 | |
Type of site | Archive |
|---|---|
| Owner | Spunk Collective |
| Created by | Ian Heavens,Chuck Munson |
| URL | http://www.spunk.org/ |
| Launched | 1992 |
TheSpunk Library (also known asSpunk Press) was ananarchist Internet archive. The name "spunk" was chosen for the term's meaning inSwedish ("anything we want it to mean"),English ("courage or spirit"), andAustralian ("an attractive person"), summarized by the website as "nondescript, energetic, courageous and attractive".[1]
According to anarchistlibrarianChuck Munson, the library was begun as Spunk Press in 1992.[2] The founding contributors – Ian Heavens, Jack Jansen, Andrew Flood, Iain McKay andPractical Anarchy editors Munson and Mikael Cardell – originally met via an onlineforum, namely Jansen's Anarchy Discussionemail list. The Library was run by an editorial collective during the 1990s.[3] It was not intended to replace printpublishing, but rather served ashop window promoting anarchist book publishers, newspapers and journals.[4]
By 1995, it was already the largest anarchist archive of published material catalogued on computer networks, though it faced a media assault accusing it of collaborating withterrorists such as theRed Army Faction, of providing instructions forbomb-making and of coordinating the “disruption of schools, looting of shops and attacks on multinational firms.”[5][6] The Library remained largely inactive during the first decade of the 2000's, with thehome page last being updated in March 2002.[7]
TheRough Guide to the Internet described the Library as being "organized neatly and with reassuring authority".[4]Chris Atton, writing inAlternative Media (2002) hailed the site as an "advertisement for socially responsible anarchism with a significantintellectualpedigree", remarking that "[i]n a world where anarchism is still largely derided or maligned by the mass media, that is an important function" and drawing a comparison toInfoshop.org.[4]
