ITP Thesis Archive 2024

Abstract

interdepend.net is a manually-powered system that reconfigures the hegemonic relationship between computer and end user. The contents of the server are only accessible when we power the server by hand, transforming a dynamic that has traditionally been defined by domination and subjugation into one of reciprocity. In the server’s momentary lifespan, it asks us to extrospect on the reciprocities we share with other people and the living world at large, challenging our tendency toward individualism in the process.

Though prescribed, this interaction is entirely predicated on our own continued willingness to be in relation with the server. We are left to wonder, how willing are we to be interdependent?

Technical Details

Hardware: Raspberry Pi 4 server, Witty Pi Hat 4 add-on board, portable lithium battery, hand crank power generator.
Software: Node.js, Firebase, various shell scripts, Python, HTML/CSS/JS/jQuery.

Research/Context

interdepend.net’s inception began with similarly alternatively-powered, self-hosted web works like Low Tech Magazine and Solar Protocol, whose profuse documentation helped me actualize my own ecosystem. The project is deeply grounded in and affirmed by A Feminist Server Manifesto 0.01, which states, “A feminist server… Radically questions the conditions for serving and service; experiments with changing client-server relations where she can”. The project is also affirmed by Austin Wade Smith’s essay, “Queer Servers and Feral Webs”. On the notion of reciprocity, I owe my thanks to Mierle Laderman Ukeles and Sara Ahmed. My earliest inclinations to materialize relationships through technology were inspired by Olia Lialina’s artwork “Summer” (2013) and Tung-Hui Hu’s A Prehistory of The Cloud (2015). Lastly, I am indebted to all the strangers who have shared technical documentation online, and all the familiars who offered me help in person.