We live in an age of “personal computing.” Even as our devices bring us into vast “social media” spaces where we can connect to billions of other people, it doesn’t feel like we’re surrounded by people. We’re often staring at our screens alone; we have personalized experiences on our unique feed. Our encounters with other people are merely coincidental. We are not meant to connect, only to consume. Beyond our siloed digital experiences, our imaginations for the use of technology are haunted by extractive platforms, surveillance technology, conducting murder, increasingly closed platforms, and software that simply doesn’t work.
I yearn to walk on the internet, to bump into people on the dithering website when I go to get a new batch of prints, to bring homemade gifts to my poeticomp4 friends. I wish to host others on my websites, welcome them in at the door and offer them a snack, and make infrastructure that enables others to do the same. I want to make tools that empower people to embed their personality into the fabric of the bits that surround us. I hope to make environments that embrace participation, ones that invite us to mold the internet as a material for creation and a medium for connection.
