[HacktionLab] Picnic table zoom

Sun Apr 19 14:51:58 UTC 2020

I know several hosting collectives have added Jitsi to their collection.
Though I don't see any of them listing them publicly, so I guess it's
when you're involved in a collective using them you'll know.

Correction I just checked and Autistici announced theirs:
https://cavallette.noblogs.org/2020/03/9587

BBB it somewhat more work to set up as I understand it.

Also there's a list of online activities on radar.squat.net :

https://radar.squat.net/en/events/country/XI
http://3m2pgmhdsgrneurfbi5oxelzbytcgxaeajsmtxuijhen3l3asu3c5yad.onion/en/events/country/XI

I know there is way more around. Not sure if anyone is making lists...

sam at bristolwireless.net:
> If you wanted FOSS video conference software with breakout rooms then
> you might like Big Blue button;
> 
> http://docs.bigbluebutton.org
> 
> https://github.com/bigbluebutton/greenlight
> 
> There’s an open instance here: https://bbb.jitsi.world but I’m not sure
> who owns/ operates it
> 
> Maybe Disroot or someone would host an instance?
> 
> 2p
> 
> Sam
> 
> Quoting Michael Reinsborough <m.reinsborough at qub.ac.uk>:
> 
>> Hi Hacktion,
>>
>> How is lock down treating you?
>>
>> I wondered what kind of comments people had about software and use of
>> software for online meetings/discussions/organizing
>>   Or even online organizing (!!break the rules! The rule that tech
>> groups only talk about tech and never tech as a social relationship)
>>
>> I think at first the lockdown has shut down the left, or certainly
>> curtailed much of activity that was based on face to face meetings. 
>> Although in some other ways things have taken off, like Facebook
>> mutual aid groups.  Momentum, for example, was already mostly an
>> online organization before this and is now organizing workshops about
>> online-organizing (zoom, whatsapp, slack, airtable).
>>   I do think it is pretty important that our
>> anarchist/lefty/feminist/eco-or-whatever types of stuff that we do,
>> doesn’t just take a hiatus.  The entire economy is shutting down,
>> small business and independent contractors first, the handouts
>> designed to hold capitalism in place (placeholder) til it can get back
>> to normal except worse (greater acceptance on online surveillance aka
>> public health protection, greater state role overall at the same time
>> as fiscal policy of Tories will want to be claiming back as much of
>> their placeholder expenditure, austerity?).  Economic crisis like 2008
>> or worse.  Within 6 months of that autumn 2008 crisis beginning to
>> reveal itself we had 10,000 people at the Bank of England (in a
>> different type of lockdown- a kettle, but the governors knew people
>> were mad and organized and willing to break the rules).  We’re
>> potentially looking at 18 months of lockdown before a vaccine. 
>> Confronting the total inability of the economic system to deal with
>> civilization threatening climate change has been shelved in favour of
>> the more immediate life-threatening inability of the economic system
>> to care enough about care workers (or service sector/renter/lowly
>> economy) to protect us from death/generational
>> eclipse/gera-cide/genera-cide of the 60s generation/pre-babyboomers.
>>  Yet at the same time the transition from automobile manufacturing to
>> ventilator manufacturing by factories at short notice shows clearly
>> that (if the social relationship dictates the technology then) we can
>> have socially useful production: A green new deal of the titanic
>> proportions necessary to confront climate collapse is possible!
>>   But this isn’t going to happen by itself, especially with BoJo
>> coming back to life on Easter Sunday to do a sermon on the mount about
>> Tory reverence for NHS workers.
>>
>>   Physical distancing, social solidarity
>>   So practical question – what types of software, training, practice
>> etc. do we need to provide as techies to support online organizing?
>>       Are there relevant
>> security/privacy/cooperation-when-you-aren’t-face-to-face trust issues
>> that we could solve?
>>       Is it better to emulate geography in virtual organizing, i.e. do
>> “local” organizing that can both now (mutual aid groups) and after
>> lockdown (square off against austerity round-two) translate to the
>> streets?   Streets are always local, local to someplace.  Or do we
>> have meetings that are people from every-anywhere?  Or mixed?
>>       How does the British direct-action community deal with
>> lockdown?  Is there a special type of lock down organizing for this
>> (our) community or does it just play scrabble (online) for 18 months?
>>       Should we be trying to build new software that better does what
>> we need or do we work better with what is out there already?  Remember
>> in organizing you can bring the people to the mountain or the mountain
>> to the people.  Wouldn’t most of us say it worked badly trying to
>> bring millennials internet 2.0 kids to the encryption/secure
>> communication mountain? Or is there still debate about what went wrong
>> with our abstentionist strategy?
>>       So, here is an example of what a tech conversation might be able
>> to answer: How would we do picnic table zoom?  The direct-action
>> community has in the past used large scale (200 people or so)
>> consensus process meetings [or consensus/dissensus - in most
>> circumstances there is no need to agree about everything (‘diversity
>> of tactics’) in order to participate in mass action against
>> capitalism/capitalist globalization/militarism etc.].  And one social
>> innovation (social technology!) to do this was using picnic tables
>> arranged in a circle with a swivel chair in front of each one,
>> facilitators at the centre of the circle, and each group at the picnic
>> table was an affinity group.  There were proposals with lots of time
>> for each picnic table to discuss among themselves, then all people
>> still sitting in place turn their attention from their picnic table
>> conversation to the circle of picnic tables and a feedback session
>> begins.  Each picnic table has a person in the chair at the front of
>> their picnic table who speaks from their table in the circle of tables
>> conversation.  So 200 people in a 20 picnic table circle has only 20
>> persons in the speaking circle doing a facilitated conversation about
>> specific proposals- but everyone can hear, tables can talk (quietly)
>> among themselves, advise their speaker, or even swap out who speaks
>> from their picnic table (so its 20 persons in speaking circle at any
>> given moment but not necessarily the same 20 persons throughout). If a
>> new proposal or synthesis comes out of the circle of 20 speakers (plus
>> facilitators, scribes, notetakers, etc) the tables can go back to
>> individual table conversation to discuss among themselves before
>> returning to the circle of picnic tables conversation to finalize what
>> the group of groups agrees/disagrees.  After which all can enter the
>> mass action knowing what others will be doing (although not
>> necessarily controlling what others will be doing).
>>   I know zoom and other software have a ‘breakout groups’ function. 
>> Is there a way to adapt this for picnic table zoom or would we need
>> different software?
>>
>>   Picnic table zoom is an interesting example.  But just more
>> generally: what types of software, training, practice etc. do we need
>> to provide as techies to support online organizing?
>>
>> Social Solidarity and Autonomy, (physical distancing),
>>   Michael 😉
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