We have seen a growing number of peer-to-peer, inclusive, and privacy-respecting projects mobilizing against setbacks to resilient, accessible, equitable communications over the internet. In December 2017 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to repeal net neutrality rules designed to ensure a free and open internet. Further, far-right populism and growing political polarization, increased extreme weather linked to climate change, and forced displacement have all revealed fractures in the infrastructures of globalized systems that allow us to communicate. While these issues present new challenges, in Toronto–as elsewhere–longstanding digital inequalities are perpetuated through uneven access to, and a lack of, affordable internet for all.
Mozilla’s Internet Health Report highlights trends impacting decentralization, privacy, digital inclusion and literacy within a global network. Promising decentralized, peer-to-peer, or mesh projects including eNuk mesh, Mastodon, Beaker Browser, and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS) have seen growing interest. Yet many open questions remain. In the face of threats to the open access and resilience of our shared communications infrastructures, which tools and tactics will help us recognize the opportunities and challenges of this moment? Acknowledging drastic changes since the foundational protocols of the internet emerged, what mechanisms and structures will allow for collective self-learning into the future? Building on last years’ State of Our Networks, which traced the past, present, and future of community network infrastructures in Toronto, we look forward to discussing these questions together at State of Our Networks 2018 on July 14-15 in Toronto, Ontario.
Our theme this year focuses on how we Do It With Others (DIWO) as opposed to just ourselves, building on the "distributed campaign for emancipatory, networked art practices," instigated by UK-based Furtherfield (2006) as a response to the Do It Yourself (DIY) movement. What kinds of creative and critical engagement with technology practices can enable meaningful change when we do it with others? How do we “do” the distributed, emancipatory, and networked-based creation and maintenance our own infrastructures with others as opposed to ourselves? How do we ensure equitable inclusion to ensure these projects are truly emancipatory? What are first steps that existing projects and community networks could take toward this approach?
We are inviting proposals for talks, workshops, discussions, demonstrations and interventions to explore these questions. Topics could include, but in no way are limited to:
- decentralization is not enough
- making equitable network infrastructures
- rebuilding or repairing existing infrastructure
- being/becoming network neighbours
- skill- and capacity- building for maintaining alternative networks
Deadline for proposals is April 27, 2018. Submissions should follow our template and be submitted as a GitHub issue in our submissions repository.
Please note: first time GitHub users will need to create a free account before they can open an issue.
Anyone interested in how we can build emancipatory communications infrastructures! State of Our Networks is excited for sessions that centre the voices of those that are marginalized or less often heard at technical events. We especially encourage those less experienced in speaking in public, or speaking for the first time to submit. The conference has a Code of Conduct.
In order to support less experienced speakers, we will host two open hour calls for people to ask questions about potential topics and the conference itself: Saturday March 24 at 12:00-1:00 pm ET, and Tuesday April 17 at 8:00-9:00 pm ET. No prior registration needed, just point your browser at: https://appear.in/ournetworks