Protocol of collectiveness

_still work in progress_

📍 15-11-2023 // @Nieuwe Instituut, Rotterdam

_first cut

Léa & Alex's Protocol of Collectiveness

Léa and I met during the FYI Talent Program, organised by the Hmm. We came up with a proposal to present our works in a joint presentation at the then-upcoming The Hmm @Reboot event. We collaborated on our presentation proposal before we got the chance to meet in person. We figured that both of us had very different outcomes from our work, yet we found that we had very similar processes. And values. We collaborated on an etherpad and exchanged messages in a chat. Our proposal was accepted by the programme organisers and we got the chance to present at the event <3 Here is the first cut of what we came up with - what we had in common in the way we work, which we called "Protocol of collectiveness".

Who: Léa Cadieux & Al Nik
What: a joint presentation
About: Collective practices with open source, archiving, protocols & literacy
Ways in which we invite collectiveness and open source practice.

_Protocol for collectiveness is about Literacy It's important to create experiences that everyone can understand. Having control over the process, the language that is used, the technology that is involved, etc. It comes through teaching and taking the time to create resources that give an individual all the information that's needed for them to become autonomous in some sort of way. Such as creating literal protocols. It's also about sharing information and creating documentation that speaks not only about the outcome but of the process, what's learned, what's failed, the references, etc. Like what Alex is doing with her MediaWiki.

_Protocol for collectiveness is about Solidarity It's important to create and to use resources that are easily accessible and easily shared. It's about creating experiences that have different levels of entry. To be inventive with common tools and low-tech approaches, rather then always create with the latest tech in mind. Solidarity is abo it giving accessibility to knowledge, experience, and resources. It's being generous, it is to guide and not to assume of people's previous knowledge.

_Protocol for collectiveness is about spaces It's the ones we create, the ready-made ones we use and most importantly, the space we leave or rather give to connections. We think it's important to create spaces where people have a say in the architecture, but also when thinking of communication media for example, it's to give people the opportunity to share the same POV. And at large it is to think of safe ways to activate freedom of choice for the individuals in these spaces, by using rules, Prompts, invitations, explanations. In other words, the architect becomes a facilitator for collectiveness.

_Protocol for collectiveness is about authorship It's giving people the possibility to be involved and to be part of something. To a certain degree, we could describe it as ownership. This could be achieved by allowing ppl to "program" their own space and their own experience, but also be autonomous in teaching the skills they acquired to others so they can do the same. It also helps Make the collaborations visible so that others can, join in. And it's about making sure to develop consensual processes where each individual's input can be archived and credited in some way.

_Protocol for collectiveness is about care But most importantly it's to allow care of different natures. Care between the people, care for the tech, care for the infrastructure and the network, carecarecare. When referring to care, most often than none we refer to people, but we invite you to care through the glitches, have patience with the slow wifi and empathise with the infrastructure that supports the ginormous amount of data and the bandwidth we're using. But also care is about sharing and creating safe environments where one can be informed and aware of the collective-making process. Whether situated online, offline or hybrid, people can understand where they are, how to join, to navigate and how to leave.

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All that being said, we'd love for _Protocol for collectiveness to offer protection. But the two of us still struggle with that one. Considering all that is to consider when working with the digital. We would love to open up the discussion about collectiveness and understand what were the ways you found to protect it.