Lina / Group1

Startingpoint: how ringfencing the elephant
what would conversation between the mice look like in that case?

Who are the defenders of the cloud?
identify them across academia, policy, journalism, dataforgood....

Strategies
delegitimize or ignore them
highlight systemic critique: put it in context how it exists as system
look for solidarity amongst groups 
asking for political responsibility & labour relations to tech
link to antiglobalisation mouvement
relocating populist anger vs blaming communities -> blaming the cloud!
full on dystopia/utopia scenario to get people engaged
pleasure seeking in cultivating alternative infrastructure
tap into existing infrastructiures (movements, institutions, actions)
put aside professions and come together as citizens, putting aside professional agendas: traditional realm of sociologists could talk to anyone, not anymore; you can only invite people to share experiences
some people don't have jobs/citizenships
-> create storytelling group / space for exchange because you've researched it or experienced it without having to protect capital
-> look into ways/periods to COLLECTIVELY live disconnected from the cloud

Seda / Group2
If we had shrinkwrapped software, would the problems be still the same?
What is the difference?
Do we care if it makes a difference? Would they also be important in general? Cloud can be element that is amplifying?
What are properties unique to the cloud?
- accelator?
- comparing it to cooking vs astronaut food
- product to rent model/revenue stream (as economic model), when did that shift happen? 
- different speed in terms of delivery of software, company/users relationship, production/user are co-located (user part of production & production always creating the user)
- is internet working coming from sharing computation power - also chicken/egg problem
- different models to see difference between specific social media platforms that offer services
- gatekeepers deciding what software/apps is available to the users
- free services: new? comparable to freeware in 90s? difference in commitment, you can try out software services for a month with company of 200 people and say no, not interested
- other possibile implementations of the cloud: individual users sharing computer power over the network
- putting limitations on individual resistence strategies
- cloud allows behaviorial optimisation, everyone is a betatester giving constant feedback
see more: 
http://pad.constantvzw.org/public_pad/CloudsAreNotAnOption_shrinkwrapped

Possible Research Questions & Stuff we want to know
a lot of things are funded, engagement is superficial now
- when did the shift happen? does the pendulum argument hold? From time sharing main frames to PC and back to the cloud
- develop practical strategies/groups
- how related are start-up/cloud/financial model: you can become a start-up because there is the cloud
the rental model was also a way to become more investment friendly
- how is the user a sensor? Data leaks all the time, link usership to internet of things (real sensors), continuous feedback loops, shapes technology to come, how people are connected
cybernetics: how to challenge this sensor software engineering design?
leverage the cloud/infrastructure so it does things you want to see happen, f.ex. more diversity
- how to take advantage of mechanism of the cloud for other objectives? how does it shape you?
what are limits of the cloud in developing system
- survey of what public institutions (schools/government/police/museums) have outsourced, where, why
revalue solidarity, by showing that institutions are not alone in what is happening, might help to create gorups of insitutions that make other decisions (avoid conversations like 'Google came to us, not to other institutions)
where to go first? 
- how do we challenge the flow of capital in the tech sector
take away compartiments in reporting
slow understanding amongst journalists students, not capable of reporting on big data issues
-> no one tracks through financial flow the tech industry
-> need to know that technology we get is related to deals -> reconnect financing & technology production, once it exists the question is can they seel it off (too late)
or other way round: Uber, given captial in order for it to grow -> why is that attractive to capital? large corporations, but also myths/promises...?
Airbnb/Deliveroo same models?
cies we're interested in are building infrastructure
-> capitalize shift: you need new space to colonize... not sure how it collapses, might be infrastructural shift
- regulation: interesting to think how public utility could look like, models are so privatized that it needs rethinking, f.ex. water, the commons
connect to how we have utiilitarian/functional view on cloud, can it be something different?
can clouds be a commons?
ex people need a tool to find their way on the internet, fundamental right
- imaginary excercise: what kind of cloud would we like? what kind of service would we imagine? In a total fictionary way. Example: a DuckDuckGo that works, what does it mean? And what does it mean "to work"?
Related to the user as a sensor, and the fact that you need gmail to have a phone functioning.
The fiction approach would be a possitive approach to the cloud.