[spectre] // Critical Engineering Summer Intensives 2018 //

Tue Jul 10 21:08:15 CEST 2018

We're very pleased to announce our Summer Intensives program, Berlin 2018.

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WILDERNESS WIRELESS
3-5 AUGUST, FROM 10:00 TO 18:00
WITH BRETT IAN BALOGH

This 3-day workshop is an expansion of the popular Wilderness Wireless Workshop
that appeared at the last two editions of the Radical Networks Conference in New
York. The focus of the workshop is on the thinking around, creation of and use
of off-the-grid, infrastructureless communications networks for creative use.
The workshop gains its inspiration from the free-radio movements, exploring
notions of decentralization, free-speech and activism and takes cues from nature
about how to operate in a technologically-mediated world in a not-always-on,
resource-conscious manner.

Subjects to be explored include the physical nature of radio and the
electromagnetic spectrum, alternative energy, wireless networks, and
transmission- and net-art. Participants will gain hands-on skills in electronics
construction and soldering, embedded computing and web- and python programming.

Participants will construct two devices during the workshop: The first is a DIY,
micro-power FM radio transmitter which will be used as an entry-point into the
world of radio communications, and the use of radio as a creative medium. The
second device is a solar-powered, WiFi access point and offline web server,
which will be the focus of the workshop's creative output. Everyone will leave
with their own micro-power FM transmitter. An additional materials fee of 75EUR
will be charged if they would like to keep their wilderness wireless devices.

No prior experience is necessary.

Course Fee: 150€
Materials: 75€ (optional)

12 seats available.

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SURVEILLANCE OVERRIDE
13-15 AUGUST, FROM 10:00 TO 18:00
WITH JOANA MOLL AND SARAH GRANT

Psychological Warfare, also called PSYOPS, is a strategy used in military and
government intelligence networks aimed at influencing the emotional, cognitive
and rational structures of governments, organizations, groups, and individuals,
in order to change their behaviors and ultimately their purposes and goals.
PSYOPS tactics are deeply rooted in the diverse techno-social arrangements that
lie at the core of algorithmic governance, yet they are often ignored or
overlooked by most global citizens, who nevertheless operate within such
arrangements. With increasing distrust in 'The Cloud' comes a broad call for
publicly owned network infrastructures that would give users greater control
over their personal communication, data and identities.

In this 3-day hands-on workshop we will try to connect the dots between PSYOPS,
psychology, propaganda, surveillance, the Internet, data and algorithms, and we
will underline the need to build alternative networks to retain sovereignty over
our communications technologies and natural resources.

The first day of the workshop will give participants a deep understanding about
the many mechanisms used by corporations, agencies and governments to collect,
sort and exploit personal data, along with the main social, political and
environmental impacts of such processes.

The final two days will introduce participants to the basic building blocks of
computer networking, command line interface and WiFi communication. We will
learn how to self-host our own web servers, file servers and personal wireless
networks. These servers will allow their users to send messages, publish web
sites and share files across an offline local area and mesh network.

No prior knowledge of programming or command line interaction is required.

Course Fee: 150€
Materials: 75€ (optional)

12 seats available.

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INTRODUCTION TO SOFTWARE DEFINED RADIO
16-18 August, FROM 10:00 TO 18:00
WITH JULIAN OLIVER AND BENGT SJÖLEN

In this 3-day intensive participants will learn how to use a 12 Euro RTLSDR USB
dongle* and free, open-source software to read, record and appropriate a vast
world of signal around them. From weather satellite imagery to the International
Space Station, aircraft and military radio, pirate and amateur bands,
software-defined radio allows for any laptop to become a powerful ear into a
world otherwise unheard by the devices we use.

Outdoor excursions with a variety of antennae will be made to ensure
participants have real-world experience capturing, analysing and demodulating
radio frequency (RF) phenomena. A special module on uncloaking, spoofing and
deploying cellular infrastructure will be taught, as will another on GNU Radio,
a powerful toolkit for designing and packaging RF applications entirely in
software.

