Our proposal for Buitenplaats Brienenoord
Posted on by crunk, decentral1se
We are happy to share our proposal we wrote for Buitenplaats Brienenoord, a cultural initiative based on Brienenoord island in Rotterdam. Although we are not proceeding which this project due to time constraints, we thought it would be useful to share our approach.
A proposal
To build Digital Solidarity
To leave Big Tech behind together
Introduction
This document is a continuation of a conversation between Naima, Maurice (Buitenplaats Brienenoord) and Danny and Luke (Bitbit software), which took place on the 30th of May. The discussion covered how Buitenplaats Brienenoord makes use of digital technology today and what kind of improvements might be possible.
Buitenplaats Brienenoord is a cultural initiative with a public programme on the Brienenoord island in Rotterdam. It builds on the social tradition of the clubhouse De Arend en de Zeemeeuw as a peoples' think-make-and-work place for all ages with an emphasis on community learning and ecology.
Bitbit software is an organisation-in-the-making and sister project of Varia, The Center for Everyday Technology. It was created to help other cultural organisations leave Big Tech and promote ways of thinking about and doing digital technology which realise the ideals of Permacomputing.
This conversation was held in response to the "rock and a hard place" that Buitenplaats Brienenoord finds itself in today with its digital infrastructure: it is unethical to continue using Google and it's not financially viable to pay an expensive digital service provider. A "third way" is presented below.
The Current Situation
Buitenplaats Brienenoord is using several platforms for archiving and storing photos and other types of media: Dropbox, Google Drive and Nextcloud. Participants are also using their own personal laptops and telephones for this purpose. Not every participant has an account on these platforms or understands which media is located where. This is seen as inconsistent and inconvenient at this time.
The Nextcloud is managed by Tab Digital. The original plan was to migrate everything from Dropbox and Google Drive to the Nextcloud. This transition to the Nextcloud has not been completed. One problem lies in the fact that Tab Digital's pricing scheme becomes too expensive as storage increases beyond 1 terabyte of data. It is estimated that there are several terabytes of archived material which have been built up over the years.
Google Drive is also used for coordination and collaboration. Participants use the calendar function and edit documents together. There is a feeling amongst participants that it would be better if Google was not used for ethical reasons.
Objective
Bitbits' objective is to build a sustainable digital infrastructure for storage, coordination and collaboration at Buitenplaats Brienenoord which does not rely on Big Tech.
When we say sustainable, we have a precise idea of what we mean: rely on locally available skills, knowledge and resources and promote a bottom-up process which prioritises collective learning.
We aim for a solution which has a strong reproduction factor in terms of materials (the equipment and software we use is readily available) and ideas (participants understand what is built and how it works). It must be simple and cost-effective to replace, repair and improve in the future.
This means that all equipment must be owned by Buitenplaats Brienenoord and should be physically located on the island.
We make use of second-hand hardware and free software, that is, software that is copyleft licensed and freely available to use, study, share, and modify.
Proposal
We propose a bottom-up approach with consistent involvement from participants at Buitenplaats Brienenoord in the form of 2 worksessions. Each session lasts one work day. Broad participation is not required for the duration of the entire session. We will also carry out our internal work on-site during these sessions. An agenda for each session will be provided with room for feedback beforehand.
Worksession 1 involves understanding what is already in place in the Google Drive, Dropbox, Nextcloud, Website, etc. It involves understanding who has access and how are participants working with the existing digital infrastructure. What do they think about it and what would they like to see improved? Once we understand this, we can make a collective plan for what kind of equipment and software we need and how we can proceed.
Worksession 2 involves installing a physical server at Buitenplaats Brienenoord. Everyone is welcome to participate in this process. The first part of this process is more technical, involving connecting the server and installing the required software. The second half of the session is more general: we will sit together and understand what has been achieved and how we can begin using it.
Afterwards, it is important that there is a testing period for participants, of around 1-3 months. Participants need to use and understand the new tools. The duration can be decided in discussion with participants.
We will be available for support and to fix issues on request with a 24 hour response time. We are open to being present for a fixed time each month on-site ("info hour" style). We will ensure that the chosen server and software remain up-to-date in this period and that daily backups of data are stored.
Once this testing period is over and we all feel confident in the solution, we can plan a meeting to discuss a maintenance & support agreement for the future. We can organise any further data migration plans. Further work regarding improvements can be arranged in dialogue.
Considerations
We believe this is a viable "third way" which cultural organisations can pursue. It proposes a more active approach to digital technology which prioritises ownership and building a working relationship with a local technology organisation such as Bitbit.
One of Bitbit's goals is to facilitate apprentice-based training for new system administrators who have affinity with local initiatives such as Buitenplaats Brienenoord. In this way, we hope we can meet the growing needs for local technical support with a preference for participants at Buitenplaats Brienenoord taking responsibility for maintenance in the future.
Instead of using "free services" from Big Tech (there is no thing as a free lunch) or paying to rent access to platforms, ownership and maintenance becomes the responsibility of Buitenplaats Brienenoord in collaboration with Bitbit. This can lead to unforseen challenges such as the power going out at Buitenplaats Brienenoord and turning off the digital infrastructure. The result can be seen as a terrible inconvenience or a learning moment about the materiality of technology.
Free software is typically developed by volunteers and is quite often not working as seamlessly as proprietary software. This means that we can run into problems and inconsistences when we use it. However, the advantage is that we can also start a dialogue with the creators and participate in creating improvements which benefit everyone who uses the software as well.
We believe this approach can be more cost-effective in the mid- to long-term as labour costs are reduced and common problems are ironed out. Furthermore, if we compare with the pricing of Tab Digital, an increased demand for 10 TB of storage at Buitenplaats Brienenoord would result in a monthly cost of 363 EUR. There is no Bitbit pricing model, only labour costs. Therefore, Buitenplaats Brienenoord simply need to cover the one-time cost of the hardware and the installation. This avoids a radical increase in monthly costs because Buitenplaats Brienenoord is not renting access to digital infrastructure but instead owning it.
Budget
Redacted
Conclusion
Thank you for reading our proposal.
We hope this collaboration can serve as an example for other cultural organisations who want to leave Big Tech. In this sense, working on digital infrastructure can also be the rehearsal room for the future.
We are open to discussion regarding our planning and budget. We would rather carry out some part of this work than stop our collaboration due to lack of budget. Please feel free to reach out to us if you have questions.
We are looking forward to working on this collective project with you all!