Ethercalc-Hangouts

Prompts for hanging out in a spreadsheet

Anja Groten, Karl Moubarak

“Ethercalc Hangouts” is a series of mini workshops that derived from a shared excitement about spreadsheets. The short daily 30 min sessions can be sprinkled throughout a longer period of time, for instance to create a sense of togetherness among people who collaborate but do not share the same physical location. They invite to spend time together and collectively explore the expressive and collaborative potential of spreadsheets.

We propose to use Ethercalc as a meeting place, an open source instant web spreadsheet tool, developed by Audrey Tang building on wikiCalc. Similarly to Etherpad people can edit documents at the same time. Ethercalc is typically used for inventories, survey forms, list management, brainstorming sessions, budgets, time tables, all features we found essential for collaborative organizing!

Each session kicks off with a short prompt. Prompts can be repeated, edited and iterated on.

Daily Ethercalc Routines

Duration: Daily 20-30 minutes routines, synchronous collective hangouts on Ethercalc.

Note to facilitator(s):
Pick a time for the Ethercalc Hangouts that works for all participants (consider different time zones). Prepare the sheets beforehand and release the links to the sheets every day a few minutes before the agreed upon time. You could do that via email or a shared chat room. Everyday participants will meet simultaneously on the new spreadsheet link to follow a new prompt. The prompts can be interpreted freely. Participants are free to continue creating Ethercalc Art also after the 30 min daily routine is completed.  You may invite participants to create their own prompts and host a session. 
Consider to send additional updates and reminders, motivational posts, screenshots of some of the outcomes and highlights.

Onboarding

To introduce the practice of “Ethercalc hangouts” we propose to set up a video call when you meet on the spreadsheet for the first time. Facilitators can share some background around Ethercalc, invite to set intentions for the daily practice, and take some questions. BBB: https://lb.bbb.tbm.tudelft.nl/playback/presentation/2.3/edeae95a0e9780f9f6556c7f7fd7b5dbae46960c-1626708616507  

• Ethercalc is a web-based collaborative spreadsheet editor
• It is open source. That means the source code of the software is visible, reusable, extendable. Anyone can copy the code, make improvements and develop it further. Ethercalc was developed by Audrey Tang, Taiwan’s minister of digital affairs.
• Ethercalc can be installed on any computer
• You can run Ethercalc also locally on your personal computer, if you want to use it alone. Or you host it on a local device like a Raspberry Pi if you want to collaborate with people in close proximity, your housemates for instance. Or you install it on a remote server. That allows you to collaborate with any one in the world with an internet connection!

Ethercalc tips and tricks

To create an unnamed ethercalc, go to https://ethercalc.hackersanddesigners.nl/  and cllick "Create Spreadsheet". To create a named ethercalc, type https://ethercalc.hackersanddesigners.nl/ into your address bar followed by the name of you sheet. Once in your sheet, all the functions you need are in the tool bar (some more hidden than others) Other people's cursors appear as cells with a blue-border Keyboard shortcuts are a little bit weird: CMD / CTRL + C copies values and styles CMD / CTRL + V pastes values only To paste styles, use the toolbar :) CMD / CTRL + Z goes backwards in history CMD / CTRL + SHIFT + Z also goes backwards in history To move forward in history, use the toolbar :) The clipboard is shared, so watch out! You might be pasting someone else's clipping The edit history is also shared, so if you undo, you might be undoing someone else's work :-))) If Ethercalc gets slow or stuck, a refresh will do the trick.


Session 1: “Connect” https://ethercalc.hackersanddesigners.nl/routine-1-connect The 1st prompt caters to familiarization and learning about the quirks of Ethercalc formatting and functions. 
 [See folder ‘connect’ in NC for images] 
In text: Hello good morning / afternoon / evening everyone! Say hi in a cell We propose the analogy of weaving carpets, and imagine this spreadsheet as our distributed loom! We prepared some carpets for you from row 30 onward. create couples by pasting your name above a carpet (15 min) Meet each other on the carpet and go with the flow of weaving a carpet with the different formatting options and within your cells. 


• useful tip: the clip board is shared, so if you use the paste button, you might paste someone else's cells.

Session 2: “Play” https://ethercalc.hackersanddesigners.nl/routine-2-play

[See folder ‘play’ in NC for images]
 In text: Hello good morning / afternoon / evening everyone! Say hi in a cell. (2 min) Find yourself a spot on the spreadsheet and draw an avatar in approximately 20 rows and 30 columns. Before you start make sure to mark your drawing area. 
add your coordinates and avatar names here: (10 minutes) Drawn your avatar! Name your avatar. Keep an eye for instructions. 
The ethercalc moderators will indicate there are 5 more minutes left to draw and when the times up. Once the time is up do not touch the spreadsheet anymore! just watch! 
Your avatars will be moved to be paired. (10 minutes or as long as you wish) Go look for your avatar and see whose company you are in. Use the cells around your avatars to chat away! 
 Session 3: “Cook” https://ethercalc.hackersanddesigners.nl/routine-4-cook 

[See folder ‘cook’ in NC for images]

In text: Hello good morning / afternoon / evening everyone! Say hi in a cell (15 min) Create a drawing of your favorite dish (to be cooked from the picture at a shared meeting time) (2 min) Invent a new name for the dish (without describing it literally) (5 min) Check out the other dishes and guess some of their ingredients (write in the column next to the dish) Set a date to cook the dishes. 
 Session 4: “Liquify:” https://ethercalc.hackersanddesigners.nl/routine-3-liquify 

[add screenshots from the spreadsheet to show the prompts. See folder ‘liquify’ in NC]

In text: Hello good morning / afternoon / evening everyone! Say hi in a cell Liquidation is the prompt!
Challenge the fixed boundaries of cells, rows and columns. Get inspired by streams, ponds, rivers, creeks, sinks, the deep seas, a toilet flush,... create a liquid environment that dilutes fixed boundaries and categorization
You are not limited to one spot on the spreadsheet �The Ethercalc Hangouts were practiced throughout the H&D Summer Academy 2021.

References: Sadie Plant "The Future Looms. Weaving Women and Cybernetics" https://monoskop.org/images/1/13/Plant_Sadie_1995_The_Future_Looms_Weaving_Women_and_Cybernetics.pdf ethercalc source code: [1] very nice podcast (interdependence with holly herndon+mat dryhurst) with audrey >> https://interdependence.fm/episodes/radical-transparency-humor-disinformation-poetry-for-machines-avatar-politicians-and-giving-non-human-entities-a-vote-with-digital-minister-of-taiwan-audrey-tang-X36XnWVg spredsheetss aare code: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMIBfzSqguQ Make beats with spreadsheets https://www.theverge.com/2020/2/6/21126465/xl-studio-music-making-drum-microsoft-excel-daw-dylan-tallchief

Results from the workshop [perhaps make a collage of results from each prompt and then upload]

Connect

Play

Cook

Liquify