Nostr notes by Lori Emerson

we are working on another @npub1vhp…cqle zine! this one is ...

2026-05-14T23:02:10Z

we are working on another media archaeology lab (npub1vhp…cqle) zine! this one is called "How to Take a Decade to Repair a Computer (and Why You Should Too) " and it's written in the context of permacomputing, computing within limits, and degrowth 💚 hopefully ready to mail out this summer #othernetworks

now the semester is almost over, I have a bit of time to dwell ...

2026-04-23T17:18:57Z

now the semester is almost over, I have a bit of time to dwell with the beautiful, compelling books accumulating on my desk. the next object of my admiration: Internet Phone Book / a directory for exploring the vast poetic web...almost like the hidden #othernetworks in the web itself

Benjamin wrote his "Theses on the Philosophy of History" ...

2026-04-05T17:48:23Z

Benjamin wrote his "Theses on the Philosophy of History" in 1940, shortly before he died by suicide escaping the Nazis. Imagine, now, Hannah Arendt reading this aloud to fellow refugees fleeing the Third Reich on the ship that was smuggling them to the U.S.

finally, Wendell Berry's standards for technological ...

2026-04-02T16:18:09Z

finally, Wendell Berry's standards for technological innovation--truly as relevant now as they were in 1987 #othernetworks

if anyone is interested, here are some talking points we've ...

2026-03-10T01:53:21Z

if anyone is interested, here are some talking points we've put together on the CU ChatGPT deal so that we can all educate our friends, colleagues, students, staff, admin, etc. #ai https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aOel41-XD_D9DPLMJEUSia6Ej_mmXbfPcM9DG7GIDT8/edit?usp=drive_link

I had a really nice time talking about how "The Internet Was ...

2026-02-20T17:30:08Z

I had a really nice time talking about how "The Internet Was Never Inevitable" (touching on #othernetworks, media archaeology, and the media archaeology lab (npub1vhp…cqle)) on the Orthogonal Bet podcast. gawd this picture of me but whatever? https://www.theorthogonalbet.com/p/the-internet-was-never-inevitable?r=2ecqt1

"Grok is an intentional instrument for establishing, ...

2026-01-16T17:47:18Z

"Grok is an intentional instrument for establishing, maintaining, and manipulating a consensus reality on X, a self-contained and self-sustaining discourse environment with at least a quarter of a billion daily users; coupled with the apparent eugenicist white-supremacist proclivities of its owner, this makes it in my view uniquely dangerous. Grok, in short, is an epistemic weapon." #ai https://www.techpolicy.press/grok-is-an-epistemic-weapon/

If you’re wondering why I’m taking so long to respond to your ...

2025-11-22T02:41:11Z

If you’re wondering why I’m taking so long to respond to your emails it’s because I only do Slow Email now. Please join me. Type, Scan, Send, Repeat. #othernetworks

I’m not sure what exactly is working but I have worked hard at ...

2025-11-14T02:15:25Z

In reply to nevent1q…yrs0
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I’m not sure what exactly is working but I have worked hard at coming to class with a lot of positive energy, helped by playing a bit up up beat music (of every possible genre from every time period I could think of); also a LOT of genuine happiness when they had the courage to say they didn’t know something or that something didn’t make sense; encouraging and even welcoming failure and focusing on process; consistent structure so that every class includes quiet writing time, lecture, small group discussion, partner work, and continued gentle requests to close laptops. Phew! Not to mention content that often touched on what it means to be human, what it means to learn as a way to live a rich life, etc. so that by now I don’t know to present them with arguments for why they shouldn’t use AI — it’s already obvious

I am floored at how different our class looks now compared to how ...

2025-11-14T01:58:23Z

I am floored at how different our class looks now compared to how it looked back in September when students would sit in complete silence, staring at screens until class began; many of them never looked up during class and most likely weren't paying attention; and let's say a third used some sort of LLM to write their first paper. Today's class: it was practically raucous when I showed up; they're willing to handwrite daily in-class writing responses; they made eye contact with me; they nod their heads; and many of them spent the last couple of weeks working on their papers and making sure, in one student's words, they're "authentic." g-damn people, the kids just need a little help, some positive energy, and encouragement!

rest in peace, Grandad aka "G-dad" aka John Dumbeck who ...

