@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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cyberlyra, to random
@cyberlyra@hachyderm.io avatar

Seeking recommendations for a DRM-free handheld ebook reader. I haven’t looked in a while… What’s out there that’s usable?

Some assembly required is fine by me, ofc

(Tagging @pluralistic @Incognitim @ohthehugemanatee in case they have any ideas)

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@cyberlyra @pluralistic @Incognitim @ohthehugemanatee I hope I didn't overlook this in the replies: is a solid choice. It's android, although the versions differ by device. Still, you can read anything with the standard ebook reader that it ships with.

See boox.com, and the subreddit for Onyx_Boox is excellent, too.

Private
stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@inquiline More towers... Why not? I would sign the grant.

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

Today, or rather, tonight, I'm joining the Environmental and Climate Justice in Computing Workshop. This is a cool group of scholars asking for our relations towards climate and environmental justice groups. "How does our work and the institutions we operate in work against and toward environmental and climate justice movements?"

I'll try to bring in my questions stemming from the nested situation in .

And we start w/ a neat intro into the E & CJ movements.

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

Fixing the telephone wires. Love lines.

timnitGebru, to random
@timnitGebru@dair-community.social avatar

Many people telling me they prefer Blue Sky because of the 1) Tone policing over here where people were telling Black people to add CWs while talking about racism, 2) the ridiculous amount of mansplaining and 3) whatever this shit is to an exiled journalist facing trolls and death threats daily.

https://dair-community.social/deck/@galena@paws.moe/111207650351956286

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@timnitGebru This is really sad, and nicely summarised.

Questions on my mind, not a call for reporting: Are you and others still experiencing the CW police? I have a feeling that it stopped for the topics that I'm following, it was a strange phase, but that's just my island. And then: Is there still trust if things changed or are bridges burned? If yes, how to communicate/institutionalise/maintain change?

Private
stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@i_ngli @easst @sts wo More to come, much more!

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

It's family-visits time, so we climb up to the highest point. West lake from above. Lotte Tower, and a coffee.

stefanlaser, to sociology German
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

Reckwitz' Vortragsreihe zu "Theorie und Gesellschaft" ist bereits ein Meme. Soziale Energie, Boomer, ein Post – die Männer liefern. @sociology

Als jemand der zu forscht, aus der Perspektive der STS und ethnographisch arbeitend, bin ich halb gespannt und halb in Panik. Rosa baut ein neues Buch.

kuketzblog, to windows German
@kuketzblog@social.tchncs.de avatar

Das Projekt privacy is sexy stellt verschiedene Skripte zur Verfügung, mit denen nicht nur die Datensammlung von Windows reduziert, sondern auch unnötige Bloatware oder nicht genutzte Dienste deaktiviert werden können. Die Befehle werden kopiert/heruntergeladen und dann über das Windows-Terminal ausgeführt. Bei Bedarf können die Änderungen auch wieder rückgängig gemacht werden. 👇

https://privacy.sexy/

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@kuketzblog Oder Sophia script. Ist vielleicht noch einen Ticken umfassender? https://github.com/farag2/Sophia-Script-for-Windows

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

@cheeaun Hi, as indicated, I'm a huge fan of your work. So what is your preferred way to receive monetary support? 👋

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@cheeaun That's simple, GitHub it is.

Sorry for slightly abusing the PMs (ignore this if it is inappropriate). Are you planning to upgrade to the Masto 6 API? I'm thinking about playing with something like Fedialgo as an optional timeline, but it's running V6.

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

Technopolitical myths travel quickly.

On 12 September, a fire in a house killed 50 residents. A tragedy that gained more local interest than the Biden visit.

Suddenly, new fire extinguishers pop up everywhere. And there is a national fear of e-scooters. There was a rumour that the fire was started by one. Turns out it was a normal scooter and a gas pipeline. But the myth is here. Like, an entire uni campus banned charging e-scooters. It's the usual anti-e.

https://vietnamnews.vn/society/1594039/short-circuit-of-scooter-behind-tragic-fire-that-killed-56-in-ha-noi-police.html

Private
stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@JeroenSH @AnjaKlein @anthropology @sts This is one way, set and follow the order. Or just write wherever there is s flow right now, and ride the tide. A brief idea of structure suffices. Order evolves. This is how I was very successful, as in, getting things done. And of course, do the intro at the end.

Writing with Scrivener helped me a lot in not being blocked by white paper syndrome. (And it fits nicely with Jeroen's hints.)

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

I need to seriously reduce my time looking at screens, my eyes are virtually hurting.

What are your favourite podcasts? A bit nerdy, informative, deep dives, tech, ecology, queerfeminist discussions, Asia-Pacific.

