Proceedings of the 2015 Workshop on Do-it-yourself Networking: an Interdisciplinary Approach

Abstract

It is our great pleasure to welcome you to the first of a series of interdisciplinary workshops on DIY networking. They build on a recent successful Dagstuhl seminar by the name "DIY networking: an interdisciplinary perspective", which brought together a highly diverse group of researchers and practitioners to reflect on technological and social issues related to the use of local wireless networks operating outside the public Internet. The seminar initiated a process of bridging the communication gap between those who build technology (e.g. computer scientists, engineers, and hackers) and those who understand better the complex urban environment where this technology is deployed (e.g. social and political scientists, urban planners, designers, and artists). Now in DIYnet 2015 -- hosted by ACM MobiSys -- the participants try to make one more step toward facilitating interdisciplinary exchanges around the complex design space defined by DIY networking solutions, for a more creative interplay between technological and human networks in the city. The technical programme includes both conceptual and experiential entries with DIY networking applications, and novel scientific contributions on important technical questions. We are also very proud to have with us key people coming from different domains that are close to the common object of enquiry: DIY networking. More specifically Michael Smyth (Edinburgh Napier University) will give a keynote talk on Urban Interaction Design, and highlight the interdisciplinary perspective of hybrid space design. Paul Dourish (University of California, Irvine) will give a second keynote talk on The Politics of Infrastructure Projects, which will bring the political dimension. Andreas Unteidig (Berlin University of the Arts) will give a demo of the "hybrid letter box" and introduce the design research perspective. Mathias Jud (independent artist) will give a demo of the community art project http://www.qaul.net, which has received the "Prix Ars electronica [the next idea]", and bring the artistic and activist perspective.