As a self-run and self-authorized collaborative networking environment KEIN.ORG addresses various issues and problems that are not covered by conventional solutions let alone commercial or corporate ones:

1. Access:

KEIN.ORG started out as a project that organizes access for users who are usually excluded from setting up an online presence. Undocumented migrants, young artists and activists, users particularly from east european countries, or anybody else who doesn't own a credit card nor the necessary knowledge and confidence to enroll in a "do it yourself" experience. KEIN.ORG helps organizing access by connecting groups and activists, ideas and practices and supporting through an opportunity to join a collaborative network instead of a gratis service provided. Through a networked practice we empower each other and build the ground for unexpected collaborations and ideas. In addition to online support KEIN.ORG has organized numerous workshops and seminars for specific target groups, networks and associations, no matter if with or without funding support.

2. Experimentation:

KEIN.ORG is keen to experiment. As some of the pioneers of networked activism we have been working on the early implementation of new technologies in unusual environments. From PHP-based content management systems to open source multimedia, from peer-to-peer technology to high-bandwith uplinks via satellite KEIN.ORG continues to operate on the bleeding edge of new applications and technologies long before they become sort of consensus. At the same time we are perfectly aware of their risks. The laboratory character of the environment is characterized by a strictly collaborative approach: The impact on the KEIN community both, limits and multiplies the potential of any new development.

3. Sustainability

KEIN.ORG is devoted to the preservation and conservation of digital works. Over the years we have learned how fragile and transient digital environments are despite of the widespread belief digital data were eternal. Due to the growing demand we try to reconstruct or rebuild even long outdated environments in order to be able to host historical projects. In general KEIN.ORG keeps every project online no matter whether it is still active or not. Servers may get frozen at a certain moment, but as long as the systems are still running we keep them online to make the projects accessible even beyond their activity period.

4. Ownership

KEIN.ORG is offering an open hosting plan with a specific focus on the question of ownership.

With the hype of "social networking" and "web 2.0" several aspects of some of the original purposes of KEIN.ORG may appear as redundant or obsolete at the first glance. We are pretty sure that the opposite is true. The hype of "web 2.0" on client side and of application hosting on server side tends to ignore emerging questions of ownership which become more and more urgent. We understand corporate portals like "Flickr", "MySpace", "YouTube", but also allegedly free offers like "Google Mail" etc. as a massive expropriation of user generated content and as an open door to uncontrollable corporate exploits like user profiling, direct marketing and so forth. We therefore encourage our users to keep control of their content, achieve some basic understanding of the technologies in use and run their own site.

At the same time we have experienced many situations in which informal groups and networks fell apart over unresolved questions of ownership of their domain names, online archives and web presences. KEIN users who are setting up a website have access to a wide range of consulting and advice when it comes to questions of ownership and licenses. The collaborative character of the KEIN project allows the implementation of customized solution that reflect the respective concrete situation.