Participatory actions and drifts for the post-digital city

New Babylon was a model of an utopian city of the architect Constant. It was based on the idea of a constantly developing network of units that can allow dynamic and playful interactions among the city and its inhabitants. Although the New Babylon was a city that was never built, a part of Constant’s thought seems to have been now realised in the most contradictory way. Life in the “smart cities” seems to have an open, participatory and playful character aiming for the constant optimisation, normalisation and predictability of urban everyday life. Constant connectivity and the continuous aggregation and use of urban data can not leave much of a space for unpredictable, ephemeral and free forms of communication and interaction. And while in the post-digital era the romanticised idea of the connected city seems to be left behind, the urge once again appears for the location and redefinition of the elements that can offer opportunities for unitary thought and collective action.

The project New Babylon Revisited invites to Athens artists and theorists who through their workshops and actions will propose new architectures of connectivity and re-examine the city’s infrastructures. As part of the overall project, the studios and offices of a building in Praxitelous street will be connected through a pneumatic network of tubes; a city drift will invite visitors to a free exchange of files; a discussion around the enclosures of the Athenian commons will be hosted in an offline sharing network; a parasitic micro-conference on the move will re-approach Athens and an ephemeral radio station at Mavromichali street will work as an open and accessible network, addressing a call for discussions and actions. E-book.

reSync besucht analog III: “Verlagsbranche im Wandel”

“Haben die gedruckte Zeitung und das gedruckte Buch eine Zukunft? Wie gehen Verlage und Redaktionen mit dem digitalen Wandel um? Fragen, über die rund 60 Teilnehmer und Teilnehmerinnen aus der Region Niedersachsen im Rahmen der Veranstaltungsreihe ANALOG im Stadtarchiv Lüneburg diskutierten. Auf Einladung des Innovations-Inkubator Forschungsprojekts Hybrid Publishing Lab am Centre for Digital Cultures trafen sich Fachleute aus allen Bereichen der Medienbranche sowie interessierte Bürgerinnen und Bürger, um sich über die Digitalisierung der Medien auszutauschen, Erfahrungen zu teilen und den Blick für aktuelle Herausforderungen zu schärfen.” (CDC 2014)

Sieh auch video editing server & WikiTV

ReSync.UG visited the art meets radical openess festival, taking part in a discussion around mesh networking. The whole programme can be found here: http://www.radical-openness.org/programm/2014

VPN PICNIC: FROM HIVENETWORKS TO PIRATEBOX

Hivenetworks, started by Alexei Blinov and collaborators nearly 10 years ago, is an Open Source project that explores the new concepts of DIY network building, mesh architectures and ubiquitous computing. The aim is to take the DIY networking and publishing to the point where it becomes accessible to anyone with creative mind and basic knowledge of computing.
A PirateBox, designed in 2011 by David Darts, is a portable electronic device, often consisting of a router and a device for storing information, creating a wireless network that allows users who are connected to share files anonymously and locally. By definition, this device is disconnected from the Internet.
We are proposing an outdoor gathering, a picnic, where we’ll test both platforms and discuss history of the future of autonomous connecting, media (file) sharing, meshing and swarming tactics in urban environment.

Unitary Networking

Unitary Networking is a speculative approach to communications infrastructure, trying to establish a link between urban technology and communication technology and reflecting on the way they form networks of power.
In practice, the starting point of the project is an electronic messaging system running on a wireless mesh network, composed of both fixed and moving nodes. The messages propagate through the network when the devices come in contact with each other. It is a non-hierarchical network, where every node receives, relays and broadcasts messages. The users of the network can send or receive messages by using the webbrowser of their smartphone or computer. The messages can be received and sent at any time, but are only synchronized when other fixed or moving nodes are encountered.
We propose a three day workshop to install the prototype and discuss
together with the participants: The first day will explain the technologies involved and the various elements that we could play with. The participants will be able to make their own nodes for the network and we will  think about how these nodes
could fit in the public space. On the second day we would like to go outside to set up the network in the streets and/or the public transport of Linz.
During the third day we would like to have a public presentation of the concept and progress, and open the use of the network to eventual experiments.
The project breaks down into a series of elements that will be part of the worksessions:
the installation of the devices that connect in the mesh network, which
will be flashed with free open-source software
the exploration of the urban space as a platform to deploy the network
the preparation of camouflaged devices as self-sufficient nodes, by
connecting it to solar panels or by parasiting vulnerable sources of energy
the construction of antennas to bridge longer distances
We count on public participation and interaction for making this proof of concept and the existing prototypes into a meaningful collective  situation.
The workshop is open to public with different backgrounds and skills, as the different tasks in the project can be shared according to the capabilities and interests of the participants.

