What is Agora'?

Agora' is a multi-lingual computer conference service, an interactive written communication system. It allows users from any part of the world to receive as well as--more importantly--to share information in five languages (Italian, English, French, Spanish and German).

In other words, it is like a square offering various public services: a library, a conference hall, a post office, a bulletin board, a press agency...

But, unlike a real square, there is no need to move from one place to another, or even to stand in line.

The various services can be used in your own home, by means of your computer and telephone modem system.

The different "places" or "containers" are called Sectors, each of which furnishes a different service. Agora' presently provides only information related to Radical Party activities. However, it is our hope that in future we will be able to make this service available to other political, cultural and scientific organizations.

MAIL

A kind of postal service for users. Personal messages can be received in an individual "letter box", or sent the to "letter boxes" of other users. Mail appears on the receiver's screen only. In fact, each user can only read messages addressed to him or those he has sent. This service not only saves on postal costs, but messages are guaranteed to arrive. In addition to this, the sender can be sure that the receiver has read his message. Agora', in fact, indicates which messages have been read and, at the beginning of each connection, it informs the user of any new messages which may have arrived for him.

CONFERENCE

This is Agora's most important service. It allows written participation in conferences on various themes, which are coordinated by a moderator. Conferences may be open to all, or limited to those invited to participate. As in any sort of conference, there is a theme, and the participants contribute generally either responding or commenting on the contributions of other participants. Unlike ordinary conferences, interventions can go on for days, even months, which results in more thoroughly thought-out contributions. The moderator introduces the subject and responds to the contributions which he considers to be most interesting.

QUESTIONTIME

This is a dialogue by means of written questions and answers. There is not need to go into further explanation here, as everyone is familiar with Radical Radio Questiontime. In this case, however, the questions and answers are written and not necessarily immediate. Everyone may read them, and they are surely more committing since they remain in the archive and cannot be modified, except for corrections or an explicit declaration by the writer that he has changed his opinion. Like Conference, Questiontime can last days, even months.

NEWS

This service provides daily the news of the newspapers and agencies connected to Agora' and the schedule of coming events.

ARCHIVE

This service allows the search and reading of texts available in the various archives, using the date, author, or key words (words indicating the subjects dealt with in the text; for example, Drugs, European Union, Military Conversion, Elections, Rights of Man...).

LIST

Provides the list of authors and key words used to search the texts and their translations in Agora's five languages.

ADS

Messages destined to all users and distributed by various organizations or by the users themselves. The Radical Party, other organizations, and all users can inform Agora' users as to actions, demonstrations, and so on.

USERS

This is the list of Agora' users with whom it is possible to communicate. In fact, access to Agora' is not allowed to unknown persons. Each individual must therefore assume all responsibility for texts or mail which he sends. In the list of users, only the name, surname, city country and "signature" (composed of the initial of the name followed by the surname) is provided. In addition, each user has his own password, which he may change whenever he wishes. Agora' in fact identifies the user by the exact matching of the user's signature with his password. Thus, it is impossible to enter Agora using the name of another user or to "sign" texts with another name.

GUIDE

This sector contains instructions for Agora' use, and lists of available sectors and user groups.

In the ARCHIVE and NEWS Sectors, only reading is allowed; in others (CONFERENCE, QUESTIONTIME, MAIL, ADS, USERS) both reading and writing are allowed. There is one more sector called SERVICES, which contains no texts, but commands for certain operations, such as changing a password or obtaining information as to what users are connected with Agora at a given moment.

How to connect with Agora'.

If you have already used an electronic network, you will not need explanations. The essential information you will need is the following:

With normal telephone lines, you can dial the following number: (06) 689 28 28 (eight lines), at 300, 1200 and 2400 baud; parity: none; Data bits: 8, Stop bits: 1).

If you are a user of a packet switchstream, you can connect with Agora' via Itapac (NUA No. 2650016--8 lines at 1,200 baud).

If you have never logged into a computer network before but own a personal computer, you can request the Agora' Manual (indicate language: English, French, Italian) from:

Agora'

Via Torre Argentina, 76

00186 Rome, Italy

tel. (06) 6864233/6896831