Type of site encyclopaedia Registration free, public | Owner undergroundpress.org Commercial No Launched July 2006 | |
ZineWiki is an open-source online wiki devoted to zines, fanzines, small press publications, chapbooks, and independent media. It covers the history, production, distribution and culture of the small press.
Contents
History
ZineWiki was created in July 2006 by Alan Lastufka and Kate Sandler and includes hundreds of contributors from the independent press.
In September 2006 ZineWiki surpassed 500 articles and began to garner outside media attention, most notably in the Portland Mercury.
Like Wikipedia, ZineWiki strives for neutrality and accuracy. Because of its attempt to document often small and ephemeral small press publications, the relevancy tag is not used on ZineWiki, as the editors believe all independent publications are worth documenting.
During a September 2006 broadcast, the host of Flat Four Radio in London remarked that there's "nothing to stop it (ZineWiki) from becoming the world's main source of information on zines," while Karl Wenclas, founder of the Underground Literary Alliance, has called ZineWiki "a sign of new life."
In October 2006 ZineWiki became a featured website on the Small Press Exchange.
Also in October 2006 Punk Planet announced on its website its partnership with ZineWiki, which began archiving articles from the magazine related to zine publishing.
In February 2007 ZineWiki was a featured website on Rivet Magazine.
In spring of 2007 Broken Pencil magazine published a two-page article about ZineWiki entitled "Zine Wiki and the Great Indie Cultureal Reservoir" in Issue 35.
Media partners and sponsors
In September 2006, the Chicago-based print magazine Punk Planet partnered with ZineWiki to offer exclusive online content. The first of these articles was entitled "Unofficial Histories: Zine and Ephemeral Print Archivists" by Anne Elizabeth Moore.
Other media sponsors of ZineWiki include Broken Pencil and Clamor.
Features
Conclusion
ZineWiki is the most comprehensive database of zines and small press publications on the Web. After Punk Planet ceased publishing in 2007, ZineWiki continued without a partnership for a while until new sponsors Broken Pencil and Clamor Magazine became involved. Except for a brief period off-line, after being hacked, ZineWiki has now been preserving information about the small press since 2006 until the present day. February 2009, Jerianne Thompson and Dan Halligan took over as administrators.