[image:102,left,10,0]Nine(9) is a Mongrel-engineered non-commercial piece of software art, available on the internet. It is experimental and the product of people who like to make technologies for their own purposes and then share them. It is in constant development and refinement, and is offered with absolutely no warranty whatsoever.

Nine(9) is a Mongrel-engineered non-commercial piece of software art, available on the internet. It is experimental and the product of people who like to make technologies for their own purposes and then share them. It is in constant development and refinement, and is offered with absolutely no warranty whatsoever.

Nine(9) requires the user to create or choose their own images, sounds, video clips and text. Once this is done, Nine(9) uses the nine map_images as it's base and creates a layout or knowledge_map with them. From this initial layout, the software enables you to create links to sounds, images, text, video clips and also to other parts of your own map and/or other peoples knowledge_maps.

The Nine(9) software is an online extension of the mongrel project Linker. Nine(9) and the Linker grew out of what Mongrel does in workshops: Mongrel works with people who are not experts but have something to say and not much technical experience of the internet.

The way the workshops run is based around the structure of Nine(9). There will always be one or more computers running the program - hooked up to the internet. Then other machines will be busy getting material into it. A video camera and some cheap digital cameras produce the still or moving images.
Sound comes in direct from video or via the computer's external mic. A simple sound edit program can be used to edit and add effects. The text is typed directly onto the machine. Other stuff can come off the net, CDs, wherever.

Currently, an experimental Nine(9) Server is running at 9.waag.org amongst other spaces and as the project stabalises other Nine(9)'s should appear all across the internet. The experimental Nine Server(9) is open to to everyone to use Ideally it would be used by groups or individuals that have so far been excluded from using the internet in order to get their voices heard. At the time of writing Nine(9) is being used by Mongrels for workshops in England. In the Netherlands ImagineIC is rolling out workshops in Amsterdam Zuidoost and projects of using Nine(9) for workshops with young refugees in Germany and Holland are starting to get in shape.