Some time ago we told you about the re-design of our web page and our particular new year’s revolution. This revamping brought along another major change: our bits are since then hosted at the Servidor Libre de Trayectorias Tecnológicas, managed by Hacklab Cochabamba via Codigo Sur and with the support of Hivos.
We’re very grateful to have such wonderful people taking care of our bits and, in reciprocity, we’ve decided to translate their website text which you can find below:
Manifesto
We believe schools should not only transmit knowledge, skills and methods, but above all the spirit of good will, that is, the habit of helping others. – R. M. Stallman. Schools should be connected to reality, not confined to their four walls; they must be involved in improving society and its productive processes. We want to transform the present with our hands and ideas, to help create a better world. We want to create the future with our minds, our hands, our ideas. We want to propose ideas related to our closest reality. We read life, and everything around it, transforming it creatively as we please. We are more because we are together.
Why are we interested in introducing these values into education? Because it is the appropriate place to nurture them. Let’s stop blaming others for our troubles and get down to work! Ultimately, what we want is to keep thinking and acting as children… freely, without preconceptions, being curious and creative! And above all, stop thinking that what we do invades other people’s privacy! For us, offering, designing, creating, programming, and sharing information for the commons is very important. You can be a hacker too!
Hacker ‘Hood
A safe, free platform in which to organize ourselves, create, propose, schedule and above all work together as a group. Because we increasingly need more spaces to ensure that our information is not traded or used for purposes other than what we’ve decided when creating Barrio Hacker: a ‘hood for everyone who wants a community to meet with glocal friends with whom to propose alternatives to traditional platforms. It’s free, so you can visit all the ‘hoods in www.barriohacker.net. Trayectorias Tecno-Lógicas [Techno-Logical Trajectories] is one of the neighbourhoods where this idea arose; you can learn more about it in .
The Techno-Logical Trajectories Server is a shared commitment of several collectives and organizations that believe in the need to go towards greater technological sovereignty, and use their resources (both tangible and intangible) to support each while generating deeper sustainability and resilience.
Techno-Logical Trajectories Free Server
Working with information technology and communications is a basic need today. The functioning of these tools is mainly based on our data and the technology we use. Where is this data stored? What’s the aim of these technologies? What’s their purpose?… These are all issues we can’t overlook without expecting consequences. The Techno-Logical Trajectories Server is a shared commitment of several collectives and organizations that believe in the need to go towards greater technological sovereignty, and use their resources (both tangible and intangible) to support each while generating deeper sustainability and resilience. The Techno-Logical Trajectories server is managed by HackLab Cochabamba via Código Sur and with the support of Hivos.
What are we?
HackLab Cochabamba is a distributed, open, and collaborative space of hacker experimentation based in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The HackLab is not an institution but an assembly of wills. We are a non-physical space of co-creation, knowledge transfer, logic unwrapping, etc., all of which is built on the premise of SHARING.
What is a HackLab for us?
A HackLab is a place where we can create, experiment and share our knowledge freely.
What is a hacker?
A hacker is a passionate, creative individual who uses their knowledge to create something new or transform it, through experimentation and collaborative work. A hacker develops software, finds solutions, suggests social uses for technology, recycles old information into new material… Hey, maybe you’re a hacker and you just didn’t know it 😉
Why a HackLab?
Because it’s important for us to meet, and get to know and acknowledge each other. And, in this way, build new realities through collective intelligence.
¿What do we do?
We are continuously suggesting and developing different projects. We work in a Techno-Logic way, which is the way we think about the ways in which we operate. All of this understood as a re-signification of the means, draw from a basic and central idea of relevance for our context.
Who are the members?
The HackLab is not a closed environment; it’s an assembly of wills for the creation of a hacker context in Cochabamba. You can sign up for our distribution list and talk about it together.
Where?
You can find us at mARTadero.
Wiki
A Wiki is a space to strengthen collective intelligence. Here at the HackLab we encourage you to consult the projects underway, contribute to the proposed documents, and create and produce new projects. Take a look at the Wiki of HackLab Cochabamba.
What is the function of a server?