Options for Participants:
If the participants would like to create a node of their own they should
bring an Open-WRT compatible router. For a list of compatible hardware
see(http://wiki.openwrt.org/toh/start). We recommend the TP-Link
TL-MR3020 and TP-Link TL-WR703N for their small size and low power
requirements. We will bring between 5 and 10 routers ourselves, to be
used as nodes.

DATA UNION discussion group/worklab
Data Union is a project by The Analogue Group. It aims to create a viral union of data refugees, whose only possession is their data, as an experiment in everyday life, that is, as a laboratory of innovation for the autonomous use of data in local contexts globally networked.
These data unions will add value to contemporary movements of ecological, economic, racial, and gender equality in three specific ways:
1. To work with groups to understand contemporary regimes of copyright, and open data movements.
2. To develop a political analysis of the data-yielding activities of their communities, groups, and organisations.
3. To develop a collective, creative, and democratic response to the social, economic, and cultural implications of Big Data and to fully leverage the value of that data in the interests of democracy, equality, and justice. More here: http://dataunion.org.uk
We’d like to spread the word about Data Union beyond London where current activities are situated. An afternoon of discussion examining efficacy of everyday behavioural tactics relating to data, surveillance and autonomy to enable anonymity, data disruption and pollution, autonomous organisation, value negotiation.
If time allows, we propose to test the Open Mustard Seed (OMS) Framework, a project by researchers, developers and entrepreneurs, primarily from Harvard and MIT and the Boston Community that seems to bridge a gap to developing autonomy in data retention, monetisation and eventual strike.
The Open Mustard Seed project is an open-source framework for developing and deploying web apps in a secure, user-centric personal cloud.
The framework provides a stack of core technologies that work together to provide a high level of security and ease of use when sharing and collecting personal and environmental data, controlling web-enabled devices, and engaging with others to aggregate information and view the results of applied computation via protected services.

url:
http://dataunion.org.uk
http://idhypercubed.org/wiki

Latest apps for Android and iOS include long overdue ifttt automation suite which will extend the scope for syncronising and managing publicity during the events we have scheduled. So far I can’t see a btsync channel, perhaps we will get one added.

We are using a recipe to trigger a tweet to be displayed whenever a new lunatic makes a badge which displays their resync qrcode. If it works like this I shall be amazed

 

reSync besuchte die Analog II Veranstaltung um das Thema “Kontrolle politischer Macht durch Medien muss sein”. “21. März 2014 Lüneburg. Von prekären Arbeitsbedingungen für hochqualifizierte Journalisten bis zur Verantwortung der EU für die Vielfalt der Lokalzeitungen – auf der Medientagung ANALOG der Leuphana Universität Lüneburg diskutierten rund 100 Medienvertreter und Journalisten am 20. März die Zukunft des Qualitätsjournalismus. Prof. Dr. Däubler-Gmelin sprach sich für die Kontrolle politischer Macht durch die Medien aus.” (CDC 2014)

reSync visited on the 14th of March 2014 d-cent: “D-CENT is a Europe-wide project creating privacy-aware tools and applications for direct democracy and economic empowerment. Together with the citizens and developers, we are creating a decentralised social networking platform for large-scale collaboration and decision-making.” (D-cent 2014)

Nesta announced that: “on March 14th we will host the D-CENT launch event in London at Nesta and we would like to invite you to attend the event and participate in the working group sessions. The event will draw a number of high-level policy makers, academics, activists, civic society organisations, and hackers from the field. Together we will dive into new ways of strengthening citizens’ participation and deliberation in the political process presenting already existing digital tools for open democracy, new frameworks for institutional innovation, and alternative economic models based on complementary currencies and digital crypto currencies.”

Uncovering new truths and making them public as a disruption and criticism of the dominant system has consequences.

Threat scenarios of the digital surveillance state inevitably have palpable effects on our lives and actions. Access to information, infrastructure and technology, which is especially important for activists in repressive regimes up to the present, has become a widely discussed issue since Snowden’s disclosures at the latest, because now a broad mass of people in democratically governed states see their “privacy” endangered. Independence, confidence and freedom are massively put to the test.

Artists, hacktivists, cultural producers, journalists, software developers and idealists, in short creative actors with a desire for change increasingly find themselves in uncertain territory. Which methods and alternative tools can be used to generate new views of everyday life, work, money, politics and the environment, and to instigate a new cultural practice, to impel civil society processes, without them being nipped in the bud?

