AS TOLD BY ADAM FELDMAN: At least since 1993, Philadelphians and others in our metropol have had access to free dial up internet via the Critical Path Project . Although the internet has perhaps outgrown the screeching whistles and pops of the telephone modem, thousands of low income people at least have access to 56K.

Critpath.org has its origins in a book that “Comprehensive Anticipatory Design Scientist” Buckminster Fuller wrote with his protégé Kiyoshi Kuromiya in Philadelphia in 1981. (Bucky’s work is being feted at the Whitney in New York at the moment.) Kiyoshi Kuromiya’s legacy lives on in Philadelphia as the Critpath Internet Project, The AIDS Library, and ACT UP Philly.

With all the drama surrounding the Department of Human Services these past couple years, their programs have come under increased scrutiny. Critpath.org got much of its funding through DHS grants, essentially with the goal of getting some internet services into the hands of poor Philadelphians. That funding won’t be renewed through DHS, which definitely needs to focus on its business of serving families, but we’re hoping the Mayor and the City can find funding elsewhere to keep this backbone of Philadelphia’s social justice internet up and running.

After the jump, how you can help keep Critpath alive.

I encourage readers to read our sign-on letter, and see what others have said and what else you can do:

· Fax Mayor Nutter: http://www.hallwatch.org/profiles/mayor/nutter

· or even come to a community meeting:
Date: Friday, September 5th
Time: 9:30am
Location: The Church of St. Luke and The Epiphany, 330 South 13th Street (Between Pine and Spruce Streets)

Adam Feldman is the Reference and Public Services Librarian for the AIDS Library and Critical Path Project.

This entry was posted on Monday, August 25th, 2008 at 12:09 pm.