Infoespai ('Infospace') is a 'node of communication and encouragment' in Barcelona's Gracia district. Created to collect and spread critical information on social, political and economic transformation, Infoespai takes the form of a small shopfront and office-style workspace facing onto the lively public square Plaça del Sol. It provides free internet access, both by CAT-5 and WiFi, an infopoint which gathers alternative publications, a photocopier, meeting centre, computer resources and workspace for activists and those working within the social movements.

All of this means that Infoespai is usually inhabited by between a half-dozen and a dozen young people, using the free computers and net access, planning meetings and carrying out their projects. Infoespa has, however, some very specific goals: to contribute to collection and spreading of useful information for the social change, and to construct a set of self-managed tools to help the social movements transform its use of information and networking - in other words, helping coordination and cooperation in autonomous and decentralizaed organisations. A project already realised along these lines is the /Guia Util 2003/ (Resource Guide 2003), which provides a list of political resources within Barcelona and the help and services they are able to provide to each other in the aid of social transformation.

At the heart of the project is a small, co-operative collective that takes decisions governing the space at a fortnightly meeting, in which all the persons active in the project can participate. 'We are working for a society in which the voices of the social movements cannot be kept in silence,' say the Infoespai collective. 'An environment where liberated information and free knowledge can spread without copyright restrictions, from hand to hand and from mouth to ear.' Thus, the project is allied closely with movements like Copyleft and the Creative Commons; indeed, in April this year, there will be a meeting in Barcelona , organised by Infoespai, on the subject of Copyleft and Intellecutal Property. This follows from a well-attended gathering in January 2004 on research in the social movements.

Infoespai promotes a model of subscription for people and groups who might want to support what it is doing or find its services useful. This gives access to a monthly bulletin and other benefits, and "members are invited to three-monthly meetings at Infoespai to exchange ideas, proposals and information."

Ongoing Infoespai projects include:

Moviments.info

A web of resources for the social change, collecting useful information on the social movements in the Catalan area. This has already includes the Guia Util, wiki resrouces anda news service.

The Social Activist Research Room.

An experimental resource set up to allow open research, reflection and participation in the creation of knowledge and common theory for social change.

INFOESPAI is located at:

Plaça del Sol 19-20 ground floor.
Open from 10.00 to 22.00 every day.