internet manifestos are not written only for humans ***** internet manifestos are not always serious ***** internet manifestos are not always countercultural ***** internet manifestos are not something else ***** internet manifestos are not self-fulfilling prophecies ***** internet manifestos are not bestsellers ***** internet manifestos are not about internet ***** internet manifestos are not fiction ***** internet manifestos are not non-fiction ***** internet manifestos are not only manifestos ***** internet manifestos are not wish-lists ***** internet manifestos are not always read ***** internet manifestos are not just pixels ***** internet manifestos are not lost in cyber space ***** internet manifestos are not up for sale ***** internet manifestos are not comforting ***** internet manifestos are not the end of the world ***** internet manifestos are not to laugh at ***** internet manifestos are not written only by humans ***** internet manifestos are not over

About

The blog is a result of a seminar "Internet Manifestos (1980s-2020s): The Shifting Contexts of a Writing Practice" designed and led by Anya Shchetvina at Humboldt University of Berlin. It was funded by The Berlin University Alliance, and was taught in the format of an X-Student Research Group, focusing on an independent research projects led by students. The seminar was an extracurricular activity and both Bachelor and Master students of four different Berlin universities could participate. It was interdisciplinary in its nature, positioned betwen cultural history of the internet and literary studies.

This is the poster with which the seminar was advertised.

Research groups and blog design

We have worked in 4 groups, where each group has studied one particular case of when, by whom and about what internet manifestos have been written. The underlying database was used as a starting point to concuct research, but partially other internet manifestos were investigated as well.

Our research group "Techno-History" focused on different periods within the history of the World Wide Web, and asked how major moments in internet political and economic history correspond to the history of internet manifestos. In the early Web 1.0 era the distribution of internet manifestos was widely spread around different communities with more or less radical ideas. Many people had access to this new world of global communities and so the land acquisition began. The other turning point we worked on was manifesto-production corresponding to the rise of AI, with the specific focus of Silicon Valley AI manifestos.

The research group "Cyberfeminism" studies the changes in cyberfeminist manifesto writing since the 1980 and until now. The research made the group question both the term "manifesto" and "cyberfeminism", develop a serious of critical points to the discourse, but also find possibilities for hopefullness.

The research group "Cybercommunism" focused on manifestos centered on the application of communist principles to internet usage. The group examined these manifestos to identify the context they were reacting to, their demands (and how these demands evolved over time), and how they conceived of the internet. The findings revealed a range of responses, highlighting the diversity of subgroups within this strand of communist thought.

The research group "Education" studies imaginaries of education in internet manifestos of the 1990s. It investigates how debates about education and digital technologies intersect and which imaginaries of education the manifesto writers share.

The blog team was formed by Varya Mironova, Frisine Reynvoet, Nadia Egan and Anya Shchetvina. The layout maker made by Sadgirl was used to generate the HTML of this blog. The seminar took place between the 14th of April and the 14th of July, 2026. The website was created to host the results of the group work and will not be updated.

Leader of the group

  • Anya Shchetvina is writing her dissertation at HU on rhetoric and mediality in internet manifestos, and can often be found wondering through the ruins of the old websites.

Participants

  • Frisine Reynvoet
  • Laurenz Cushion
  • Kirill Gagay
  • Varya Mironova studies education sciences at FU Berlin and tries to reconcile her love for digital worlds with concerns around their constant expantion, including into educational settings.
  • Lara Ritter is a student of philosophy and cultural sciences, who is interested in the ideas that inform the development and design of digital technologies.
  • Maia Samaniego is a student interested in anything social (social studies), focusing especially on feminist theory and practice :p, like cyberfeminist manifestos.
  • Samuel Ojeda is a student in Philosophy and History.
  • Maria Anastasia Scharff is a student of Comparative Literature and Theatre Studies, who is currently on a side quest to find out more about cyberfeminist manifestos.
  • Meda Urbonaitė is a Media Studies student, who not only “studies” media (word-play), but also lives in them, as she spends too much time on the internet.
  • Nadia Egan is a student of Comparative Literature with a professional background in publishing and contemporary art. She is a long-standing fan of the manifesto as literary form, with “Burn It Down! Feminist Manifestos for the Revolution” a permanent fixture on her bed-side table.