Content-Form/Servpub: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 09:20, 2 February 2024

Servpub

Servpub as a project has brought together a constellation of collectives, researchers, activists, artists and other multihypenate practitioners. Servpub itself is a platform for research and practice around autonomous networks, affective infrastructures and experimental publishing through artistic and feminist methods. Servpub is a network of servers which uses a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with a reverse proxy that makes it accessible on the public internet. wiki4print is one server in this network, which hosts the wiki from which this publication was produced. It is available at wiki4print.servpub.net.

WHO

First and foremost this work was supported by Free Libre Open Source Softwares (FLOSS), walkthroughs and guides - most notably beta-testing the zine Making a private server amubulant by M. Karagianni & M. Murtaugh produced after the Traversal Network of Feminist Servers project which introduced Rosa, a collectively embodied server, which was co-produced by Varia, HYPHA, LURK, esc, Feminist Hack Meetings and Constant.

The Servpub project is the collective product of work from a variety of entities including In-grid, Systerserver, Varia, Creative Crowds (cc), Centre for the Study of the Networked Image (CSNI) at London South Bank University, Creative Computing Institute (CCI) at University of the Arts London, and SHAPE at Aarhus University. → See centre pages for an infrastructure diagram.

WHAT

Servpub is:

2 x Raspberry pi 4b
1 x Active cooler
Peripherals inc. 7" touch screen, keyboard, mouse, ethernet cables, 32G SD cards etc.
Jean: a bare metal machine of Systerserver's, hosted in the data room of mur.at - Graz, Austria.
Servpub.net: a domain name with the DNS provider tuxIC.nl in the Netherlands.

Softwares includes:

Armbian - Linux Operating system
NginX - Webservers
Tinc - VPN
For wiki4print: MediaWiki, HTML, CSS, Paged.js, Flask

For working, when necessary: openSSH, Tmux - Terminal multiplexer, VIM/Nano command line text editors, Git, Jitsi, Etherpad, Ubuntu virtual shell, pen and paper

WHEN

Inspired by the feminist server and other experimental publishing initiatives, the ServPub collaboration began to crystallize through the International Trans*Feminist Counter-Cloud Strike, and the perception that there was a lack of similar collectives/communities in London.

The setting up of Servpub began proper in May 2023. This included many meetings, co-working sessions and discussions. Here we have listed events which were open to a wider public.

TIMELINE

Public Workshop 1 (CCI - hybrid), 26 May 2023

Varia and Systerserver introduce techniques for establishing and administrating autonomous servers to In-grid.

Working Session 1 (online), 28th July 2023

Co-working on the Jean server began, getting SSH access and starting the process of using tinc, a VPN software.

Working Session 2 (CCI - hybrid), 4 August 2023

Finishing installing tinc, to create a VPN and configure NginX as a reverse proxy server to connect the first Raspberry Pi server (now available at servpub.net)

Public Workshop 2 (LSBU - hybrid), 24 November 2023

In-grid walked workshop participants through the infrastructure and set-up process, while adding the second Raspberry pi to the VPN network intended for hosting wiki-to-print.

Wiki-to-print install, 8 December 2023 & 17 January 2024

Work sessions with Creative Crowds to start the install process of wiki-to-print, which became wiki4print.

Content/Form, Transmediale Workshop, January 2024

Working in and around the continued setup and fixing of wiki4print on the server, thirty workshop participants and facilitators begin to submit and collectively edit text on the wiki.

HOW

Servpub is a project made by and for artists*activists*academics. It is a collective exchange of knowledge and methods to challenge hegemonic norms of digital infrastructures. It is a way to rethink, reimagine and redistribute technologies through feminist methods of accessibility, care and repair.

DOCS

One of the ways we have approached this work is with the intention that this will be an educational toolkit and replicable resource. We are developing documentation of our work - both in terms of technical work and the experiential qualities of the process - to allow others to take what they need and make something else. At the time of writing [31.01.24] the most up-to-date, yet-unfinished version of the documentation can be found at: https://git.systerserver.net/queer/networks

TO BE CONTINUED...

