VCs reclaim the sites
"The Vice-Chancellor noticed in the Mail on Sunday that we were hosting some subversive 'eco-warriors'." Thus, two sets of activists were informed at the beginning of the month that their cosy Web-hosting through a University of Westminster address was coming to an end. At the same time a host of questions about what may and may not appear on University web-sites reared their heads. Elsewhere, the complexity of these questions has led to worrying self-censorship.
The ground-rules seem simple. The JANET Acceptable Use Policy allows material which benefits education or research, and is neither illegal nor otherwise harmful to users or the network. The official comment from Westminster is absolutely clear: "Neither of these sites is connected in any way with the University, so we felt that it's inappropriate that they should be posting on the University's Website or server."
The path to this decision, however, was a winding one. Three years ago Westminster's Hypermedia Research Centre (HRC) forged a collaboration with industry, in the shape of Sony Music. HRC got the cash for its Web server computer--and extensive practical experience for its students, building a Web site for Jamiroquai (a then-popular musician, m'lud). At that time, Jamiroquai's marketing plan included an "environmental" sheen. So his "J's Joint" site included pages from Earth First!--a loose network of people pursuing direct action on environmental issues. It also hosted Reclaim the Streets--a self-styled "disorganisation", "taking back public space from the enclosed private arena" through street parties.
Last year Jamiroquai's people pulled out, but the site lingered. The music portion was removed after American racists squatted its abandoned "chat" facilities. The subversives quietly carried on building extensive sites. HRC head Richard Barbrook was "very happy to have them on the server, because they added to our radical-chic credentials... and helped recruit at least two students for next year".
Had Westminster Vice-Chancellor Geoffrey Copland not been disturbed until the new academic year, the sites would once more have been providing work experience for those students; and the policy issues would have been much more interesting. Though the sites describe illegal actions, there has been no suggestion that their content breaks any law. HRC has promised the groups a grace period to set up redirects to their new homes. The fate of Marek Kohn's Race Gallery site on the HRC server, based on his respected book but with equally little formal connection to the University, remains to be decided.
To Jack Cohen, Professor of Biology at Warwick, the issues are very familiar, and still amusing. "I was briefly thrown out of Hull for getting myself photographed using University equipment--much the same thing. This smacks of 'Daddy said you can't do that--what do you mean, you're already doing it and Mummy said you could?'. These groups should make a £20,000 donation to Westminster... they're broke? No sympathy. So they should demand space to organise two free concerts for the University each year."
Others find the complexities less funny. In May, Slade art student Kai Tan was told that her hypertextual degree show could not be posted onto the Slade server, and was asked to withdraw her submission to the school's paper Journal: "I thought this only happened back in Singapore!"
Her work deals angrily with the sexual politics, using most known swear-words--and gained her a First. But Susan Collins, Head of Electronic Media, "imagined what would happen if I went through the procedures... Kai's site was enormous and I didn't have time to go through it for policy." So she posted it to her own spare space on a commercial Web server instead, and put a link on the Slade site.
Commercial sites are, of course, subject to the same legal liabilities as academic ones. They offer, however, expression free from the grind of academic politics--for those who can afford them.
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