2025-11-13T01:00:11Z

rest in peace, Grandad aka "G-dad" aka John Dumbeck who passed this afternoon at the age of 103 after a life of making his own wine, running a radio station, being a war-time pilot, being a barber, being on the run from the law (at least twice), playing in over a dozen jazz bands, using (and fixing!) a computer long before anyone else in the family, loving his three kids and his four grandchildren and one great-grandchild SO fiercely and on and on. the one family member who I felt understood me - there's no way to just thank someone for something like that 💚

best review I've read in ages: "I bought the typewriter ...

2025-11-10T19:55:56Z

best review I've read in ages: "I bought the typewriter to write a book. Copilot kept changing what I wrote without permission. After turning it off and it turning itself back on a few times along with word wanting to save everything to the 'cloud' I went old school." #othernetworks

indeed it is...what would you say if I told you I still pay some ...

2025-11-06T23:35:14Z

In reply to nevent1q…3jjl
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indeed it is...what would you say if I told you I still pay some bills that way and I will keep going as long as checks exist?!

delightful & curious watching students this morning write ...

2025-11-06T20:10:59Z

delightful & curious watching students this morning write postcards, mostly to their parents, in which they declare their love for them, that they miss them, that they're writing these in class! and questions like "where do I put the stamp? how do I mail it? where is the post-office"? maybe I need to be teaching classes like "The Value of Public Infrastructure" or "Where is Infrastructure and How Does it Work?" #othernetworks

signed: "An open letter from educators who refuse the call to ...

2025-11-03T15:56:41Z

signed: "An open letter from educators who refuse the call to adopt GenAI in education" #ai https://openletter.earth/an-open-letter-from-educators-who-refuse-the-call-to-adopt-genai-in-education-cb4aee75

well. now I'm getting reports of student papers “writen” ...

2025-10-28T11:35:33Z

well. now I'm getting reports of student papers “writen” using chatGPT that not only pilfered from my #othernetworks book but claimed it was written by a man with the same last name. it has taken me until now (yes, I am slow to see things sometimes) to understand that the web of 10-15 years ago is definitively dead and that me freely sharing thoughts drafts articles chapters book excerpts on my blog is only feeding the very gen AI that I have come to despise. And so now I am going to go through as many posts/pages as I can and poison my own content with random statements about how genAI is fraudulent is corrupt is destroying the labor market is stealing our students’ futures and more. But I will always share paywalled pdfs with anyone who asks because gate keeping knowledge can’t be the answer--- #ai

oh stop it, C.P. Snow, with your charming, slightly ...

2025-09-04T21:44:59Z

oh stop it, C.P. Snow, with your charming, slightly self-deprecating critique of "computer gadgets" from 1964!

squealing silently to myself w/glee over this test microbroadcast ...

2025-08-18T20:47:18Z

squealing silently to myself w/glee over this test microbroadcast of a Barenaked Ladies demo tape I bought in 1991 to this extremely cute gathering of radios humming along themselves. if you need a reason to come to the Boulder Public Library 09/09 5pm for my lecture-peformance here it is! #othernetworks https://calendar.boulderlibrary.org/event/14871450

you wouldn't think that a book called "Cybernetics and ...

2025-07-30T16:56:45Z

you wouldn't think that a book called "Cybernetics and Management" would be so revelatory but really, Stafford Beer already knew in 1959 where it was at with so-called artificial brains! "Allied with new forms of energy, cybernetics is emergent to a new vision of society. In all this, it is specifically learning from biological systems, and trying to emulate their key features. Thus the measure of the importance of cybernetics is the backwardness of society’s present outlook on control, not the imagined ability of the science to build a super-brain." #ai #cybernetics

since it was a bit tedious to find, here's the whole article ...

2025-06-25T17:59:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…693v
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since it was a bit tedious to find, here's the whole article if anyone is curious--->

check it out! it's a Rochelle salt crystal gifted to me and ...

2025-06-25T17:42:43Z

check it out! it's a Rochelle salt crystal gifted to me and the MAL by Matt Parker! these wild crystals generate electricity or, when put under electric stress, they "speak": "The crystal...will emit tones in consonance with the potentials applied" (from The Electrical Experimenter Dec. 1919)

a queer online zine you access via telnet! #othernetworks ...

