Miss Despoina's Critical Engineering Lab is an production and research platform initiated by Nancy Mauro-Flude in 2008. Miss Despoina's runs its own technical infrastructure enabling virtual and physical access opportunities for advocacy and cultural producers. . This holistic approach to technology facilitates networks of trust when learning new skills. The non-profit initiative focuses particularly on aspects of enabling the 'uninitiated' into the free software culture, from an experiential, collaborative and feminist perspective. Miss Despoina's
The Genderchangers
A bunch of women enamored with technology, but not necessarily formally trained in computer science or engineering. Our passion for wanting to understand and demystify technology comes from the fact that we find it fun, useful and essential for communication in today's world. We're autodidactic, so the tech skills we have acquired are DIY.
[1]
The Eclectic Tech Carnival
The Eclectic Tech Carnival is a gathering of women interested in open source technology. It's been held at least once a year since 2002, each time in a place where there is an interested group of women willing to host it. Its roots are in the Genderchangers hardware and FLOSS courses. [2]
Moddr_ moddr_ is an experimental medialab compiled by a group of international artists in Rotterdam, 2007. We function as an autonomous artistic collective involved in production, presentation and theoretical discourse around electronic media and contemporary fine art. moddr_ is a part of WORM , a collective of early innovators operating within the field of digital media, Art and pop culture. WORM has its physical meeting place in Rotterdam where it programs concerts, films and a variety of other events. Specialized in practical alternatives for existing and generally accepted methodologies, we look for solutions through unconventional approaches and the development of new techniques. In our contemporary society, which is ruled by hypes and standards, WORM provides a space for independent Do-It-Yourself artists and rebellious innovators. [3]
Writing:
Social software action at a distance and dolls- response to /etc women only aspect and how to open possibilities for women to contribute to software development. [4]
Linux for Artists This is a text I wrote during my MA Media Design at Piet Zwart Institute, in response the Thematic Project *Command Line Culture* September-December 2006 led by Florian Cramer, (the course director). From the perspective of a performing artist, and as a developer of the /eclectic tech carnival http://eclectictechcarnival.org/ I discuss my observations on how using the command line interface may be seen to possibly co-constitute one another in everyday life, operating as fields of embodied reflection. [http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/weblog/2007/04/23/linux-for-theatre-makers-embodiment-and-nix-modus-operandi/#more ]