Museo dell'Informatica Funzionante - Palazzolo Acreide

Who we are

We are members of three associations of information technology lovers: the Freaknet Medialab, since 1994 the first free workshop in Italy to provide free email and Internet access; Dyne.org, programmers hotbed of Free Software; Poetry Hacklab, a free computer lab in Palazzolo Acreide, a town 40 km away from Syracuse, famous for its Greek theater and its historical and natural beauties. Gravitates around us a universe of enthusiasts, researchers, scientists and artists. Our activities are known throughout the world and we enjoy the confidence of UNESCO and the Free Software Foundation.

Our project

We decided to create one of the projects to which we have devoted 10 years of passionate research and cataloging: Running a Museum Informatics, a place where visitors, both physically and through the Internet, can use historical computers, know their history, learn the rudiments of electronics and information and share a piece of our journey. A place to preserve, repair, preserve, digitize and share the net a heritage of hardware but also documentation, software, wiring diagrams, books and media of various types.

What we have done so far

We have collected over the years a wealth of almost 2,000 historical computers dating back to the '60s. Thanks to our commitment many have been repaired and are now fully functional, while others are waiting to be brought back to life. This research and experimentation needs space that we never had; local institutions have never gone beyond words. For years we have relentlessly a place to start seriously the activities of our museum: the challenge is to offer a cultural alternative in the South of Europe where, unfortunately, until now the only way to grow professionally was to emigrate, even for many of our members.

What we want to do

The vision of a museum like that motivates us for the last decade, making us pioneers in the emerging museum area, the one that takes care of the history of computing and information technology (both hardware and software). Museums like this are springing up in these years around the world, attracting the attention and goodwill of both public institutions and private benefactors, but after having visited some we realize that the uniqueness of some pieces that we collect, as well as the history and software products that have made us famous in the world, would make our Museum Informatics Working in Italy excellence in its field. In fact a few years ago we were able to arouse the attention of domestic and foreign media and to attract in the village of Palazzolo Acreide experts from all over Europe, people to whom we are offering access only to certain computers and in local cramped private. We decided to join forces and rent a suitable space to realize this project.

We need your support

We are looking for help to meet the costs of this first step and that we ensure a year of structural local costs amounting to 10000 euro: so we ask anyone interested to sponsor us contact us and discuss what would not a simple donation, but an investment that would have a strong response over the long term. Once secured space in which to work to the museum for the span of a few years, we know we can count on an ever-increasing visibility and a team of experts who have specialized outside Italy in both academic and commercial.

To donate something, please visit this link:

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=FYQHTJEFRKJU6

An initiative of this kind will repay your trust with the gratitude of many fans and a history that we will write together, we are confident that the museum sector in which we can keep ourselves more and acquire more importance in the years ahead and we are committed to respecting the memory of those who, at this early stage, will believe in our work.

For donations, use the link present or donate through paypal account museo@freaknet.org !!!

This press release and 'found on http://lab.dyne.org/ComunicatoMuseo. Versions in other languages ​​will be available shortly.

Thank you!