2025-06-24T18:05:12Z

a queer online zine you access via telnet! #othernetworks https://www.404media.co/queer-online-zine-new-session-telnet/ (ty Nate Wheeler (they/them) (npub1fkf…rvhu))

oh hello. if you live in the NYC area and haven't already ...

2025-04-23T18:58:06Z

oh hello. if you live in the NYC area and haven't already heard my book talk on #othernetworks, or if you'd just like to come hang out and get a postcard or media archaeology lab (npub1vhp…cqle) sticker or pamphlet on how to build your own mini FM transmitter, please come to 161 Water Street 2pm on Saturday!

really excited to announce: @npub1vhp…cqle has opened its call ...

2025-04-09T18:33:08Z

really excited to announce: media archaeology lab (npub1vhp…cqle) has opened its call for 2025-2026 Practitioner-In-Residencies - the theme is "Counter Computer: Alternative Imaginaries". please apply, please share widely #othernetworks https://mediaarchaeologylab.ghost.io/practitioner-in-residence-open-call/

I really don't know - now that I'm looking into it, it ...

2025-04-03T18:54:46Z

In reply to nevent1q…ea9a
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I really don't know - now that I'm looking into it, it seems there's a lot of variation. I still like green hearts and this goofy website seems to support it https://www.colorsexplained.com/heart-color-meanings/

oh boy. so different colored hearts mean different things and ...

2025-04-03T18:44:36Z

oh boy. so different colored hearts mean different things and they're not just different pretty colors. ahem. sorry for whatever I have been communicating to...whoever! for all these years hopefully I'm getting this one right 😂

friends, I'm at a bit of a loss about what I can tell ...

2025-03-30T15:45:56Z

friends, I'm at a bit of a loss about what I can tell international students at our listening session coming up this week. other than suggesting they avoid travel, clean or delete social media accounts, use end-to-end encrypted platforms wherever possible, is there anything else I can tell them?? I was going to share some Know Your Rights posters but honestly, legal rights don't seem to carry much weight these days...

speaking my language - I'm still convinced radio is the ...

2025-03-22T17:28:31Z

speaking my language - I'm still convinced radio is the future: "Radio is the ultimate internet circumvention tool because it is not the internet. And it can’t be tracked." #othernetworks https://www.radioworld.com/columns-and-views/guest-commentaries/why-we-need-shortwave-2-0

it seems worth pointing out that one of the key papers that gave ...

2025-03-22T17:01:49Z

it seems worth pointing out that one of the key papers that gave birth to AI, "A Logical Calculus of the Ideas Immanent in Nervous Activity" (from 1943), in which McCulloch and Pitts model the brain and all its functions as a digital system, is full of errors and was soon found to be a very poor model of how the brain actually works. doesn't that give you pause? #AI

📡 at very long last, today is the big day! my beloved book, ...

2025-02-18T18:03:01Z

📡 at very long last, today is the big day! my beloved book, OTHER NETWORKS: A RADICAL TECHNOLOGY SOURCEBOOK, is officially available for pre-order!

This a speculative index of communications networks, a love letter to experimental art & technology, & a liberatory guide for escaping the corporate present. Many of you know that, for years, I have been compiling and cataloguing a history of communications networks, one full of alternatives to the monolithic, surveilled internet as we now know it. The result is this compendium of possibilities that existed before or outside of the internet and a tribute to their experimental use by artists, covering everything from pirate radio to barbed wire telegraph, from synthesizers that transmitted over the telephone to encoded messages bounced off the surface of the moon.

Because of the hard work and creative genius of Mark Iosifescu, Jesse Pollock, and everyone at Anthology Editions; Robert Beatty who made the breathtaking cover and section designs; and Ella Gold for book design, OTHER NETWORKS is also a feat of beautiful design. And as if that weren't enough, the talented joanne mcneil (npub10c3…x94h) wrote the Foreword and the legendary Howard Rheingold (npub144r…20qv) wrote the epilogue. So, so many people to thank, including many of YOU, for making this happen! https://shop.mexicansummer.com/merch/495898-lori-emerson-other-networks-a-radical-technology-sourcebook

if you've been wondering how you YES YOU might go about ...

