(Here is my suggestions on how to organsise a network like Fibreculture. It is best to organise an email list first then worry about taking over the world later).
1) Incorporate as a legal entity. Become a fully independent body that is not dependent on any institution (including universities) for its survival. If need be, seek advice on this from other successful organisations (ie. 3PS Radio here in Fitzroy is 25yo this year).
2) Don’t be scared to explore sustainable funding models. I recommend a ‘Paymate Express” link on the site and a suggestion of an annual $10 donation from all the subscribers. This would amount to $8000 per year (humbly, if you do this I will donate $100 to get the ball rolling). A subscriber-based funding model like the radio stations 3PBS or 3RRR could be explored.
3) Explore a democratic model. This is easy. Been done before.
And may I suggest as an incentive to subscribers that everyone who donates $10 to fibreculture has full rights to publish on the new community web log as well as voting in the annual general meeting (I can see all the Libertarians out there reaching for their belly buttons in shock at the thought of this).
4) Place a section for New Media book reviews on the site. Look at funding models for this (been done before).
5) Give away free www.fibreculture.org email addresses (and perhaps even weblogs). This would cost virtually nothing. Ask your host about this.
6) Perhaps look for a better model of distributed network that the listserv software. Listserv is not really that suited for the *real word* fibreculture demographic because it doesn’t promote interdisciplinary ‘multimedia’ forms. Listserv has (and does) serve the academy well but only in certain contexts and it is time to move on and broaden our understanding of a ‘creative network’ in this medium. If fibreculture’s ‘engine room’ is in Visual Arts, humanities and the applied-university community then listserv doesn’t serve this community well.
7) Write a direction statement and a mission statement (values, political beliefs etc). Is the list really interdisciplinary and do we know what this really means? And what does an ‘interdisciplinary’ space look like online, what technologies do you need to promote this, and why do you need to do this in the first place?
8) Don’t be scared to moderate. Moderation isn’t just about ‘censorship;’ it is also about ‘value adding’ to a community. And if you have a more transparent and democratic model of governance, then moderation will work better for everyone (and perhaps you could even pay the moderators).
9) Do an annual round up of activities etc etc.