As part of the Techno-Galactic Software Observatory, we will collectively produce a Software Observation Guide [[so, not survival ... Software REVIVAL Guide -- think important to insist on observation]]. The guide will lay out ways to achieve critical distances from the seemingly endless software systems that surround us and will offer practical tools for the tactical (mis)use of software, empowering/enabling users to resist embedded paradigms and assumptions. The guide will include a description of the myths and realities of software, a list of currently available methods for approaching software including their risks and benefits, and a glossary of terms. Participants will contribute to the guide by naming and describing methods of observing software, by nominating and defining terms for the glossary, and by sharing personal stories of close encounters with software.
Saturday afternoon:
A document that can support the clinic with the work we have been doing so that you can know where the exercises came from
Printed menu/program?
People are interested in what we have done
For Group 0 For Monday - how will we get this produced? ie. naming convention or protocol for getting contributions from groups [[falling apart while/through being observed]] #include as way to copy/paste from pads for output sub-typing of .chapter.md or .section.md What do you want to do during the clinic? (searches through system for vocabulary?) What tools they know about, want to use, what they want to include
!http://etherbox.lan:9001/p/zenit.md !http://etherbox.lan:9001/p/part2.md !http://etherbox.lan/page/part2.pdf#page=21
!include time_conversion.md
pdftk --- look at etherbox.md - look for apt-get install
excersise: 1-reverse engineering of flow chart 1-zenith-modelinganalysis? 1-cultural symbol analisis?
2-sitting in the middle of a room
3- time converter? synchronizations?
4-vocabolary operations.. as a service? 6-agile yoga
tools: 1-flowchart 2-simmtm 3-unix-timebomb 4-aquinas?
xx-intake scripts?
other elemets: time-text aquinas man page zenithed flowcharts
[[notes and reflections on friday afternoon work on structure of guide. it feels a little rigid right now. in the desire to leave things open for what will happen in the next few days and to be responsive to what is currently emerging, we are letting go of many references to the survival guide, which is in turn leaving things a little general. what are the qualifying adjectives that we want to use? throughlines that are less obviously topical but have repeatedly emerged are ANIMALS, DIFFERENT TYPES OF TIME, ]]
turning observation sideways invasive observation one minute it is about self-tracking, another on knowledge production attention to the unequal power relation observing software would set up
situated observation
for us, and who are we non experts and experts keeping the conversation flowing instead of a one-way channel of communication patience and generosity respectful and disrespectful accessibility
(depends on what you are looking at) confusion
what are our core values and ground truths? bringing our concerns and issues in the debate patience and generousity theory of power attention and care agency, choices take the time, time to observe confusion play situated observation and knowledge http://www.staff.amu.edu.pl/~ewa/Haraway,%20Situated%20Knowledges.pdf
What to do with observations? what do observations do with us? immediate/intended/unintended consequences meta-observation/long duree of observation/impact observation relational observations
nice to have: what are the tools that we currently use --> see below techniques of observation
Mapping (?) observations atlas - collection of representations constellation is map/representation compass (ref. speculative design) -- tool of navigation
Collection
Observation can be captured by devices
"to make a system that allows observation only, it seems rather impossible"
Techniques of the observer - note taking -command line -debugging -browser dev tools - poking around -sniffing -conversation
distancing no distancing critique
Enactments/Forms of Observations Representations Simulations (Models?) Reparative Critique (Eve Sedgewick - https://www.dropbox.com/personal?preview=Teaching%2FNMRS%2FReadings%2FSedgwick_paranoid+and+reparative+reading.pdf_)
Inspiring section from the SAS survival handbook ; strategy (strategy to study software...) camp craft (tools, set up our observatory, finding our research site...) reading the signs (signs of problems, traces of solutions, hidden paths of inquiry...) disasters (software breakdowns, reading the ruins, tactical pratices of provoquing a breakdown )
