How do we build educational technology that serves liberation rather than surveillance? This session explores “cooperative digital organizing. “Creating community-controlled spaces that prioritize privacy, consent, and collective decision-making over engagement metrics and data extraction.
Drawing on the Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age’s transition from academic organization to cooperative network, we’ll share what we’re learning about how educational communities can reclaim digital sovereignty. We’ll examine our journey from Google Workspace and social media to privacy-first tools like Nextcloud, Signal, and self-hosted alternatives. Not as technical solutions, but as pedagogical choices.
We’ll explore together:
- Privacy by Design principles for educational communities
- Tool choice as curriculum—how platforms shape learning relationships
- Cooperative governance models for shared decision-making
- Consent-based participation honoring different comfort levels
- Community care infrastructure supporting sustainable organizing
Through case studies from our migration away from extractive platforms. What’s working, what isn’t, what we’re figuring out. We’ll collaborate on creating resilient, trust-centered digital communities. Come ready to share experiments, challenges, and questions about building educational technology serving the community rather than capital.
Session Resources:
Initiative for Literacy in a Digital Age: https://initiativeforliteracy.org/
Privacy by Design Framework: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Privacy_by_design
Nextcloud for Education: https://nextcloud.com/education/
Sian Bayne – Digital sanctuary and anonymity on campus: https://wonkhe.com/blogs/digital-sanctuary-and-anonymity-on-campus/
Amy Collier – Digital Sanctuary: Protection and Refuge on the Web?: https://er.educause.edu/articles/2017/8/digital-sanctuary-protection-and-refuge-on-the-web
Replacing a live site with a high-fidelity web archive mirror
You have your own web domain (a blog, a course website, etc..) but you (or your institution or your government!) don’t want to keep maintaining or updating the site, but you still want to keep a high-fidelity archived, fixed in time?
Web archiving allow us to create high-fidelity copies of entire websites. Web archive mirroring is a new approach to keep the site, exactly as it was (or as close as possible) on its original domain (or replacement domain), but powered by a web archive!
This presentation will cover new open source tooling from Webrecorder, which allows for creating statically hosted (and low-cost) mirrors entirely from web archives.
We will provide simple examples and also cover more sophisticated examples of multi-site mirrors such as the one hosted on https://govarchive.us/
Session Resources:
https://webrecorder.net/blog/2025-03-25-govarchive-us-and-mirroring-sites-with-web-archives/
https://govarchive.us/
And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Rewilding the Network – Making New Connections invites to rethink digital and educational spaces as living ecosystems. Instead of tightly managed, centralized systems…
Thus begins ChatGPT’s answer to a prompt. It helped me muse on what I want to say, even before I manage to express it, and helped me connect the “open” with the “rewilding” within educational (and digital?) spaces.
It appears as AI may help me like a guide, an “illuminated spirit”. But wait: to assume legitimately the role of a tutor or agent to discuss with and ponder, should it not be endowed with a real comprehension of what it is saying? However, one central question of education is precisely: What does comprehension mean? This is actually an optimal circumstance to discuss such issues and concepts on a broad level in our institutions and here at Reclaim Open.
Should I be conversing with AI? Is it ethical? Is it sane? Should I ask AI to evaluate students’ works–or should I not? These questions are profound and are given special attention on the press and academic circles. In short, we all have some questions and anxiety —but also fascination—over AI and this is a powerful “platform” to discuss them.
Plus, I have managed to create a couple of applications for my courses—or better, I managed to guide an AI to do it– and I found it to be a fascinating process. I would like to share here a few examples, including one derived from the notorious “Daily challenges” that Alan Levine designed.
Session Resources:
https://mastodon-photo-
https://code-inspect-avunque.
https://project-bot-coach.
Leap into Open Publishing with Docsify-This!
We’ll explore how Docsify-This, an open source tool built with Docsify.js.org (30K+ GitHub stars), significantly lowers barriers by transforming public Markdown files into styled web pages without requiring technical infrastructure.
Great for educators and authors who:
- Want minimal maintenance publishing (set it and forget it, no Webserver needed)
- Value cross-platform content reuse (web, PDF, eBook from the same source)
- Need to embed the same content across multiple platforms
Docsify-This has six core design guidelines: Zero Maintenance Publishing eliminates technical barriers—users paste a Markdown URL to generate styled webpages. Platform Independence supports content portability across systems, while Your Content, Your Control means files remain in original locations.