How do creative actors contribute to the process of change and which new forms of cooperation do they enter into?
# Program # AMRO Showcase # Speakers

Contributers:
Klau Kinki/ES; !Mediengruppe Bitnik/CH; Adnan Hadzi/CH/UK; Aleš Hieng, SLO; André Castro/ES; Andreas Zingerle/A; Anne Roth/DE; Dennis de Bel/NL; Roelof Roscam Abbing/NL; Dominik Leitner/A; Donna Metzlar/NL; Femke Snelting/NL; Franz Xaver/A; Heath Bunting/UK; Inari Wishiki/UK; Jakub Pišek/CZ; James Bridle/UK; James Stevens/UK; Jonathan Kemp/UK; Karlessi/IT; Konrad Becker/A; Larisa Blazic/SRB/UK; Linda Kronman/FIN/A; Lizvlx/A; Lonneke van der Velden/NL; Marc Garrett/UK; Marek Tuszynski/ Margarita Köhl/A; Martino Morandi/IT; Marie Polakova/CZ/A; Michael Schweiger/A; Nathaniel Tkacz; Niek Hilkmann/NL; Renfah/A; Robertina Šebjanič/SLO; Roelof Roscam Abbing/NL; Selena Savić/CH; Taro the cook/A; Tatiana Bazzichelli/IT; Valie Djordjevic/DE; Veronika Krenn/A; Vesela Mihaylova; Victor Diaz/ES; waiwai; Wolfgang Spahn/DE; Yoana Buzova/NL; Reni Hofmüller/A, Jogi Hofmüller/A; u.v.a

reSync visited transmediale 14: afterglow’s art hack day: “Afterglow” is a collaboration between Art Hack Day, LEAP Berlin and transmediale. As coders we fear the ‘legacy’ system, a piece of old junk we haven’t yet figured out how to throw away. As artists, we’re tempted by prolific outbursts of freshness and novelty; more art of less value. Businesses and government crave more data, more connections, more context. By embracing these impulses without contemplation we perpetuate the technological hype cycle and unintentionally shorten the half-life of our artefacts. Technology has become akin to a natural resource, generating physical and immaterial waste that is appropriated in such diverse contexts as e-garbage dumps, big data businesses and mass surveillance schemes. As such, trash is no longer what is just left behind but is central to our post-digital lives. When digital detritus piles up it decomposes, giving rise to a post-digital afterglow with the potential for new expression and new enterprise. Can we make peace with our excessive data flows and their inevitable obsolescence? Can we find nourishment in waste, overflow and excess? Can the afterglow of perpetual decay illuminate us?” (Art Hack Day 2014)

From the 15th till the 18th of January we participated in the Taking Care of Things Meeting at the Stadtarchiv Lüneburg Germany. This was also the closing event for the Post Media Lab Incubator project at Leuphana University and our research fellowship with them. See the documentation here.

The visit began with a tour of the city archive during which we heard about the main activities of the institution not least the film, map and image collections. They wish to extend access to these via street access sync points in the near future.

We convened one of seven care groups Mesh Media! to look at open, collaborative systems that facilitate collective abilities to store, curate, share, edit, redistribute and re-purpose media while at the same time creating new frames of reference and practice in public. We were pleased to have presentations by Eric Kluitenberg of Tactical Media Files, Volker Grassmuck and Jan Torge of ‘InternetTV for the newMedia Generation’ Grundversorgung, open wireless network advocates Freifunk Lueneburg and Robert Ochshorn with Interlace. (See last section for more details..)

Media was selected from the respective archives and uploaded to publicly presented syncronisation points adjacent to each Freifunk node in Lueneburg city centre.

We produced a map to illustrate the locations of syncronisation points as a  data trail which was toured by a small group of Lueneburg locals. They were encouraged to scan the QRcode posters and NFC tags they found on the street first connecting to Freifunk wireless then activating the BTsync to distribute the images and films.

Please try these BTsyncs yourself 1|2|3|4|5|6|7|8|9|10|11|12 – or get the set! confused ? see the howTo..

The post-medial is not tied to any particular modality of media, neither to “new” or “old”, “digital” or “analog”, nor to “connected” or “offline”. Nevertheless it relies on new medial affordances (what? affordances! :-)) and possibilities, allowing for new kinds of collective repositories and living archives. How can these new collecitve, transitory and ad-hoc repositories of ‘many media’ look like? What are their (possible) protocols of turning consumers into makers, individuals into groups, and media into structured, living and meaningful (micro-)social memory? What are possible assemblages that withstand idiosyncrasy and expert-ism, but are ‘avant-garde’ and progressive in form and function nevertheless?