The zerox machine certainly extended a whole new life to home publishing, breeding a whole swathe of often badly designed zines from counter-cultural communties as a result. The stark contrasts of the photocopier wrecked havoc with photos and the cut and pasted text of the typewriters that scripted their articles soon gave zines an image that quickly became misunderstood. What was the consequence of functionality quickly became almost revered as an anti-aesthetic associated with independent production and punk.

In an era where web publishing, blogging and print on demand have blown wide open a route to ease of production for the aspirant writer it remains wholly frustrating that some of the most creative documentary commentaries and polemics on alternative culture remain moribundly attached to outdated methods of distribution. Confusing past seizures of useful technological advances with an aesthetic mode they deprive themselves of whole new audiences to limit themselves to a relatively exclusive and closed underground.

Escaping this misplaced attachment to the photocopier, long running Dublin fanzine Loserdom has finally made the decision to place its archives online. Loserdom is the work of Anto Dillon, who recently used his college thesis on the history of zine publishing in Ireland to pull together a Zine Show in Anthology Books. The website features photos from the punk scene, interviews ranging from Fugazi to Saul Williams and Mudhoney, comics documenting the life of cyclists in the mess that is Dublin commuting and enough quality writing and thought to make most bloggers blush. For those of you who haven't taken the chance to visit Seomra Spraoi, its provision of a new home to the Forgotten Zine Archive might equally prompt you.

Labels: Internet, Loserdom, Media, Punk, Seomra Spraoi, Zines