User:Kiara/Research

Drafts & WIP

~/WebSpell - a magic sorority webring

~/WebSpell/Prototypes - prototypes

~/DualBoot - journey log, is a prototype in itself
~/draft_project_proposal
~/thesis_outline

Notes

• Web, communities, wxmen and magic

This is the main topic i will be exploring, here are some random notes of ongoing reflections about it

• Some keywords for references

sirens/mermaids	amazones	witches & fairies	resistance
sorority	magic	community	omniscience
indie web	hacking	sisterhood	rituals

• Starting point

The starting point was to investigate on female initiatives and communities around the world wide web. This entry was imagined through an extensive detective prism with analysis and interviews.
This felt a bit blurry, and by starting some readings, I came to the conclusion that this topic was not precise enough and that the role of femininity and magic is much more important than I was considering.

• Evolution of the reflection: a notes log

30-09-2025 > 02-10-2025
After reading Audre Lorde and some former XPUBers thesis, my focus drifted.
- From Artemis Gryllaki's thesis, I uncovered the principle that wxmen are born-hackers. They don't need tech or the web to hack, they hack their way through life by there mere existence.
- From the combination of Audre Lorde's, Artemis Gryllaki's and Angeliki Diakrousi's writing and my own work, I also realized that wxmen are enchantresses of the web: we create dreamlands, we incite to dream, to escape, to wander. Everything is tied in one way or another to a form of witchcraft or sorcery; and poetry.
- Randomly, I remembered the existence of Madame Web. She is omniscient, clairvoyant, extremely charismatic and very mysterious/mystical.

inspired by the Spider-Man character, her clairvoyance make her a perfect impersonation of the world wide web: she sees, hears and knows all, but will only give blurry or mystical clues, yet also being extremely precise. She's of good help even though she sometimes can be evasive - on purpose.
She also has a health issue and is maintained alive by tubes (cables) that form a spider web shape
-> Internet as an omniscient lady | why internet is the ultimate sorority/coven <3
Bonus: Dakota Johnson hating the movie: women who aren't afraid of their voices and opinions

18-09-2025
Witchcraft and communities
Sacred feminine
Taking the sorority power back (Audre Lorde, sorority as a way of making the world turn)

The web as an act of community

From its creation to nowadays

The indie web

Witchcraft and web: how women populate the web, take part in it, hold power over it and the power of cyber-isms tied to femininity and magic

How wxmen form communities to reform and reconnect the web to humanity

Neocities, tumblr, geocities, Olia Lialina, Doriane, etc.

---

• Previous ideas that are not the main exploration anymore

On social media -- Is wikipedia a social media? is it the only one still alive through the earthquakes of internet? brought by the discussion here

FLOSS, getting away from GAFAMs and proprietary software, active participation to ethical design circles → building and maintaining a server on a RaspberryPi; dual-booting

Practices shape community shape practices (ref to Doriane's sticker)

The same issue is raised at every PPP meeting: the publishing workflow is hard to change to turn it into single-source publishing because of habits. Nobody has an answer to get that to work. Snippets of conversation at PPPirates (04-2025): "We need more examples, toolkits and projects to show those people the benefits of it" (Timothée) "The question about power and who holds it in a project" (Quentin) "It is a really present issue and we need to talk about it, what are the tools to talk about it? Do we need to write together about it? Medor manages for years now, the tools we have are so ready, we can set up workflows but it needs a change of tools but also of thinking. Maybe we need to publish about it? How can we be in solidarity with each other?" (Manetta) "The people are aware of the tools they use but they're used to it and it can be violent to tell them they're working the wrong way. Another approach is using InDesign with the pandoc plugin then you can control the output and make websites, e-pubs or whatever you want" (Yann) "But the people using this InDd workflow also work physically together and share the same habits about layout and design practices so that's why it works!" (Quentin)

Real life stuff that is actually happening and shaping community-ies

/Prikbord calendar
/lilasprose.com (coming soon)
/GLG (coming soon)

Resources

Methods Interview with Claudio
Glossary

Graduate_proposal_guidelines
Second Readers Guidelines
A Guide to Essay Writing (including guide to Harvard method)
Thesis Guidelines
Criteria for evaluation (Thesis)

Texts & Books

[x] The Tyranny of Structurelessness, Jo Freeman, 1970-72 (09/10/2024)

Community | Feminism

Summary: Jo Freeman is .

In this text, she writes about

Importance:

Notes:

[x] The Tyranny of Tyranny, Cathy Levine, 1979 (16/10/2024)

Community | Feminism | Critical

Summary: Cathy Levine is .

In this text, she answers to Jo Freeman's text, raising questions and criticisms towards Freeman's ideas.