2025-01-21T21:43:32Z

if you've been wondering how you YES YOU might go about building small networks outside of the internet or if you've been wondering abt the untapped potential of good ol' fashioned amateur radio, check out our website for #othernetworks and pamphlet Build Your Own Mini FM Transmitter https://othernetworks.net/2024/08/20/build-your-own-mini-fm-transmitter/ @rose-alibi.bsky.social Museum of Obsolete Media (npub10ph…u2ta)

just here to publicly note: almost every woman in my life is ...

2025-01-19T17:19:41Z

just here to publicly note: almost every woman in my life is struggling with low-level, ongoing health niggles that no medical professional is helping them with. I am a witness & participant in endless texts about "I tried this weird alt therapy and maybe it's working and maybe you can try it too". (it was strangely affirming to have a mid-wife respond to my many questions with "I'm sorry, I just don't know and no one seems to know because no money has been spent on women's health.")

"the internet" plays a significant role in maintaining ...

2024-12-22T18:50:20Z

"the internet" plays a significant role in maintaining capitalist realism--which is probably why the existence and even the possibility of #othernetworks is so unsettling: "The long, dark night of the end of history has to be grasped as an enormous opportunity. The very oppressive pervasiveness of capitalist realism means that even glimmers of alternative political and economic possibilities can have a disproportionately great effect. The tiniest event can tear a hole in the grey curtain of reaction which has marked the horizons of possibility under capitalist realism. From a situation in which nothing can happen, suddenly anything is possible again." --Mark Fisher

I got the tiny books at the Sendak show yesterday! and for some ...

2024-12-02T13:48:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…6yna
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I got the tiny books at the Sendak show yesterday! and for some reason I was thinking of you - it is delightful...everyone walks around with a little smile on their face

if one must read in bed, one really ought to read only very tiny ...

2024-12-02T02:28:31Z

if one must read in bed, one really ought to read only very tiny books, ideally cautionary tales about Pierre who eventually learns to care.

I'm a bit embarrassed by how challenging it has been to keep ...

2024-11-29T16:50:18Z

I'm a bit embarrassed by how challenging it has been to keep my promise to myself to never use Amazon ever again...but here I am, week 4 and still steadfast--ordering books from http://bookshop.org and directly from publishers

who knew! the kaleidoscope was the original distracting social ...

2024-11-27T16:19:41Z

who knew! the kaleidoscope was the original distracting social media device in the early 19th century - people were even writing articles bemoaning that boys were obsessed with the kaleidoscope rather than the more worthy telescope, microscope, or periscope https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/the-forgotten-kaleidoscope-craze-in-victorian-england

not everything is terrible--take this 19th century mechanical ...

2024-11-26T17:25:04Z

not everything is terrible--take this 19th century mechanical kaléidoscope magic lantern slide for instance that just arrived for the media archaeology lab (npub1vhp…cqle). what a beauty!

those of you who helped me advocate for the student who was ...

2024-11-19T18:57:49Z

those of you who helped me advocate for the student who was wrongfully accused of using AI to write her essay might like to know that, faced with the articles you shared with me demonstrating that AI checkers are completely unreliable, the professor relented. I also wrote a long email to the department chair outlining how the professor violated university policy about uploading student data to AI...among other things. So weird we now have to be so vigilant about advocating for and protecting our students but this is the world we're living in! thank you for your help--- #ai

yes to both and love both :)

2024-11-18T03:37:18Z

In reply to nevent1q…j2j6
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yes to both and love both :)

I have posted (and probably will continue to post for years to ...

2024-11-18T03:19:45Z

I have posted (and probably will continue to post for years to come) a lot here about #othernetworks - a cluster of projects that document networks before and/or outside of the internet along with artist experiments on these networks. The main project I recently finished is a catalog of about 85 of these other networks that will be published by Anthology Editions as a beautifully designed art book in spring 2025.

#othernetworks is an archival project and it's also an educational project that comes out of my belief that we are all capable both of understanding networks from the past and of building alternative networks for the future.

I also like to post about anything related to media archaeology, alternative histories of technology, alternative networks, and alternative network protocols. #introductions

what if the second volume of #othernetworks were titled _Other ...

