Connexions Information Sharing Services

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Connexions Information Sharing Services
founding 1975
Seat Toronto , Canada
main emphasis Social change
people Ulli Diemer (coordinator)
Website www.connexions.org

The Connexions Information Sharing Services is the central online library and archive for movements for social change in Canada . Connexions is a not-for-profit organization and has an extensive directory of Canadian and international organizations and associations. The Connexions office is located in downtown Toronto near Kensington Market.

history

In 1975 as an information interface for the activists of the grassroots movement founded, the main focus was on poverty in the city and in the country. In 1978 the name of the Canadian Information Sharing Service was changed to Connexions , in order to make the mission of the organization clear that it is a link between the grassroots groups and their ideas and projects. The subject areas were expanded to include the development of third world countries , emancipation , indigenous rights, peace, human rights and other topics. Information from contributors across the country was disseminated through the Connexions Digest newsletter , which was organized by subject.

The first 4000 table of contents of documents, articles, reports, books and information about organizations and projects appeared in print in the first 20 years and thus became an important tool for Canadian activists and people who wanted to find out more about topics of social justice .

In the 1980s and 1990s, The Connexionen Annual was published, a yearbook of sources on social and environmental issues. The annual editions dealt with current issues and included a number of sources and an extensive index of grassroots groups in the relevant subject areas. The last issue of The Connexions Annual was published in 1994.

Connexions went online in the mid-1990s, expanded the Canadian and international sources, and began digitizing the already extensive library. The online archive contains more than 10,000 documents on the subjects of human rights, civil rights, social justice, economic alternatives, democratization, women, gay, lesbian and bisexual rights, Canadian indigenous people, alternative lifestyles and environmental issues. Most of the articles are in English.

The archive is one of the largest human-indexed archives of documents on social change. In addition to the Dewey system and that of the Library of Congress , the organization also uses its own controlled vocabulary of more than 20,000 titles created in collaboration with Sources, the Canadian directory for experts and representatives. Connexions and Sources began working together in 1993 when the then editor of Sources, media critic and peace activist Barrie Zwicker asked coordinator Ulli Diemer to create an online directory of Canadian organizations and associations.

The directory of associations and organizations contains more than 5000 entries and is sorted according to 20,000 topics. In addition, the organization also has a calendar with an extensive list of relevant events and publishes a large number of texts devoted to the Middle East conflict . In addition, the collection offers, for example, political manifestos from 1649 to the present day. Connexions has a full archive of The Red Menace, a liberal, socialist newsletter published by the Libertarian Socialist Collective from 1976 to 1980. Some editions of Seven News, a progressive newspaper, published by activists around Alderman John Sewell , who later became known as the reform mayor of Toronto .

Political orientation

Connexions describes its political direction as left-pluralistic and combines a multitude of different progressive views. The political direction is also reflected in the selection of articles in the archive. Despite these guidelines for the selection of topics and articles, the texts represent different views and positions. We try to offer brief descriptions that are as neutral as possible so that the reader can form his or her own opinion. Connexions is based on certain specifications as to which articles are included in the archive and which are not. One rule is: no works will be included that are written by Leninists, Trotskyists or from a post-modern perspective. Connexions focuses on issues with an emphasis on civil rights, human rights, freedom of expression, freedom of the press, secularism and democracy. She claims to be against censorship as well as against any kind of discrimination and oppression, of gender, sexual orientation, origin or ethnicity.

International internship program

Connexions offers internships in different areas for interested parties from all over the world. The interns work on expanding the digital archive, scan documents and images, write reports and descriptions and work in marketing. Connexions is also in the process of translating the controlled vocabulary into French, Spanish and German.

Web links