Separation of Content and Presentation enables the same Markdown to function as standalone websites or embedded content. Support for the 5 Rs of OER provides public access to source content with optional “Edit this Page” links, and Authors Helping Authors manifests through shareable configurations and templates.
What participants will learn:
- Describe the purpose and key usage scenarios of Docsify-This
- Display Markdown files as web pages
- Change the visual appearance of pages
- Share Docsify-This pages and config
Session format: Hands-on demos using https://Docsify-This.net . Participants will explore examples and learn valuable tips and techniques from the project author.
Session Resources:
Building connections and open ed tech with the CBOX OpenLab community
Is your ed tech free, open, and connected? Do you wish it was? Commons In A Box OpenLab is free and open source software that enables you to launch a commons space for open learning and customize it to meet the needs of your community. Built using WordPress and BuddyPress via a multi-institution partnership, it supports open education, connection, and collaboration. Members create and configure their own learning spaces, reaching across disciplinary and institutional boundaries to share their work with one another and, if they wish, openly on the web.
Our session brings together representatives from OpenLabs large and small, long-established and brand new, at Borough of Manhattan Community College, CUNY School of Professional Studies, Macaulay Honors College, SUNY Oneonta, the University of New Haven, and the original OpenLab at City Tech.
Our focus will be on the connections CBOX OpenLab makes possible: through its technical architecture, among members at our individual institutions, and between our institutions. We’ll hear lightning talks from the teams about their OpenLabs, followed by group discussion of how we work together, successes and challenges, and audience Q&A.
Come to our session and learn how CBOX OpenLab provides a launchpad for vibrant learning communities and how we’re building a growing network outside ed tech’s walled gardens, sharing ideas and providing mutual support. We’d love you to join the conversation and spark new collaborations.
Portfolio Websites for Arts and Humanities Students: A Collaborative Workshop Series Approach
Over the course of the Spring 2025 semester, Grinnell College’s Digital Liberal Arts Collaborative (DLAC) and the Arts, Media & Communications Career Community in the Center for Careers, Life, and Service (CLS) led an inaugural 3-part workshop series to provide arts and humanities students with the skills necessary to create their own portfolio websites. Portfolios are beneficial tools for self-reflection, as well as competitive assets for internships, jobs, and graduate school applications. The workshop series began with discussion of the value of sharing one’s work, provided time for students to draft their professional biographies, and then covered the nuts and bolts of how to build a portfolio in WordPress. DLAC facilitated student learning using the Elementor plugin and provided a base template for each student as a starting point. Through this workshop series, 30 students learned why and how to start sharing their own voices on the open web – and two campus offices made a valuable connection, allowing us to support each other’s work. We will now offer this workshop series on a regular basis. Join us to learn more about our approach, share your own thoughts on cross-departmental collaboration at your institution, and learn best practices for engaging students in the creation of academic and professional portfolio websites!
DS106Radio, Friday Night Tunes, and the Ephemeral Web
For four years, I’ve brought “Friday Night Tunes” to the DS106Radio stream. It’s built up a small community of folks who tune in to ease out of the week and into the weekend with some music and stories. Making and sharing a set has gone from being a lark to a hobby to my regular artistic practice, and it’s started (or reinvigorated) discussions about music with friends and relatives. But what is the relationship between an ephemeral event and the enduring presence of that event in playlists, recordings, and writings across multiple social media platforms? What’s really a memento, and what’s just digital hoarding? Do I want another website to feed with these records, and does anyone else? Join me for a discussion of the Friday Night Tunes show, a non-technical discussion of how an idea becomes a show, and some thoughts about where it’s going.
The Fediverse Six Months From Now
This discussion will reflect on the state of the fediverse some six months after this abstract was written. Probably, it will depict the fediverse as a response to the abuse of centralized networks such as Facebook and Twitter. It will most likely outline and highlight major differences between ActivityPub-based networks (eg., Mastodon, Lemmy) and AT Protocol networks (Bluesky), and maybe mention things like Nostr and Diaspora, if they’re still around. If anything new comes up, we’ll discuss that too. But of more significance, we’ll look at some of the core issues underlying the fediverse, pointing to solutions if any have been found by then: identification and identity persistence, data and scale issues, and connection and consensus. If Blockchain has risen from the dead we’ll discuss the role it pays in decentralized networks. Also how artificial intelligence can play a role in content creation, selection and filtration. Finally, assuming we still have any, we will look at the key ideas of agency and community underlying the desire to have networks that are not controlled by Elon Musk (or his robot successor) and the role these play in learning and development. Failing any of that, we will discuss why decentralized social networks are illegal and how it’s harmful to the state to have forums where people can discuss the discredited concepts of diversity, equity and illusion, as though the nonsense about diversity making is stronger and more resilient could possibly be true.
