The W.E.L.L. is my second home, my virtual community. I have been a daily user of this Sausalito-based computer network since 1986. The Well has over 3,000 subscribers who form a rich, bohemian constellation of writers, artists, scientists, and other obsessively curious people. There are hundreds of topics to choose from under conference categories covering business, lifestyles, technical domains, and recreation. There are also online magazines, libraries of old conferences, software, and other offline materials. Several organizations maintain their conferencing sites here, including the Electronic Frontier Foundation and ArtCom (see below). I have been around the nets for years now and have, at one time or another, subscribed to every major conferencing system (...er...except Plodigy) and been on hundreds of BBS. I consider the W.E.L.L. to be, hands down, the best of the electronic brain banks. The Unix-based conferencing system may not be the greatest, but the depth of the conversations and the quality of the information available on the W.E.L.L. makes the system worth learning.
ArtCom (the ArtCom Electronic Network) is a conferencing system within the W.E.L.L. dedicated to exploring the relationship between the arts and new electronic technologies. ArtCom offers topics of interest to both conventional artists and computer-based artists as well as new and experimental forms of online art and conversation. ArtCom is fun, friendly, and very stimulating. The ArtCom Library stores the ArtCom Newsletter and other electronic magazines and text files of interest, while the ArtCom Mall lets you shop for art books and publications. ArtCom is also available on USENET.
Call the W.E.L.L.'s voice number to get current subscriber information or write them at the address below. You can also register online by typing "newuser" when asked for your name.
(G. Branwyn)
Links:
ACCESS:
The W.E.L.L.
27 Gate Five Road
Sausalito, CA 94965
415-332-6106 (data)
415-332-4335 (voice)
Here is the TEXT POPUP for The W.E.L.L.:
**** W.E.L.L. ****
GENERAL CONFERENCE
AREAS
Social Responsibility and Politics
Media and Communications
Business and Livelihood
Body - Mind - Health
Cultures
Place
Interactions
Arts and Letters
Recreation
Entertainment
Education and Planning
Grateful Dead
Computers
The WELL Itself
Special Conferences and Topics:
ArtCom Electronic Network
Computers, Freedom & Privacy
Computer Professionals for ÊÊSocial Responsibility
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Factsheet Five Online
Mondo 2000 (topic)
NetWeaver
Whole Earth Review
Hackers Conference
