From phones, faxes and newsletters to the internet and SN sites
Have you ever wondered how the founders of our network managed to communicate 25 years ago without smart phones, laptops or the Internet? Although they would still have phones and faxes, they swiftly established their very own channel that would assure the flow of information: the EUROPEA Newsletters.
The very first edition was issued in May 1993 and sent out by mail to the national coordinators who were obliged to make copies and distribute them to the membership. For long years EUROPEA Newsletters were printed 3 or 4 times a year in English and in French. They were edited by Jacob Kjaer (DK), the first president of EUROPEA. After his retirement in 2001, Georges Demeester (BE), the Man of the Statues, took it over. However, the electronic age was emerging, the Internet became a factor and EUROPEA had to go with the flow.
Thus, newsletters rapidly surrendered to the changes. The last edition that we know of comes from June 2005. By that time the europea.org website was established and TeamEngine intranet was introduced with the ALIE project (2005-2007). TeamEngine proved so useful and easy to deal with that it gradually became the main platform for communication within EUROPEA, and it still is today.
The new century has brought us not only the website (which was changed and modernized several times) but also the compulsory presence on the social networking pages. Want to know more? Stay with us and read the details in our next article.
Salute the founders and long live EUROPEA!
Photos: Georges Demeester (BE), 1994 CARREFOUR Meeting in FR; Jacob Kjaer (DK), 1993 EUROPEA Seminar in DK; Founding fathers (from left to right): Georges Krack (LU), Fons Logtenberg (LU), Georges Demeester (BE), Jacob Kjaer (DK), Guiseppe Murolo ꝉ (IT), 2012 EUROPEA Seminar in DK
Acknowledgements: many thanks to Madelon (NL), Elisabeth (AT), Henrik (DK), Fons (LU), Jacob (DK), Georg (AT) 🙂
See our previous articles here: History of EUROPEA
For more photos visit the EUROPEA Facebook page
By Judit Čović (HU), leader of the Editorial Group for the History of EUROPEA Campaign, 2018. Based on the recollection of EUROPEAns and the EUROPEA Newsletters
