massive amount of almost 2000 historical pieces (some of them dated even back to the '60). Most of them have been fixed, thanks to our effort and are now perfectly working, while other are still waiting to come back to life.
This work made of research and experimentation needs a physical space which we have never had; local institutions have never put their willing to support us into facts. It's been years now since we started looking for a place to open our museum: the challenge is to offer a cultural alternative in a Southern Europe area where, unfortunately, the only solution for a professional and personal life grow has always been to emigrate out of the country.
So, we have now decided to maximize our efforts, and rent an adequate space to finally realize our project.
During those 2 months, we moved and stored here all the museum hardware and now we're working hard to clean and fix the space, finding old furnitures, mounting shelves, creating the Electronic Lab, the Biblioteque, the Media Recovery Room and two Exibithion Halls... we have a lot of work to be done!
What we want to do
The vision of a museum of this kind has been motivating us for years, making us pioneers in this emerging area. Museums of this kinds are popping up all around the world, acquiring attention and help from both private institutions and single supporters; having visited some of them, we found out that the uniqueness of some of our pieces, together with the software we produced in the past, our own history and the ideas we have, could bring our Museo dell'Informatica Funzionante as an excellence in his field. In fact, in the recent past we've been able to attract the attention of national and international media and to bring in Palazzolo Acreide experts from all around Europe, people to whom we are happy to offer access to some of the computers in our old small and inadequate spaces.
Once in possess of a physical place and after a few years of activity we know we'll be able to count on a increasing visibility and on a team of experts that have formed their skills abroad (both in the academia and in commercial environments).
We need your help
We funded directly the creation of the museum, paying the first 2 months of rent, the burocratic expenses and other stuff needed; every donation we receive and every expenses is logged into a spreadsheet that we want, as soon as possibile (we're fixing our internet site! 
) publish entirely on the web, so everyone can see how we use every single cent of our donations!
We are looking for contributions that will help us dealing with our expenses in the first phase of our project. The amount we are looking for consists of 6,000 EUR for the first year, an amount which will be spent in renewing our rented locals.
We are asking, to anyone interested and willing to support, to sponsor us and discuss with us something that wouldn't only be a simple donation but also an investment opportunity which could have a important impact in the long term.
This is our Association Plan:
1 Year People Association Plan
- 2 cigarettes pack / month (10EUR/month): the fellow is entitled with a mention on the site as a sustainer!
- 1 Pizza + beer / month for 2 people (25EUR/month): as above, plus it will receive our annual gadget!
- 1 dinner for two / month (50EUR/month): as above, plus the "adoption" of an historical machine, giving her a name and being cited on his page as "Distance father / mother" !
1 Year Institution / Company Association Plan
- 1000EUR/year: Title in the "sustainers" page, with a little logo of the Institution / Company
- 2000EUR/year: As above, plus logo and mention in the Freaknet / Dyne homepages, and in every public initiative we do, as a sustainer!
Remember, donations are tax-free! 
To contribute, please use our fresh new bank account:
ASSOCIAZIONE CULTURALE FREAKNET Bank name: IWBANK IBAN: IT80F0316501600000011724257 ABI: 03165 CAB: 01600 Account number: 00011724257 SWIFT / BIC Code: IWBKITMM CIN: F CINBBAN: F CINIBAN: 80 BBAN: F0316501600000011724257
We also have our Paypal account here: http://goo.gl/B2h4W but we prefer a bank account transfer to avoid paypal commissions
We will pay your trust back with the gratitude of our enthusiast people and the opportunity to write together the story of hour working museum of computers. We are certain that sector of "working computing museums" where we are allocating ourselves will gain importance in the coming years and we are committed to respect the memory of whom, in this initial phase, will be able to believe in us and in our operate.
contacts: museo@freaknet.org
Links
http://museo.freaknet.org http://freaknet.org http://dyne.org http://poetry.freaknet.org http://dynebolic.org http://dyne.org/museum
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