2024-11-16T22:23:18Z

what if the second volume of #othernetworks were titled _Other Networks: From Plants to Protocols_

I've been trying to figure out how I might organize the next ...

2024-11-16T20:29:10Z

I've been trying to figure out how I might organize the next volume of #othernetworks, assuming a publisher might be interested. the pre-internet networks I described in Other Networks (1) are organized by underlying infrastructure (wired, wireless, hybrid, etc). but! As soon as I started to try to work through digital computer from the late 1960s and on, the taxonomy started to creak, heave, and crack as every network sooner or later involved both wired and wireless technologies/infrastructures. more, I had wanted to exclude networks that existed on the internet, which I (foolishly) defined as networks that used TCP/IP. but then I found out from you all that one can use TCP/IP to run a network outside of the internet! SO, the question that has been plaguing is how I might organize volume 2 of Other Networks so that I can take a stab at cataloging all those incredible networks (LANs, BBSes, computer conferences, etc) from the 1970s, 1980s, and early 1990s. this is my long-winded way of saying: maybe the answer is a book called Other Protocols!

friends, can you recommend any articles discussing inaccurate AI ...

2024-11-11T18:21:55Z

friends, can you recommend any articles discussing inaccurate AI checkers? I am trying to help a student who has been falsely accused of using AI to write her papers. incredibly, but not surprisingly, *all* of her writing is now being flagged by these checkers as being produced by AI. I'm trying to come up with ways to help her effectively make her case. #ai

still pressing on in my quest to dump big tech and turn my back ...

2024-11-10T14:48:55Z

still pressing on in my quest to dump big tech and turn my back on billionaires, no matter how miniscule a difference it makes, here is another great resource: a catalog of "ethical, easy-to-use and privacy-conscious alternatives to well-known software." it even includes a list of alternatives to itself. (thank you [@x_tof](https://verkehrswende.social/@x_tof )) https://switching.software/

SO GOOD. European alternatives for nearly all Amazon, Google, ...

2024-11-09T12:49:01Z

SO GOOD. European alternatives for nearly all Amazon, Google, Microsoft products along with alts to Github, Slack, etc. now we need to create a North American version of this. thank you, Adam Burns (npub1xpz…a80p)! https://european-alternatives.eu/alternatives-to

echoing some things that @npub1rwd…8t0y has been posting about, ...

2024-11-08T15:06:04Z

echoing some things that Brett Balogh (npub1rwd…8t0y) has been posting about, I'm also leaning harder than ever into #othernetworks. that alternative networks and network structures produce different ways of being in the world, with each other, is not a cute idea. it is at the heart of what we need to do next to wrest control away from big tech/billionaires. building yr own mini FM transmitter is also not a cute little time-wasting project. it is fundamental to this work & of taking back a small bit of autonomy over how we learn, relate, communicate w/each other. more on this in the coming years but in the meantime, https://othernetworks.net/2024/08/20/build-your-own-mini-fm-transmitter/

ha! I mean, that is my default these days so that works too. I ...

2024-11-08T14:40:23Z

In reply to nevent1q…csjn
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ha! I mean, that is my default these days so that works too. I think we can also be joyfully vengeful...

I am just so incredibly sad at the state of things &, oddly, ...

2024-11-08T14:27:01Z

I am just so incredibly sad at the state of things &, oddly, the sadness only increases with the days. I foolishly never thought to prepare to be back in the "managing horror and trauma" mindset again - but! I do see you all! and I know the only option is onward, with joy, kindness, generosity.

the reason why I love Mastodon so much is 100% because people ...

2024-09-27T23:44:06Z

In reply to nevent1q…nxsq
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the reason why I love Mastodon so much is 100% because people like you write "I also had some limited initial success getting AppleTalk to run over wet wool a few days ago". so good.

THANK YOU! also a delightful thread and definitely of interest :)

2024-09-27T23:29:28Z

In reply to nevent1q…atdq
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THANK YOU! also a delightful thread and definitely of interest :)

is it ok if I use some of these images in talks, promising to ...

2024-09-27T22:43:32Z

In reply to nevent1q…0vau
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is it ok if I use some of these images in talks, promising to fully credit you for everything?

sadly I ran out of pages and ran out of time before I could get ...

