Micky Metts

Our smartphones listen to our conversations even when they’re not on. GPS tracks us even when we know where we’re going. Our credit cards track all of our purchases. The cameras in our computers watch us. Maybe the camera in our smart TVs watch us too. We go through life sending out little electronic messages revealing everything we say, everywhere we go, everything we buy, and everyone we talk to. Artificial intelligence claims it can predict our actions and even our thoughts before we have them. It claims it can influence what we do and even how we vote. Is this the world of interconnectedness we dreamed of 25 years ago at the dawn of the Internet age? How can we control it instead of having it predict our moves and nudging us? https://wiki.hope.net/index.php?title=Surveillance_Capitalism_workshop

Our smartphones listen to our conversations even when they’re not on. GPS tracks us even when we know where we’re going. Our credit cards track all of our purchases. The cameras in our computers watch us. Maybe the camera in our smart TVs watch us too. We go through life sending out little electronic messages revealing everything we say, everywhere we go, everything we buy, and everyone we talk to. Artificial intelligence claims it can predict our actions and even our thoughts before we have them. It claims it can influence what we do and even how we vote. Is this the world of interconnectedness we dreamed of 25 years ago at the dawn of the Internet age? How can we control it instead of having it predict our moves and nudging us? https://wiki.hope.net/index.php?title=Surveillance_Capitalism_workshop

We are living in a society where -- as mere individuals -- it seems out of our control and in the hands of those who have the power to publish and distribute information swiftly and widely, or who can refuse to publish or distribute information. Algorithms now sort us into Global databases like PRISM or ECHELON, and there are devices such as StingRay cell phone trackers used to categorize our every movement. We may build our own profiles online, but we do not have access to the meta-profile built by the corporate entities that our queries traverse as we navigate online, purchasing goods and services as well as logging into sites where we have accounts. The level of intrusion into our most private thoughts should be alarming, yet most fail to heed the call as they feel small, alone, and unable to defy the scrutiny of disapproval from the powers that govern societal norms and their peers. Together, we can change this.

Micky will engage your mind on a journey to open an ongoing discussion to rediscover and reawaken your own creative thought processes. Together, we build a conversation that should never end as it will join us together transparently maintaining our freedoms, with free software as the foundation. Where do we find our personal power, and how do we use it as developers? Do we have a collective goal? Have you checked your social credit rating lately? Others have.

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Other people: David Thompson

Problem: schools and communities rarely work on deeply interrelated projects that will benefit both the school and the people of the community.

Solution: mentoring students to engage members of their community to cooperatively develop platforms and applications using free software, such as the Drupal content management system. Inclusion of community members in early development will introduce people to the myriad of careers, disciplines, and skills necessary to build in self-sustainability, cooperatively.

Our workshop will focus on methods and ways to engage your community in building platforms and tools owned by the community members. Participants are encouraged to bring a laptop.

Other people: David Thompson

This session includes steps and concrete solutions for anyone--especially non-programmers wanting to learn how to build things with free software--starting with Drupal. If you are a coder, I will reveal ways that you can get involved in building things; if you are not a coder you will learn about the large network that already exists. You can create a sustainable existence building things with free software. Drupal is free software and a framework to build your dreams. There are free Drupal tutorials and a large global community of people that are helpful. Platform Cooperativism pulls it all together with an ecosystem of people actively building platforms that are owned by the people that use them. This session will include ample time for questions, and a general discussion on ways to bring your creative skills to movements and communities.