Our Networks is a conference about the past, present, and future of building our own network infrastructures. The event brings together enthusiasts, hardware and software hackers, researchers, organizers and more to collectively explore creative and critical engagements with the Internet and alternative infrastructures.

The event has a Code of Conduct and policy on Filming in order to foster an environment where we can all work together. During the event if you are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, we ask you to contact an organizer immediately. Those who wish to do so but don’t feel comfortable talking to the organizers in-person can email coc@ournetworks.ca.

We would like to acknowledge this sacred land on which Our Networks will take place. Tkaronto (Toronto) has been a site of human activity for 15,000 years. This land is the territory of the Huron-Wendat and Petun First Nations, the Seneca, and most recently, the Mississaugas of the Credit River. The territory was the subject of the Dish with One Spoon Wampum Belt Covenant, an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and Confederacy of the Ojibwe and allied nations to peaceably share and care for the resources around the Great Lakes. Today, the meeting place of Toronto is still the home to many Indigenous people from across Turtle Island and we are grateful to have the opportunity to work in the community, on this territory.

We are grateful to the First Nations House and Elders Circle (Council of Aboriginal Initiatives) for the language that this acknowledgement is based on.

Organizers

Sarah Friend is an artist and software engineer, with special interest in blockchain and the p2p web. When not doing that, she creates games and other interactive experiences. Her practice investigates murky dichotomies—like those between privacy and transparency, centralization and decentralization, and the environment and technology—with playfulness and absurdist humour. She is a proud Recurse Center alum, and has recently exhibited work at NEoN Festival in Scotland, Moneylab in London, Gray Area Festival in San Francisco, Microwave Festival in Hong Kong, the Athens Biennale, and the ZKM Center for Art and Media In Germany.

Dawn Walker is a researcher and PhD candidate at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on values and social transformation in the design of decentralization projects. Her previous research included co-design to investigate how community mapping increases participation in urban agriculture. She also works on grassroots and community infrastructure with groups including EDGI. A keen amateur agriculturalist, Dawn would rather be in the garden.

Benedict Lau is an engineer who tells stories of technology practices that bring communities together. He studies distributed protocols and collective governance of digital infrastructures. When not "on email", he builds passable open source tools and facilitates activities about peer-to-peer local networks as a way to co-imagine a future equitable web. He is a member of the Hypha Worker Co-operative and a core contributor at Toronto Mesh.

E.L. Guerrero is a software developer at the Public Knowledge Project and a new media artist who is interested in open access, inclusive design, and decentralized networks. She is also currently thinking about how Philippine indigenous teachings can be applied to how we treat and engage with technology.

Garry Ing is a designer and researcher centred around the overlap of technology and critical practice. His previous work and collaborations has been with the Strategic Innovation Lab (sLab) at OCAD University, the Technologies for Aging Gracefully Lab at the University of Toronto, Normative, and Format.

Design

Logo by Marlo Yarlo. 2019 design concept by Amelia Zhang.