Alternatives and Demands in Network Ruins
Participated in a panel talk discussing Servelots/Janastu's experiments with Community Networks, focusing on innovative solutions and challenges in sustaining community-driven networking models.
This was a panel discussion as part of a Technoscience Salon, where I spoke about Servelots/Janastu’s experiments with community networks- the practical challenges of sustaining community-driven networking models and the alternative imaginaries that emerge when connectivity is built from the ground up rather than handed down.
The conversation centred on what happens when dominant network infrastructures fail or exclude communities, and what kinds of demands and alternatives arise from those ruins. Drawing on our work in Karnataka- documented in the Bidar mesh network project and the APC community networks piece- I shared how mesh networks and local intranets become not just technical solutions but sites for reimagining who gets to build, maintain, and benefit from digital infrastructure. The COWs article distils the principles that emerged from this practice.