% SUMMARY
% 'I think that conversations are the best, biggest thing that Free Software has to offer its user' is a collection of dialogues between developers and designers involved in the wider ecosystem of Libre Graphics. Its lengthy title is taken from an interview with Debian developer Asheesh Laroia. His remark points at the difference that Free Software can make when users are invited to consider, interrogate and discuss not only the technical details of software, but its concepts and histories as well. The book was produced collaboratively with the help of etherpash, a custom publishing workflow. etherpash is based on the desire to edit content in a simple manner, while not being limited to this simple manner.
% For Transmediale, we would like to open up Conversations and etherpash in a workshop/presentation, a hands on session using the latest iteration of the publishing platform. Participants can interact with the content of the publication and experiment with the publishing workflow from up-close.
% DETAILED PLAN
% Please explain the (presentation) formats your project includes and how they connect to each other.
%SCALEFONT: 1.03
'_Conversations_' is an extensive collection of dialogues between developers and designers
involved in the wider ecosystem of Libre Graphics.
Its lengthy title, '_I think that conversations are the best, biggest thing that Free Software has to offer its user_',
is taken from an interview with Debian developer Asheesh Laroia. His remark points at the difference that Free Software can make when users
are invited to consider, interrogate and discuss not only the technical details of software, but its concepts and histories as well.
% RESETFONT:
_Conversations_ documents discussions about tools and practices for typography, layout and image processing that stretch out over a period of more than eight years. The questions and answers were recorded in the margins of events such as the yearly Libre Graphics Meeting[^]{http://libregraphicsmeeting.org/},
the Libre Graphics Research Unit[^]{http://lgru.net/}, a two-year collaboration between Medialab-Prado in Madrid, Worm in Rotterdam, Piksel in Bergen and Constant in Brussels, or as part of documenting the work process of the Brussels' design team OSP. The book is published by Constant[^]{http://constantvzw.org}, a Brussels based association for arts and media, and produced collaboratively with the help of `etherpash`, a custom Libre Graphics workflow developed by Christoph Haag.
% G!RAFIK: http://snelting.domainepublic.net/wp-content/uploads/IMG_9414-1024x683.jpg
`etherpash` uses a markup collage based on the desire to edit content in a simple manner, while at the same time not being limited to this simple manner. Content is written with a smell of source code, expanding from plain textual content over markdown formatting to `command lines` as references to anything you may do within your `bash` environment. Editing takes place collaboratively in a networked environment while the translation to print-ready files is distributed to separate machines, also distributing questions of form in its wider sense of '_how something is or how it happens_'.
While the development of `etherpash` was triggered by the need for publishing _Conversations_, it exists in an ecology of persistant experiments with publishing platforms[^]{See for example: `Ethertoff` http://osp.kitchen/tools/ethertoff/, `Active Archives` http://activearchives.org and `Olga` http://oralsite.be/pages/Olga_Software} that in the spirit of Free Software, demand more interesting interchanges between media, technology, content, design and the many people involved. Next to the obvious link to this years' edition of Transmediale and the title of the book, we feel that both the content and the way it was made subtly connect to the theme _Anxious to share_. The characteristics of the publishing platform itself are being developed as a way to dialogue with the anxiety to _deal with the socio-political consequences, as the new maker cultures revel in the craftsmanship of the prototypical, instrumental and entrepreneurial_. Inviting participants at Transmediale to interact with the platform as well as with the content, would be a way to try out a concrete proposal for living with technology.
% N!EWPAGE:
% G!RAFIK: http://www.freeze.sh/_/2015/conversations/_/20150309_cover_0201.jpg
Format
----------
% Technical needs / duration of the project, in case of workshop formats: duration / number of participants / required materials.
We will first present _Conversations_ and `etherpash`, the f/l/os publishing pipeline that was developed alongside the editing of the book. This would be followed by a hands on session using the latest iteration of `etherpash`. Participants can interact with the content of the publication and the publishing system from up-close. Depending on the interest of participants, we can discuss technical details of the workflow, content of the publication but ideally we connect them both.
% BIGSKIP:
The presentation will take approximately 40 mins., followed by **Q** and **A**.
The workshop will need between 3 hrs and a full afternoon (for example, presentation before lunch and workshop after).
% BIGSKIP:
We need network (open port 9001), extension cables, some tables and chairs, a laser printer and a wall/surface to display the system image on.
**Participants would need to bring their own laptop**.
% BIGSKIP:
The session will be in English with additional German if needed.
We think maximum 20 participants; no specific technical skills are required.
Installation elements
----------------------------
We would like to bring a large print-out of the system architecture to use as a background for the presentation and workshop.
% include image from making of
% VFILL:
Project documentation
-------------------------------
%SCALEFONT: 1.8
`http://conversations.tools`
`http://freeze.sh/_/2015/conversations`
% RESETFONT:
% GRAFIK: ../incoming/20150309_cover_0201.pdf 1
% G!RAFIK: ../FREEZE/150807_trnsmdljacket.pdf 2
% G!RAFIK: ../incoming/mkof-01_01.pdf 5
% GRAFIK: ../incoming/mkof-01_01.pdf 1-4
% GRAFIK: ../FREEZE/150807_etherpash.pdf 1-2
% G!RAFIK: ../FREEZE/150807_etherpash.pdf 3-6
% G!RAFIK: ../incoming/mkof-01_01.pdf 5-6
Biographies
-----------------
%SCALEFONT: 0.85
**Christoph Haag** studied design at the Department of Hybrid Space/Academy of Media Arts Cologne.
Approaching graphic design from the commandline and the commandline from a design perspective,
he is currently extending usage into programming. Lives and works in Augsburg, Germany.
% BIGSKIP:
**Femke Snelting** is an artist and designer, developing projects at the intersection of design, feminism and free software.
She is a core member of the Brussels based association for arts and media, Constant and co-initiated the design/research team
Open Source Publishing (OSP) and the Libre Graphics Research Unit.
http://www.constantvzw.org