User:E.zn/2

//////////////////////////////// Thesis outline

Statement and approach

My thesis is an inquiry into DIY/leftfield tools and tactics implemented by the individuals and collectives who have been either pushed towards it due to the circumstances imposed upon them or by their own choice towards paranodality. It entails delving into a range of approaches and mechanisms devised in an effort of disentanglement from the established systems and modes. The research involves interviewing people with experiences in such endeavors and extensive documentation of the resources, as well as my own practice. 
I intend to continue with this undertaking after graduation, in a form of periodic publication. The Thesis will have an appendix with a list of tools, platforms and methods relevant to my research.

'I don’t think we’re ever going to get to utopia again by going forward, but only roundabout or sideways; because we’re in a rational dilemma, an either/or situation as perceived by the binary computer mentality, and neither the either nor the or is a place where people can live.' -- Ursula K. Le Guin

Structure

_____________________________ REPAIR 

Repair practices have different backgrounds and expressions depending on the location, history and culture. Here, I would like to address the following points:
-- Entanglement in a local culture
-- Exhaustion of repair [When it is an only option and having to endlessly deal with the broken objects/systems]
-- Repair practices in the West
    --- Right to repair
    --- Constant software updates eventually rendering some hardware 'useless'
    --- Deliberately 'unrepairable' designs


_____________________________ Network 

This section dissects an autonomous network as a physical infrastructure, social practice, a way of disseminating information and knowledge, and a channel for connectivity.
 
-- Practical challenges of implementation and how can it be made as accessible as possible
    --- Spread and limitation
-- Modes of establishing the network
-- Human aspect of the infrastructure
-- Network as a social practice [Abbate: “one limitation of defining the Internet as a large technological system or infrastructure is that this tends to frame the Internet as a channel for transmitting data, rather than as a field of social practice"]
-- What does it mean to operate withing an independent network
-- How does it effect communication and knowledge sharing
-- Effects on perception of the physical space [in a new way]
-- Are various independent networks 'talking' to each other [i.e. sharing experiences and knowledge etc]
-- Conversations and knowledge-sharing


_____________________________ Appendix
 

References

-- Leguin, U.K (2012). A Non-Euclidean View of California as a Cold Place to Be. [Online]. England: The Anarchist Library. Available at: https://cpb-us-e1.wpmucdn.com/sites.ucsc.edu/dist/9/20/files/2019/07/1989a_Le-Guin_non-Euclidean-view-California.pdf (Accessed: 15 November 2020)
-- Jacobs, A.Z. and Dye, M. (2020). Internet-human infrastructures: Lessons from Havana’s StreetNet. [online] Available at: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2004.12207.pdf.
-- The Critical Engineering Working Group (2011) The Critical Engineering Manifesto, [online]. Available at https://criticalengineering.org/ (Accessed: 15 November 2020)
-- Winner, L. (2001). Autonomous technology : technics-out-of-control as a theme in political thought. Cambridge, Mass. Mit Pr.
-- Oroza, E. (2016). Technological Disobedience: From the Revolution to Revolico.com, [online]. Available at http://www.technologicaldisobedience.com/2016/03/30/technological-disobedience-from-the-revolution-to-revolico-com/ (Accessed: 15 November 2020)