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: 50

FOSS and Crafts
Podcast Episodes
20: Hygiene for a computing pandemic [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Chris and Morgan, driving in the Covid-19 pandemic, reflect on lessons of hygiene and a separation of concerns from the past (seen through the retroactively surprising struggle for handwashing acceptance) while analyzing…
19: Mallory Knodel on bits and bytes and human rights [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
With computing technology becoming integrated with every aspect of our lives, many issues are simultaneously human rights issues and technical issues. Thus, how are organizations concerned with human rights and social ju…
18: Sumana Harihareswara on sketching, standup, and maintainership [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
We're joined by Sumana Harihareswara, a FOSS advocate yes, but also a person of so many other talents! We talk about sketching, standup comedy, and maintainership for the long life of free software projects. (Did you kno…
17: Gardening, from seedling to seasoned [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
We're joined by our friend Tristan to talk about gardening experiences, from newbies (us) to the wise (Tristan and others who are not us). We (Morgan and Chris) have just started seriously gardening this year, and have l…
15: Scribble and the Open Document Format [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Morgan and Chris talk about the Scribble document authoring format, with Morgan talking about authoring her dissertation in it and Chris talking about writing an OpenDocument Format (sometimes shortened to "ODF" or "ODT"…
14: Digital Humanities Workshops [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
Morgan and Chris discuss the Digital Humanities workshops they ran introducing non-programmers to Racket and Scribble.Links:The flier (post-LibrePlanet 2018 edition)Course materialBuilding a Snowman with RacketHow to Use…
13: ActivityPub Conference 2020 with Sebastian Lasse [not-audio_url] [/not-audio_url]

Duration: 0:00
This week we are joined by Sebastian Lasse, author of the Redaktor ActivityPub powered CMS, and co-host of both ActivityPub Conference 2020 and ActivityPub Conference 2019 along with Morgan. Lots of retrospective, especi…