Xzone - A Do It Together platform for online community-making

[lee2sman]

Description

Participants in this workshop will create their own D.I.T. (“Do It Together”) 2D networked online meeting places. We will introduce the idea of virtual temporary autonomous zones based on the concept of temporary autonomous zones, the socio-political tactic of creating temporary spaces to evade formal structures of control.

We will teach how to create a simplified networked graphical community meeting space based on this concept, including creating avatars, room interiors and interactive objects, inspired by physical spaces such as the squat, loft, community space, or campsite. Our virtual spaces are interlinked rooms inhabited by participants’ avatars who can move as well as chat. Rooms can be styled using photographs of IRL rooms, drawings and more. The platform is built in p5.js. Knowledge of coding is helpful, not required. The project is built on a fork of LIKELIKE, an online implementation of D.I.Y. artspace LIKELIKE in Pittsburgh, USA.

Project demo

Type: virtual workshop
Length: 1 1/2 - 2 hours (20 minute presentation, 20 minute teaching, 50 minutes up to 1hr20m working time)
Date: flexible
Duration: once
Language: english

Objective

• Ability to fork and create one’s own virtual autonomous 2d graphical chatroom
• A working understanding of the early and recent history of multi-user networked virtual spaces

Material and Technical Requirements

Platform: Jitsi + Glitch server
Technical considerations: ideally up to about 20 participants
Additional considerations: Some background in programming is helpful, but this will be beginner-friendly as well.
FYI We can host on our virtual server, which costs us about $10 for a month.

Presenters

Name: Daniel Lichtman
Email:[email protected]
Url(s): DanielLichtman.com, Virtual Autonomous Zone
GitHub: danielp73

Name: Lee Tusman
Email: [email protected]
Url(s): LeeTusman.com, Virtual Autonomous Zone
Twitter: @2sman2sman
GitHub: lee2sman

Presenter Bios

Lee Tusman (@lee2sman) and Daniel Lichtman (@danielp73) are artists, programmers, educators and curators. They create artwork, software, installations and games. They are interested in the application of the radical ethos of collectives and DIY culture to the creation of, aesthetics, and open-source distribution methods of digital culture, and how media platforms shape relationships of trust and power between performer and viewer. Tusman is Assistant Professor of New Media and Computer Science and Lichtman is Lecturer at Purchase College.