Importance:

Notes:

Codes of conduct, conditions, rules

[ ] Rita Graça's grad project 'Networks of Care', with particular attention to common sections

[ ] Constant's Collective Conditions

[ ] Post Meritocracy Manifesto

[ ] Contributor Covenant

[ ] Hacking with Care

[ ] Pirate Care Syllabus

[ ] Wages Against Housework

Working collectively?

[ ] Coopérative d'emploi – (from this Mastodon post)

[ ] Camarades gauchistes occidentaux, vous avez perdu vos camarades du Levant

[x] Mastodon post by Doriane about comunity

[x] Mastodon post by Sebastian Laube about how the web used to be a collaborative place

[x] Mastodon post by Larvitz about the old web

Archiving

[ ] DIY Web Archiving (maybe archiving can be a tool for communities?) – (from this Mastodon post)

Programming & Websites: Research

[ ] My Website is a Shifting House Next to a River of Knowledge. What could yours be?, Laurel Schwust, 2018

[ ] A Vernacular Web, Olia Lialina, 2005

Accessibility and web ethics

[ ] Folk Interfaces, Maggie Appleton

[ ] Lociel libre et anarchisme

[ ] Ethical Web Principles

[x] Code is Law – On Liberty in Cyberspace, Lawrence Lessig, 2000

(re)Building the web

[ ] Fighting for our web, Molly White, 2024

[ ] The revolution will be decentralized

Women's perspectives

[ ] Archive of women artists – (from this Mastodon post)

[ ] No web without women

Witchcraft, rituals, etc.

[x] Mastodon post by Miriam Suzanne about CSS rituals

[] Mastodon post about a book by Lizzie Crawdagger, La sorcellerie est un sport de combat

Videos, Talks, Podcasts

[ ] Death of the follower & the future of creativity on the web, Jack Conte at SXSW 2024

[ ] Disenshittify or die! How hackers can seize the means of computation, Cory Doctorow at DEF CON 32, 2024

[ ] The mazy web, Stuart Langridge at State of the Browser 2024

[x] For-Profit (creative) Software, EndVertex, 16-03-2025 (watched: 28-03-2025)

Creative Software | Business | Big Tech | Tools

Summary: EndVertex is a 3D artist making videos on YouTube (I didn't know them before this video).

In this +1 hour video, they describe and detail their journey and struggles around 3D-creation software. The video is about monopolies, the switch to subscription-based plans and the importance to find the right tool and support it however you can/want to. The video is quite pessimistic but a good overview of the state of the design tool marketplace...

Importance: Subscriptions are annoying, Free/Libre Open Source Software are a good alternative, we should donate them the money we don't put in subscriptions to keep them alive

Notes: How different websites looked in the 90s, "the problem with uniqueness is it can confuse people" so now we have design "rules", like templates and everything looks the same – design patterns (23:03)

[x] What it Means to be Open, Lu Wilson, 10-10-2024 (listened: 03-2025)

Source | Workflow | Community

Summary: Lu Wilson works at tl;draw and gave a talk at Clojure in 2024 about their journey into programming and open licensing. In this 40mn talk, they explain how they got into programming and their adventure with the forums and open source community. They emphasize the need to cut the self-censoring because yes, there will always be someone out there to code-shame you (as in "your code is shit you should be ashamed") but it shouldn't prevent you from finding a job and creating a community of your own.

Importance: The way Lu built a whole community by publishing their work daily, then weekly on social media is very inspiring. Being open is above all being open minded and self-caring. This community building was not even intended, the first intention was to push themselves to create, experiment and keep a habit to work and go further in learning and skills. In the end it drew people towards their work and people starting interacting and adding to it. Everything they create is open source.

Notes: 404 NOT FOUND

[x] Un web moins nul est-il possible ?, Internet Exploreuses, 25-12-2024 (listened: 02-06-2025)

Programming | Open Source | Workflow | Community

Summary: Internet Exploreuses is a monthly show broadcast on Twitch and uploaded to Youtube and as a podcast. It is created and led by Lucie Ronfaut and Héloïse Linossier. With this show, they question various sides and topics tied to Internet and its culture. In this episode, they focus on one question: "Is a less lame web possible?" and invited Pauline Ferrari as a guest to discuss the topic.

Importance:

Notes:

[x] Téléréalité et réseaux sociaux : un duo gagnant ?, Internet Exploreuses, 19-02-2024 (listened: 03-06-2025)

Web | Internet | Social Media | Community

Summary:

Importance:

Notes:

[x] "La dernière" du 25 mai 2025, Radio Nova, 25-05-2025 (listened: 01-06-2025)

Languages | Sarcasm | Critical views | Community

Summary:

Importance:

Notes:

Movies, series, music(?)

[ ] Community, Dan Harmon (2009-2015)