This Sunday (21.06.) from 13:00 onwards at the Carolus Cinema Squat in Nijmegen we will come together to gather the digital needs of our communities and figure out together how to set up secure, autonomous communication networks with the Reticulum Network Stack.  We choose to focus on Reticulum because it is designed for heterogeneous networks built from various cheap devices, to be deployed in a bottom up way by small communities.  It is a toolkit for building many different networks, with a focus on the decentralisation of power, low energy operation, and security. The event is also an opportunity to reimagine the Internet and our digital dependencies and plot together on how to build towards more self-determination and autonomy.

The mesh network stack runs on various platforms.  You can run it on your desktop, your home server, your mobile phone or antennas on the roof.  In the workshop, we will explore three layers of networking in dedicated working groups:

(1) The content layer, where communities are building the “social worlds of Reticulum” we can inhabit. What services and information communities and users find fruitful to circulate on an autonomous network?  Reticulum networks can host “micron pages”, which are like websites from the 1980s.  People around the world make them for both global and local circulation.  Unlike on the Internet, anyone connected to the network can also host content and become a service provider.

(2) The radio layer, where information is transmitted through waves of energy in the electro-magnetic spectrum. We use chat apps over local peer-to-peer Bluetooth, WiFi, and Lora (“long range”) links, as well as connecting to Reticulum servers on the Internet.  We explore the capabilities of each frequency and protocol: when are they useful, what ranges can they cover, which scenarios they fit well?  Who can transmit no which frequencies?  What does it mean to operate your own network?

(3) The network and transport layers, where the Reticulum Network Stack integrates into scenes, connects communities over time and space, transforming cities.  We make some standalone nodes to deploy around Nijmegen to eventually build out an autonomous communication infrastructure.  In the course of this operation, we can discuss how local scenes are organised in space, in terms of social relations and aspirations, cultural codes and interoperable political traditions.  How can movements network and transform the city, inhabit urban space and invent new forms of life?

The ultimate goal of the workshop is to work towards a paper zine on community networking, based on the experience of the three work groups that explore different socio-technical layers.

• No prior knowledge is needed! 
• Bring your laptop if you can. 
• After the session dinner will be provided.

More information about the Reticulum Network Stack for community building can be found on the dedicated website here: https://reticulum.community/

The event is open to all, on donation.  We call on participants to reflect on gender dynamics during the event, since critical approaches to technology invite the performance of particular masculinities that tend to reproduce patriarchal power relations, even in the guise of hacker cultures and decentralised political aspirations.  Please also be aware that participation implies to accept the safer spaces policy of Jantien, which will be introduced at the beginning of the event.