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The Public WebMarketwriting

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The Public WebMarket

``` Date: Thu, 9 Nov 1995 03:08:41 -0500 From: web-market@civicnet.org (Richard Civille) Subject: The Public WebMarket

Looking for a socially responsible Secret Santa? After Thanksgiving, come visit the Public WebMarket, as you prepare for holiday gift giving.

The Public WebMarket is a USDA-funded project that promotes sustainable economic development in rural communities. The project seeks to open new markets over the net to very small rural businesses and microenterprises.

Opening in late November, the new Web site creates the feel of local public markets where buyers and sellers meet and tell the stories behind their products, lives and towns. You'll find small producers of Christmas samplers and gift packages ranging from home-grown herbs, gourmet pasta to local arts and crafts. You can reserve a holiday retreat in a Hawaiian bed and breakfast or confer with an island wedding consultant or an Appalachian artisan.

After Thanksgiving: search with Webcrawler, Lycos, or Infoseek for these keywords: "Christmas gifts." Or, just send a reply to this email message and we'll be happy to drop you a line later this month.

The Public WebMarket will open featuring remote communities in Hawaii and Appalachia. It will then move across the country during the coming year. These communities are linked by a heritage of company towns -- coal and sugar -- built towards the end of the last century. Over the past decade, thousands of workers have lost their jobs to economies restructuring from resource extraction industries. New local businesses are struggling, and reaching new markets is difficult.

The Public WebMarket is a new alternative. It creates a new kind of producer-controlled market that can help answer the onslaught of Walmart-style mega-malls that are boarding up traditional mainstreet storefronts. And, it is an alternative to the "malling of the net." The Public WebMarket will bring the best of the Internet tradition of free-wheeling exchange of ideas with the brave new world of electronic commerce.

The Public WebMarket is a non-profit effort of the Center for Civic Networking, the Appalachia Center for Economic Networks, the Center for Policy Alternatives and Na'alehu Mainstreet. We'll offer you a unique opportunity to discover traditional Americana while supporting small businesses in rural communities -- all in time for Christmas.

We hope you will visit the Public WebMarket over the holidays and share your ideas and suggestions for improving and expanding this new service. ```

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