Hacktivism - Software Freedom - Feminism

After reading Danica's blog post Digital Divide and Social Media: Connectivity Doesn’t End the Digital Divide, Skills Do and Simon Phipps's post The New Digital Divides in Computer World UK related to it, I decided to write down my own little addition to this social perspective.

Yes, digital divide concept sucks. This old, outdated and completely wrong term has been the 1990's-2000 fashon. In the same basket are: "information society," "digital gap", and all the issues based on access to newer, more, and better technologies. This corresponds to a framing of social conditions on a binary basis as “haves” and “have-nots.”

Many of my undergrad students ask me about reading tips - how to read academic texts and how to get the most of them. I've heard and read a lot on critical reading, and have made a long list of suggestions that I often refer to when such questions come to me. This time I decided to publish them, so that more people can profit from these tips. Learning how to read strategically, helps students and scholars in general to build good habits of studying and also facilitate the writing of papers works (based on tons of readings).

I've often wondered before why hackers avoid journalists, even the ones with the most positive intentions. I wonder no more. Seriously.

I was interviewed by a young journalist recently - curious, interested, open minded. She knew little about hackers and hacktivism, but wanted to write an article for the Special issue of the Link newspaper, whose topic was "Nerds", and the article "Hack to Basics". I took the necessary time to explain the sensitiveness of the issue around the negative vision of "hackers in mass media", some nuanced ways of dealining with certain questions. Edited her article in the end. And then - when it was published, it came out that the story looks like any other stereotyping story over the media. My edits were ignored, and typos appeared on the URL of the hackerspace name, and even on the street name on which it is located.

When Virginia Eubanks visited Montreal a couple weeks ago, she stayed at my place. Before she left, I asked her to sing her book for me. At the end, she said: "And thanks for teaching me what hacktivism is."

If I were to sign a book for Virginia, I would say: "and thanks for teaching me what popular technology is". I'd rather explain.

"The Digital Dead End - Fighting for Social Justice in the Information Age" is an awesome reading for every type of reader. It is easy to understand, full of anecdotes, and yet.. very scientificly grounded. What is it about?

Foulab is pleased to announce our next workshop, Wearable Electronics for beginners! Come learn all about building your own wearable creations, using your own garments and ideas.

The workshop is divided into two parts, an Introduction to Sewing in the morning and an Introduction to Wearable Electronics in the afternoon.

::Abstract::

This article is about hackerspaces and the the do-it-yourself approach to learning . Over 300 of these communities exist around the world that radically challenge the notion that technology should imprison its users. These hackerspaces promote a new form of social literacy: the idea that technology needs to be accessible, allowing its users to open, explore, modify, repair and adapt it. Foulab is a Montreal-based hackerspace that provides the necessary tools for approaching technology critically. It is an open community that welcomes hackers and others to participate organically in a wide array of activities, workshops and individual sessions, all of which promote the joy of exploring and experimenting with technology.

After almost a year of submitting the first draft, my MA thesis is available in a PDF format (sorry, in French only). It will soon be also available as a book format -- if you want a copy, send me your address, and I will mail it to you.

Feel free to download, read, comment -- and please, if you use parts in your own works, quote it properly. To do so, I have left the original table of contents with the right page numbers. The attached PDF has 12 pages more, normally the Introduction should be page 1. If you are not sure, write to me and I will confirm.

Thanks for reading! And twice thanks for commenting.

Two months of my first PhD semester have passed, and I have been only reading, dealing with bureaucracy, teaching, promissing, and "planning" (not even blogging!). Now it's time to get on with real things: two papers, ready for publication, as well as one litterature review. All in all 60-70 pages. How much is left? Well.. hrm... no more than a month.

PhD Comics, 27/10/2010

We are restarting the Free Software Workshops, aka APL -- Ateliers populaires du libre -- each last Sunday of the month. Software installations, development, upgrade, discussions around free software - all will take place this Sunday.

This month, we will devote the workshop on informal discussion regarding the future of the workshops - the rebuilding of a new website, moving the mailing-list, plans and ideas for presentations and training.

We are working on new leaflets/posters of the APL, and presentations ideas for the 2011. If anyone is interested in presenting a subject, related to free culture, free Software, free society, do not hesitate to contact: benevoles@ateliersdulibre.qc.ca.

As some of you may know Foulab have relocated from Ultramount to Saint Henry last December. We are now well established in our new Hacker Space. Join us for an afternoon of Workshops and an evening of revelry.

The events kick off at 3 pm with the following workshops:

1. Arduino 2: "I got the LED blink, now what?" with fx and xsmurf (frenglish). Learn how to connect other gadgets to the Arduino to expand its capabilities.
2. LegionLab's Basic Electronics! (frenglish) Prepare to understand everything.
3. Web Security Snacks with gus and dataworm (frenglish). You're a web developer and you are worried about your application safety? gus and dataworm will introduce you to web security basics.

Над тези стръмни стрехи от железо
и тези булеварди от асфалт
поне един път няма ли да слезе
снегът от небесата като бял
и лъчезарен ангел? Аз не вервам.

Във този черен като въглен град
ще бъде зимата наверно черна,
незнайни - ангелите и снегът.
И ако дойде накога, без жал
жестоки ще го стъпкат със обувките си
стражарите и проститутките,
ще му почернят белите пера
димът на гарите и на комините...

Бял сняг ще има само във градините,
където са играели деца.

— Атанас Далчев

FSF is raising funds in order to be able to fund a few more women's travel to the upcoming Women's Caucus at the Libre Planet meeting next month.

As we've been talking about increasing women's participation in free software one of the things we've realized is that women typically have less access to funding for travel to conferences.

Support the Women's Caucus Travel Fund.

The last Sunday of the month at Foulab is reserved for the Free Software Workshops, known as Les Ateliers du Libre (APL).

This 28th of February, from 1pm to 5pm, we also host a presentation/training by Yannick Delbecque on LATEX – a document preparation system and a standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents.

In the meantime, there will always be time and place for Free Software and GNU/Linux installations, exchange and technical assistance for the ones who need help. Professionals and amateurs, everyone is invited! Bring a friend :)

[Version en français plus bas]

On Friday, February 26th we will be hosting FACIL, an advocacy organisation that promotes software freedom and open formats, for our next 5@7. FACIL will be filling us in on the initiatives underway to promote the adoption of Free, Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS): the status of FLOSS within the government of Quebec, ACTA, tou.tv. Please join us for a stimulating and fun
discussion about making inroads for free software in traditionally closed-source environments.

LinuxCNC it the "home of users of the Enhanced Machine Controller - EMC". There's everything about the EMC there - definitions, howtos, configurations, helps. There's this wonderful users manual (PDF) which I am reading now, and has all the vital information for understanding how the EMC works. Here are some first interesting points that I noted, but if you want to know (much) more, read the whole manual.

The Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC2) can control machine tools, robots, or other automated devices. It can control servo motors, stepper motors, relays, and other devices related to machine tools.