SURVIVORS: Archiving the history of bulletin board systems and the AIDS crisis

First Monday ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kathryn Brewster ◽  
Bonnie Ruberg

The history of the Internet and the history of the HIV/AIDS crisis are fundamentally intertwined. Because of the precarious nature of primary early Internet materials, however, documentation that reflects this relationship is limited. Here, we present and analyse an important document that offers considerable insight in this area: a full printout of the bulletin board system (BBS) discussion group “SURVIVORS.” Run by David Charnow, SURVIVORS operated as an “electronic support group” for members living with HIV/AIDS from 1987 to 1990. These dates represent a period of overlap between both the AIDS crisis in America and the use of BBSs as a predecessor to contemporary Internet technologies. The contents of SURVIVORS were printed by Charnow before his death in 1990 and later donated to the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives. Through our discussion of these documents, we articulate the striking relationship between the SURVIVORS printout as a material document that preserves a digital past and the lives of those whose stories are contained within the printout. We argue that it is not only the content but indeed the precarious, shifting media format of the SURVIVORS printout, born digital and now preserved on paper, that gives it its meaning. Thirty years after his death, Charnow’s printout of SURVIVORS keeps a critical piece of the interrelated histories of HIV/AIDS and the Internet alive, while also raising valuable questions about the archiving of these histories.

Author(s):  
Meghan Ward

With approximately 5.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS, South Africa has the highest HIV­ prevalence rate in the world. HIV tends to strike the most vulnerable people in society, and is often associated with high risk behaviours, which inevitably leads to stigmatization. Through an integration of theatre and development theory, I propose to investigate the potential of using theatre as a community event that raises awareness of collective issues and that offers new hope to people living with HIV. I suggest that theatre can educate the heart and put a human face on HIV/AIDS, thus catalyzing a healing process at the community level. By targeting township youth, those who are currently driving the virus, an interactive theatre style, such as participatory methodology, can effectively move beyond didactic education. In participatory theatre, the target group is incorporated into the theatrical representation of their circumstances through the performance of personal testimonies associated with HIV. Here, the power of theatre lies in its ability to produce individual reactions in the audience, which ultimately result in a collective experience and elevated consciousness through the discussion that ensues. The community is thus empowered to engage in a new ap proach to HIV/AIDS. Can such a performance prevent further infections by exposing the consequences and realities of living with AIDS? While a test­case would be ideal in the affirmation of these ideas, I hope to bring a new approach to community theatre through a combination of theories from both theatre and international development studies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 615-624
Author(s):  
Laura Stamm

Abstract This article examines how the television series Pose (2018–) represents queer and trans people of color living with HIV/AIDS at the height of the crisis in 1987. While the series portrays an important part of transgender history, it also positions the AIDS crisis as something that is done and part of America's past. Despite the fact that rates of HIV infection remain at epidemic rates for trans women of color, Pose, like many other mainstream media representations, suggests that the AIDS crisis ended in 1995. The series brings trans women of color's experiences to a record number of viewers, but that representation comes with a certain cost—the cost of historicization.


Author(s):  
Christian Serarols-Tarrés

The increasing development of information technologies (IT) has significantly affected both firms and markets. IT is currently changing the world in a more permanent and far-reaching way than any other technology in the history of mankind (Carrier, Raymond, & Eltaief, 2004). A new economy, where knowledge is the most important strategic resource, is forcing firms to review their traditional routines and take advantage of the tools able to create new value. Nowadays, there are two types of firms using this new IT. On the one hand, firms with physical presence (traditional companies) use the Internet as a new distribution channel or alternatively as a logical extension of their traditional business. On the other hand, there are dotcoms, Internet start-ups, or cybertraders (European Commission, 1997), which have been specifically conceived to operate in this new environment. A number of scholars have attempted to explain the creation of new ventures from many different theoretical perspectives (economics, psychology, and population ecology among others) and have also offered frameworks for exploring the characteristics of the creation process (Bhave, 1994; Carter, Gartner, & Reynolds, 1996; Gartner, 1985; Shook, Priem, & McGee, 2003; Veciana, 1988; Vesper, 1990; Webster, 1976). However, despite the growing literature in this area, few studies have explored the process of venture creation in dotcom firms. Cyberentrepreneurship is still in its emergent phase, and there is more to know about the phenomenon and the elements of the venture creation process (Carrier et al., 2004; Jiwa, Lavelle, & Rose, 2004; Martin & Wright, 2005). What are the stages they follow to create their firms? This article attempts to answer this question. First, we analyse the entrepreneurial process of a new firm’s creation. Second, we shed some light on how this process is applied by cyberentrepreneurs in starting their businesses based on an in-depth, multiple case study of eight entrepreneurs in Spain.


