FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE OLD BOYS NETWORK To avoid burdening the net with unnecessary repetitive traffic, we have condensed the essential information regarding the Old Boys Network into a FAQ (“Frequently Asked Questions"). As the name implies, this document is written in a question- and-answer format. This is a conventional way of presenting relevant information about a given subject, and thereby sav- ing users the difficult task of searching for scattered references, which in many cases are partial, poorly framed, or even incorrect. It should be noted that this FAQ, like any other, results from the hard work of volunteers who compile and main- tain the information by keeping it up-to-date and relevant to changing circumstances. These volunteers are not unique; they are people like you who take time to "give back to the net." Each and every day, more and more women are penetrating the worldwide networks we loosely describe as “the Internet’. Needless to say, their presence and involvement is provoking many new questions. In some cases, these questions repro- duce questions and structures that have been addressed earlier, in other areas and circumstances; in other cases, they ‘seem in fact to be new. In order to familiarise yourself with these issues, we recommend that you read the relevant FAQ. If it does not address any specific questions you have, then please feel free to contact the FAQ maintainer by email at this address: . WHAT IS OBN? OBN stands for Old Boys Network. Old Boys Network is the First international Cyberfeminist Organisation, a virtual and real Coalition of Cyberfeministists. OBN is a small group of women living in very hard and difficult circumstances. Therefore they don't have as much time for certain issues as they would like to have. But knowing that the virtual power of OBN is stronger than their singular lifes, they are very confident and don't cease to activate discussions, meetings, events and strategic methods. OBN is a world wide network of intelligent and sensual super-women, having all the possibilities mod- ern life in the western capitalist world can offer. That is: none or too little for them. So they dedicate their hopes, skills and creativities to Cyberfeminism. WHAT IS AN OLD BOYS NETWORK? Old Boys Network is an idiom, a metaphor, and describes an informal interrelation of men. Usually the Old Boys of one Network all went to the same elite university. The concern of an Old Boys Network is to support and to get support for in- dividual careers. Older boys in a powerful position help younger ones and stabilise their own position that way. They ex- change jobs and information, and every single Old Boy profits from the success of another Old Boy. OBN is a feeling for poetry - of the digital medium. The meaning of the three capital letters 0, B and N is drifting. New meanings are generated automatically by a feminist OBN-program-routine as a poetry loop. Sample: Sunday the 6th of September 1998, 15:28, german time, OBN stands for Old Bitches Niche as well as for the better known Old Boys Network. WHO IS OBN? OBN is a worldwide network of women... OBN consists of a Core-group of 3-5 women who take responsibility for adminis- trative and organisational tasks, and an associated worldwide network. The members of the core-group are identifiable and are the contact persons. Currently the core-group consists of Claudia Reiche, Cornelia Sollfrank, Helene von Oldenburg, Faith Wilding, Yvonne Volkart and Julianne Pierce. Your webmistresses, your hostesses, your new ideas, your new conscience. AoW WOH