<nettime> WWW.BAGUS.ORG

[Bagus Haig <bagus@bagus2.immaculate.org> (by way of t byfield <tbyfield@panix.com>)]

    WWW.BAGUS.ORG Opens Web Site with Focus on Human Rights, Sustainable
    Development and Socially Responsible Business.


Global Participation in Information and Dissemination on the Internet
Realizes the Potential for an Unbiased Information Source. Modern High
Tech Shareware Operating Systems and Applications Provide High Speed
Access To Easily Managaed Content. 

For Immediate Release. 

San Francisco, CA - April 7th, 1999 - http://www.bagus.org went live on
the Internet today as a home for the collection and dissemination of
information on sustainable development and human rights, promoting
pathways to more responsible businesses, governments and civil society. 

The word "bagus" means "the best" in Malaysian. "Bagus.org is a Web site
dedicated providing the best information on the Internet," says John Haig,
www.bagus.org's director and chief engineer. 

"I strongly believe that consumers can slow environmental degradation and
discourage human rights violations if we have enough information about the
sources of our economic decisions. Now organizations and businesses have a
resource that will help them learn about how commodities are made and the
effect their purchases have on the global society," Haig says. 

The www.bagus.org site opens today with sections for Clean Water,
Homelessness, Racism, the Energy Industry, the War in Kosovo and more. 
"The contributions we receive on these subjects make the site a useful
tool, drawing researchers who in turn add their own information" said
Haig. More sections will be launched as editors take up new areas of
content.

Haig's experience as a scientist, activist, and Web site developer
provided the skills needed to both conceptualize and realize bagus.org.
The bagus.org Web site uses the power and flexibility of the FreeBSD
operating system, the Apache Web server, Apache's Jserv and Bitmechanic
GSP Java servelets, and MySQL database along with Web standard
technologies such as html and cascading style sheets. These provide a no-
to low-cost solution for organizations that want to publish on the
Internet. 

The same technology used to power the www.bagus.org site will be made
available to organizations interested in publishing human rights,
environmental and other information. "The best thing about it," says
Haig, "is that you don't need to hire a designer to get your content
online, and you don't need an engineer to help keep track of what's on
your site." Editing content, organizing the structure of a Web site
and changing the appearance of individual pages is made simple. Haig
says it will be easy for a senior editor to offload sections to
separate editors while maintaining ultimate control over the whole
site.

"Once I tentatively put the word out about the site's intent, I
received tremendous support from volunteers who also want varied
sources of information on timely topics," Haig says. "Certainly, I
want www.bagus.org to grow, but its real measure of success will be in
the resulting social change as people realize the importance of
gathering information and acting on their beliefs."

Bagus.org's staff consists solely of volunteers. For more information,
email bagus@bagus.org or visit the web site at http://www.bagus.org

### 

---
#  distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission
#  <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism,
#  collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets
#  more info: majordomo@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body
#  URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/  contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl