Re: Supreme Court Rulling consequeces

[Tom Keene]

My experience of dealing with UK local authority housing managment has 
encountered a domain of large scale cartels with complex layers of contractors 
and sub-contractors in a hyper-accelerated efficiency drive. This efficiency 
has driven down the pay of contractors who sub-contract to an unskilled and 
underpaid workforce - Stuart Hodkinsons book "Safe as Houses: Private Greed, 
Political Negligence and Housing Policy" provides excellent commentary on the 
worst affects of this. Not least of which, London's Grenfell tower tragedy that 
saw the deaths of 72 people. The narrative that comes from Grenfell residents 
of being ignored and dismissed by both the political and executive arm of 
government in the run up to the fire, chimes with my own experience of housing 
managment. 

Whats this got to with Brexit or networks you might ask? Well, the 
administration of housing managment is facilitated by network infrastructures, 
database technologies, and handheld devices. This distributes decision-making 
and introduces ways of optimising throughput of workers and residents reporting 
repairs. This infrastructure eliminates housing estate caretakers  in favour of 
remote call centres that are separated from the ethical implications of their 
decisions. The focus of housing managment is now directed towards metrics of 
completed repairs jobs rather than the quality of those jobs and the people 
they affect - throughput is king. 

Faced with this housing network infrastructure, it is near impossible for the 
predominantly working class communities  to contest poor repairs or inadvisable 
decisions over refurbishment or regeneration - Grenfell provides stark example 
of this. It is reported that police have seized over 30 million documents in 
their investigation. To cope with this volume of information the police have 
had to introduce database technologies operating over network infrastructure.  
This scale of information is clearly a product of technical systems that enable 
such complexity to occur. Even council officers are unclear how the technical 
systems they use every day operate and they certainly are not versed in the 
ethical or political implications of those technologies. 

What hope do residents have of fighting these systems and wall of data? What 
hope do residents have in a political class where predominantly labour councils 
are demolishing council housing (over 200 council estate in London alone) and 
'decanting' their residents across the country?  What hope is there when 
distinction between a left and right political class no longer makes sense 
because the left is no longer defending communities against the excesses of a 
capitalism accelerated by network technologies? Its not AI we need to worry 
about 'right now', its the dull infrastructure of government and the intricate 
ways its affecting democratic processes.  

Communities have lost hope because they are being beaten  by both left and 
right wing politics that attacks their very homes. I'm not surprised they vote 
for something like Brexit (I feel I have to say I voted remain on this list 
which I think says quite a lot...) - some kind of change is hoped for because 
the promises of the left and right are meaninglessness when your home is under 
threat by all parties. Where were the large scale marches against Britain's 
austerity drive or working class communities being driven from their homes 
regeneration? Plenty of communities continue to cry out for help, but the lack 
of solidarity from predominantly middle class groups is deafening. Yet, a 
climate crises has gained large-scale support (and rightly so) though the lack 
of engagement and understanding of issues of social justice from again, 
predominantly middle class groups, is striking. I'm not saying working class 
communities are not bothered by climate change or Brexit, clearly people are. 
Rather, there is an tacit understanding in those communities that systems of 
inequality are reproducing themselves in both climate and 'brexit remain' 
campaigns - the network with all its components is a huge components (human or 
otherwise) of how those inequalities are enacted.   

Tom  



On Wed, 25 Sep 2019, at 3:20 PM, tbyfield wrote:
> On 25 Sep 2019, at 8:11, David Garcia wrote:
> 
> > Sorry nettime (press delete anyone who has a life and so is 
> > uninterested in UK politics and related constitutional/Brexit 
> > shenaningans)
> 
> Felix and I have been thinking about shutting down nettime-l because (as 
> I'd put it, he may well differ) the list should preserve its historical 
> specificity and energy rather than devolve into yet another forum for 
> debates that are easily available in other venues. If you feel like you 
> need to open your mail with 'Sorry nettime' and tell people to delete 
> your mail, that's probably a good sign that what follows may not be so 
> productive in this context and maybe you should just delete it yourself. 
> I understand the urge to 

Re: radio nettime: 8 Sept 2019 12:00-13:00

[Tom Keene]

For me - as a long-time lurker - the benefits are about feeling connected to a 
wider network network of people engaged in both similar and contrasting kinds 
of thinking and doing. The list feels like it opens possibility of finding 
support in my future and current endeavours. Nettime is freed from some 
institutional and organisational politics (though they will always be 
ever-present) that makes different kinds of discussion possible. I don't have a 
problem with a slw drip as rapid lengthy discussion was frequently 
difficult to engage with during times of precarious work, birth of young 
children, and in the midst of activst campaign. 

