ckohtala @ckohtala@scholar.social

#introductions
hi all,
I'm a #design researcher studying community #technology activist workshops (#fablabs, makerspaces), mainly in Europe, from a Science and Technology Studies #STS perspective.

foregrounding socio-environmental #sustainability opportunities, #postcolonialism, #commons, #localism, #degrowth and #postcapitalism.

adore #photography as part of ethnographic research and all-round poetic goodness.

due to a large number of requests we've extended the deadline for full papers to 29 July
#Design contributions for the COVID-19 global emergency
Strategic #DesignResearch Journal
http://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/sdrj/pages/view/call

this is very good
https://newrepublic.com/article/158346/willful-blindness-reactionary-liberalism

Springer Nature has released these publications related to structural racism and police violence as open access
https://www.springernature.com/gp/researchers/campaigns/black-lives-matter

Cambridge University Press is releasing a number of books open access on Protests, Policing and Race until 12 July
https://www.cambridge.org/core/what-we-publish/journals/protests-policing-and-race

[...]
Dammit!
What I mean is the cloudburst
(Which drenches us
and makes us huddle together
in the cold
Pickup our
only shelter.)

- Sidney Goldfarb, Solar-Heated-Rhombic-Dodecahedron, 1969

(cited here https://rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/assc/article/view/4917

a man
is blessed
who assists
in the building
of a solar-heated-
rhombic dodecahedron

I don’t mean
To say technology
Itself is holy
(though that too
may be
an element)

I mean
heat rises.
Rocks preserve heat.
Assymmetrical dwellings
can stand by themselves
if properly arranged.

No.
I mean the shovel
in my hands.
I mean
the cottonwoods
by the river.

I mean the dark
scent of dust
nudged up
by a few
new drops
of rain

[...]

P2P theory today: (1) conflate twitter mobs with informed critique.
(2) amplify disgust at twitter mobs directed at cultural/academic conservative voices w considerable platform + power
(3) ignore/disregard twitter mobs directed at POC academics manufactured by 8chan/far-right

"The poem below lists the reason why it is emotionally and physically costly for Indigenous, Black and racialized people to hold spaces for other people to learn about their complicity in systemic harm. Read the poem once and pay attention to the different kinds of responses it evokes in you. After you have read the poem once, read the instructions that follow for the second part of the exercise."
https://decolonialfutures.net/portfolio/why-i-cant-hold-space-for-you-anymore/

#ScholarSocial
'A feminist coven in the university'
"this article describes our backlash to the catastrophe of the neoliberal university, in the form of a feminist coven. The coven is both a theoretical space and material relationships between graduate students. ... According to Ahmed, ... ‘we need to work on the university when we work at the university,’ (‘Sara Ahmed,’ n.d.)."
#feminism #witches #academia
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0966369X.2019.1681367

The Unreal Estate Guide to Detroit
A guide to the emergence of alternative urban cultures in the wake of Detroit's economic decline
free to read online #openaccess
#guerrillaurbanism #tacticalurbanism
https://www.press.umich.edu/4145908/unreal_estate_guide_to_detroit

PDC2020
"A reminder of the #PDC2020 Keynote speakers: Gladys Tzul Tzul Maya/K’iche’ and Arturo Escobar. They will talk about:

Producción comunal de imágenes: trabajo comunal y memoria indígena // Communal production of images: communal work + indigenous memory

and

Comunalizando la participación: La co-investigación y el co-diseño pluriversales // Communitizing Participation: Pluriversal Collaborative Research and Co-design practices"

http://www.pdc2020.org/keynotes/
#ParticipatoryDesign #pluriverse

this is an interesting #CfP #ScholarSocial
'The Politics of Memes'
This special issue explores the use of internet memes to confirm, contest and challenge political power and hierarchies.
Information Communication & Society
https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/information-communication-society/

the organizers of the #ParticipatoryDesign conference are happy to announce that registrations are open for #PDC2020.
the programme is the most design-for-the-pluriverse ever! #autonomia #design #designresearch #pluriverse #codesign
#ScholarSocial
http://www.pdc2020.org/overview-of-the-programme/

#scholarsocial
#callforpapers
'Design contributions for the COVID-19 global emergency'
Guest editors: Emilio Rossi, Massimo Di Nicolantonio, Fabrizio Ceschin, Giuseppe Mincolelli, Aguinaldo dos Santos, Cindy Kohtala, Edu Jacques, Carla Cipolla, Ezio Manzini
Strategic Design Research Journal: http://revistas.unisinos.br/index.php/sdrj/pages/view/call#ODDP
#design #designresearch #makers #opendesign #CfP

a little write-up in Nessling Foundation's 'Environmental Research in the time of COVID-19' blog series, where environmental researchers talk about the effects of the pandemic.
"Cindy Kohtala writes about DIY digital #makers who design locally fabricated medical equipment for frontline workers." #sustainability #fablab #ScholarSocial
https://www.nessling.fi/from-grant-receiver/rapid-response-slow-adjustment/?lang=en