FringeWare Review
Encyclopedia
FringeWare Review was a magazine
about Subculture
(predominantly Cyberculture
) published in Austin, Texas
. Many of the publication's writers and editors were associated with other publications such as Boing Boing
, Mondo 2000
, Whole Earth Review
, and Wired. The last issue of the magazine was #14. The magazine had an international circulation, distributed primarily by Fine Print
, an Austin-based company that focused on 'zine distribution.
The publication was co-founded by Jon Lebkowsky
and Paco Nathan
, with art director Monte McCarter and assistant editor Tiffany Lee Brown
. The magazine's parent company, FringeWare, Inc., was the first company built on Internet community (the FringeWare email list, later referred to as the FringeWare News Network, and probably the first to use web technology when it appeared. FringeWare also had presences on The WELL
and on Illuminati Online's Metaverse
, which was conceived as a commercial mulituser object-oriented environment (MOO
). The company, which quickly built an international reputation through the Internet and the magazine, also owned an independent Austin bookstore that was an underground culture-hub for the city of Austin. FringeWare was one of many independent businesses to disappear from Austin during the late 1990s.
Lebkowsky and Nathan, who met as Austin-based associate editors of the print version of bOING bOING
, originally conceived the company as a way to bring micro producers of cool software and gadgets to market via ecommerce. They began with an email list, which had high adoption among an international set of technoculture mavens and Internet early adopters, and later became known as the FringeWare News Network. Nathan built a web site in 1992, creating an early custom content management system and online catalog of products. This would have become the first instance of ecommerce on the Internet, however credit card companies pre-SSL prohibited online sales, so the alternative was mail-order, and this required a print catalog. While hashing out plans for a FringeWare catalog, the two decided to create a magazine, inspired by Boing Boing
and Whole Earth Review
/Coevolution Quarterly
, with a catalog in the back pages. Mark Frauenfelder of Boing Boing referred to the publication as a "magalog."
--NTK, Need to Know, "*the* weekly high-tech sarcastic update for the uk" on FringeWare's closing ntk.net
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...
about Subculture
Subculture
In sociology, anthropology and cultural studies, a subculture is a group of people with a culture which differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong.- Definition :...
(predominantly Cyberculture
Cyberculture
Cyberculture is the culture that has emerged, or is emerging, from the use of computer networks for communication, entertainment and business. It is also the study of various social phenomena associated with the Internet and other new forms of network communication, such as online communities,...
) published in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
. Many of the publication's writers and editors were associated with other publications such as Boing Boing
Boing Boing
Boing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
, Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000
Mondo 2000 was a glossy cyberculture magazine published in California during the 1980s and 1990s. It covered cyberpunk topics such as virtual reality and smart drugs. It was a more anarchic and subversive prototype for the later-founded Wired magazine....
, Whole Earth Review
Whole Earth Review
Whole Earth was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of the Whole Earth Software Review and the CoEvolution Quarterly. All of these periodicals are descendants of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog...
, and Wired. The last issue of the magazine was #14. The magazine had an international circulation, distributed primarily by Fine Print
Fine print
Fine print, small print, or "mouseprint" is less noticeable print smaller than the more obvious larger print it accompanies that advertises or otherwise describes or partially describes a commercial product or service...
, an Austin-based company that focused on 'zine distribution.
The publication was co-founded by Jon Lebkowsky
Jon Lebkowsky
Jon Lebkowsky is an web consultant/developer, author and activist who was cofounder of FringeWare, Inc. . FringeWare, an early attempt at ecommerce and online community, published a popular "magalog" called FringeWare Review, and a literary zine edited by Lebkowsky called Unshaved Truths...
and Paco Nathan
Paco Nathan
Paco Nathan is a computer scientist, author, and performance art show producer from San Luis Obispo, California, who established much of his career in Austin, Texas....
, with art director Monte McCarter and assistant editor Tiffany Lee Brown
Tiffany Lee Brown
Tiffany Lee Brown is an American writer, editor, and interdisciplinary artist. Author of A Compendium of Miniatures , she is the Executive Director of the 501c3 non-profit organization New Oregon Arts & Letters...
. The magazine's parent company, FringeWare, Inc., was the first company built on Internet community (the FringeWare email list, later referred to as the FringeWare News Network, and probably the first to use web technology when it appeared. FringeWare also had presences on The WELL
The Well
- Titled works :* The Well , 1986 novel by Elizabeth JolleyMusical albums:* The Well , by Waking Ashland* The Well, 2001, by Jennifer Warnes* The Well, a song from the "Come to the Well" album by christian group Casting Crowns...
and on Illuminati Online's Metaverse
Metaverse
The Metaverse is our collective online shared space, created by the convergence of virtually enhanced physical reality and physically persistent virtual space, including the sum of all virtual worlds, augmented reality, and the internet...
, which was conceived as a commercial mulituser object-oriented environment (MOO
MOO
A MOO is a text-based online virtual reality system to which multiple users are connected at the same time.The term MOO is used in two distinct, but related, senses...
). The company, which quickly built an international reputation through the Internet and the magazine, also owned an independent Austin bookstore that was an underground culture-hub for the city of Austin. FringeWare was one of many independent businesses to disappear from Austin during the late 1990s.
