We studied the Soft Infrastructure of the digital platform. Published under Creative Commons in Computational Culture Issue 9 (July 2023).

Paolo Cardullo, Ramon Ribera-Fumaz, and Paco González Gil (TURBA, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, UOC Barcelona)  offer an insider’s perspective on the development of Decidim, a free and open-source software platform for civic participation created in collaboration with Barcelona City Council under the recent mayorship of Ada Colau and Barcelona en Comu’. This platform is designed to foster accountability, transparency, and civic participation in local politics. Born partly out of the ‘movement of the squares’, the software strives to emulate the mass open decision-making and deliberation integral to city life. Here, the platform’s key developers reflect on its inception.

Open Access publication via Computational Culture, Issue 9, and the SocArXiv repository on Open Science Framework DOI: 10.17605/OSF.IO/JASD7

Art installation with CCTV cameras at Goldsmiths University of London. 2013

In conversation with media artist James Steven from the collective SPC, I curated an installation with CCTV cameras at Goldsmiths, University of London, in July 2013. This experiment complemented a panel discussion on video surveillance we organised at the International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) annual conference ‘Public Image’. The aim was to raise awareness of the complexities of CCTV systems and to open up a debate beyond the discourse of power and control, which CCTV is usually associated with. Pre-print (2017) CCTV oddity: Archaeology and aesthetics of video surveillance, Visual Studies, Routledge. DOI: 10.1080/1472586X.2017.1328988 →→→SocArXiv pre-print @ Open Science Framework.

#OCTV consisted of six surveillance cameras streaming live from selected conference rooms to video displays positioned in each of the six rooms. Each camera feed was then linked to a webpage, made visible as a QR-code to scan, that is, as a composition of black and white pixels in the characteristic square shape. Any mobile phone was therefore able to connect to the ‘control room’ page, and then to switch to the desired camera.

→→→ see my collaboration to the ‘CCTV Sniffing’ workshops, powered by Deptfod.tv and SPC→→→ see my article about the ‘Sniffing’ workshops (2014)

Community wi-fi mesh in Deptford, London (2008-2014 ca.)

OWN was a mesh of Wi-Fi radios set up by James Stevens and SPC in 2008 in Deptford, London SE8, an innercity borough with a history of migration and working-class labour stretching to the imperial docks. Deptford features vast council-owned housing estates, housing associations, and still affordable solutions for students from the near Goldsmiths, University of London. OWN picked to more than 400 daily users and about 100 nodes, a few years ago. Due to funding and time constraints, as well as to the less stringent digital divide brought by 4g phones and flexible broadband provision, OWN was temporarily abandoned in 2014.

OWN set mostly around the Creekside, where the river Ravensbourne touches the strong tides of the nearby Thames. This is the latest gentrification frontier in SE London, with developers putting a lot of emphasis on the ‘cultural quarter’: Deptford is now said to be second only to Shoreditch for number of artists, studios, and exhibitions. In this controversial and evolving scenario, OWN provided free access to the ‘commercial Internet’ plus the possibility to experiment with mesh networking for local residents.

I was fortunate enough to be part of the early stages of this evolving network, hosting a node in my own flat for a few years, and participating to the weekly drop-in workshop called ‘Wireless Wednesday’. I have written a paper on the connections between wireless proximity and anonymity – published as a book chapter for Communicating the City (Peter Lange); and another one discussing the intricate connections between gentrification and the independent wireless network – this is now published as ‘Gentrification in the mesh? An ethnography of Open Wireless Network (OWN) in Deptford’, City (Routledge). The paper narrates a social history of OWN and the gentrification of Creekside →Download the pre-print

Some of the readings most recently added to My Zotero here rendered through the ZotPress plug-in