Publishing:TheNewSocial
Introduction by everyone
Blah blah une petite introduction :D
Contributions
Contribution of Framer Framed
The New Social – Reflections – 1
The project is centered on developing hybrid strategies for cultural spaces that prioritize sustainability, accessibility, and technological independence in the management and storage of published materials. Through collaboration with various partner institutes, the project has identified key incentives, including the creation of an ecosystem that unites the online and offline public during events, developing accessible tools in open source, addressing language barriers, adopting a decolonial perspective on copyright issues, and developing products that outlive website decay.
We also discussed the challenges we may face in finding a middle ground and refraining from reinventing the wheel. We identified the three main themes of collaborative process they wanted to focus on, Theory/Research, Hybrid Publications, and Live Casting. While some expressed interest in the theoretical and research aspects of the project, others were interested in both theory and practice.
The infrastructure of the project was deemed crucial, including both the digital and physical architecture of hybrid archiving parallel with Live Casting. We decided to use Signal, Cloud-based servers, and Email as our communal space to track the project, as other apps like Slack, Asana, and Discord tended to take up too much space on their respective hard drives.
We also organized a number of public events related to the theoretical and research phase of the project in the first quarter. These events included:
ON A Lighter Internet
ON A Lighter Internet is an experimental hybrid event, conceived by The Hmm and Framer Framed. The Hmm invited digital anthropologist Payal Arora, artist Radek Przedpełski and cultural curator Faye Kabali-Kagwa to explore how the current internet experience is influenced by bandwidth access. How do we ensure that online film festivals and live-streamed programs become more accessible? And what does that accessibility really look like?
Discomfort
During the Launch of the Errant Journal #3 we the ambiguous feeling of discomfort as a productive space to think from. What if instead of avoiding discomfort, we lean into it, dwell on it, stay with it so as to be able to learn from it? Central to the issue is the presence of discomfort as it accompanies the work of decoloniality, both in positions of marginalisation and of those who perhaps feel their comfort shaken for the first time. The contributions explore discomfort through personal histories, as well as curatorial, architectural & psychoanalytic perspectives.
Symposium: The State of Patronage
(Info available in Dutch only)
De ‘culture of giving’ is in de afgelopen jaren steeds belangrijker geworden voor het financieren van culturele programma’s. Maar wie geeft er eigenlijk aan wie en waarom? En hoe staan private giften in verhouding tot publieke financiering?
De staat van mecenaat is een symposium van Platform BK en Framer Framed over de veranderende rol van mecenaat in het Nederlandse beeldende kunstlandschap in de afgelopen tien jaar. In een lezing en drie panels onderzoeken we welke giftrelaties voorkomen, hoe en voor wie deze wel en niet werken en welke toekomstmogelijkheden ze bieden.
Conclusion
Moving forward, the team is excited to be part of the creative and intellectual process and has discussed the next steps each party will undertake in the next quarter. The project aims to create sustainable design through collaboration and innovation, with a focus on accessibility, technological independence, and decolonization.
The New Social – Reflections – 2
In our second reflection we discuss the hybrid publications project which aims to make an online archive accessible to the public in an innovative and interactive way. To achieve this, We’ve enlisted a designer and a developer who are skilled in digital archiving and publishing. The project is ambitious, and Framer Framed has set ethical, financial, and technical boundaries for the development process.
Framer Framed: Hybrid Publications Tool
Process and Methodology: As we mentioned in our first reflection, it took us a while to get The New Social Hybrid Publication project to get going due to the complexity and ambition of the project as well as the fact that we are also working with a consortium of partners, of whom not all are based in the Netherlands. Once we established the different roles of the participating partners, we were able to concentrate on our part of the project.
What we first did is get in touch with a designer and a developer who is highly skilled and experienced with digital archiving of different types of information. On top of this, he is also well versed in the art of regular publishing, namely physical books. We had a couple of brainstorm sessions where he was able to map out and discover the Framer Framed archive and think of ways to make them available in a hybrid form. As mentioned before The New Social is a research project to make the (online) archive accessible to the public in an innovative and interactive way. During this brainstorm phase, we concluded that there are tools available which enable hybrid publishing but are commercial. What we are attempting is open source. The challenge for Framer Framed is that not everything should/cannot be indexed/categorized.
We then went on to make a schedule of the deliverables as well as the various stages of developing this toolkit. We’ve also contacted the relevant parties who can help bring this to fruition. We have also managed to put in place a framework of what we want and how to go about it. We’ve also set ethical, financial, and technical boundaries in regard to the output which we will be revisiting throughout the entire development process.
We have also ensured to have a contingency plan for a toolkit with the minimum requirements acceptable for Framer Framed as well as our partners.
