@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

stefanlaser

@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de

Social scientist ✒ on 🚯🚆🐮💾. #sts #sociology #ecology #waste #energy

Navigating material politics: vital digital infrastructures, political experiments, and precarious social relations.

I use qualitative ethnographic methods but also turn to digital methods and coding to enrich the analysis. Currently following the value chain of data centres. Based in #Bochum, GER, trips to #Hanoi, #Vietnam, #SEA.

I'm also into sports, #running #cycling, #photography, and Vietnamese. #tfr

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stefanlaser, to tech
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

HEPA filter, old/new.

When I’m thinking about good (somewhere between low- and high) , I’m also thinking HEPA. Randomly fabricated fibers that randomise and trick the movements of particles.

Air purifiers are part of the future. Not only to be equipped for .

*Edit: great typo: instead of !

rheinze, to geography German
@rheinze@assemblag.es avatar

In the reporting from the heat crisis in , I haven’t yet seen texts about the role the environment itself plays in it, despite the city being notorious for its steep inequality in terms of air pollution, heat and distribution of green spaces. Has anyone come across any such texts, preferably urbanist ones?
@sociology
@geography

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@rheinze @sociology @geography I think that many texts and books on eviction (and the World-Class City) touch on this. I remember this as a hot topic, no pun, in Delhi. Trees being removed to make space for traffic and business. NGOs such as Chintan and publications such as Downtoearth discuss it as well, I think

inquiline, (edited ) to random
@inquiline@union.place avatar

Does anyone have a recommendation for an affordable, user-friendly chatter environment a la Slack where it's possible to have, say, up to 500 accounts? Asking for a campus AAUP chapter.

We're willing to spend some $ but don't want to break the bank, and don't need a lot of bells & whistles. We do need it to be easy to use.

Update: Thanks to everyone who offered ideas! We approached @zulip & they generously sponsored a noncommercial/educational free account for us. Super awesome 😊

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@billmason @inquiline I work with Slack, Element and Mattermost in different contexts. I prefer Element to Mattermost because of the better threading. Slack, of course, is the most annoying programme ever. So I would also recommend Element. Great model, good UI, all functions one needs and more.

But don't turn on the encryption level to strict because some of our accounts are constantly not de-encrypted. That's a bit annoying. Maybe it's also because our uni may be behind with the updates.

kuketzblog, (edited ) to firefox German
@kuketzblog@social.tchncs.de avatar

Ich arbeite an einem (sehr) ausführlichen Artikel über Browser. Dieser wird auch eine Tabelle mit empfohlenen Browsern enthalten. Anbei eine Vorschau. Die Tabelle wird sich sicher noch ändern.

#browser #brave #firefox #librewolf #mull #fennec #vanadium #tor #torbrowser

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@kuketzblog @kuchenmampfer In diesem Kontext ist Vanadium spannend. Wie schätzt du die Claims vom Graphene-OS-Team bzw. Assoziierten ein?

Ich habe es so verstanden, dass sie Erweiterungen als "privacy theater" abtun und auch argumentieren, dass Fingerprinting nahezu unmöglich ist bzw. Tor erfordert. Da solle man sich ganz genau sein threat model überlegen (und entspannen).

Und ebenfalls ein Argument: ein Dienst wie NextDNS reicht aus, daher ist ein Add-On optional.

stefanlaser, to random
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

is simply devastating, both the war on the ground and the war on information around . But if I'm honest with myself, I get caught up in the information war and I am busy shuffling interpretations around. The people get lost in the stream. Life

stefanlaser, to random
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

will turn off soon. I grew up with it’s weird aoooo and still know my quite long ID by heart. It was sensational, in contrast to the other, hacky (also cool) .

It was the first DM app I and everyone around me used and loved. never came close.

https://hackerweb.app/#/item/40467625

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@ncoca Secure, not so sure (see the file name issues), but otherwise yes, lovely!

stefanlaser, to random
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

A wild read with many interesting graphs. The lack of social theory is part of the argument, but it really shows.

"efficiency is a catalyst for technological sprawl [everywhere]"

https://economicsfromthetopdown.com/2024/05/18/a-tour-of-the-jevons-paradox-how-energy-efficiency-backfires/

stefanlaser, to ai
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

art is eerie because it sends you and comes from a peculiar kind of nothingness. No intention to be found, but it acts as if has a lot.

Great read shared by @pluralistic

https://mamot.fr/@pluralistic/112435397240569685

stefanlaser, to random
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

Hey, look at this.

Rubin features our data centre project and my research in ❤️

https://wisskomm.social/@sfb1567/112404801149510318

https://news.rub.de/english/2024-05-08-social-sciences-chip-factory-nail-salon

stefanlaser, to streetphotography
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

“Exotic animal,” mobile application.

stefanlaser, to Sociology
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

Ever used Zoom? Googled? Discussed numbers and their implications?

We have a new article out and ask how online data is endowed with worth in virtual collaboration workshops.

https://valuationstudies.liu.se/article/view/3598

A RUSTlab and Uni Dresden collab. 🫶

stefanlaser, to random
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

in Arizona: a concrete monster hungry for water, in the middle of the desert, driving a culture shock. A debacle? That’s quite a story by Rest of the World.