I seem to be just visibly engaging so it would be shame for Nettime to fade 
away... 
Tom K 


On Tue, 3 Sep 2019, at 9:51 AM, Felix Stalder wrote:
> I would try to reverse the question. Not what are the costs (which are
> hard to calculate anyway), but what are the benefits. And if they
> approach zero, then it's time to stop in a decent way (and archive the
> list for good). There is no use to do useless stuff. There is enough of
> that on the world.
> 
> For me, the benefits have decreased, but are they close enough to zero?
> What could be done to increase them? What would constitute a benefit,
> and to whom?
> 
> Felix
> 
> 
> On 02.09.19 22:28, Morlock Elloi wrote:
> > If the cost of running the list was exactly zero (let's not delve into
> > details at this point), would you still kill it?
> > 
> > If yes, then we have an interesting case of potlatch, without bonfire.
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> -- 
> | || http://felix.openflows.com |
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> 
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Re: Has net-art lost political significance?

[Tom Keene]

Hi Rachel, 

I've written a contribution to an upcoming Critical Makers Reader for the 
Institute of Network Cultures that may be of interest. It relates to my PhD 
artist and activist led research (in final year of write-up) of local authority 
databases, processes of urban regeneration, and an ongoing fight to prevent the 
demolition of 306 homes, including my own. I employ art as a method of enquiry 
where the space between art, activism, academia, theory, programming, and my 
personal life is frequently blurred. Its not a treatise on early media art, 
though Its definitely a different approach to tactical media etc. so may be of 
interest? 

I've a live 'sketchbook' of this work that can be viewed at 
http://db-estate.co.uk Its filled with images, video, notes, code, and lots of 
half-formed text and errors! I wrote some code to automatically (and 
periodically) generate the website from a project/activist folder on my laptop 
that I work from - hence the live and error prone aspect that imparts a sense 
of an unfolding process and attempts to show the mess of this kind of work that 
is frequently hidden from view. There's a 'hidden menu' within a light grey box 
to the top right of the website that shows the directory structure and links to 
even more mess Though it feels slightly scary to mention this on Netime!!

Tom 


On Thu, 27 Jun 2019, at 11:40 AM, Rachel O' Dwyer wrote:
> What characterises media art interventions in the context of ‘surveillance 
> capitalism’, platforms and the gig economy? Are these practices still 
> meaningful or, as F.A.T. Lab claimed in 2015, have they lost political 
> significance in the face of global platforms?

> 

>  Can we still speak about ‘tactical media’ or ‘the exploit’, and if not is 
> this because 

> a) network activism has transformed so that these older descriptions no 
> longer accurately describe net art and ‘hacktivist’ practices, or 

> b) these art practices have stayed much the same, but they are no longer 
> effective in the current political and economic context?

> 

> I’m wondering if anyone knows of any writing that attempts to theorise/frame 
> media art activist work post 2012? Perhaps to speak about it as a set of 
> practices discrete from theories of ‘tactical media’ or ‘the exploit’ that go 
> before? Perhaps something on post-internet art and activism?

> Or is it a case of looking at writing about activism in the face of defeat 
> and what seems like a hopeless cause?

> 

> If you've read or written anything that you think might be interesting I'd 
> love to hear about it,

> 

> Best,

> 

> Rachel

> 

> A bit more detail about why I'm asking this question: 

> I’m currently writing about various tactical and activist practices in the 
> wireless space, including artistic interventions, software-defined radio 
> communities who are reverse-engineering, hacking, sniffing and jamming 
> signals, communities and activists who are building communal Wi-Fi and 
> cellular networks and artists making work in or about the politics of the 
> wireless spectrum – who owns it, how it’s controlled and so on. 

> But I’m feeling a bit paralysed. 

> I love these works; I love their inventive materiality and the ways that they 
> exploit and reverse-engineer existing systems, but I don’t know what claims I 
> can make for their political impact. And yet I feel that this work is still 
> very worthwhile. 

> 

> 

> 
> -- 
> http://www.rachelodwyer.com/
> 
> +353 (85) 7023779
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Re: Nettime is in bad shape. Let's see if we can change it.

[Tom Keene]

Hi Renée,
RE: I tend to make egregious typos & grammatical mistakes that I don't catch 
until it's about a week later. 
Same with me, i'm dyslexic and much prefer making and programming as a way to 
understand the world. On social media, particularly Twitter, I've learnt not to 
worry so much, though Nettime is a more intimidating space... 
Tom 


On Tue, 11 Jun 2019, at 6:20 AM, Renée Lynn Reizman wrote:
> Been a lurker on here for about 2 years. I am constantly thrilled by the 
> names I see popping up on this listserv. Seems like there are many members on 
> here who write or create things I admire. The conversations can be a bit 
> intimidating sometimes, but mostly I avoid chiming in because I tend to make 
> egregious typos & grammatical mistakes that I don't catch until it's about a 
> week later. 
> 
> Anyways, just wanted to say hello!
> 
> Renée
> http://www.reneereizman.com
> 
> 
> On Sun, Jun 9, 2019 at 9:51 AM  wrote:
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>>  Today's Topics:
>> 
>>  1. Re: Nettime is in bad shape. Let's see if we can change it.
>>  (v...@voyd.com)
>> 
>> 
>>  --
>> 
>>  Message: 1
>>  Date: Sun, 09 Jun 2019 12:47:10 -0400
>>  From: v...@voyd.com
>>  To: nettime-l@mail.kein.org
>>  Subject: Re:  Nettime is in bad shape. Let's see if we can
>>  change it.
>>  Message-ID:
>>  <1560098830.vqwx9ks2884g4...@hostingemail.digitalspace.net>
>>  Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  Thanks, Sean and all for these salient replies.
>>  I have often been active here, but had been offline more than I like 
>> related to living in Arabia; some things you'd imagine, others not. More 
>> than anything else, I have been creating a VR research center and doing a 
>> snowstorm of paperwork. My intentions are to be here more, as my research is 
>> revving up again.
>> 
>>  I value Nettime a great deal in that it remains one of the places where a 
>> high concentration of fine minds, whether they pop in or out like virtual 
>> particles int he cyber-aether, usually pop out clear thought.
>> 
>>  Another thing is that for the past three years, I have been traveling into 
>> Central Asia, Married an Iranian, coming to know the Eastern Hemisphere, and 
>> seeing what Geert Lovink and I had long discussions on here in Abu Dhabi 
>> relating the slide of Krokerian Bimodernism to American global colonial war 
>> capitalism under the Plan for the New American Century to the collapse into 
>> spheres of influence with the rise of Trump. Actually a lot more than 
>> this, but the flood of understanding has taken a while to coalesce.
>> 
>>  Looking forward to more conversation.
>> 
>> 
>>  On Sat, 8 Jun 2019 15:21:58 +, Sean Cubitt wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  I've been active long ago, and lurking for a decade or more, with only 
>> sporadic comments and adds: this look like a good prod to get us silent 
>> majority out of the closet.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  the thing that keeps nettime valuable is a) the 
>> contributors,timeliness, andswift smart dialogues and b) that 
>> there still seems to be a common purpose.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  social media start taking the forefront about ten years ago. The 
>> neo-populist right begins to replace the neo-liberal right about ten years 
>> ago. Is there some shared diagram?
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  Other lists died for their own reasons: one because it seemed like 
>> everything interesting was on blogs, back when the blogosphere was a thing. 
>> Another because a concept / art movement / political trajectory could be 
>> exhausted so fast it scarcely seemed worth inventing new concepts etc.
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  Mailing lists are asynchronous, which is great: more time to think; less 
>> kudos for fast reaction times. More consideration in every sense of the word
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  in a few days I'll try to post something closer than this reflection on the 
>> medium to what I think this list is for: the aesthetics,politics 
>> andaestheticpolitics of the early C21st --consideration, 
>> wonder and hope
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  Sean
>> 
>>  
>> 
>>  
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>  From: nettime-l-boun...@mail.kein.org nettime-l-boun...@mail.kein.org 
>>  on behalf of 
>> nettime-l-requ...@mail.kein.org nettime-l-requ...@mail.kein.org 
>> 
>>  Sent: 08 June 2019 15:45
>>  To: nettime-l@mail.kein.org
>>  Subject: nettime-l Digest, Vol 141, Issue 11

Re: The Maker Movement is abandoned by its corporate sponsors; throws in the towel

[Tom Keene]

I'd also like to add some thoughts here as a non-poster on Nettime.

I was recently contacted by some old friends, some of whom I haven't seen since 
I was 16 years old. These friends were part of London's early squat party 
scene. This scene was distinct from 'raves' heard so much about in the 
mainstream press, where the mantra of "free party faceless techno" reacted 
against the notion of superstar DJ's worshipped by dancers. Rather, DJ's and 
sound-makers tended to be dimly lit, out of view, and amongst the dancers.

The free party scene was born out of punk, black sound system culture, a DIY 
ethos, and the drug ecstasy. My friends learnt how to build sound systems and 
their own sound-making equipment. I shared my soldering skills my grandad had 
taught me while sitting on his knee. I also shared woodworking skills I gained 
from my dad and learnt from friends far more skilled than him. My friends 
understood generators used to power a rave, and the equipment of building sites 
because that's where their parents (and some of them) worked and continue to do 
so. Those that didn't understand electronics, helped move equipment, played 
records, painted banners, many of who attended art school and were from 
middle-class backgrounds. I didn't think much about class back then, or my own 
middle class background (which I often attempted to hide), but the free party 
scene was an important meeting point of different academic, class, and (to some 
extent) race backgrounds - anybody could afford to go to a free party and 
anybody could contribute. 

I always found maker culture slightly strange when it gained prominence, it 
seems far removed from the maker culture of my then, predominantly 
working-class, friends who put so much effort and gained so much expertise from 
their/our culture of making. Maker culture seemed to have lost its memory of 
earlier times. I'm reminded of a recent Keynote made Dr Johan Soderberg at a 
conference in the University of Nicosia in Cyprus which has a burgeoning 
maker/hacker culture in country dived by war. Johan quoted the socialist arts 
and crafts activist William Morris (1834-1896) "workers continue under a 
different name" to discuss how struggles are re-named to become something else. 
He suggested swapping the word 'worker' with 'hacker' or 'maker' to highlight 
how re-naming can erase the collective memory of a struggle. 

I think maker culture needs to re-connect with earlier struggles. The DIY 
culture of free parties connected to the squatter movement, housing struggles, 
road protests, women rights, globalism, and the Liverpool dockers. It 
politicised youngsters like me. The maker movement seems very distant from 
political struggles these days. Perhaps I am just starting to show my age, 
nostalgia for times past, or simply don't get out enough because of my young 
kids. However, last night I attended a residents association meeting on a 
housing estate in north London that faces demolition. I live on a housing 
estate that faces a similar fate. I undertake my research, making, theorising, 
and activism where I live because it connects with a tangible struggle. Let's 
ask why maker spaces (or should we rename them) don't tend to exist in such 
environments and what they lose by remaining in their own enclave?

Tom K 


On Tue, 11 Jun 2019, at 6:45 PM, Graham Harwood wrote:
> 

> I just want to interject a little into the Post-Maker universe. 

> 

> I work a lot these days with the maritime, a technical culture of wooden boat 
> repair that in Essex, I also worked a lot with people who restore old 
> telephone exchanges and people who build steam engines - through having run a 
> free media space in 00 ties were we hacked, pirated recycled at will. Among 
> the many things that are interesting about these technical cultures is that 
> they produce value for those engaged in the process - but this value has only 
> a limited relation to the accumulation of capital. The maker phenomena could 
> be seen in this context as a way to monetise the non-discursive technical 
> cultures - a tinkering world that has an unbroken line back to at least the 
> enlightenment but probably before. In 1799 the *Royal Institution of Great 
> Britain* was established to put science to work for particular class and keep 
> the theoretical away from a populace that presented a threat (the demon of 
> the French revolution) - The Royal Institution was a place where an artisan 
> class built technicals object but where not allowed in, or allowed to 
> lecture. Faraday had to have elocution lessons, learn how to eat properly 
> before being allowed to lecture and even then had to be deemed a genius to 
> escape the his class background and address gentleman. What Im trying to 
> suggest is that non-discursive technical tinkering exist within many 
> technical cultures and long may it remain so. 

> 

> I'll tag on a little introduction this I wrote. 

> 

> 

> “The science which 

Re: nettime Update: Conflict minerals and radical impotence

[Tom Keene]

Hi Eugenio,

Inspired by your original post, I made an attempt to start a discussion here:
http://www.raspberrypi.org/forum/general-discussion/an-ethical-policy

Sadly I got allot of abuse from other forum members (about 15 messages
were deleted) and sarcastic/warning remarks from one of the admins
which essentially shut the discussion down. Its seems bazar that they
are not able to have an adult discussion with regard to these issues.

Tom



On 16 Apr 2012, at 16:12, Eugenio Tisselli wrote:

 Dear nettimers,

 A few weeks ago, I posted a note to this list, turning a q into
 a faq: cheap computers and conflict minerals. Briefly, the note
 was about asking the manufacturers of the ultra-cheap Raspberry
 Pi computer about their corporate stance on conflict minerals.
 http://permalink.gmane.org/gmane.culture.internet.nettime/6662


 

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