@@ Line 3: / Line 3: @@
 </div>
-Servpub as a project has brought together a constellation of collectives, researchers, activists, artists and other multihypenate practitioners. Servpub itself is a platform for research and practice around autonomous networks, affective infrastructures and experimental publishing through artistic and feminist methods. Servpub is a network of servers sitting within a Virtual Private Network that is accessible publicly. wiki4print, the wiki from which this publication was produced, is one node in this network of three servers. It is available at wiki4print.servpub.net.
+Servpub as a project has brought together a constellation of collectives, researchers, activists, artists and other multihypenate practitioners. Servpub itself is a platform for research and practice around autonomous networks, affective infrastructures and experimental publishing through artistic and feminist methods. Servpub is a network of servers which uses a Virtual Private Network (VPN) with a reverse proxy that makes it accessible on the public internet. wiki4print is one server in this network, which hosts the wiki from which this publication was produced. It is available at [https://wiki4print.servpub.net wiki4print.servpub.net].
-<h3>WHO</h3>
+===WHO===
-First and foremost this work was supported by open source softwares, walkthroughs and guides, most notably the Rosa Manual, co-produced by Varia, HYPHA, LURK, esc, Feminist Hack Meetings and Constant.
+First and foremost this work was supported by Free Libre Open Source Softwares (FLOSS), walkthroughs and guides - most notably beta-testing the zine ''Making a private server amubulant'' by M. Karagianni & M. Murtaugh produced after the Traversal Network of Feminist Servers project which introduced Rosa, a collectively embodied server, which was co-produced by Varia, HYPHA, LURK, esc, Feminist Hack Meetings and Constant.
-The Servpub project is the collective product of work from a variety of sources including In-grid, Systerserver, Varia, Creative Crowds, Centre for the Study of the Networked Image (CSNI) at London Southbank University, Creative Computing Institute (CCI) at University of the Arts London and SHAPE at Aarhus University.
+The Servpub project is the collective product of work from a variety of entities including In-grid, Systerserver, Varia, Creative Crowds (cc), Centre for the Study of the Networked Image (CSNI) at London South Bank University, Creative Computing Institute (CCI) at University of the Arts London, and SHAPE at Aarhus University. <small>→ See centre pages for an infrastructure diagram.</small>
-<h3>WHAT</h3>
+===WHAT===
-Servpub is:
+'''Servpub is:'''
 * 2 x Raspberry pi 4b
 * 1 x Active cooler
-* Peripherals inc. 1 x ea. 7" touch screen, keyboard, mouse, ethernet cables, 32G SD cards etc.
+* Peripherals inc. 7" touch screen, keyboard, mouse, ethernet cables, 32G SD cards etc.
-* Jean: a machine of Systerserver's hosted in the data room of mur.at - Graz, Austria.
+* Jean: a bare metal machine of Systerserver's, hosted in the data room of mur.at - Graz, Austria.
 * Servpub.net: a domain name with the DNS provider tuxIC.nl in the Netherlands.
-Softwares include:
+'''Softwares includes:'''
-* Armbian - Operating system
+* Armbian - Linux Operating system
-* Tmux - Terminal multiplexer
+* NginX - Webservers
-* NginX - Webserving
+* Tinc - VPN
-* Tinc - Virtual Private Network (VPN)
+* For wiki4print: MediaWiki, HTML, CSS, Paged.js, Flask
-* For Wiki4print: MediaWiki, Paged Media CSS, Paged.js
-For working, when necessary: openSSH, Gitbash, Jitsi, Obsidian + add-ons, Github, Gitlab, Etherpad, drawing softwares, Ubuntu virtual shell, pen and paper
+For working, when necessary: openSSH, Tmux - Terminal multiplexer, VIM/Nano command line text editors, Git, Jitsi, Etherpad, Ubuntu virtual shell, pen and paper
-<h3>WHEN</h3>
+===WHEN===
-These collaborations began to crystallize during the Counter Cloud strike action held in March 2023.
+Inspired by the feminist server and other experimental publishing initiatives, the ServPub collaboration began to crystallize through the International Trans*Feminist Counter-Cloud Strike, and the perception that there was a lack of similar collectives/communities in London.
-The building of Servpub began proper in May 2023. For reasons of brevity and legibility, the following timeline excludes at least 50% of: meetings, co-working sessions and discussions including all, or some of the constituent groups.
+The setting up of Servpub began proper in May 2023. This included many meetings, co-working sessions and discussions. Here we have listed events which were open to a wider public.
-<h3>TIMELINE</h3>
+===TIMELINE===
-''Public Workshop 1 (CCI), 26 May 2023''
+====Public Workshop 1 (CCI - hybrid), 26 May 2023====
