User:Kiara/Research/workshops.log

Workshop on magic

@ wdka - 03-11-2025
with Charlie and the xpub crew

Starting point: what if the web was a magical artifact?

Food for thought:

from a discussion with Doriane

decentralization / trans-website (the webring doesn't exist in a website but cross-website which make it less tangible then more magic: it exist trans-website + belongs to no one = a possibility for (re)appropriation/remix/etc.; the magic happens between the websites; we use the term "ring" but there is no ring the ring is a conceptual magical shape.

DIWO: physical gathering, ritual, to make up for the inaccessibility of dev/programming tutorials >> shoulder2shoulder against crypto-dev

declarativeness

magic is declarative

formula, incantation, "manifesting" (forming intention) by saying something it becomes real/true/alive/comes into existence

the web is declarative

CSS selector *:not(:focus):hover <-- incantation that might be super powerful on the web and contains multiple intentions

"web fabulation" > browser extensions modifying a website in one go (= metamorphosis) | web extensions that metamorphose the web through simple CSS formula | both magic and hacking

the language prism: idea of a dialect -- SAAS is out of the standards -- to what extent a magical dialect is different from spoken language

hacking: surviving in the system | magic: developing our own knowledge outside of the system

but we could do magic database!

aesthetics of the database, writing spells/incantations with databases

most of the database languages are declarative - ex: SQL

"is this an occasion to bring magic in a world of oppressing male dev???"

from self reflections

:hover
:focus
:not()
:has()
class name
id name
animation
:visited

all invoke actions or inaction
bear intention
have a strong declarative power

everything is a system and we are the hackers

z-index with crazy value invoke a special entity of the absolute positioning - CSS as a ritual - CSS as a spell - CSS is a declarative language, spells and incantations are declarative - The content of a website lies in the <body> (physical), the information about the website is in the <head> (spiritual)