User:Eleni/T6 Assessment
your individual contributions to the special issues (where relevant to your final project), the development of your reading/writing practice across the 2 years, the development of your prototyping practice across the 2 years, your thesis (only a brief overview for context, as this has been assessed separately in depth), your final work and research in the second year, plans for final publication and grad show (with the understanding that you will continue to work on this after the assessment)
Year 0
Fili, E. (2024). Motivation Letter. XPUB Application.I am fascinated by the nuances of fan-made creation, such as collaborative fanzines, fanfiction, and fanart. Despite being sometimes dismissed, I recognize the significant role these communities play in aiding self-expression and fostering connections through shared passions. I am interested in understanding the dynamics of such communities and how their creative practices intersect with broader cultural narratives.
Special Issue Contributions
| SI25 Protocols for Collective Performance
My first experience with radio! It allowed me to demystify the medium and brought me closer to my peers <3 I overcame my fear of broadcasting in a foreign language. |
  
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SI25 Urban Small Talk (page)
Together with Imre and Sevgi we worked on a cartography of the sounds of Rotterdam; the noise of construction, the song of church bells, the dripping of raindrops on pavement. Piet Zwart Wiki editors could submit their recordings to be added in this archive. weaving an audio tapestry of the city and the people's feelings towards it. I took up the coding part of the project. |
| SI27 404.xpub.nl Instance
My first proper server building dive! I felt out of depth most of the time, but as a group we still managed to get it to run using (questionable) documentaton and Manettas advice! Needs further work... what if I do it? 👀😗 |
 
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SI27 Machine Time Time Machine
An interpretation of a time machine I work on, in collaboration with Wyn. The device asks for permission to proceed a minute. Until granted, the clock will loop on the say minute. It is a project in conversation with the computer, rather than simply using it as a tool. Written in bash and utilizing crontab, this project strengthed my bond with computers, and understanding of user permissions. |
Prototyping
I was one of the fair organizers, alongside Charlie , Chrissy, Sevgi and Wyn.
I worked on:
- reviewing applications
- contacting accepted participants
- making a schedule and a floorplan
- designing the website
- hosting a workshop
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radio show premise: After the inevitable Collapse of big-tech, the corporate servers have melted down and all surviving pieces of media are the ones previously stored in pirate / fan archives. The only way to share what remains (artworks, movies, photography, sculptures) is to describe and narrate them on pirate radio. The fandom artifacts broadcasted have survived the Collapse by being carefully curated, stored and maintained with love in self-hosted servers— in the bedrooms of nerds from the past!
| Show 1 | pre-rec | 30/09 | |
| Show 3 | w/ Barbs (xpub1) | 03/02 | |
| Show 4 | w/ Angel | 21/04 |
I used to think I am not good at documenting, but it turns out I had a skewed idea of what documenting is, or what it could be. Once I changed my perspective, I found myself enjoying it and staying consistent!MPO FILES // IKIWIKI // SELF-HOSTING
My interest in documentation shows up when I am documenting:
- the under- (or badly-) documented
- my descent into rabbit holes
- my experiments
- collectively with friends
- as a conversation, rather than a lecture
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| claudio's notes on ikiwiki |
 sent to me by Barbs |
Self-Hosting Zine
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A printed publication where I document my research and process on how I set up my server, and the steps I took to make it public.
Made by wiki-to-print-ing the page Setting up a public server into a printable pdf, using paged.js |
Research: FAN/SERVICE
Research focus: reanimating fandom online practices by embodying feminist server approaches
Chapter 1
- the roots of media fandom as the predecessor of the newer term “transformative fandom”
- the predominantly queer/fem demographic of transformative fandom does not fit the image of what constitutes a “true fan"
- queer/fem fans are constantly belittled, scrutinized and pathologized
Chapter 2
- focus on networking technologies, looking into the myth of virtual disembodiment through two different lenses; Megan Boler’s new virtual cartesianism and Donna Haraway’s cyborg theory
- I introduce the argument that queer/fem people, and in extension transformative fandom, expose their identities online in hopes of finding each other
Chapter 3
- This vulnerability greatly influences their online experience, since virtual societies re-establish existing societal biases
- Many platforms have seemed like safe spaces for transformative fandoms, but after multiple platform “purges” and “deaths”, it seems like no space is sufficient to truly facilitate fandom practices
- critique the brotherhood of the FLOSS community
- introduce feminist servers
- look for inspiration in their ways of building community around their own infrastructures and networks
Chapter 5
- I present how the feminist teachings I compiled have influenced my own project— an online fandom radio station
Project: FanonRadio
Fanon is any element that is widely accepted among fans, but has little or no basis in canon. (Fanlore)
FanonRadio (fanon.radio) is a self-hosted, online radio station for transformative media fandom. It aims to be a safe/r online third space and an alternative to social media platforms, meant to facilitate fan practices and inspire fans to experiment with fan broadcasting and fan sound production.
Infrastructure
- It is hosted on Chikorita, a raspberry pi 5 residing at home on my windowshill, plugged into a router that uses a sim card to provide internet connection, which means that the server does not have a static IP
- The DNS resolution is done through Cloudflare, while a crontab keeps the record updated through the Cloudflare API
- The dot radio domain is a top-vel domain, exclusively dedicated to the radio stations, received after request.
- The online radio station is built using Azuracast, a FLOSS, self-hosted software that covers most of my backend and station admin needs (broadcasting, scheduling, allowing remote hosts, etc.)
- The guestbook is an etherpad hosted on riseup.net and the live chatbox that will replace it on the day of the marathon will be a chatango group.
The Feminist Server Impact
Affective infrastructureCode of Conduct (page)The infrastracture of the project doesn't
Technologically FLOSS software, self-hosting
Socially - Code of conduct
Embodiment of materiality and of people gathered around it
Documentation & resource-sharingA document meant to calrify the values and principles that the FanonRadio project has been built on and aim to facilitate. It is not a finished set of rules, but is meant to grow alongside the FanonRadio community. It is a responsive, living document; to be revisited, re-writen, expanded.
FanonRadio Wiki (link) is an Ikiwiki that hosts information about the radio, as well as important resources and inspiration for radio hosts (e.g. How to broadcast remotely) For now, I am the sole editor of the wiki, but I would love to open it up to more contributors in the future!
It's stil lthe beginning, but I have already started building a supportive network with other fan projects. I reached out to different ones asking if they would be interested in having a standalone show on the radio and the responses were overwhelmingly positive. They see the radio as a fun way to spread their project's agenda and in return are willing to cover FanonRadio through the means of their practice.
Grad Fest
12hr Radio Marathon
To launch Fanon Radio with a grand celebration, I am hosting a 12hour Radio Marathon on the 4th of July. The schedule consists of pre-recorded shows, live remote and in-person broadcasts. The hosts will be individual fans and fan projects that responded to the Open Call with their proposal.
A variety of fandom performances (audio dramas, a TTRPG session), meta analysis of fan practices, fan project presentations and fan interviews!
I have booked a slot for Barbs (xpub1) to interview me on the infrastructure. It will be a good opportunity to make the process and intentions of the project a bit more transparent and hopefully spark a conversation!
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| Laptop | mine |
| Microphones | PA50 PZI-FA (xml) |
| SHURE SM58 (xml) | |
| Mixer | BEHRINGER XENYX1204FX (xml) |
| Headphones | TBA |
| TBA | |
| TBA |