Public Program: whilst establishing the development process, we have also been hosting and planning a series of events where the questions that arise during the brainstorm and development process will be addressed, in addition to the public programs we’ve mentioned in the previous update.
The New Social – Reflections – 3
The third update from the project The New Social: Hybrid Strategies for Cultural Spaces will focus on the subproject Hybrid Publications Toolkit that we are developing as well as a three-part event series titled New Ways of Reading where we aim to re-imagine critical reading, writing, and publishing we have planned this coming fall.
1. Publication Tool Kit
The development of the Hybrid Publication Tool Kit consists of four phases:
I. The archive of Framer Framed.
Based on research, we started to draw a data model to capture the main entities, concepts, and relationships relevant to Framer Framed. To make a searchable digital archive, we propose to create a [graph] database based on the data model and to populate it with data harvested from the current website. Besides serving as a digital archive for the future generation, the database will also serve as backend for the publication tool (CMS). In this way, publishing is also seen as archiving. New publications will automatically feed the database with linked data, according to the data model.
II. Hybrid Publishing.
The hybrid-publishing tool will be developed on top of the graph database (FF-Archive), through a custom developed Content Management System (CMS). This CMS will enable the staff of FF to publish new publications, starting with the CICC pilot publication. The goal of the CMS is to create a set of tools in one interface to compile a publication out of different text sources and media. The CMS will generate a publication through a set of 4 design templates: a desktop webpage, a mobile webpage, a PDF template generated from the webpage(s) and a print ready PDF, for the production of a physical book.
III. Making the Archive Accessible to the Public Online.
The focus of this phase is the web visualisation of the new publications (CICC) and republishing the entire archive of magazine / dossiers from the FF website. This space, embedded on the website of FF will enable readers to browse through the hybrid publications online on desktop and mobile, and to export and share them as offline readable pdf’s. The (web) publication will contain an automated index of terms, linking it to the rest of the archive, and it will automatically generate a colophon, based on the metadata of the source publications.
IV. Interaction and Innovation.
Our development focus will be on navigation and discovery based on a custom made annotation tool. Once we have a database in place that contains the FF data and metadata, the custom-made annotation tool will allow staff and readers to continuously enrich the database of FF revealing new relationships and reflecting in the navigation of the archive in real time. From the CMS, the staff of FF will be able to generate the print ready pdfs that will be used to print and bound a publication as either a print-on-demand for small print runs or through offset print, for print runs over 250 copies.
2. New Ways of Reading: Between Experiment and Accessibility
New Ways of Reading is a three-part event series, where we aim to re-imagine critical reading, writing, and publishing in three separate events. During each event, we aim to explore space for slower, more reflective ways of creating and engaging with content through the perspectives of the reader, the writer, and the publisher. Together, we re-discover critical reflection as a powerful tool that allows to formulate questions, confront bias, point contradictions, and look for new directions.
What cultural and digital strategies could be used to create alternative ways of online publishing, that expand the room for reflection and collectivity? Cultural critical publishing practices require new strategies to respond to the contemporary realities of online media. Manoeuvring between corporate and political powers puts independent publishers in a position that is counterproductive for the role and relevance they ought to have in the social and cultural realm. Creating independent critical content requires plenty of time and effort, and it is not meant to be consumed within seconds. While on the Web 2.0 content is cheap, fast, abundant, and addictive.
Part I – Workshop: Owning Readership
Tue 13 Sept | 19:00–21:30
What does reading mean in times of information overload and obscure mix-ups between commerce and content? In which ways do readers want to interact with content, reflect, collaborate, and connect? Can the ways in which content is created and published allow the readers to gain more agency in the way they behave online? What technologies can assist them with that? During this workshop, together with designer Martijn de Heer, we invite readers to share their reading experiences, express their needs and engage in a collective reading experiment.
Part II – Workshop: Imagining Accessibility
Tue 18 Oct | 19:00–21:30
How do writers experience online publishing formats in their practice? Do they find them relevant to connect with their readers? Do they have the freedom to explore new ways of writing that facilitates contemporary readers? Are there things writers would like to change in the publishing process, and unlearn from their own practice?
Part III – Public Event: Publishing Experiments For All
Tue 25 Oct | 19:00–21:30
What kind of publishing experiments inspire readers to reflect and to exchange ideas with each other? How can experiments be balanced with editorial control to create more space for change within the publishing sector, without losing quality and credibility? In the third and final event of the three-part series, we invite publishers and visitors to reflect on the perspective of the readers and writers that emerged in the previous workshop sessions. We also invite everyone to share their experiences with new forms of writing and publishing.