Lebkowsky and Nathan, who met as Austin-based associate editors of the print version of bOING bOING
Boing Boing
Boing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
, originally conceived the company as a way to bring micro producers of cool software and gadgets to market via ecommerce. They began with an email list, which had high adoption among an international set of technoculture mavens and Internet early adopters, and later became known as the FringeWare News Network. Nathan built a web site in 1992, creating an early custom content management system and online catalog of products. This would have become the first instance of ecommerce on the Internet, however credit card companies pre-SSL prohibited online sales, so the alternative was mail-order, and this required a print catalog. While hashing out plans for a FringeWare catalog, the two decided to create a magazine, inspired by Boing Boing
Boing Boing
Boing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
and Whole Earth Review
Whole Earth Review
Whole Earth was a magazine which was founded in January 1985 after the merger of the Whole Earth Software Review and the CoEvolution Quarterly. All of these periodicals are descendants of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog...
/Coevolution Quarterly
CoEvolution Quarterly
CoEvolution Quarterly is a descendant of Stewart Brand's Whole Earth Catalog. It eventually became the Whole Earth Review.-History:...
, with a catalog in the back pages. Mark Frauenfelder of Boing Boing referred to the publication as a "magalog."
FringeWare has been, if not the home, then the battered half-way house for half of the memage in your head. Schwa, SubGenius, the FringeWare review, BoingBoing, them Bots which win the Turing Contest, the Dead Media Project. I'm sure they'd consider it an honour if you were in the area and find out - as was always FringeWare's creed - WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON.
--NTK, Need to Know, "*the* weekly high-tech sarcastic update for the uk" on FringeWare's closing ntk.net
See also
- Paco NathanPaco NathanPaco Nathan is a computer scientist, author, and performance art show producer from San Luis Obispo, California, who established much of his career in Austin, Texas....
- Jon LebkowskyJon LebkowskyJon Lebkowsky is an web consultant/developer, author and activist who was cofounder of FringeWare, Inc. . FringeWare, an early attempt at ecommerce and online community, published a popular "magalog" called FringeWare Review, and a literary zine edited by Lebkowsky called Unshaved Truths...
- Monte McCarter
- Tiffany Lee BrownTiffany Lee BrownTiffany Lee Brown is an American writer, editor, and interdisciplinary artist. Author of A Compendium of Miniatures , she is the Executive Director of the 501c3 non-profit organization New Oregon Arts & Letters...
- Patrick Deese
- Bonesy Jones
- Don Webb
- Jim Thompson
- Jamie ThompsonJamie ThompsonJamie Thompson is a Canadian musician who has been the drummer for several Canadian bands, including Islands, and Th' Corn Gangg. Jamie joined The Unicorns in 2003 for the release of the band's first major album, Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?...
- Wiley WigginsWiley WigginsWiley Ramsey Wiggins is an American film actor and blogger. A native of Austin, Texas, he is the nephew of Lanny Wiggins, who was a member of Janis Joplin's early band, The Waller Creek Boys....
- Clayton Counts
- Robby GarnerRobby GarnerRobby Garner is a natural language programmer and software developer. He won the 1998 and 1999 Loebner Prize Contests with the program called Albert One. He is listed in the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records as having written the "most human" computer program.-Life:A native of Cedartown,...
- Erik DavisErik DavisErik Davis is a North American writer, social historian, cultural critic and lecturer.He is noted for his study of the history of technology and society and his essays about the fate of the individual in the dawning posthuman era...
- Boing BoingBoing BoingBoing Boing is a publishing entity, first established as a magazine, later becoming a group blog.-History:...
- Mondo 2000Mondo 2000Mondo 2000 was a glossy cyberculture magazine published in California during the 1980s and 1990s. It covered cyberpunk topics such as virtual reality and smart drugs. It was a more anarchic and subversive prototype for the later-founded Wired magazine....
- The Illuminatus! TrilogyThe Illuminatus! TrilogyThe Illuminatus! Trilogy is a series of three novels written by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson first published in 1975. The trilogy is a satirical, postmodern, science fiction-influenced adventure story; a drug-, sex-, and magick-laden trek through a number of conspiracy theories, both...
- Church of the SubGeniusChurch of the SubGeniusThe Church of the SubGenius is a "parody religion" organization that satirizes religion, conspiracy theories, unidentified flying objects, and popular culture. Originally based in Dallas, Texas, the Church of the SubGenius gained prominence in the 1980s and 1990s and maintains an active presence on...
- Melba's Phone Militia
- SchwaSchwa (art)Schwa is the underground conceptual artwork of Bill Barker . Barker draws deceptively simple black and white stick figures and oblong alien ships. However the artwork is not about the aliens: it is about how people react to the presence of the aliens and Barker uses them as a metaphor for foreign...
- Erika Whiteway
- John ShirleyJohn ShirleyJohn Shirley is an American fantasist, author of noir fiction, and science-fiction writer. Shirley is a prolific writer of novels and short stories, TV scripts and screenplays who has published over 30 books and 10 collections...
External links
- FringeWare content archives web.archive.org
- Salon.com article, "Life on the Fringe isn't Easy" salon.com
- Austin Chronicle article, "Postcards from the Fringe" austinchronicle.com
- http://www.laughingbone.com/fringewareephemera"Laughingbone's Fringeware Timeline"