Alternative Backstage Communication Tools

Willing to control the technologies that mediate their social relations, feminist hacker groups choose alternative, decentralised, and open-source tools for their backstage communication.

This is a political and cultural decision. Hacker groups in general, and feminist tech groups as well, are opposed to the massive centralisation of the internet. Platformization offers giant tech companies, like Facebook and Twitter, the ability to establish themselves as unavoidable passages for everyone’s mundane social interactions.

Feminist hackers prefer to meet in online spaces such as mailing lists and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) channels. IRC is used to organise events and meetings, to set tasks of the day and collectively work on projects. While IRC channels are public, one should know the channel name and network to join. That usually happens through word of mouth among trustworthy individuals, thus creating small-scale community discussions. Mailing lists of projects are private and moderated, though everyone can request a subscription. Their purpose is to continue general discussions initiated during events, help each other in the process of learning things, keep in touch, and inform about new projects.

Shared by ★ Estragon ★