What are the paradigms of software ? Kittler basically said : "there is no software, it is only text manipulation", it is a call to study the materiality of tech. Software is a construction in this sense. The paradigm is : softwares are intermediaries, interfaces, layers ? Delegating blame and responsibility to software (how it migrates to the system, the machine, etc) Are we blaming the software because we cannot blame somebody else ? vs. specific choices made by developers - where does the responsibilty for systemic racism lie, for ex. What is logged by a system? How to read log files? How to recognise a software system and what are its boundaries ? Manifestos of blaming/ Normativity of software (the many "right ways" to do software) * Manifestos as programmers' tools agile: process as an outcome implementing agile involves one guy reading the book building software under the contingencies of a moving target Task analysis: starting point software development what is a task, how can this become entangled with more playful takes on observations
Materiality, abstraction and the different axis - legal when are the first software patents? responsibility The break-up of AT&T and the end of its monopoly allowed to sell unix licenses https://www.freebsd.org/doc/en/articles/bsdl-gpl/unix-license.html - professional jobs division of labor user/producer - as language, different from data - in hardware - etymology - personal histories - as individual experience with and feelings about software - as data to be sold as product - as data to be used in engineering of software - as a configuration - as a signal - through tools
* toolchain: not just crafting so ftware from scratch but setting up systems turn into a house of cards of software production
* repositories:
* dependencies
package managers take care of dependenciesA list of tools - wireshark - oscilloscopes (very cool ones) - em probes (antennas) -
Affordances and limits of different distinctions/drawing lines/making axis for overlap
- ie. there is/what is the difference between data and execution of data/executability of dataDouglas Adams
Margaret Atwood
Eve Sedgewick
I proposed another text from wendy chun in the reader pada map somehow, in time and space, of software observations
Topics PING : Network command to check the identity of a server pinging as a way to do observation (and also pong) ping as a command, to connect to a server
AND
pong (& mechanical pong - niklas roy ?)
ANIMALS (as logos, as observers, as ??)
* bugreporting / between observation and actionA list of existing tools for observing software The menagerie of tools including the Zebra and the Giraffe, wearing magnify glasses, software called Zookeeper. Why a giraffe? Because of the big neck? Why not birds?
* Apache Zookeper
<https://zookeeper.apache.org>
* O'Reilly media book covers also are animals, one animal = one methods or programming languageReporting strategy
Delegating blame and responsibilities to software "Computer said no" How to blame software (?) in different situations?
ways to critique systemic issues in software forms of critique
Some way to discover/see what are the boundaries of the software system?
A list of programming manifestos -- ways developers re-invent the writing of software (Luis cringing when agile manifesto comes up. It is too hard to get out of because it never ends!) what is made agile ... moving targets
Testing and reporting are now included in the software development process, and more difficult to take seperately.
task analysis how to (re)define tasks and other software design process stages: flowcharts, wireframes, scenarios - this may be only applicable on conventional software, wonder how this way of observation may be applied in experimenatl and conceptual software (there were some interesting flowchart-"sjabloon" in the museum)
"agile in a narrow space"
Observation methods/tools related to toolchains and pipelines "the house of cards of software" and "when you update your system, one of the cards might fall" repositories and where things come from.
Observation methods/tools related to package management automated process that takes care of everything you need dependencies, checking dependencies (so also the opposite boxing/containerization) multi-platform, a way of putting the program next to your ...
reverse engineering : you have insight into the methods clean-room implementations: if a company wants to reproduce a product, but the people involved cannot be tainted by having seen the original one they are put into a "clean room" with the specification to avoid being legally tainted [so: methods for knowing it was really "from scratch". how do you know the room is clean]
Lets do an exercise using axis metaphors instead of line metaphors and see when and where things start blurring
NOTES ON THURSDAY SESSION http://etherbox.local:9001/p/thursday and on SIDE CHANNEL ANALYSIS http://etherbox.local:9001/p/side-channel-analysis