1998 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 482-484 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akiko Takai ◽  
Som Arch Wongkhomthong ◽  
Akira Akabayashi ◽  
Ichiro Kai ◽  
Gen Ohi ◽  
...  

This study examines the hypothesis that people who have more contact with PWAs people living with AIDS are more tolerant than those who have no contact with them. Four provinces with different incidence of AIDS in 4 different regions of Thailand were selected. Structured questionnaire interviews were conducted with village people, asking about their history of contact with PWAs, and knowledge and attitudes toward HIV AIDS and PWAs n =434 . An lAttitude Score , which indicates an accepting attitude or tolerance toward HIV AIDS and PWAs, was developed using the results of the questionnaire on attitudes. Six factors: sex, education, age, province, knowledge, and history of contact with PWAs were positively correlated with the Attitude Score. After a multiple regression analysis, contact with PWAs was significantly associated with Attitude Score. This study is one of the first analytical studies conducted in a non Western country to show that people s tolerant attitudes towards HIV AIDS and PWAs are positively related to their history of contact with HIV AIDS and PWAs. This finding should have important implications for future educational programmes and preventative intervention.


2012 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seth C Kalichman ◽  
Chauncey Cherry ◽  
Denise White ◽  
Miche'l Jones ◽  
Moira O Kalichman ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-46
Author(s):  
Robinson Simanungkalit

It is important to explain some important things on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). This study was aimed to to provide a proper understanding on the HIV/AIDS. Consequently, this study described what the HIV/AIDS is, the history of the emergence of HIV/AIDS, the transmission of HIV/AIDS, and the effects of HIV/AIDS on infected human. People infected with HIV and AIDS are referred to as PLWHA (People living with HIV and AIDS). They may be church citizens. Therefore, the church must not "turn a blind eye", but is required to be proactive in responding to people who have infected with HIV/AIDS.BAHASA INDONESIA ABSTRACT: Sangatlah penting untuk menjelaskan beberapa hal penting tentang HIV/AIDS guna memberikan pemahaman yang benar tentang HIV/AIDS. Dibutuhkan penjelasan tentang apa itu HIV/AIDS, Sejarah munculnya HIV/AIDS, Penularan HIV/AIDS dan dampak yang ditimbulkan oleh HIV/AIDS terhadap orang- orang yang terinfeksi. Orang yang terinfeksi HIV dan AIDS itu disebut sebagai ODHA (Orang yang hidup dengan HIV dan AIDS). Mungkin saja mereka adalah warga gereja dan karena itu gereja tidak boleh “menutup mata” tetapi dituntut untuk proaktif dalam menyikapi keberadaan warganya yang terinfeksi HIV/AIDS.Keywords: HIV/AIDS, ODHA


2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-282
Author(s):  
Chris Hurl ◽  
Janna Klostermann

This article revisits activist ethnographer George W. Smith’s intellectual and political legacy, with a focus on his engagement with and conception of “life work.” In the context of the AIDS crisis in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Smith contributed to reframing the way in which AIDS was problematized and confronted. Rather than treating people living with HIV/AIDS as “disease vectors” to be isolated from the general population, as had been the case under the prevailing public health regime, he started his research and organizing from the standpoint of people living with HIV/AIDS – investigating the everyday work that they did in accessing the services that they needed in order to survive. Drawing from archival research, activist interviews and his published works, this article traces how Smith deployed the concept of life work in his research as part of the “Hooking Up” Project, in his public writing in the gay and lesbian press, and in his organizing with AIDS ACTION NOW! in Toronto. Beyond the reproductive labour of individuals in accessing particular politico-administrative regimes, which Smith focused on in his research, we explore how life work can be theorized more broadly to include collective efforts to confront social, biomedical and institutional barriers to living. Hence, in considering Smith’s AIDS activism, we argue that his theorizing and political organizing, taken together, should themselves be seen as forms of life work.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document