A server is the “house”, the virtual accommodation where all the information that our organization wants to share with the world is stored and hosted. Also termed the “Cloud,” it’s actually just a computer somewhere in the world, and it’s called “server” because of its characteristics. All the texts, images, media, etc., that make up the organization’s web are stored in that computer. Writing the domain name in our browsers gives us access to the website, that is, to all the data stored in that specific computer.
Why is it important?
Barely a year ago, anyone who claimed that web data espionage from states and major corporations was not selective but indiscriminate, and that all our cloud data could be violated were treated as paranoid. That’s why it’s important that our websites be located in countries that respect liberties and that don’t easily tap our communications. There is no such a thing as an ideal place for this, but the USA, where most of the servers in the world are located, is not the best option to say the least.
Where is Código Sur located?
In CATNIX, an IXP or Internet Exchange Point in Barcelona, in partnership with Guifi.net, a global organization that works to achieve a free, open and neutral internet.
What are its techno-political advantages?
We work as hard as the powerful enemies of a free and open web who possess unbelievable amounts of resources. To compete with them is outside any logic. That’s why it’s so important to establish partnerships among the organizations working in the technology sector. Our association with Guifi has allowed us to offer organizations high-quality services at solidary prices, so they can choose safe and efficient alternatives without compromising their freedom and security.
Who manages the server?
Código Sur is a non-profit organization. For over 10 years, it has been supporting organizations and social movements in Latin America and the Caribbean with free technology. Código Sur has created its own CMS, called Cyclope 3, in Python/Django code. This tool was developed alongside the social organizations in order for them to have a web presence with a safe and simple CMS, and without having to learn web design or programming.
Who has joined Trajectories in this server so far?
- HackLab Cochabamba is a distributed, open, and collaborative space of hacker experimentation based in Bolivia. The HackLab is not an institution but an assembly of wills. We are a non-physical space of co-creation, knowledge transfer, logic unwrapping, etc., all of which is built on the premise of SHARING.
- Barrio de las Heroínas (Heroines ‘Hood) is an open space for discussion, dialogue, proposal and creation based in the Villa Coronilla neighbourhood in Cochabamba. A shared strategy between Plataforma Vecinal, O.T.B., Kuska, Jóvenes Sie7e, the Villa Coronilla Communications Collective, and the mediactivism platform with a gender perspective. A social and contextual use of the new technologies by and for the neighbourhood.
- Facción is a platform based in Latin America that articulates independent networks of mediactivism through participative, horizontal and open processes. It aims to encourage free, open and shared communication towards a cultural and social transformation. We are activists, artists, broadcasters, bloggers, filmmakers, communicators, cultural agents, open technology developers, articulated members of the civil society, and social movements from over 15 different nationalities.
- El Arte Resiste is a protest, resistance and ongoing-action platform from the Mexican citizens who work in art and culture. A platform that’s willing to collaborate with any contemporary Mexican collective and organization that speaks out for justice and against impunity.
- ELLA (Latin American Women’s Gathering). Its main goal is to build experiences based on the diverse profiles of women from over 15 Ibero-American countries.
And, of course, us!
Let’s talk
If we want to create an open, collaborative discussion, a one-way relationship is out of the question. That’s why participative mailing lists are used, so that each individual can join freely and contribute, enquire, and check in with everyone else. That way, we’ll be able to strengthen a collective intelligence. We ask that you read about Netiquette so the conversation remains organic and understandable, based on collaborative and ongoing ethics and logics. So far, there are dozens of people on this list, whose goals are:
- Sharing knowledge and activities related to Cochabamba Hacking
- Developing joint projects and evaluating their relevance in the Cochabamba and Bolivian context
- Meeting new people, collectives, institutions, etc., that believe in a social paradigm shift through hacker ethics
- Supporting and being supported through the development and strengthening of the different Cochabamba free communities.
You can join HackLab’s Distribution List here.
Produced by Guerrilla Translation under a Peer Production License.
Text translated by GEORGINA REPARADO and SUSA OÑATE – Guerrilla Translation
Images taken from Facción Latina’s website and .
Original text published in HackLab Cochabamba’s site.