 Varia and Systerserver introduce techniques for establishing and administrating autonomous servers to In-grid.
-''Working Session 1 (online), 28th July 2023''
+====Working Session 1 (online), 28th July 2023====
-The beginning of working together on Jean server, getting SSH access and starting the process of using tinc, a VPN software.
+Co-working on the Jean server began, getting SSH access and starting the process of using tinc, a VPN software.
-''Working Session 2 (CCI), 4 August 2023''
+====Working Session 2 (CCI - hybrid), 4 August 2023====
-Systerserver and In-grid finsish installing tinc, to create a VPN and configure nginx as a reverse proxy server to connect the first Raspberry Pi server (now available at servpub.net)
+Finishing installing tinc, to create a VPN and configure NginX as a reverse proxy server to connect the first Raspberry Pi server (now available at servpub.net)
-''Several Working Sessions, Oct - Nov 2023''
+====Public Workshop 2 (LSBU - hybrid), 24 November 2023====
-Internal working sessions, documentation and planning for the next public workshop.
+In-grid walked workshop participants through the infrastructure and set-up process, while adding the second Raspberry pi to the VPN network intended for hosting wiki-to-print.
-''Public Workshop 2 (LSBU), 24 Novemebr 2023''
+====Wiki-to-print install, 8 December 2023 & 17 January 2024====
-Adding the second Raspberry pi to the VPN network intended for hosting wiki-to-print. Aim was walk workshop participants through the infrastructure and set-up process.
+Work sessions with Creative Crowds to start the install process of wiki-to-print, which became [[wiki4print]].
-''wiki-to-print install, 8 December 2023''
+====Content/Form, Transmediale Workshop, January 2024====
-First session with Creative Crowds to start the install process of wiki-to-print, which became wiki4print.
+Working in and around the continued setup and fixing of wiki4print on the server, thirty workshop participants and facilitators begin to submit and collectively edit text on the wiki.
-<pre>
+===HOW===
-+to=4/for
-to from Varia's wiki-to-print
-from Hackers and Designers wiki2print
-as it is what the wiki is for
-for as it is the fourth iteration since wiki2pdf
-</pre>
-''Content/Form, Transmediale Workshop, January 2024''
+Servpub is a project made by and for artists*activists*academics. It is a collective exchange of knowledge and methods to challenge hegemonic norms of digital infrastructures. It is a way to rethink, reimagine and redistribute technologies through feminist methods of accessibility, care and repair.
-Working in and around the continued setup of wiki-to-print on the server, the non-linear publishing workflow gets underway, where design and content unfolds at the same time, allowing the one to shape the other.
+===DOCS===
-<h3>QUALITIES</h3>
+One of the ways we have approached this work is with the intention that this will be an educational toolkit and replicable resource. We are developing documentation of our work - both in terms of technical work and the experiential qualities of the process - to allow others to take what they need and make something else. At the time of writing [31.01.24] the most up-to-date, yet-unfinished version of the documentation can be found at: https://git.systerserver.net/queer/networks
-It is useful to note that this practice has been approached using methods of collective/co-working reflective of the artistic researchers making it. The approach has been to establish our own infrastructure, as an active choice to not necessarily use existing frameworks. We are using this process as an opportunity to learn, metabolise these learnings and then pass them on in (we hope) a form which is legible, modular and useful. In turn this means we may not have been efficient, choosing affectiveness over effectiveness.
+'''TO BE CONTINUED...'''
-<h3>DOCS</h3>
-One of the ways In-grid have approached this work is with the intention that this be an educational toolkit and replicatable resource. We are developing documentation of our work - both in terms of technical work and the experiential qualities of the process - to allow others to take what they need and make something else. At the time of writing [31.01.24] the most up-to-date, yet-unfinished version of the documentation can be found at: <nowiki>https://git.systerserver.net/queer/networks</nowiki> and we invite you to use what is useful, comment on what is not and perhaps contribute your own learnings.
-<h3>TO DO</h3>
-   * How do you see your role in cloud infrastructures?
-   * How would you like to transform these relations?
-   * What would you do with these tools?
-   * Imagine who/what you would like to care for through digital infrastructures.