I'm thinking in the lines of Cultures of Energy, @mel_hogan Data Fix, @parismarx Tech won't Safe Us, @emergencemagazine, Wohlstand für Alle, You're Wrong About, ... but also some format I do not have on my radar. @sts @academicchatter

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

has a future. As a coffee place in Hoa Lac science and technology park near .

stefanlaser, (edited ) to Sociology
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

I've created a new key memo in our Obsidian vault. It synthesises many existing notes and describes how our studied data centre site in Germany is related to production networks in Asia-Pacific. In fact, the network view helped me explore and theorise relations.

But it's a real danger that such a view indicates finished research or fixed notions. It's worth reflecting on the performativity of such a tool. Reminds me of Gephi issues. @sociology @sts

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@jonny @sociology @sts Issues as in interpretative challenges, I'm mostly thinking of my past studies of social networks and key lessons from Digital Methods (https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Controversy+Mapping%3A+A+Field+Guide-p-9781509544509). Like: Mistaking the map for an unmediated representation, "finding" two separate clusters and really going deep with the differences.

Gephi as such is awesome, an excellent and fun tool.

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

"Energy storage, whether integrated into a power grid or located at individual households (off-grid systems), is very expensive and carbon-intensive to build and maintain."

Hence direct power as the main source of : the low-tech magazine plays it through. It's s pivot towards values, I suppose. Live with the flow of the sun.

https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/08/direct-solar-power-off-grid-without-batteries/

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

> The point of making a new, good internet isn't to revive the old, good internet. There were plenty of problems with the old, good internet. The point is to make a new, good internet that is the worthy successor to the old, good internet – and to consign the enshitternet to the scrapheap of history, an unfortunate transitional stage between one good internet and another.

Here's a link to the podcast episode by @pluralistic:

https://craphound.com/news/2023/08/21/enshitternet-the-old-good-internet-deserves-a-new-good-internet/

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

Reposting this from , considering the new wave of and .

Tools to populate the timeline, get an algorithm, and make cool stuff.

Cf. https://slrpnk.net/comment/1889354

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

yes, it's about commons, and planetary relations thus stabilised or dismantled.

> We propose reclaiming ownership over the scholarly commons, to be able to maintain the scholarly record from toot to monograph (and the code and data in-between).

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.230207 ✒️📃

On the fall of , prior experiences of similar kind, the larger publishing environment, and how the Fediverse fits into academia's ecology.

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

"The physical assets at the core of the internet, the warehouses that store the cloud’s data and interlink global networks, are owned... by commercial real estate barons who compete with malls and property storage empires. .. This history makes clear that the internet was never an exogenous shock to capitalist social relations, but rather a touchstone example of an economic system increasingly ruled by asset owners like landlords."

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/03063127221124943 @sts

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@inquiline @sts Quite an article. Nicely discussed in this pod, too, https://podtail.com/podcast/this-machine-kills/220-the-landlords-who-own-the-internet-ft-dan-gree/

kuketzblog, to random German
@kuketzblog@social.tchncs.de avatar

Genau mein Humor. E-Mail von der PureVPN-Marketing-Abteilung: "Wir bieten sicheres und privates Surfen im Internet [...]"

Dann am Ende der E-Mail ein Webbug/Tracker-Element: "Sender notified by Mailtrack"

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@kuketzblog Immer wieder spannend, gut und auf den Punkt. Ich sehe jedoch eine Spannung zwischen:

  • kein Erzielen von Anonymität

und den folgenden drei Aspekten:

  • Verschlüsselung der Kommunikation
  • Verschlüsselung der DNS-Anfragen
  • Verbergen/Maskieren der IP-Adresse

Konkret: Wenn ich in Vietnam surfe, wissen die Behörden, dass ich online bin. Aber sie wissen nicht, wohin mein Surfbrett abgedriftet ist. Das ist also anonym?

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

The quest for purity in the Fediverse creates drama and fragmentation.

In short, / admins made odd decisions.

  • Pitching a name that creates confusion re: trademark (Firefox and more).
  • Moving their repo to a Gitlab hosted by alt-right people (resolved).
  • The main dev boosted a neutral post by an (alleged) harasser. Contradictory screenshots and clarifications circulate.

The project emphasizes it values diversity. But ways depart. And we have a new fork, .

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

"Fieldnotes on FlyingLess Conferencing:" Our reflection on European conferencing via is published in the EASST review. This is an intervention to think about less energy-intensive forms for conferences.

have potential. Yet we inquire what's possible for whom. @sociology

This text is a collective endeavor. I'm happy to be part of a diverse crowd of authors with different routes and experiences.

🔗https://www.easst.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/review_2022_10.pdf

stefanlaser,
@stefanlaser@social.tchncs.de avatar

@becha @sociology Yes, it should be this one: https://www.easst.net/article/fieldnotes-on-flyingless-conferencing/

On a more general level, I also recommend this recent article by @Aepasek https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/20563051231177906

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