[DATAGOV Core] infrastructure-through-play
Federico Bonelli
fredd at trasformatorio.net
Sat Jan 17 10:55:57 CET 2026
### Introducing “The Box”: An "Infrastructure-Through-Play"
open proposal for the datagovlab artistic side
>"The first task of the lab is to set up the lab."
Albumahin the Elder, the seven unspeakable laws of wisdom p.999
I see what i call "the box" as an object with a function; to "take out
the box" is "to set-up lab".
Since the beginning of our work some months ago we wished for an open
source, privacy aware, knowledge sharing service. A system to build our
own labs activities upon.
To have buld our own lab's infrastructure is a key passage. It should be
"a playground in a box" and such "to play the box" the first games I
propose we play together.
Embodied experiences are far more than technical procedures used to
defining the playing field. We want only draw the lines, tell the rules
but played the game.
I thought about the simplest, most atomic, instance of (own)DATA and
(SELF)Governance i could propose as the initial form. The Box contains
files and files are being organised. Is as well a complex technological
object we should be able to understand, at least in principle, maintain
and operate. During a long project tools the organisation evolves.
Interpersonal knowledge is forming and has to be shared with newcomers.
A Box is a container to transport precious things. The more precious the
box the more interesting the story that carries the notions you want to
share.
As in knowledge its "oneness" is totally fictional. So you see one box
but there are multiple boxes. 8 to be precise, the standing symbol.
They represent "the VAULT"; they contain the files but as well are the
vault, because when is there a file has 8 copies in all others vault,
not only a back up but a signal to all the cluster of boxes, because
communication makes a message bigger than its words. Each box is 8 boxes.
Then, each box cannot survive without its keeper, as for any structure
it sign a meaning at the same time that its custodian keep the necessary
knowledge to access it. The custodian knows how to build it, operate and
maintain it, and knows why. They are the link to the story that justify
the meaning, without them the piece of metal and circuit is a worthless
fossile.
For this reason to build the lab's walls each one of us has to build
their box. This is how you earn your box.
The 8 cluster form a unity in the net, through a private encrypted
network. As such they are used by us, the labbers, as gateway to our own
lab infrastructure. Opening (or switching on) the box is creating the
"situation" lab. As such has to refract on the other boxes far away. The
box is a feeling entity, so has to be linked to feeling the lab as a unity.
To show ourselves this sensibility layer of connection that i call
awareness layer we need to give other functions to the boxes. The
hardware allows many. I chose for now the simplest most atomic i could
think of, a RGB led. Color, light, behaviour should map properties of
the cluster: activity, relations, distance of elements. We have to find
which ones will be relevant to us and implement them. The system allows
to do a lot, from playing music to giant installations piloted by our
knowledge base dynamic, yet we want to be able to perfect autonomy in
constructing these effects and as such interpret them. They should speek
to us. Technology for communication should have at least an attempt to
be poetical. We shall find our own way to signal this.
All these machines, these data producing and interpreting units that we
already have in the pockets and on the desks. What other means of
communication allow? How many of those are hybrid (in the sense of
having a reality that is neither only material neither merely technical?
And how they should behave in the environment to appear polite and
proper? Is it only vanity and dopamine addiction to drive design? What
is to be the education of machines? And what all this screaming of data
does to human and more than human existence?
SO what in god's name shall this tiny light do? Become pulsing white
when we are in the same room? Blink orange when someone edits a file in
the vault? Glowing warm purple if someone writes a new page? And is that
peasant or annoying?
I believe in fostering awareness, in liminal perception systems and
enjoy the feedback it gives me, calms me to ear the noise of the steps
of a loved one on the staircase, the sounding buzz of the fridge at
night, the glow of a candle, the perception the work is done by the
order on the desk... but you? What is necessary and what is
superfluous, what is annoying and what is practical? We can investigate
and find this together.
In short: "how can we be a lab without having a lab space?".
My answer is we are the lab and we play the lab game in the lab. We set
shop anywhere and we make this evident by connecting to our boxes: they
react with light and color to our activities, and give us a hook to show
who we are and tell some story of our work if we feel like. And we learn
by playing the lab together.
I hope that this will be enough (if you read till here) to engage you
all in this because wishes to be a playful proposal, meant to blend
making, thinking, and experimenting together "the lab". I propose it and
start playing it, you are not obliged to play with me. To play takes to
set aside some time they say. Yet life is not time, is presence and felt
duration, I think that fulfilment is a better measure than time, an
activity should last till its fun factor fulfils us.
Let's not fear time. The feeling time is short. We should always allow
us all the time to feel. Is such a big part of taking care of what/who
we love.
TECH APPENDIX
Let’s describe what should be inside the eight boxes. Consider for
now I have build two that are functional as a proof of concept and I can
demonstrate to guide you to make one if you like. We shall order asap
the parts.
- A small single-board computer running Linux, with the following functions:
- Connect to a private network (VPN), with the box acting as a node.
- A complete, auto-updating and self synchronising copy of all texts
written by the entire group and based on obsidian (VAULT). This is
allowing each member to browse read and add their own notes as well as
those taken by others propagating a 8 folded back up. As many other
potential functionalities. Texts will be in markdown and as a writing
and ordering system I propose to use the open source multi platform and
extensible software obsidian.
- A perceptive system, letting us *intuitively sense* the activity of
the whole group through the behaviour of the box. This is done by
signals carried by two different protocols (OSC and MQTT)
To build the box, we will need to:
- Explore basic electronics and system design.
- Learn elements of networking and routing.
- Understand principles of operation and maintenance.
TIME
It took me about 8 hrs work in tree days to figure out how to patch
the first 3 boxes together. We can revise this architecture in a couple
sessions
COST
the cost of the elements to build the 8 boxes should in total about
500 euros, +- 80 euros per box. Unless you want to house it in a Fabergé
Egg the actual container should be a fun side project to make.
You will be able to get into the VPN with all your local devices; access
the files shared with all the group locally as they synch in the
background. It will work in any place, can be powered by battery and
with solar. Can function without connection to internet. Allows to
"exit" to the internet in any of the location of the connected boxes.
The hardware that has space for mounting other drives, connecting
sensors and interface with many kinds of actuators to express a wide
range of activities both digital or in the space we are.
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