Prototyping/2025-2026/T2

During the prototyping sessions this trimester, we will focus on file sharing as both an ubiquitous thing in our day-to-day lives and as a socio-technical configuration to study, explore and prototype with! In that way, this approach continues our infrastructour at the start of this year: working from the middle of our day-to-day infrastructural realities, plus, it hooks into the research on gossip within Special Issue 29, where you're working on forms of craft and resistance.

• file sharing and craft: Our relation to files and the file systems of our devices are these days totally mediated through apps, cloud services and layers of abstraction. Which tools can we use and what skills, habits and methods can we grow to make custom socio-technical file sharing configurations for specific situations, people and context? How can you use your current crafts when sharing files with others? And which crafts would you like to explore and learn?
• file sharing as resistance: What role does Big Tech play when it comes to sharing files with our peers, friends and family? Which strategies are there to learn from to counter their power, such as mirroring and peer2peer networks? How can file sharing be an intimate process? What limits do we want to embrace, in response to all the infrastructure that is needed to process an insane amount of files everyday?

Rhythm of this trimester

This trimester is split into 5 different angles from which we will explore file sharing protocols, tools, strategies, methods, experiments and artistic practices.

• The first week, we will spend a full day together to explore a new angle. During these sessions we will do a range of exercises and will continue to work with graphviz, HTML, CSS, Python, the terminal and nginx (+ possible more) as tools that allow making all sorts of file sharing prototypes.

• The week after, we will come together in the morning for a digest session, to collectively, reflect, continue the conversation, ask questions and work on prototypes. This means that there will be no class in the afternoons, which leaves time for other things. (gossip time? continue with the prototypes? collective decision making? workshops across XPUB1 & XPUB2? other things?)

Assignments

Throughout this trimester, you are asked to continuously work on the following two assignments.

File sharing prototypes

Make file sharing prototypes in response to the 5 angles we will explore this trimester.

You can make these prototypes all together as a group, in smaller groups, or alone.

Be involved in at least 1 prototype for each angle, but you can make as many of them as you like.

Prototypes don't have to be fully finished projects (at all!). Try to keep them simple, follow your curiosities!

We will discuss and work on the prototypes during the digest sessions!

One sentence file sharing systems

Every week, we will write descriptions of possible file sharing systems together in a single file called one-sentence.txt:

https://hub.xpub.nl/sergio/SI29/file-sharing/one-sentence.txt

By writing these descriptions, we formulate the file sharing systems that we dream off, we wish for, or those kind of file systems that are a bit more speculative, raise critical questions, expose problematic sides of file sharing, etc!

We will read the new contributions to one-sentence.txt at the start of every session!

How to edit one-sentence.txt?

$ ssh sergio
$ cd /var/www/html/SI29/file-sharing/
$ nano one-sentence.txt

Use CTRL+X + Y + ENTER to close nano again.

Refresh the URL (see above) to see if your contribution is added.

Schedule

WEEK 0

Tuesday 6 January

No class

WEEK 1

Tuesday 13 January
with Kamo and Manetta

File sharing & mapping

• morning: introduction this trimester + mapping file sharing dynamics in SI28
• afternoon: hello file sharing cultures/methods/tools + continue mappings

WEEK 2

Tuesday 20 January
with Manetta

• morning: digest session

WEEK 3

Tuesday 27 January
with Kamo and Manetta

File sharing & my computer

WEEK 4

Tuesday 3 February
with Manetta

• morning: digest session

WEEK 5

Tuesday 10 February
with Kamo and Manetta

File sharing & situated strategies

WEEK 6

SPRING BREAK

WEEK 7

Tuesday 24 February
with Manetta

• morning: digest session

WEEK 8

Tuesday 3 March
with Kamo and Manetta

File sharing & networks/nginx

WEEK 9

Tuesday 10 March
with Manetta

• morning: digest session

WEEK 10

Tuesday 17 March
with Kamo and Manetta

File sharing & limits

WEEK 11

Tuesday 24 March
with Manetta

• morning: digest session

WEEK 12

Monday 30 March + Tuesday 1 April

Assessments