Apologies if this isn’t a space for sharing local events – I am the co-organizer of an upcoming volunteer-run event that thought it might be interesting to VHS members:
The day is a mix of local-first, permacomputing, repair, and hanging out on a LAN together.
Our Networks 2024: Does not (cloud) compute
July 27, 2024
312 Main, Vancouver, BC
https://ournetworks.ca/
Register on luma: Our Networks 2024: Does not (cloud) compute · Luma
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What does collaboration and presence look like when a network is optional? What connections are possible when we leave our data at the door and spend a day on local networks? What new metaphors will help us create spaces for meaningful and different relations partially online?
Last year provided an opening up a decade after platforms foreclosed on a sense of possibility of an earlier web. Turmoil on social media was the backdrop for creative experimentation with protocols and in networked spaces. Yet despite these new avenues , the myriad problems of being online haven’t been adequately addressed. The internet is dead, long live the internet. Before the previous web took shape and before an “always-on” and powered present, there were multiple ways to connect across boundaries and scales. Data moved by foot or mail across sneakernets, computing was time-shared so multiple users could access scarce resources, and ad hoc networks emerged from transitory LAN parties.
Drawing on practices of local-first , solar-powered servers , folk software , and permacomputing , Our Networks 2024 explores transitional technologies and forms of computing that break from always-on connectivity. Over the course of the event, we will investigate histories, tools, and approaches like these that allow us to reframe what computing could mean when the internet, and the cloud, are optional.
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Presenters and Program
Over the course of a day we will cover the past, present, and future with short keynote talks, workshops, and activities on the local network. Presenters include:
- Lori Emerson, Associate Professor of Media Studies, University of Colorado Boulder / Director, Media Archaeology Lab will share work on other networks
- Joni Schinkel, from Small File Media Festival will workshop approaches to small footprint web art
- Indie Researcher Brooklyn Zelenka will talk to us about the present state of local-first computing
- Michelle Kaczmarek from the Share Reuse Repair Initiative will lead a conversation into computing repair culture
- Esther Jang from Seattle Community Network will talk about the possibilities of community-run cellular
View the program: Program | Our Networks
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