2024-09-21T11:26:54Z

In reply to nevent1q…xjmu
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sadly I ran out of pages and ran out of time before I could get to BBSes etc! I did manage to talk about time-sharing networks...Kevin Driscoll's _Minitel: Welcome to the Internet_ is good and so is Howard Rheingold's _Virtual Communities_

at long last, here is the pdf of the booklet ...

2024-09-18T16:04:11Z

at long last, here is the pdf of the booklet [@rose_alibi](https://post.lurk.org/@rose_alibi ) and I wrote, designed, published through the media archaeology lab (npub1vhp…cqle): "Build Your Own Mini FM Transmitter," meant for folks with absolutely no experience with electronics - or for folks with lots of experience! enjoy and please share https://othernetworks.net/2024/08/20/build-your-own-mini-fm-transmitter/ #othernetworks #amateurradio

while some nation state has managed to figure out how to use ...

2024-09-17T17:11:23Z

while some nation state has managed to figure out how to use pagers for murderous ends, I would like to remind us of a beautiful use of pagers as #othernetworks: Brannon Dorsey's "Holy Pager" from 2016 https://brannondorsey.com/project/holy-pager

the signal is also transmitted along the fence itself! we ...

2024-08-31T22:18:01Z

In reply to nevent1q…sd67
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the signal is also transmitted along the fence itself! we commissioned a couple artists to install one at CU - it's up right now, running through the barbed wire fence with the help of a 9 volt battery https://othernetworks.net/2024/08/02/barbed-wire-fence-telephone-ii/

the history of using barbed wire to communicate is surprisingly ...

2024-08-31T20:21:56Z

the history of using barbed wire to communicate is surprisingly long and almost entirely undocumented, even though barbed wire fence phones in particular were an essential part of early- to mid-twentieth century rural life in many parts of the U.S. and Canada! to that end, I've posted a brief history of barbed wire and barbed wire fence phones on my blog, excerpted from my book _Other Networks: A Radical Technology Sourcebook_. enjoy and please share! #othernetworks https://loriemerson.net/2024/08/31/a-brief-history-of-barbed-wire-fence-telephone-networks/

I'm sure someone else has said this so much more eloquently ...

2024-08-19T20:48:08Z

I'm sure someone else has said this so much more eloquently than me...but here to give a shout-out to Norbert Wiener who, in 1947, foresaw serious ethical issues with what he then called "feedback mechanisms" and what we'd now call AI: "Such mechanical labor has most of the economic properties of slave labor, although, unlike slave labor, it does not involve the direct demoralizing effects of human cruelty. However, any labor that accepts the conditions of competition with slave labor accepts the conditions of slave labor, and is essentially slave labor...It cannot be good for these new potentialities to be assessed in the terms of the market, of the money they save..." #cybernetics #artificialintelligence

I think, as I have said to others recently, that I am too easily ...

2024-08-13T19:56:12Z

In reply to nevent1q…6kw8
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I think, as I have said to others recently, that I am too easily flattered and didn't even notice the ml-genned graphics until now...also didn't notice the weird contradiction between what they write and all the work they do for giant corps, still on twitter, etc etc...but on the other hand, it's rare for someone to get the spirit of what I'm trying to do so...I have no idea what to do with this mish mash...

the most amazing review of a conference I have ever read: ...

2024-08-13T18:59:33Z

the most amazing review of a conference I have ever read: "Buckle the fuck up, because we’re abt to dive headfirst into a mind-bending world where the internet is optional & the future of networks looks a whole lot like our forgotten past." #othernetworks a dawn walk (npub1qgd…vpqq) https://kriskrug.co/2024/07/27/digital-rebellion-w-lori-emersons-at-our-networks-2024/

is inordinately proud of this booklet that ...

2024-08-12T16:19:03Z

is inordinately proud of this booklet that [@rose_alibi](https://post.lurk.org/@rose_alibi ) and I wrote, designed, & printed ourselves as part of a series we're launching called Other Networks for Everyone. we'll mail off copies to everyone who signed up in the coming weeks and also will release a pdf soon on https://othernetworks.net/#othernetworks