- Milberry
global justice movement(s) in the mid-1990s, tech activists began remaking the internet in the image of the just society they pursue. Using free and open source software (FOSS),
Critical theory of technology, or critical constructivism, considers technology as a terrain of contestation and intervention by users, rather than a mysterious black box, the exclusive territory of designers. It builds from critical theory, which provides the analytic and normative bases for social inquiry intended to reduce domination and increase freedom, "to liberate human beings from the circumstances that enslave them" (Horkheimer, 1982, 244).
In a white paper released by the MacArthur Youth and Participatory Politics research network, Political Scientists Cathy J. Cohen and Joseph Kahne (2012) define participatory politics as "interactive, peer-based acts through which individuals and groups seek to exert both voice and influence on issues of public concern."(vi)
common form of participatory politics -- fan activism.
DIY politics in the realm of practice. media activists
tinkering is as much a form of cultural production as a technical one; the activists sought to produce not just technical artifacts but egalitarian social relations, by eroding boundaries between experts and laypeople. Activists suggested that demystification of technology through widespread hands-on making could provide an alternative to prevalent technical cultures in which authority is not distributed, but resides exclusively with experts. By emphasizing technical participation, these activists distinguished themselves from and mounted a challenge to volunteer projects where technical virtuosity is paramount (notably, free and open source software projects, for example). This enabled them to focus on the deliberate cultivation of a radically participatory technical identity, enacting DIY as a mode of technical and political decision-making that rests on technical empowerment, where the notion of active political and technological agency is key.
radio hardware and directional wi-fi antennas -- to affectively take up the mantle of agency associated with making -- the activists struggled with inscribed historical patterns of inclusion and exclusion, as electronics tinkering has long been associated with white masculinity.
"ID please!"
ID cards
shape our citizenship.
citizenship in terms of rights and responsibilities
DIY citizenship ... concept of responsibility -- not just the responsibility to follow the rules and accept legitimately imposed limits on our participation in society, but the responsibility to hold our governments accountable ... open up the typically "black boxed" technologies, ... hidden within contemporary identification practices.
my own notes: Seatsale, Griefcase
xine [sic]
Zines are non-commercial, amateur texts As art educators Kristin Congdon and Doug Blandy (2005) describe them, zines are "chaotic, disturbing, uncomfortable, sensual, complex, loud, confrontive, humorous, and often a a pointed and acerbic critique of mainstream culture and contemporary life."
In this chapter we recount what happened when a project intended to analyze online political activism took an unexpected turn into DIY fan culture.
What is DIY? DIY is when you can just set out and do something, right? And you make it and there it is. You don't have to send in a job application, right? Maybe that's the definition: there's no application process. - Andy Bichlbaum, The Yes Men
No Application Process: Do-It-Yourselves
We playfully noted that DIY might best be described as do-it-yourselves (pl.), given the often large number of group members needed to carry out a particular action. Up until very recently, doing-it-yourself for the Yes Men has meant working with/as a loose knit network of activists, technologists, artists, and community stakeholders to bring important issues to the foreground of public discourse.