Skills, terms and concepts learned are directly applicable to further learning
in areas such as packet radio, radio-astronomy, wireless counter-surveillance,
signal jamming and pirate broadcasting.

No prior knowledge of programming or command line interaction is required.

Course Fee: 100€
Materials: 12€ (optional)

*Required to participate in class. Feel free to bring your own.

12 seats available.

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COMMAND LINE BOOTSTRAP
1 September, FROM 10:00 TO 18:00
WITH JULIAN OLIVER AND DANJA VASILIEV

This 1-day intensive workshop introduces participants to the UNIX command line,
a rapidly growing and ubiquitous interface common to every computer from the
UNIX family of operating systems - whether web-server, Internet appliance,
wireless router, autonomous robot, Raspberry Pi, OS X or Linux laptop.

In doing so, participants vastly expand the scope of computers they can interact
with, develop for and control - transcending restrictive 'consumer-oriented'
interfaces and the desktop metaphor. Further, participants learn that a computer
doesn't need to have a screen, keyboard or even be on the same continent to be
interacted with - the case for a growing family of devices comprising the
so-called Internet of Things.

Rather, by developing an ability to talk to computers - with them talking back -
any UNIX or UNIX-like machine can be either directly controlled or made a drone,
performing automated tasks on their owner's behalf.

No prior knowledge of programming or command line interaction is required.

Course Fee: 50€

12 seats available.

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SelfHosted
3-4 September, FROM 10:00 TO 18:00
Weise7 Studio, Berlin
WITH JULIAN OLIVER AND DANJA VASILIEV

Decentralise! This 2-day intensive walks participants through the process of
setting up email, cloud, VPN, gallery and website services on an Internet-ready
server that they control - scalable to hundreds or thousands of users.

Those interested in serving from home can bring in a PC to wipe and re-purpose
as a low-bandwidth server on the Internet. Others wanting a high-traffic,
media-rich solution will be encouraged to choose and register a
geographically-local server package in class such that they can be guided
through a complete install (typical monthly fees are 5 to 15 EUR).

Good server-side security practices are covered, from disk-encryption to
password-management and firewalling. The basics of the UNIX command line are
also taught such that participants can securely log into their server and
administer it regardless of their physical location. Whether NGO,
activist-collective or gallery, it takes just 1 or 2 people in a community to
give the gift of quality, low-CO2, decentralised infrastructure - to take the
power back.

No prior experience is necessary, although attention to detail and some
experience in the UNIX command line are an advantage.

Course Fee: 100€

12 seats available.

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INTRODUCTION TO BIOCOMPUTING WITH SLIME MOULDS
8-9 September, FROM 10:00 TO 18:00
WITH SARAH GRANT AND BENGT SJÖLEN

Slime mould Physarum polycephalum is an easy to cultivate, single-celled
organism, which forms efficient, complex networks of protoplasmic tubes between
spatially distributed food sources. Despite having no central nervous system, P.
polycephalum is capable of solving computational tasks both on its own and when
integrated into hybrid bio-electrical circuits. Some experimental working
prototypes which have been developed with slime moulds include self-routing and
self-repairing wires, electronic oscillators, chemical sensors, color sensors,
low pass filters, logical gates, and transistors, among many others.

In this workshop we will be introduced to working with Physarum polycephalum,
including life cycle, cultivation, and techniques for integrating with
conventional electrical components for building hybrid circuits. We will also
have a brief overview of notable earlier experiments with slime moulds, some of
which we will attempt to reproduce in class ourselves. Building on top of that,
we will go on to design our own hybrid bio-circuits.

No prior experience is required.

Course Fee: 100€
Materials: 20€

12 seats available.

//<--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Registration details and further information here:

    https://criticalengineering.org/intensives/2018/

Warm regards,

-- 
Julian Oliver
https://julianoliver.com
https://criticalengineering.org
PGP https://julianoliver.com/key.asc
Beware the auto-complete life

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