User:Kiara/Research/notes.md

Research Contents
General page
— Notes ——— Prototypes
— Project Proposal: Drafts
— Thesis Outline: Drafts
— Web Spell ——— Prototypes

# 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

• 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)

---

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 their 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.

08-10-2025

The first mind map, to clarify some ideas and concepts and tie them together

After discussions and book/readings exchanges, we decided together with Charlie to host a workshop together, since our research subjects connect on many levels.
More to come about this soon.

Doing research, I am faced with the inevitable: magic on the web/internet is often linked to genAI...

Why is AI the new magic, when it is nothing but a smokescreen?

> there is an interesting connection to draw between this phenomenon and the actual magic scene: the stage magicians and illusionists being the smokescreen of non-virtual|non-digital magic

Magic and care: how rituals and magic practice are closely intertwined with caring for the earth, the nature, its elements and living beings

> we find the same preoccupations in the digital realm with permacomputing, low-tech, digital sobriety, etc.

After reading talismans pour celles qui ne savent pas de quoi ils parlent by Lucile Haute...

> as described in the zine, a seal is a magic square, which size varies depending on the number if tiles it contains (3x3; 6x6; 9x9; etc.)

> the Nomai language is a spiral probably based on the golden ratio

> astrology and numerology: magic divination based on calculations and maths

note: is there a correlation between this shape-numbers-planets structure and the internet's or network exchanges' structure

>>> there are a lot of number/geometry related concepts is the magic realm, computers and programming languages for the web also rely on those principles, there might be a key point here

Approximate translation of the text from the picture:
At this point, you reckon the link between talismans and planets is altogether symbolic, material and performative. In regard to this latter aspect, the Petit Albert is very precise: each talisman must be manufactured during a specific cosmic moment. For example, the creation of the Moon talisman must be performed on a Monday during Spring, when a favorable aspect of Jupiter or Venus is present on the first degree of the Capricorn or the Virgo sign. The symbolic association of metals, numbers and planets falls under the tradition of the Ancients' cosmic system. This cosmic system distinguishes the corruptible sublunar world, that is the only accessible one, made of four elements - earth, Water, Air, Fire -, from a superlunar world, of divine essence and moved by a perpetual and constant movement, structured by spheres. For Plato, the spheres' disposition places static stars in the first sphere, which is the largest and most peripheral one.
Inside this sphere of the statics are the other concentric ones, up until the eighth one, the one of the Moon. Hypothesis regarding the placement of spheres vary amongst the models of Exodus, Plato, Callippus and Aristotle, then Hipparchus and Ptolemy.
Preceded by Mars, Jupiter and Saturn are the furthest ones, just before the sphere of the statics. The Moon is always the closest one. The quarrel regards the order Sun, Venus, Mercury (Plato) or Mercury, Venus, Sun.

Another concept I didn't involve yet in my tracks of research is the one of feminine powerful figures: such as goddesses, warriors, demons, etc. They are kind of present in the global picture, but the actual reference to them is starting now.
One approach could observe the Guardians of the Internet - inspired by ancient myths and folklore, various people could be compared to Guardians, Messengers, Keepers of an online treasure, in the way greek figures such as Medusa, the Amazones or Sirens do.

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

~/../Prikbord calendar
~/../lilasprose.com (coming soon)
~/../GLG (coming soon)
~/../workshops.txt

## References

Miriam Suzanne, the CSS wizard
Lucile Olympe Haute, the cyberwitch