Andrew (Television Executive)Alright, I'm working on Impractical Computing Issue 2.
Well no. Let me start over.
I just made Impractical Computing issue one available on my new portfolio site: https://impractical.computer
Impractical computing is a zine about using computers.
From issue one:
"Impractical computing is an aperiodic periodical discussing my personal electronic choices, as I explore the edges of practicality and try to reach for a future of Computing that is more Personal."
and
"A lot of the things I do are silly. Silly is good. Being silly removes the element of self-consciousness that often paralyzes creative people like me, and enables us to focus on doing the work. The artifice, the spectacle, and occasionally the challenge, perform a valuable service in lowering the stakes, freeing the mind, and enabling the creative process."
Okay, that's out of the way.
Issue one has three articles: one about my HP Omnibook (#zinestation) one about my DIY replacement for the Sony Portapak, and one about DIY Convertible Computing hardware.
I published this one a few years ago. I intended to do a followup, but last year was not a good year for me.
This year is a better year, it's time to write a followup.
But ... well, I haven't done much wacky computer bullshit in the last year beyond #NewEllijayTelevision and the things that Sundog and I are working on.
And I haven't written much about computers in the last year.
So uhhhhhhhhh now I need to figure out what the next issue is going to be about.
Projects I'm considering writing about for Impractical Computing:
- I have a couple of silly ESP32 ideas to play with, including a guide to hosting a gemini capsule
- I want to write an article about meshtastic
- I have a BBS project I want to dust off and finish
- We're building a little free blockbuster for the bookstore, and I want to stick a little free netflix//little free pirate bay inside. Writing up a guide for a wifi filesharing dead-drop could be fun.
- I have a couple of silly ESP32 ideas to play with, including a guide to hosting a gemini capsule
- I want to write an article about meshtastic
- I have a BBS project I want to dust off and finish
- We're building a little free blockbuster for the bookstore, and I want to stick a little free netflix//little free pirate bay inside. Writing up a guide for a wifi filesharing dead-drop could be fun.
At some point I'll probably do an install guide for yunohost, maybe a writeup on running Goto Social, or just a general home hosting walkthrough.
I'm not sure what I want to include in the next issue, though.
I've also been grumbling about an article called "whats youtube got that I ain't got" or maybe "What good is Etsy" or similar for twitch.
The basic idea is that the thing the centralized services have over the self hosted stuff is content discovery, and that solving for content discovery is the hardest part of building a federated marketplace or peertube (and that funding is the second hardest problem facing something like peertube, but that's a story for another day.)