The New Social – Reflections – 4
Reflections #4 discusses a workshop series called "New Ways of Reading. Between Experiment and Accessibility" organized by Framer Framed, Ania Molenda, Andrea Prins, and Martin de Heer. The workshops aimed to explore the tension between experiment and accessibility in online forms of cultural and critical publishing, with each event focusing on the perspectives of readers, writers, and publishers separately.
Workshop series: "New Ways of Reading. Between Experiment and Accessibility"
The series of events co-organized by Framer Framed, Ania Molenda, Andrea Prins and Martin de Heer focused on exploring the tension between experiment and accessibility in online forms of cultural and critical publishing. During each event the workshop organisers and the participating audience looked at three different perspectives of the reader, writer and publisher separately.
During the first workshop we focused on the notion of the missing reader. We invited readers to share their experiences, express their needs, and engage in several reading experiments addressing close reading and critical reading using CryptPad, Miro, a PDF reader, and pen and paper. In the second session we explored the position of writers and discussed their methods and desires on how to bring their work closer to their audiences. We worked with three writing experiments, executed individually or collectively: collective writing experiment (in PubPub), non-linear or side-line writing experiment (in Miro) and AI assisted writing experiment (using GPT-3 of Open-ai). In preparation of the workshop, we also experimented with Twine, a potentially interesting non-linear writing tool that would need more time to explore and work with.
During the third event we brought the perspectives of readers, writers and publishers together in a hybrid presentation-workshop format. We invited six respondents, including participants to the workshops and experts in the field, to open the discussion with the audience. Subsequently we invited everyone to speculate on future forms of experimental and accessible publishing and to share critical annotations on our research and the potential for change in the publishing sector. The event concluding the series and the first research phase of ‘Beyond the Essay’ by Ania Molenda and Andrea Prins ended with a rich and intimate discussion documented by an extensive collection of ideas and critiques as well as a general expression of appreciation for creating a space where the future of critical online publishing could be discussed beyond disciplinary silos.
Overall, it was inspiring to see that during the three events the participants\' ability to (collectively) interact with text was creatively stimulating and allowed them to rediscover the playfulness and joy of reading and writing. On a more political dimension, the new ways of relating to texts we proposed contrasted with a typical institutional static form of publishing, allowing for more permeability of the institutional boundary, and encouraged poly-vocality. In their follow up research Ania and Andrea will further explore how a playful multi-version and poly-vocal approach to publishing could look like and how to deal with their pitfalls such as difficulties with the upkeep and moderation of such dynamic publishing spaces. On a more general level we saw that a sense of community and ‘safe space’ for (online) conversations are key to any such collective experiment.
Contribution of H&D
Tooling
A short introduction that contextualizes the meaning of 'tool' within the context of H&D's collective practice, and interlinks all of H&D's contributions to this toolkit. This article could be standing on its own or be merged later into the overall introduction
ChattyPub: A hybrid publishing infrastructure
About the journey of repurposing the open source chat software Zulip and turning it into a hybrid publishing infrastructure
Cross-media publishing with MediaWiki
Reflections on 3 publications, 2 of which finalized, 1 (this toolkit) in-the-making
Workshop scripts in practice
About workshop scripts – a pedagogical document format that H&D has been experimenting with for several years and that has allowed us to organize distributed hybrid workshops across continents.
Connecting Otherwise
About organizing the distributed H&D Summer Academy of 2022, and and offline, across 4 countries and 3 continents
Livestreaming experiments with The Hmm
Live networking experiments in hybrid cultural events
Where is Every Body?
Reflection on organizing hybrid (on and offline) activities in a manner that is accessible for people with disability and chronic illnesses
H&D's Code of Conduct
Contribution of IMPAKT
Hybrid Formats is the fruit of the research being conducted over the past year at IMPAKT as part of the project The New Social. We have been designing and testing different innovative event formats that engage both online and in-venue event participants. The best of these strategies blend audiences and curate experiences that make the best of both environments.
↓ Navigate IMPAKT's portion either per principle, or per case studies of past events. ↓
| Main Menu | Principles | Our Case Studies |
|---|---|---|
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Principles
These are the guiding foundational criteria for our thinking about online/offline hybrid event design.
IMPAKT Case Studies
Browse the case studies and view descriptions through the link above, or navigate directly to the deep-dive recap below.
Additional Research
Trains of thought we followed when developing the designs, and helpful background information you may want to explore.
Tips & Tools
Practical information we advise from past experience.
Closing Remarks
Colophon
To Do's
- Implement non-linear table of content
- Edit wiki articles in a way that speak to the concept of a tool-kit
- Collect and upload images to all articles
- Add image descriptions(ID according to accessibility guidelines)
- Add categories