22: Crafting the past... or trying to

22: Crafting the past... or trying to

Author: FOSS and Crafts January 30, 2021 Duration: 0:00

There's all sorts of reasons to pursue historical crafting techniques: for the experience of recreating them or learning new techniques, for education, or for entertainment and immersion. Morgan and Chris explore these paths under the terms "experiential historical crafts", "experimental archaeology", and "historical reenactment". What is important, useful, and fun about each of these? What pitfalls might we want to avoid? What can be gained by what we might find, how might we bring more people in... and what do we risk by what (or who) we might miss or leave out?

Links and references:

Special note here: we aren't saying Townsends is bad; we enjoy the show and from a standpoint of production, what it does present is very good. But it does seem like the show makes an intentional dodge on important issues or chooses to only present a limited and fun subset of history... which can be disappointing at the least and at the worst can result in a kind of nostalgia that erases real problems. All history is suffused with things to celebrate and things which are disturbing and disappointing, but recognizing only the former sets us up to repeat the latter.


There's a quiet hum of activity in the spaces where code meets clay, where shared patterns build both software and sweaters. FOSS and Crafts lives in that overlap, exploring the tangible connections between free and open-source software and the hands-on world of making. Each episode is a conversation that wanders from the philosophy of shared source code to the practical joys of knitting, woodworking, electronics, or any craft fueled by community and open knowledge. You'll hear from people who see little distinction between contributing to a software project and preserving a traditional skill; both are acts of care passed along. This podcast digs into how these parallel cultures solve problems, welcome newcomers, and sustain themselves not through scarcity but through abundance. It’s for anyone who has ever felt the satisfaction of fixing something with a well-placed line of code or a perfectly sewn stitch, and who believes the best things are often made together. Tune in for thoughtful discussions that are less about tutorials and more about the underlying spirit of creation, all while keeping your hands busy.
Author: Language: en-us Episodes: 63

FOSS and Crafts
Podcast Episodes
52: Terminal Phase: a space shooter that runs in your terminal! [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Terminal Phase! A space shooter that runs in your terminal!!! Who wouldn't be excited about that?Not to mention that it shows off cool features of Spritely Goblins... like time travel:Well, Terminal Phase has been Christ…
51: #vanlife...? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Morgan and Christine walk through their (well, Morgan's) renovation of a cargo van into a campervan. This is a very crafty episode, but we do work in a few analogies to some FOSS (and open hardware) things!Show notes at…
50: The Spritely Institute [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
The Spritely Institute (of which Christine is CTO) just announced its multi-year grant by the Filecoin Foundation for the Decentralized Web and gave a tour of its current tech! This is a big moment that's been in the wor…
49: Lisp but Beautiful; Lisp for Everyone [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Morgan's out sick! And yet Morgan is still in this episode! And that's because this episode is the audio version of a talk by the very same name from FOSDEM 2022, co-presented by Christine and Morgan! But since Morgan is…
48: Sophie Jantak on pet portraits and Blender's Grease Pencil [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
The amazing Sophie Jantak joins us to talk about how she makes pet portraits (including one she made for us!) using Blender's Grease Pencil. Hear about Sophie's process, why Grease Pencil is the right tool for her, and w…
47: What is Lisp? [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This episode is all about the Lisp family of programming languages! Ever looked at Lisp and wondered why so many programmers gush about such a weird looking programming language style? What's with all those parentheses?…
46: Mark S. Miller on Distributed Objects, Part 1 [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Calling all programming language nerds! Distinguished computer scientist Mark S. Miller (presently at Agoric) joins us to tell us all about distributed object programming languages and their history! We talk about actors…
45: A high level introduction to cryptography [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
In this episode we give a very (very) high level introduction to cryptography concepts. No math or programming background required!Links:Crypto 101, probably the BEST book for learning about cryptography concepts. And a…
44: Celebrating a Decade of Guix [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Guix turns ten! We celebrate Guix's first decade by highlighting ten great things about Guix! Hear all about functional package management, time-traveling operating systems, and why "Composable DSLs" are great!Links:Guix…
43: Repetitive Strain Injuries [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This week we’re talking about Repetitive Strain Injuries (RSI). Christine and Morgan tell their stories bout over-using their wrists from programming (prodded along by an injury) and writing academic papers respectively.…