I wonder how this will play out in Dresden, when the new chip facility comes.

https://restofworld.org/2024/tsmc-arizona-expansion/

inquiline, to random
@inquiline@union.place avatar

TFW you just can't stop censuring Jewish intellectuals for <checks notes> antisemitism

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/apr/10/nancy-fraser-cologne-university-germany-job-offer-palestine

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@inquiline That case is quite a hot topic in Germany, rightly so. It may boil down, in this case at least, to awkward decisions at one particular institution though.

CatherineFlick, to random
@CatherineFlick@mastodon.me.uk avatar

I’m once again asking my 20 month old to go to sleep, it’s 4am and you’ve been awake for 90 min

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@CatherineFlick Feel you! Very much.

24 months

inquiline, to random
@inquiline@union.place avatar

“Is it cake” for the STS set: Is it infrastructure?

(had a slightly more academic convo about this w the grad class yesterday) (and i do mean slightly)

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@davidthewid @inquiline @richpuchalsky It's just a methodology, once a provocative one, so this has to be the case.

But then...is there a limit to what social scientists will call "just a lens"? 😄

stefanlaser, to books
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

"The Discarded interweaves stories about imaginary with reflections on libraries, both real and dreamt. In an age of decreasing literacy, disposable content, and banned books, what do we preserve and discard?"

https://www.unboundedition.com/product/the-discarded-colin-hamilton-short-fiction/

stefanlaser, to random
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

Open Access PDF: Unser Buch über artenübergreifende Fürsorge ist freigeschaltet. Es handelt von der Fleischindustrie und den Lehren anhand einer Analyse öffentlicher Medien.

https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-6341-9/artenuebergreifende-fuersorge/?number=978-3-8394-6341-3

stefanlaser, to sts
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

Against leakage, against repair—Nerea Calvillo challenges purity fantasies. What matters is stopping the pollution. Period. Containment as a problem.

It also challenges key popular terms of current critical scholarship.

@sts

rwg, to fediverse
@rwg@aoir.social avatar

Latest #FOSSAcademic post: Researching the fediverse from the perspective of individual or instances. In which I draw on an article Christina Dunbar-Hester to talk about researchers' perspectives on the #fediverse, including my own.

https://fossacademic.tech/2024/03/14/Instances-and-Individuals.html

#commodon

[replies to this post will appear as comments on my blog, unless set to followers-only or more private. CWs will work]

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@rwg @inquiline @mel_hogan @luis_in_brief @ntnsndr @signalapp @rra @Aepasek Thanks for the call out!

I'm not sure if storage is the main trouble maker. (It could be.) We're currently arranging a data sprint event with data centre professionals where we want to push them, among other things, on the always-on nature of data centres. That's where the magic is. Like, shutting things down/slowing things down so that a network is good enough

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@rra @rwg @inquiline @mel_hogan @luis_in_brief @ntnsndr @Aepasek This is remarkable, thank you very much. Do you think switching to , , etc would change anything? Or turning off certain media? Sounds like you already do a lot.

stefanlaser, to random
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

Sharing special issue love: We invite contributions to discuss the mediation of knowledge practices and planetary matter through data infrastructures.

https://sciencetechnologystudies.journal.fi/announcement/view/689

inquiline, (edited ) to mastodon
@inquiline@union.place avatar

Friends, strangers, haters: I have... made hay. Let no one say I haven't committed to the bit.

(Wrote a paper about Asstodon, everyone be kind)

https://firstmonday.org/ojs/index.php/fm/article/view/13367/11436

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@inquiline Many lessons to draw form this, thanks. I somehow missed the hot ass controversy (what a mess!), which sounds fairly fitting re:

> “Lossy distribution” aka ... the phenomenon of how posts get seeded in a manner that suggests they are viewable to a wide, undifferentiated audience; but in practice results in, well, loss. And not only loss, but unknowable, invisible loss.

It might be true for all things social web. Yet more so for the Fediverse?

#mastodonmigration #asstodon

stefanlaser, to Germany
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

Liberals from block groundbreaking law. The adoption of the CSDD was just a formality. And it’s time to recognise basic human rights. So this came as a surprise. And not at all? Yet this lobbying has no clear force since many companies called for this change too. It sounds like a strange bid to gain non-existing voters.

Listen to the recent episode of :
https://wohlstandfueralle.podigee.io/236-lieferkettengesetz

stefanlaser, to Malaysia
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

vibe.

Lunar new year down south. Probing a (physical) filter at noon w/ harsh light conditions.

A place that smells like sambal and dhal, and where the SkyTrain cuts the horizon in half. Sure,

Just an apartment complex with some nice texture
New year decoration balloons zig-zagging left and right between two large residential houses, and yet another one behind. Lovely brick walls to the right
Close up of street food on KL's food street. Many aluminium baskets filled up, some eggplant in the front, a woman in the middle doing some cooking. Good job

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