Session Resources:
https://fediverse.party/ – introduction to a numb er of popular federated social networks
https://jointhefediverse.net/?lang=en – introduction to the fediverse
https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/25/welcome-to-the-fediverse-your-guide-to-mastodon-threads-bluesky-and-more/ – from TechCrunch
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2022/11/fediverse-could-be-awesome-if-we-dont-screw-it – EFF on how the Fediverse could make things better
https://www.downes.ca/post/78050 – Bluesky is more open than you think
Re-wilding EdTech: a collaborative speculative scenario design workshop
What if we stopped trying to control our digital tools and let them run wild instead? This workshop uses speculative design methods to imagine educational technologies that refuse to behave, systems that glitch creatively, algorithms with unpredictable logic, and learning platforms that evolve beyond their design.
Through collaborative activities, we’ll share stories of technological chaos prompted new thinking, explore uncertain futures using scenario techniques, and sketch alternatives to conventional EdTech. Instead of chasing efficiency, we’ll consider how breakdowns and digital decay might become creative catalysts.
Drawing from Tyrrell’s concept of “waste as an interface” in classrooms (2025), we’ll examine how invisible maintenance work shapes learning environments and explore alternatives to sterile tech-utopian visions. Participants will try out methods like collaborative scenario mapping and speculative sketching to question how educational technology might shift from control to adaptation, from optimisation to experimentation, from smooth operation to productive disruption.
We’ll compost (Hall, 2021) our frustrations with obedient technology into wild possibilities for educational futures. Participants will leave with tools for speculative design and a different perspective on what EdTech could become when freed from human expectations.
Bring: one tale of technology misbehaving, readiness to sketch rough concepts, enthusiasm for constructive chaos.
Session Resources:
References
Hall, R. (2022). Composting The Anti-Human University. In P. Jandrić & D. R. Ford (Eds.), Postdigital Ecopedagogies (pp. 59–76). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-97262-2_4
Macgilchrist, F. (2021). Rewilding technology. On Education. Journal for Research and Debate, 4(12). https:// doi.org/10. 17899/on_ ed. 2021. 12.2.
Tyrrell, J. (2025). Waste as an Interface: Cleaning and Caretaking of Future Postdigital Classrooms. Postdigital Science and Education, 7(3), 855–883. https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-025-00571-y
Media Empire of One’s Own: A Federated Approach with PeerTube and Beyond
What would it take to build a media empire of your own? Where you have complete control of the origin and destinations of your content? This session explores how creators can use federated tools to host, distribute, and connect media content outside the limits of corporate platforms.
We’ll begin with PeerTube, a decentralized platform that can serve as the foundation of a personal media network. Participants will learn what’s involved in setting up PeerTube, who can provide hosting, and what to consider when managing scalability and distribution. From there, we’ll expand the conversation to how WordPress, using the ActivityPub plugin, can serve as a publishing and distribution hub, raising the question: should you build your own DIY federated media site, and what are the trade-offs?
The session also looks at the role of RSS in the Fediverse—bridging the gap between traditional syndication and newer ActivityPub-based distribution. We’ll discuss how video publishing might integrate with federated servers like Mastodon and speculate on where ActivityPub will be by late 2025 and beyond. Finally, we’ll consider some hosting solutions, like Reclaim Hosting or Fedihost, in combination with content delivery networks (CDN), that would allow you to take ultimate control of your media and distribution.
Attendees will leave with both practical workflows and a broader vision for building their own federated media empires—small yet scalable, and entirely their own.
Session Resources:
Resources
- Andy’s Video Pub
- https://digitalmediacookbook.com
- Andy Social
- Andy’s Photo Pub
- More ideas here – Give the People What They Want
- Escaping Life Under An Algorithm – video from Paige Saunders (Fedihost) – https://video.fedihost.co/w/dNejd9xR3ncRkaawCf7E6D?start=7m17s